🎵 AotW Mental as Anything - IF YOU LEAVE ME CAN I COME TOO? (SP-4921)

[LPJim]

Mental As Anything
IF YOU LEAVE CAN I COME TOO?
A&M SP-4921

Martin Plaza & Reg Mombassa - guitar and vocals
Peter O'Doherty - bass and vocals
Greedy Smith - keyboards, harmonica and vocals
David Twohill - drums

If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too? 3:11
Let's Cook 2:30
Too Many Times 2:45
Got Hit 3:10
Looking For Bird 3:40
Ready For You Now 2:40
Chemical Travel 3:00
I Didn't Mean To Be Mean 3:25
Walking On Rails 2:34
Sad Poetry 2:50
Berserk Warriors 3:45
Psychedelic Peace Lamp 3:02
Catalinas Reward 3:11
Holiday In Auckland

Released in 1982
Category: Australian New Wave

JB

 

[AM Matt]

The group Men At Work introduced Mental As Anything on "Solid Gold" back in March or April of 1983 BUT Mental As Anything did NOT hit the Billboard Top 200 Album Charts. Matt Clark Sanford, MI

 

[Mr Bill]

I really liked this band and this album. A&M had an imprint for Australian music back when Men At Work was all the rage. It was called Oz Records (and most of the records were licensed from Mushroom with whom A&M had a deal as far back as the 60s).

Mental As Anything, like their labelmates Hunters & Collectors (also a fascinating band), were visual artists, producing their own videos. Check out "Let's Eat (Let's Cook)" which was the b-side on one release of the A&M single of "If You Leave Me (Can I Come Too)." It's rarely up on You Tube and when it is it disappears fast. It uses unusual animation techniques including scratching and drawing on the film.

--Mr Bill

 

[Another Son]

'If You Leave Me (Can I Come Too?) - what a brilliant song! Good old Aussie humour from a band that didn't take themselves too seriously, but produced terrific songs. There was never an album titled 'If You Leave Me' in Australia, but the song itself was a Top 5 smash. The American 'If You Leave Me' LP seems to be made up of five or six of the band's Australian hit singles, plus some album tracks. Everyone should own a compilation of Mental as Anything's singles! They had so many great songs. I preferred them when Martin Plaza sang lead, as on 'If You Leave Me, (Can I Come Too?) They went through a phase of obviously trying to sound commercial, and this seemed to coincide with Greedy Smith singing lead. In Australia, The Mentals had nineteen Top 40 singles up to the end of the '80s. I've got most of their albums on CD. Whenever you play a compilation of their singles, though, your spirits are sure to rise and you find yourself smiling. Great band. They had a lot of other songs just as good as 'If You Leave Me'. 'Too Many Times', on this album, is an excellent song. 'Berserk Warriors' is a bit bizarre, but a fun song. 'Mental as Anything' was pretty much the quintessential good-time band.