Half Deaf, Completely Mad

The Chaotic Genius of Australia's Most Legendary Music Producer

Tony Cohen, John Olson

• Publisher: Black Inc.
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781760644536
• eBook ISBN: 9781743823088
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Music Biographies

The music and mayhem behind the seminal sounds of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Models, The Go-Betweens, Hunters & Collectors, Cold Chisel, The Saints, The Cruel Sea and so many more 'The most obsessive, single-minded character I've ever seen, outside of the mirror' —Nick Cave I first met Nick Cave … at Richmond Recorders in January. I appeared shoeless, red-eyed and late. As usual. The grand piano was overflowing with bits of metal, microphone stands, anything that wasn't nailed down. "That should sound interesting, " I said. It was the start of a great love affair. Maverick music producer-engineer Tony Cohen defined Australia's punk and rock sounds in the late '70s, '80s and '90s. His long and celebrated career took him from the studios of Melbourne and Sydney to West Berlin and London's Abbey Road, working with innumerable bands up until his death in 2017. In candid reflections, Tony shares details of his decades-long relationship with Nick Cave (The Boys Next Door, The Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds) and provides behind-the-scenes access to recordings by Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Cat Stevens, Jim Keays, Lobby Loyde, The Ferrets, Split Enz, Laughing Clowns, Models, Magazine, The Reels, The Go-Betweens, Hunters & Collectors, Cold Chisel, Beasts of Bourbon, The Saints, X, Michael Hutchence, The Cruel Sea, TISM, Paul Kelly and so many more. Half Deaf, Completely Mad is a hilarious, tragic and triumphant memoir that reveals a chaotic genius who lived hard and LOUD.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Prologue: (1988)
• Tony Cohen ‘T.C.’: (1957)
• More Arse than Class: (1973)
• The Boy from the Stars: (1974)
• One of the Mob: (1975)
• Beyond Morgia: (1975)
• Dreams of a Love: (1976)
• Fame at Any Price: (1977)
• Door, Door: (1979)
• Breaking Silence: (1979)
• Prayers on Fire: (1980)
• Cut Lunch: (1981)
• Junkyard: (1981)
• Out of Reason: (1982)
• Twentieth Century: (1983)
• Highlights of a Dangerous Life: (1984)
• Dogs in Space: (1985)
• Your Funeral... My Trial: (1986)
• Der Himmel über Berlin: (1986)
• Tender Prey: (1987)
• The Low Road: (1988)
• Sin Factory: (1991)
• The Honeymoon Is Over: (1992)
• Let Love In: (1993)
• Murder Ballads: (1994)
• Gone: (1995)
• No More Shall We Part: (1998)
• Long Gone Whistle: (2002)
• A Note on the Text
• In Memoriam
• Select Discography
• Acknowledgements
• Back Cover