''Electric Digger Dandy'' is the third solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by Australian singer/songwriter

James Reyne James Michael Nugent Reyne OAM (born 19 May 1957) is an Australian rock musician and singer-songwriter both in solo work and, until 1986, with the band Australian Crawl. Biography Early years Reyne was born in Lagos, Nigeria. His father, Ro ...

released in June 1991. The album was released in the United States as ''Any Day Above Ground''. The album peaked at number 3 on the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

and remains Reyne's highest-charting album. The album saw Reyne's return to a more electric sound. It features the singles "

Slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

", "

Any Day Above Ground "Any Day Above Ground" is the second single from Australian rock musician James Reyne's third studio album ''Electric Digger Dandy'' released in July 1991. The album ''Electric Digger Dandy'' was released in America under the title ''Any Day Above ...

" and "Some People", as well as a new, acoustic rendition of the

Australian Crawl Australian Crawl (often called Aussie Crawl or The Crawl by fans) were an Australian rock band founded by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano/harmonica), Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar), Paul Williams (bass), Simon Binks (lead guitar) and David R ...

song " Reckless".

Reception

Tomas Mureika of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

wrote that on "''Electric Digger Dandy'' Reyne expanded his musical boundaries with collaborations with

Jim Vallance James Douglas Vallance (born May 31, 1952) is a Canadian songwriter, arranger and producer. He is best known as the songwriting partner of Canadian musician Bryan Adams. Vallance began his professional career as the original drummer and main song ...

and

Tony Joe White Tony Joe White (July 23, 1943 – October 24, 2018), nicknamed the Swamp Fox, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie" and for "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but which was first ma ...

. The result is an invigorated Reyne, who seems to be having a great time winding his voice around gorgeous melodies and intense rants alike. Despite its nutty had-to-be-changed-for-America title, ''Digger Dandy'' finds a more introspective experimental Reyne, one content to play the music at a lower level and let his words and stiletto voice speak for itself."

Track listing

#"Some People" (J. Reyne, J. Vallance) – 4:13 #"

" (J. Reyne, J. Vallance) – 4:13 #" Reckless" (J. Reyne) – 5:19 #"

" (J. Reyne) – 3:38 #"Take a Giant Step" (J. Reyne, S. Hussey) – 5:10 #"Company of Strangers" (J. Reyne, S. Hussey) – 4:05 #"Black and Blue World" (J. Reyne, B. Goldsmith) – 4:06 #"Stood Up" ( J. Hiatt) – 4:52 #"Outback Woman" (J. Reyne, T. J. White) – 3:38 #"Water, Water" (J. Reyne) – 5:40 #"Lay Your Weary Head Down" (J. Reyne) – 2:34

Personnel

– vocals, guitar * Jef Scott – guitars, bass, vocals *

Simon Hussey Simon Cyril Hussey (born 7 July 1960) is an Australian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter-arranger, record producer and audio engineer. In 1984 he formed Cats Under Pressure on keyboards with David Reyne (ex-Australian Crawl) on vocals and Mark ...

– keyboards, producer * John Watson – drums

Guests

* Mick O'Connor – Hammond organ * Renee Geyer – backing vocals * Gene Black – guitar * C. J. Vanston – keyboards * Scott Griffiths – piano, Hammon Organ, keyboards * Steve Housden – guitar solo on "Slave" *

Richard Pleasance Richard Arnold Pleasance is an Australian rock musician and producer. He was a founding member of Boom Crash Opera on guitar, bass guitar, vocals and as a songwriter in 1985; they released three albums before Pleasance left in 1992. Their hit ...

– mandolin * Brett Kingman – electric guitar * Mark Goldenberg – guitars, keyboards *

Kenny Aronoff Kenny Aronoff (born March 7, 1953) is an American session drummer. Early life Aronoff grew up in Stockbridge, Massachusetts He developed an interest in music at an early age and gravitated to the drums as "drumming was one hundred percent ene ...

– drums, percussion * Jimmie Wood – harmonica * Eric Lowen – backing vocals, acoustic guitar *

Dan Navarro Dan Navarro (born Daniel Anthony Navarro, September 14, 1952) is an American vocalist, guitarist and voice actor best known as half of the duo Lowen & Navarro. He is first cousins with Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Peppers. ...

– backing vocals, acoustic guitar *

– electric guitar, harmonica, bass, drums * John Pierce – bass * Byron Berline – fiddle * Jim McMains – backing vocals

Reception

Track listing

Personnel

Guests

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References