Don't Throw Stones

Fun listen. Thanks for suggesting.

I hadn't heard of this band before, but after a single listen it's clear that these songs stack up favorably with popular music of the time, e.g. Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Squeeze. The songs are catchy but not simplistic, well-produced but not over-produced. Surprising and disappointing that they weren't more well known. 4 stars.

Thank you for the user album submission, Robert Dimery.

Never heard of them before, but they've instantly become one of my favorite Australian bands. They hit the spot somewhere between Nick Lowe and Joe Jackson. Cracker of an album. Cheers mate.

Always open to new suggestions. If they have this great look, even better. If it's a reference that belongs to the best years of pop music, how life could be better? :) I didn't know this Australian band. And it's not going to change my life either. But I loved it. A fresh, catchy, positive album... belonging to such creative years that it seems like nothing could go wrong

The Sports had untill today never before crossed my path, but I immediately like their sound. Elvis Costello meets Joe Jackson. Maybe not as memorable, yet still an enjoyable listen.

Probably ass

Wow this was so dull and basic and vaguely 80s that I'm shocked this artist isn't on the real list 5+ times

Pretty genereic, but enjoyable

7/10. Oh, forgot to rate this the day I listened to it, but it was pretty cool.

A fun new wave album - if the list wasn't already inundated with stuff like this I'd probably be a bit more invested. 7/10

Good energetic rock n roll (not punk)

Nice sound

C’est pas mauvais, ca sonne bien mais ca fait deux fois je recommence l’album et je me rend pas a la fin. Ca sonne beaucoupnpareil tout le long. 3

A late 70s / early 80s post punk / new wave album?? Was this added by our author??? It wasn’t these guys are Australian not UK. but sound-wise in the ballpark of the 1001 post punk album list

New to me. Stylistically kind of all over the map - I found all of it reasonably enjoyable buy as an album it didn't quite come together.

A good album, but I wonder what was new about it compared to its contemporaries.

It's fine, brought down by the late 70s/early 80s production.

This lively new wave would be far too easy to miss without help; Thanks! With tongue firmly in cheek, the Sports barrel forward with a vocal affect which predicts Nick Cave.

Good Aussie rock, not on the level of bands like Icehouse or INXS but still alright. Recognise a few tracks from drinking with older mates over the years. 3/5.

Enjoyable from this Yank, but not super memorable. Never heard of this band or any of the songs before. Kind of dug "Hit Single" and "Who Listens to the Radio".

It's enjoyable I guess, they've got some undeniable charisma, but I get nothing out of it that I don't get from other bands I enjoy more. I feel like this is the exact type of album that this list is already far too full of.

Little bit of Van Morrison, little bit of Elvis Costello. Somehow avoids the dislike I have for both of those artists. Few good songs, but nothing incredibly standout. Favorite tracks: "Live Work And Play", "Don't Throw Stones", "Terror Hits"

What a ripper. Gets straight into it with Suspicious Minds and keeps the energy flowing through to Who Listens to the Radio, takes a breath for Tired of Me, then picks back up at Worst Kind before bringing you down gently with Big Sleep. Great sequencing — an Aussie pub rock gem I'm glad I got to discover.

From this cover, I guessed this was going to be complete shit, and Australian. I was right on one of those things.

aussie post-punk / new-wave, sounding a lot like a whole heap of more famous bands - not in a bad way! bands from down under are definitely under-represented in the book, and the user list seems (so far) to be going a long way to redress that balance.

Obscure band, at least outside of Australia. I know I've never heard of them. This is the kind of stuff I like to discover. Nothing fancy here, not too serious, just some catchy pop/rock & roll. The vocals kind of reminded me of an Elvis Costello/Van Morrison mix. The music has got some good hooks. I got the Don't Throw Stones > Thru the Window joke. First half of the album is better than second. I'm adding it to my playlist. Thanks to the user who submitted this one 👍

At first I thought this was just going to be another standard new wave album, but it ended up being really quite fun and a good enjoyable listen. Probably will be memory holed in about a day but was good for the time. Very low 4 but was better than a 3

Glatt och lite roligt. Det här blir man på gott humör av. Går inte tycka alltför illa om det.

Never heard of these chaps. Yeah, not too bad - somewhere between classic rock and new wave depending on the song. Fave tracks - "Who Listens to the Radio" and "So Obvious"

I lost myself listening to this, and totally forgot that I wasn't listening to an Elvis Costello album. I wouldn't call this a ripoff or anything like that, there were plenty of artists putting together a similar sound at this time. This one actually has kinda a weird mix of Elvis Costello, The Cars, and Bob Seger (somehow, I don't know how to explain it). I like all that shit, and I like this. It's like punky yacht rock, and I fucking dig it. I want this shit on vinyl 4/5

Pleasantly surprising! This was a nice, classic album that I don’t have complaints for. I would 100% listen again many times.

I liked this one a lot!

Quick listen suggests that Joe Jackson might have grounds to file a copyright violation lawsuit for several of these songs, including title track. That's another way of saying this is strong, crisp, earnest and just a touch spiky new wave, pure late-70s to early-80s vintage. It's well balanced, neither overdoing the synths nor the rockier guitar elements, with nice grace notes, like the sax solo on "Tired of Me." Vocalist is compellling and knows what he's doing. There's a likable melancholy (e.g., on "Step by Step") that speaks to the best of this era and genre. One digs pretty thoroughly, meaning this lot have easily entered one's personal pantheon of top-10 Aussie acts of all time. Thus, one's grateful to recommender for making the intro. List proper would be very much improved by this replacing (just looking at 1979) Germs and Gary Numan. It's safe to say they should be much better known.

This sounds like a lot of my favourite late 70's New Wave bands so although they are a revelation to me I grew to like them with each track. These guys were contemporaries to the guys in the UK and US and it's a shame they didn't get the exposure they deserved. It has every trick in the book with the Sax solo thrown in for fun. A great submission to the ranks- thanks to the user who added this.

Hadn’t heard this and somehow knew they were Australian. Fun listen

This was pretty enjoyable

Suprised by how groovy this was!

Do we really need another Elvis Costello album on the list? To be fair, this also sounds a lot like: Joe Jackson, Squeeze, Rolling Stones, Thin Lizzie, The Undertones and I’m sure a few others. Thankfully I like most of those things so listening to this isn’t a problem.

I definitely had fun with this. It has a little bit of a punk edge to rock with a lot of pop hooks and harmonies. The lead singer's voice fits well and is easy to enjoy. Fits in the Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Graham Parker space for me. Very enjoyable.

Ooo I like this quite a lot! This is exactly what I want to discover - new to me new wave / rock / pop punk from the 70s or 80s! I love this. Way to go Aussies, you've done it again.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Suspicious minds, Don’t throw stones, Thru the window, Who listens to the radio, Tired of me, Hit single

Standouts: Don't Throw Stones, Who Listens to the Radio The rest of the album is fine. 3.5

Very good. Never heard of them but it's aged superbly.

Nothing different from thousands of other bands

Australian 80s pop. Cool, but I don't think I'll come back to it.

Ok kasariplatta, eipä siinä.

Immediately makes me think of Elvis Costello, which is not exactly high praise. Who Listens to the Radio might be the most memorable track so far, but it has me wondering "who listens to THE SPORTS?" Not saying this is bad, but it is far from inspiring. It does, however, feel very much in continuation with the original list.

These guys probably look at The Talking Heads like they are idiots for not being able to figure out a puzzle.

Generic for the time. Barely and I mean barely a 3.

Don’t think I’ve heard of this before. Ain’t bad.

Nice to get some old rock outside of the standard UK/North American vortex - I had never heard of The Sports so no preconceived notions, although (and not a critique but) you can immediately place them into the late-70s. New wave rock along the lines of Elvis Costello meets Shoes meets Joe Jackson all with a little more slick production sheen. Easy enough to jump into - sounds a little dated as one would expect - outside of my potential ignorance [wait here's a legit cool fact - they opened up for Thin Lizzy at their classic Sydney Opera House show] there's nothing I would call historic or groundbreaking but definitely a fun listen, I could do this again. 7/10 3 stars IMO: Belonged in the book? No.

New wave, rock, pop. Ni fu ni fa.

New wave, rock, pop. Rollo.

It’s so distracting to have a Joe Jackson-sound-a-like lead singer. Not a bad-sounding band otherwise and new to me.

As other people have said, very reminiscent of other bands of the 80s, but that’s not a bad thing.

Fine

The name immediately reminded me of Huey Lewis and the news. The sound isn't terribly far off from that.

Had never heard of them before. It was an enjoyable listen.

Pretty decent Power-Pop(ish?) collection of songs. Enjoyed it more as the record went on and there’s some pretty great musicianship on this record. Vocally, I was reminded of Elvis Costello a bunch and my PTSD from his records on the main list might have kicked in a bit and impacted my enjoyment. As a form of recompense to the user who submitted this album for letting that sully my rating, I have a song recommendation that I think you might enjoy: “Starry Eyes” by The Records (the version on the Power Pop Heroes compilation is the one to listen to).

Mixed feelings about this one. At the same time, it's a nice cover band of successful classic rock, and they also released it in 1979, so they are (?) a classic rock band. I'll go on the easy and rate it neutrally. Nice songs, but I won't remember them for such a long time.

It was pretty good, I enjoyed it.

New to me and enjoyable but not amazing. However I can see how if you grew up listening to this group you could have a huge soft spot for this album.

Another Australian band I am not familiar with! This would be great pairing with a contemporary album: Don’t Throw Stones -> Glass Houses (Billy Joel, 1980) I enjoyed the first few songs the best, though it's pretty consistent throughout. The comparisons to other 70s bands started to enter my mind, uninvited, around side 2. Although based on the quality of the musicianship and lead singer, I prefer it to a few of the prior entries, for instance the Stranglers & Blockheads 3.5 HL: title track, "Thru the Window", "Suspicious Minds", "Tired of Me", "Big Sleep" April 1, 2025

Fun

Didn't rock my world, fun new wave

Good fun pop rock record

It was delightfully varied, though none of the songs themselves were full marks from me. I've been more bored by better albums!

Not a terrible album, but as I was listenning to it I was kind of forgetting it was even playing. It sounds like a lot of other albums of the same genre/period, but it lacks a bit of edge. A fun time, but not much else. 6/10

Huhhh another pretty nondescript band. Honestly, it's hard to say something about this since I'm pretty sure I heard an album identical to this on the list at some point. From reading the wikipedia article, it seems like they had success in Australia but nothing much elsewhere. Limited success and limited influence doesn't amount to much. Can be said about a lot of album on the original list. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No. Nothing really interesting about this that isn't already on the original list.

They've got a real Origin feel to them. I guess one of the influences at the time was INXS, which makes sense that a lot of the bands at the time would have this type of sound. Upbeat, uptempo, energetic. Interesting. Glad it was recommended. I still don't like that there are 10 seconds of silence before a song starts. Can someone tell me what that silence is for?

The album cover looks like bro-Talking Heads. The music sounds like proto 80s indie rock.

Wiki states that The Sports were a big thing in Australia. I didn't miss much by not knowing them before.

This made me think of the AM radio music in the background of late '70s summer memories. Enjoyable but not distinctly memorable to me.

Hmmm...I think that they should have saved that "Tired of Me" track for the end, because it made me think "yeah, I kinda am". I thought it was a bit fun for a minute, but then it just was.

This was a pretty fun listen. Catchy and entertaining.

This sounds exactly as something that should be in the original list. Basic and average

Áhugavert! Hélt fyrst að söngvarinn væri Joe Jackson, en svo er ekki. Hljómar rosalega svipaður.

Average

This was a fairly standard new wave album. It was a fun listen but I didn't really hear anything that adds to the original list. Always good to get another Australian album though! The list is too heavily skewed towards the UK and the USA.

New wave, rock, pop. Ni fu ni fa.

pretty good rock

I love a good pub rock/power pop deep cut, so I really enjoyed this. Also a good example of an Aussie band, something the original list mostly ignores. Crisp and mildly punchy, with a strong pop sensibility. Solid choice. Fave Songs: Don't Throw Stones, Thru the Window, Who Listens to the Radio, Worst Kind, Step By Step, Suspicious Minds

Wasn't looking forward to this as it would generally not be my thing from the sounds of it. However it knocked along quite nicely.

This one was fun! Had some interesting, catchy melodies to share in its apt runtime. Good album to get going in the morning and an enjoyable listen overall.

Who Listens to the Radio was a minor hit in the USA. I think this would have been a fun album to listen to back in 1979... 3.5

I like this better when Joe Jackson did it

These guys want to be Genesis meets Clapton sooooo badly. But it's just not happening.

In the regular list, we received 6 albums either by Elvis Costello solo or with the Attractions. 6 is more than enough, as I think almost all of us agree on. I couldn't find much in Don't Throw Stones by THE SPORTS that was innovative or that this band did anything their contemporary didn't already do. Even the lead vocalist sounded like Costello. "If you aren't making [music] that's different, then you're not making anything at all."

I didn't really dig this album. It reminded me of other new wave/rockabilly adjacent stuff I heard on this project that just simply was not to my liking. I felt like the album production was pretty poor, too.

This is some "rock" bordering on that 80's new wave shiz. Not really my jam you can just hear the lameness of the 80's throughout. Going high 2 cuz I was uninspired.

Música ochentera sin excesivo glamour. Canciones con un mismo estilo, un tanto plano. No me ha convencido ni llenado ninguna de las canciones. Demasiado flojo.

its 80s pop, one of a million like it. I'm sure someone lost their virginity to their album, but I don't personally find connection with it.

I already had to make it through 6 Elvis Costello albums, and "Don't Throw Stones" from The Sports felt way too close to those. If it hadn't been for the overexposure of Costello on the list, I wonder if I would have been more receptive to this.

This was like a fart in the wind. Jarring, a little discomforting, but quickly dissipated and forgotten.

Don't throw stones? Too late, I'm afraid. I have already decided to give a somewhat middling grade to this cheap secondhand version of that Elvis Costello / Nick Lowe / Graham Parker /Joe Jackson late-seventies / early-eighties trade. While most songs go from meat-and-potatoes to decent (or even good for a couple of them), there are also two or three tracks that are unbearably grating. And when the latter are the most memorable ones (example: "Who Listens To The Radio?"), you clearly want to shout... "next, please!". ---- 2/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 7/10 for more general purposes (5 + 2) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 57 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 76 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 138 (including this one) --- Émile. Ça y est, j'ai *enfin* répondu (en deux temps). Tu trouveras ça sous les reviews des disques de Blackalicious et Alexisonfire au dessus.

Aussie new wave band that feels a bit Elvis Costello/ Nick Lowe. Nothing really stands out for me.

Didn’t care for the first song at all but I enjoyed it a bit more as it went along. A lot of other reviewers have compared it to Elvis Costello and… yeah it sounds just like Costello, other than a couple of songs where the singer just does a bad Jagger impression. I enjoyed the quirky rhythms of the title track and Who Listens to the Radio was a very catchy and well written song, but everything else just felt like a less good version of other songs I’ve heard before

Just kind of standard rock, with a bit of new wave sensibility creeping in. Sorta the general sound of 1979 distilled into 40 minutes. I dunno that this has brought much new or interesting to my life

This album makes me want to throw stones at it.