''Venus Returning'' is the debut
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
pop band
The Mavis's
The Mavis's were an Australian rock band formed in Ballarat, Victoria, in 1987. Founding mainstays are Becky Thomas (a.k.a. Beki Thomas, Beki Colada) on vocals and keyboards, her brother Matt Thomas on guitar and vocals, and Andrea Vendy on drum ...
, released in May 1996 by record label
Mushroom
A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans.
The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...
.
[ It was produced by ]Kalju Tonuma
Kalju Tonuma is an Australian music producer, songwriter, drummer and performer of Estonian descent. He is one half of the production team MEJU (pronounced "me-you") which he founded with Megan Bernard in 2014. He also manages record label Of ...
(Nick Barker
Nicholas Paul Barker is an Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist who formed a rock, power pop band, Nick Barker & the Reptiles, in March 1988. Their cover version of Cockney Rebel's "Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)" reached the top ...
).Ian McFarlane
Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the '' Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017.
As a journalist ...
, described how it "highlighted the band's brash sound, which mixed the Thomas siblings' idiosyncratic, imperfect vocal blend, crashing guitars, sugar-frosted melodies, goofy keyboard embellishments and odd instrumentation (sitar, Tibetan bells and Indian banjo)."Triple J
Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...
audience poll, Hottest 100 of 1996, at No. 92.ARIA Albums Chart
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 ...
.[
]
Track listing
# "Moon Drone Gold" – 3:10
# "Thunder" – 3:32
# "Box" – 3:59
# "Giant" – 3:32
# "Do You Have a Brother?" – 2:54
# "Supa*Star" – 3:28
# "See-Saw" – 3:06
# "The Land That Time Forgot" – 2:59
# "Sleep" – 2:51
# "Lost" – 3:55
# "Ribcage" – 3:53
# "Ghosts of the Night" – 3:09
Charts
References
{{Authority control
1996 debut albums
The Mavis's albums
Mushroom Records albums