Don't Throw Stones

Even though I grew up as an Australian and an Australian rock fan, I was five years too young to get this album. I didn't start getting into Australian live music until 1984 or 85, by which time this album was five years old. The Sports had already ceased to be a really big thing, having peaked with this album, some big tours and a TV Week King of Pop award in 1978, and then flaming out on an ill-fated attempt to crack the UK. Mind you, members went on to big things in the industry, notably Stephen Cummings and Martin Arminger (who became an important producer, especially of soundtracks for TV and film). This album charted in Australia and copies continue to languish in second-hand record stores to this day. I never really dug it though. It comes across like a lukewarm attempt at UK pub-rock/new wave like Elvis Costello or Nick Lowe or Joe Jackson, but not quite as good. I am sure they were much better live -- an acceptable alternative if those UK acts rarely toured -- but it doesn't come across on record. 'Who Listens To The Radio' is probably the only track that gets any play these days. The album is highly rated, mostly by critics who saw them in sweaty pubs in the late 70s. It is largely forgotten these days. 2.5 stars, rounding up. I do have a 'six degrees of separation' connection to the band. Martin Arminger's brother, Michael, also played in bands (The Johnnys, Paul Kelly, the Go-Betweens briefly), but I knew him because his son played int he same Aussie Rules team as my son. We spent many cold, wet Saturdays standing together at the sidelines of various fields chatting while our offspring played footy. Good bloke, Michael. His son had a pretty good boot on him, too. Go Wests!

I’m not sure this is the one but the sports have a niche in Australian rock history. Cummings a great composer. . The sports were a Melbourne band - the Sydney bands tended to be less smooth (though exceptions exist but even icehouse sounds Sydney in a way that hunters and collectors don’t.) the sports are st Kilda and Collins street. This isn’t a negative. 4 stars.

Did not at all expect to see this on the list. Good Aussie pub rock, but by no means the best example of this underrated genre. "Who listens to the radio" was a staple of on the radio when I was young. Catchy song, this is a fun listen but nothing particularly special.

Decent Rock Album. Very Australian!

2.1 The kind of nonsense that appeared way too frequently on the main list. Luckily in limited supply on this user list but clearly some are sneaking through. I've heard a lifetimes worth of punk/new wave/Costello drivel now I'm afraid.

Solid shit. Sounds a little ahead of it’s time in terms of the production. The songs were fresh and original. Nothing too experimental or groundbreaking, but not a bad song on here. Good suggestion. 4/5

Suspicious Minds // Don’t Throw Stones //

New wave and fairly listenable but average lyrics and no stand out songs.

Le band porte bien son nom, c’est vraiment de la musique d’ambiance de brasserie sportive un peu miteuse

Kinda bland, but maybe that was just the bad sound quality. Just sounds like they want to be some kind of Elvis Costello and Thin Lizzy type band.

Somehow this sounded like the 90s

Lite rock. Pleasant enough but I don't feel compelled to listen to it again

Truly dreadful. It sounded unforgivably similar to Elvis Costello. One star.

uoah, great suggestion

If it’s power pop from 79 and I’ve not heard of them it’s gonna be up my street

Catchy Australian new wave with sharp songwriting akin to Joe Jackson or the Cars. Good energy, fun songs, not much else to it. Not a bad song on here but doesn't do anything genre-defining or -defying either. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: If we're to include an Australian new wave album, shouldn't it be Men At Work?

I like this better when Joe Jackson did it

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 👍

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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"

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

New wave, rock, pop. Rollo.

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.

I liked this one a lot!

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

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.

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

Fine

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

This was pretty enjoyable

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.

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

Suprised by how groovy this was!

It was pretty good, I enjoyed it.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

It’s definitely got Elvis Costello vibes to it and I appreciate that. The title track bops a bit and I like the lead singer’s authentic delivery. I had never heard of this band or their songs before - it just never made the jump to America, I guess. It would scratch an imaginary itch. How’s that?

Didn't rock my world, fun new wave

Don't Throw Stones is just super generic radio pop/easy listening stuff, like Elvis Costello but somehow even more bland? 2/5.

Fine I guess

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!

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"

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

Harmless

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.

Thank you for the user album submission, Robert Dimery.

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?

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.

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.

Yeah whatever. Seen it a million times by now

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.

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

It's a ballsy move for a MOR soft rock album to have an opening track titled 'Suspicious Minds'. Rating: 2.5 Playlist track: Who Listens to the Radio Date listened: 19/09/24

This album had all the makings to be great but it really felt incredibly average. The instrumentals were fun and upbeat but also very timid. The lyrics were pretty uneventful and the songs that were catchy made little sense. Overall it failed to stand out. Was nothing special to me. 5.5/10

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.

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

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

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

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.