Fundamental is released in Australia

[Rusty]

Yesterday Fundamental was officially released here, and I ventured into the city (Sydney) to pick up my copies of Fundamental and Fundamentalism. HMV seem to be taking this release fairly seriously, as they had it in the Album of the Week section, as well as prominently displayed in two of the other new release sections. Seems a few people had already picked up their copies as the stocks already looked somewhat depleted. A survey of the other inner city music stores revealed that the only other major retailer to stock it was Virgin, and then not very prominently. What have other aussie found in your part of the country? Are we looking at a hit album here? I certainly hope so, especially after Neil's announcement on Radio 6 that they would be touring here later in the year. It would be a travesty if the tour was cancelled simply due to a lack of interest based on the success or otherwise of Fundamental.

It's been wonderful to listen to Fundamental/ism in full stereo quality, so much better than the quality of the downloads. I've been listening to it non-stop since yesterday, giving the neighbours a good blast. Minimal sounds brilliant turned right up! Thankfully no one has complained....yet!

In other news, I'm With Stupid drops from #23 to #39 in the official national top 40, which is a bit disappointing. HMV seemed to suggest it was holding up quite well, only dropping from #12 ro #13 this week. Based on the relative success of I'm with stupid I'm hopeful of at least a top 20 place in the album chart, which would be a vast improvement on Release which staggered into the chart at #64. PopArt did not even hit the top100! Fundamental has apparently been available this past week for download locally and is #6 on iTunes which must be a good indication.

[Paulo]

I went to a Sanity in a surburban shopping centre yesterday and they only had the single cd. Even then it was still in the delivery box and I had to ask for it (to be fair he was in the middle of unpacking everything).

I didn't buy it as I already have the JP version but will buy a copy tomorrow at JBs.

[Docoboy]

Yesterday Fundamental was officially released here, and I ventured into the city (Sydney) to pick up my copies of Fundamental and Fundamentalism. HMV seem to be taking this release fairly seriously, as they had it in the Album of the Week section, as well as prominently displayed in two of the other new release sections. Seems a few people had already picked up their copies as the stocks already looked somewhat depleted. A survey of the other inner city music stores revealed that the only other major retailer to stock it was Virgin, and then not very prominently. What have other aussie found in your part of the country? Are we looking at a hit album here? I certainly hope so, especially after Neil's announcement on Radio 6 that they would be touring here later in the year. It would be a travesty if the tour was cancelled simply due to a lack of interest based on the success or otherwise of Fundamental.

I bought my copy of Fundamentalism today at HMV Pitt St, Sydney. Quite a few copies of both Fundamental and Fundamentalism on the shelves. I will keep an eye out when I pass by other CD shops to see how the displays look. At least now the DVD single of I'm with stupid seems to be in shops here (a couple of weeks after the CD single).

Time to go, I have a new PSB album to unwrap and listen to.

[XTZ1969]

[Rusty]

Based on the relative success of I'm with stupid I'm hopeful of at least a top 20 place in the album chart....

Hi, Rusty?
Have you got australian album chart info for the PSB?

This is all i know:
Bilingual - Peak Position:3
Nightlife - Peak Position:25
Release - Peak Position:62

Thanks in advance.

I've dug through my PSB box of trivia and found these:

Albums:
Please - Peak Position: 10, Weeks on Chart: 19
Actually - #16 / 36 wks
Introspective - #38 / 22 wks
Behaviour - #32 / 18 wks
Discography - #7 / 21 wks
Very - #2 / ?
Alternative - #8 / ?
Bilingual - #3 / ?
Nightlife - #25 / ?
Release - #62 / ?

Singles:
Opportunities - #63 / 14 wks
West end girls - #5 / 21 wks
Love comes quickly - #54 / 16 wks
It's a sin - #10 / 20 wks
What have I done to deserve this - #22 / 21 wks
Rent - #81 / 7 wks
Always on my mind - #10 / 29 wks!!
Heart - #18 / 20 wks
Domino Dancing - #36 / 15 wks
Left to my own devices - #36 / 13 wks
It's alright - #65 / 4 wks
So hard - #27 / 15 wks
Being boring - #83 / 4 wks
Where the streets have no name - #11 / 12 wks
DJ Culture - #95 / 2 wks
Can you forgive her - #13 / ?
Go west - #9
I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing - #31
Liberation - ?
Yesterday when I was mad - #11
Paninaro 95 - #31
Absolutely Fabulous - #2
Before - #26
Se a vida e - #11
A red letter day - #55 (I think, from memory)
Somewhere - #50 something, again not sure
I don't know what you want - #67
Miracles - #64
I'm with stupid - #23

Some of that later figures are a bit sketchy and are only from memory as I stopped keeping records. Most of the earlier figures are from the Kent Music report which was the main National Chart before ARIA took over. I know both Kent and ARIA operated together for awhile, and ARIA's chart placings were sometimes quite different. For example ARIA had Streets as #9, and Go West as only #10.

[Rusty]

I didn't buy it as I already have the JP version but will buy a copy tomorrow at JBs.

Yes, a good idea not to buy at Sanity (or HMV or Virgin for that matter), as it won't count towards the national chart. Unfortunately I had already bought my copies before reading a story in the paper about a rift between the company that owns HMV/Sanity/Virgin and ARIA, resulting in these stores refusing to supply sales info to ARIA as of last week. They represent 30% of total national sales figures apparently. Considering HMV/Sanity had I'm with stupid debuting at #12, I'm wondering if this has affected it's real national chart position which might have been higher. The company representing the big 3 retailers is planning on starting it's own "official' national chart, so looks like we are going back to the bad old days when we had both Kent and ARIA proporting to be the official chart, and no one knowing who to believe.

[Dreamcatcher2003]

Based on the relative success of I'm with stupid I'm hopeful of at least a top 20 place in the album chart....

Hi, Rusty?
Have you got australian album chart info for the PSB?

This is all i know:
Bilingual - Peak Position:3
Nightlife - Peak Position:25
Release - Peak Position:62

Thanks in advance.

I've dug through my PSB box of trivia and found these:

Albums:
Please - Peak Position: 10, Weeks on Chart: 19
Actually - #16 / 36 wks
Introspective - #38 / 22 wks
Behaviour - #32 / 18 wks
Discography - #7 / 21 wks
Very - #2 / ?
Alternative - #8 / ?
Bilingual - #3 / ?
Nightlife - #25 / ?
Release - #62 / ?

Singles:
Opportunities - #63 / 14 wks
West end girls - #5 / 21 wks
Love comes quickly - #54 / 16 wks
It's a sin - #10 / 20 wks
What have I done to deserve this - #22 / 21 wks
Rent - #81 / 7 wks
Always on my mind - #10 / 29 wks!!
Heart - #18 / 20 wks
Domino Dancing - #36 / 15 wks
Left to my own devices - #36 / 13 wks
It's alright - #65 / 4 wks
So hard - #27 / 15 wks
Being boring - #83 / 4 wks
Where the streets have no name - #11 / 12 wks
DJ Culture - #95 / 2 wks
Can you forgive her - #13 / ?
Go west - #9
I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing - #31
Liberation - ?
Yesterday when I was mad - #11
Paninaro 95 - #31
Absolutely Fabulous - #2
Before - #26
Se a vida e - #11
A red letter day - #55 (I think, from memory)
Somewhere - #50 something, again not sure
I don't know what you want - #67
Miracles - #64
I'm with stupid - #23

Some of that later figures are a bit sketchy and are only from memory as I stopped keeping records. Most of the earlier figures are from the Kent Music report which was the main National Chart before ARIA took over. I know both Kent and ARIA operated together for awhile, and ARIA's chart placings were sometimes quite different. For example ARIA had Streets as #9, and Go West as only #10.

What should one do to be number one in Australia? Even US lists are not that formidable...

[XTZ1969]

[Debussy]

I ventured into a local retailer in Auckland last week to enquire about Fundamental only to be given the run around , so I complained to the head office who told me that it has a late June release in NZ.

Every PSB release seems to arrive locally around 1 month after Australia. I wonder if EMI wait to see the sales levels in Australia before determining how many copies they'll sell.
There's be no promotion or articles at all here in NZ. In fact were it not for this forum I wouldnt even know Fundamental exists.
We have Top of the Pops so I saw I'm with stupid performed but there's been no radio play and no retailers have even heard of the single. Meh!

[Debussy]

Oh and these would be the same retailers and industry that complains that digital downloads (free or paid) are ruining the business.
So I've imported both my copies and all I'm with stupid formats.

[Docoboy]

Has anyone in Australia seen any reviews of Fundamental here? Hopefully there will be some publicity this week...

[Rusty]

Has anyone in Australia seen any reviews of Fundamental here? Hopefully there will be some publicity this week...

I scanned all of the weekend papers but there was nothing. Apart from one story/interview in SX I haven't seen a single piece of publicity for Fundamental. This release is travelling on word of mouth alone here I'm afraid.

[Rusty]

Hi, Rusty?
Have you got australian album chart info for the PSB?

This is all i know:
Bilingual - Peak Position:3
Nightlife - Peak Position:25
Release - Peak Position:62

Thanks in advance.

I've dug through my PSB box of trivia and found these:

Albums:
Please - Peak Position: 10, Weeks on Chart: 19
Actually - #16 / 36 wks
Introspective - #38 / 22 wks
Behaviour - #32 / 18 wks
Discography - #7 / 21 wks
Very - #2 / ?
Alternative - #8 / ?
Bilingual - #3 / ?
Nightlife - #25 / ?
Release - #62 / ?

Singles:
Opportunities - #63 / 14 wks
West end girls - #5 / 21 wks
Love comes quickly - #54 / 16 wks
It's a sin - #10 / 20 wks
What have I done to deserve this - #22 / 21 wks
Rent - #81 / 7 wks
Always on my mind - #10 / 29 wks!!
Heart - #18 / 20 wks
Domino Dancing - #36 / 15 wks
Left to my own devices - #36 / 13 wks
It's alright - #65 / 4 wks
So hard - #27 / 15 wks
Being boring - #83 / 4 wks
Where the streets have no name - #11 / 12 wks
DJ Culture - #95 / 2 wks
Can you forgive her - #13 / ?
Go west - #9
I wouldn't normally do this kind of thing - #31
Liberation - ?
Yesterday when I was mad - #11
Paninaro 95 - #31
Absolutely Fabulous - #2
Before - #26
Se a vida e - #11
A red letter day - #55 (I think, from memory)
Somewhere - #50 something, again not sure
I don't know what you want - #67
Miracles - #64
I'm with stupid - #23

Some of that later figures are a bit sketchy and are only from memory as I stopped keeping records. Most of the earlier figures are from the Kent Music report which was the main National Chart before ARIA took over. I know both Kent and ARIA operated together for awhile, and ARIA's chart placings were sometimes quite different. For example ARIA had Streets as #9, and Go West as only #10.

What should one do to be number one in Australia? Even US lists are not that formidable...

They were unlucky not to get #1 with Ab Fab. It's not a bad track record all things considerd. It still adds up to 18 top40 hits which I think is a pretty impressive achievement in this country. Neil is always saying how they don't sell records here, but Very must have moved quite a few copies to get to #2. It was even in the year end album chart for 1994. Between Discography and Bilingual was their "imperial" period down here, with all albums going top10, and a few singles as well. Alas, it all fell apart after that, sadly

[Paulo]

This is the only article I have seen in our local press

[Rusty]

Some good news! HMV have Fundamental on their chart at #5! At least the city store here in Sydney has it as #5, so I assume this will be the national placing, although the website hasn't been updated yet. I hope this translates to a top10 on the official national chart, but at the very least we're looking at top20.