“I have 56 albums and hundreds of songs,” Atwood pauses. “In actual fact, I have up to 800 songs.”
Armed with an enormous catalogue of music from genres across the board, Atwood hopes he can provide inspiration for other musicians while also providing the best quality music for anyone to listen to.
To put the size of his song catalogue in perspective, it could be compared to a well-known musician whose career has spanned roughly the same time period, Gordon Sumner, AKA Sting, who has released 17 albums.
Atwood has spent the bulk of his life expressing himself through art which shows through his unmatched wisdom and music philosophy.
“Any songwriter will either put his style to a cover or they will do a completely new version. In all my recording sessions since the mid-seventies, I have always done six to a dozen versions of my own songs. The point is, you let it go for a while then come back and have a listen.”
To achieve his songwriting cornucopia, Atwood’s music has spanned a multitude of genres, which further highlights his versatility and commitment to the craft. “I have written albums that cover everything from pop, to R&B, rock, new wave, EDM, blues-rock, acoustic and nu-country,” he says.
Conveniently for the listener, Atwood uses different artist names for each genre. The names are bold and most of them allude to the genre that project covers: Stretch, Aussie Brew, Salvation, SNG – POP.
While his incredibly varied output makes it difficult to categorise an Atwood sound, one certainly gets the impression that many of his 56 albums were recorded during a golden era in Australian rock.
“My Sydney sessions, in ‘84 or ‘85, The Church were recording in the same studio as me. I was in Sydney for a change because, in Melbourne, I’d broken up with a girl who I had brought back from England. After a while living up there I had met someone else and she inspired me to write the album Your Voice.”
After mentioning songs and albums inspired by his relationships, Atwood suggests that love has been an overriding theme of his 56 albums.
“Most of the songs, if you actually look at the titles, are certainly about the women in my life, they have come and gone and I’ve loved them all.”
That includes the songs ‘Liana’, ‘Get To You’ and ‘Everytime’, drawn from a relationship he had with a Californian woman he met on the sidewalk as she exited a charming Rolls Royce.
‘Dreamin’’ is another of these – a story of an English girl he met in 1980, and who he returned to Australia with.
Like many other artists, anti-hegemony has also played a part; many of Atwood’s songs touch on political rigmarole in some form. “I have a couple of political songs on the Terrible Isn’t album; there is one called ‘You Bastards’.”
Whilst still writing and recording, Atwood does not perform live but he believes his songs could live again through any style of musician. His discography speaks for itself, and many musicians, both emerging and established, could utilise his expertise.
“I think that I am one of the most versatile songwriters in Australia. I do so many genres, all the songs are high quality and I am very proud of them and I think many [of the songs] are exceptional.”
“There are so many hits there waiting for other people to record. If people visit my website, I would suggest that they listen to Loves A Hunger and Your Voice albums, country song ‘Love Me Some’ from the album of the same name as well as rock albums Just A Fling and Go Slow and pop EPs See Me Girl and Run Run Run.”
By Dan Watt
