''Whispering Jack'' is the twelfth studio album by Australian adult contemporary pop singer

John Farnham John Peter Farnham AO (born 1 July 1949) is a British born Australian singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed then as Johnny Farnham, but has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer.McFarlane (1999). Enc ...

. It was produced by Ross Fraser, and released on 20 October 1986, peaking at No. 1 on the Australian

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent (historian), David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music ...

Album Charts. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting until

ARIA In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...

created their own

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

in mid-1988. ''Whispering Jack'' has become the second best-selling-album in Australia, behind Meat Loaf's album '' Bat Out of Hell'', and the highest selling album in Australia by an Australian artist―24x

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

indicating sales of over 1.68 million copies sold. It spent 25 weeks at the No. 1 spot on the Album Charts during 1986–1987, it was awarded the 1987 ARIA Award for "

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

", and was the best charting album for the decade of the 1980s in Australia. It was the first Australian-made album to be released on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in O ...

within Australia. One of Farnham's biggest hits, "

You're the Voice "You're the Voice" is a song written by Andy Qunta, Keith Reid, Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson, and recorded by the Australian singer John Farnham and released as a single in September 1986 ahead of his album '' Whispering Jack''. "You're t ...

" was issued as the lead single from this album and peaked at No. 1 on the Kent Music Report Singles Charts. Prior to this album, Farnham's career had stalled after being recruited and then leaving as lead singer of Australia's Little River Band. Farnham's manager,

Glenn Wheatley Glenn Dawson Wheatley (23 January 1948 – 1 February 2022) was an Australian musician, talent manager and tour promoter. Career Wheatley began his career as a musician in Brisbane in the mid-1960s. In the late 1960s he became known nationa ...

, mortgaged his home to raise funds for the recording of this album. After initial reluctance by major Australian radio stations to play the lead single, "You're the Voice", public demand became overwhelming and they relented. The song became one of the standout Number One songs on the Australian Charts of the 1980s and still remains a staple of Australian Radio. ''Whispering Jack'' restarted Farnham's career and kept it rolling across two more decades. On 21 November 2006, ''Whispering Jack'' was re-released to celebrate its 20th Anniversary, which came with a bonus track, an extended studio version of " Pressure Down" and with a DVD of the edited 1987 ''Whispering Jack Live in Concert'' televised performance.

Background

John Farnham had been a teen pop idol during the late 1960s and 1970s billed then as "Johnny". He met

, who was

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

ist of rock group The Masters Apprentices, when both acts were managed by

Darryl Sambell Darryl Lloyd Sambell (26 November 194519 September 2001) was an Australian accountant, talent manager and music promoter from the mid-1960s. In 1967 Samball established the "Australian Musicians Booking Organisation" (AMBO), with fellow talent ...

. From the mid-1970s, Farnham had moved into television, stage and cabaret entertainment. Wheatley, who was already managing Little River Band (LRB), signed Farnham to his company in 1980. They decided Farnham's comeback single would be a reworking of

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

' "

Help! ''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the singles " Help!" and " Ticket to Ride", ...

", which was produced by LRB's

Graeham Goble Graeham George Goble, (born 15 May 1947)Goble, Graeham (2006Graeham Goble: Biography. Retrieved on 14 July 2008. is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as a founding member of Australian rock group Little Ri ...

, it peaked at No. 8 on the Australian

Singles Chart. Farnham was utilising a more adult contemporary pop style and the associated album, ''Uncovered'', was also produced by Goble, which peaked at No. 20 on the Kent Music Report Album Charts. The B-side of "Help" was Farnham's song writing effort, "Jillie's Song", co-written with Goble. In recording the album, Farnham's studio band included

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

ist

Tommy Emmanuel William Thomas Emmanuel (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Regarded as one of the greatest acoustic guitarists of all time, he is known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and use of percussive effects on ...

(ex-Southern Star Band),

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical inst ...

Mal Logan (ex- Renée Geyer Band, LRB),

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western bands that play rock, pop, jazz, or R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeeping and embellishing the musical timbre. The drummer's ...

Derek Pellicci (LRB) and

ist Barry Sullivan (ex-

Chain A chain is a serial assembly of connected pieces, called links, typically made of metal, with an overall character similar to that of a rope in that it is flexible and curved in compression but linear, rigid, and load-bearing in tension. ...

). They became his tour band until Logan and Pellicci returned to their LRB commitments and were replaced by Sam McNally and David Jones respectively. Three other solo singles followed in 1981 but none charted into the Top 50. In February 1982, after Glenn Shorrock had departed Little River Band, Farnham became their lead vocalist with recommendations by Goble and Wheatley. In 1985, Farnham had started collecting a songlist for a future solo album while still in Little River Band, and after he finished his vocals for their album, '' No Reins'', he left the band late that year. Farnham's first solo performances since 1981 were live shows with the John Farnham Band consisting of

Brett Garsed Brett Edward Garsed (born 20 April 1963) is an Australian musician and songwriter, best known for his work as a guitarist with John Farnham and T. J. Helmerich, as well as being a former member of the American band Nelson. Garsed was featur ...

on lead guitar, Sam See on guitar and Derek Pellicci, formerly of Little River Band, on drums. In early 1986,

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...

Ross Fraser suggested to Wheatley that it was time to start working on the solo album. Wheatley searched in vain for a producer and record label willing to work with Farnham, so Fraser took on the producer role and Wheatley provided financial support. Whilst visiting a jazz club in the US, Farnham was mistakenly introduced as Jack Phantom, and when he subsequently provided a running commentary for a local pool game he named himself Whispering Jack Phantom after the '' Pot Black'' commentator 'Whispering'

Ted Lowe Edwin Charles Ernest Lowe (1 November 19201 May 2011) was an English snooker commentator for the BBC and ITV. His husky, hushed tones earned him the nickname "Whispering Ted". Life and career Born in Lambourn, Berkshire, Lowe was general manag ...

. Farnham's work for the album, ''Whispering Jack'', included expanding his song list with Fraser's advice. "

A Touch of Paradise "A Touch of Paradise" is a song written by Ross Wilson, Gulliver Smith and Roger McLachlan. The song was originally recorded by Mondo Rock on their album '' Nuovo Mondo'' (1982). The song was covered by Australian singer John Farnham and American ...

" was co-written by Gulliver Smith of Company Caine and

Mondo Rock Mondo Rock are an Australian rock band, formed in November 1976 in Melbourne, Victoria. Singer-songwriter Ross Wilson founded the band, following the split of his previous band Daddy Cool. Guitarist Eric McCusker, who joined in 1980, wrote man ...

's Ross Wilson, while " Pressure Down" was provided by Harry Bogdanovs. Two weeks before the album was due to be recorded a demo tape arrived from London with similar material to "Pressure Down"; Farnham and Fraser listened to the demo of "

" and knew they had found a once-in-a-lifetime song. Another song on offer was " We Built This City" but Farnham knocked it back; it was later recorded by US band

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 1882 in '' Oahspe: A Ne ...

Recording

Recording began in October 1985 in the suburban garage of Farnham's house. The recording's $150,000 cost was financed by the remortgaging of Glenn Wheatley's house. In addition to traditional instrumentation, the album relied heavily on sampling. The drum sounds on 'You're the Voice' were sampled from a slamming car door played via the

Fairlight CMI The Fairlight CMI (short for Computer Musical Instrument) is a digital synthesizer, sampler, and digital audio workstation introduced in 1979 by Fairlight. — with links to some Fairlight history and photos It was based on a commercial lic ...

Reception

Initially, public interest in the re-branded former teen-idol was difficult to cultivate, and radio stations refused to play Farnham's album. Things however started to change after

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

radio station 2Day FM played its first single, "You're the Voice", which was released in September 1986. Henceforth, radio stations began receiving requests for the song. Its television debut was on '' Hey Hey Its Saturday'' with Skyhook's Greg Macainsh providing bass guitar. "You're the Voice," peaked at No. 1 in Sweden and Australia, as well as being a Top Ten hit in some European countries: No. 3 in Switzerland, NOTE: Information in Swiss German. No. 6 in the UK, and No. 6 in Austria. NOTE: Information in Austrian. The song was written by Andy Qunta (

Icehouse Icehouse or ice house may refer to: * Ice house (building), a building where ice is stored * Ice shanty, a shelter for ice fishing also known as an ''Icehouse'' * Ice skating rink, a facility for ice skating. * Ice hockey arena, an area where i ...

Keith Reid Keith Stuart Brian Reid (born 19 October 1946 Allmusic.com biography by Jason Ankeny/ref>) is a lyricist and songwriter who wrote the lyrics of every song released by Procol Harum that was not previously recorded by someone else, with the excep ...

(

Procol Harum Procol Harum () were an English rock band formed in Southend-on-Sea, Essex in 1967. Their best-known recording is the 1967 hit single " A Whiter Shade of Pale", one of the few singles to have sold over 10 million copies. Although noted for ...

), Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson (ex- Manfred Mann's Earth Band). ''Whispering Jack'', released in October, became the highest-selling album by an Australian act in Australia, and peaked at No. 1 on the Australian

Album Charts for a total of 25 weeks. As of 2006, it was 24x

indicating sales of over 1.68 million units in Australia alone. The album was released internationally on

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

/ BMG and peaked at No. 1 in Sweden, No. 3 in Austria, and Top 20 in Norway. In August 1988 it returned to the Australian Top Ten. Other Australian singles were December's " Pressure Down", which peaked at No. 4, February 1987's "Touch of Paradise" and September's "

Reasons In the most general terms, a reason is a consideration which justifies or explains an action, a belief, an attitude, or a fact. ''Normative reasons'' are what people appeal to when making arguments about what people should do or believe. For exam ...

". Farnham followed with Jack's Back Tour, an initial itinerary of eleven performances was thought to be enough considering they were up against tours by

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

and

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since th ...

, but after high ticket sales, it was extended by eight more shows and use of larger venues. At that time, Jack's Back Tour was the highest-grossing tour by an Australian act. John Farnham Band now consisted of

on lead guitar,

David Hirschfelder David Hirschfelder (born 18 November 1960, Ballarat, Victoria) is an Australian musician, film score composer and performer. As a musician he has been a member of Little River Band and John Farnham Band. He has composed film scores for many film ...

on keyboards (ex-Little River Band), Macainsh on bass and Angus Burchill on drums. Farnham won six of the inaugural 1987

Australian Record Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing t ...

(ARIA)

Awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award ...

for '

', ' Single of the Year', 'Highest Selling Album', 'Highest Selling Single', ' Best Male Artist' and ' Best Adult Contemporary Album'. On 19 July 1987, TV series ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and ev ...

'' broadcast its last show, the 1986 ''Countdown'' Music and Video Awards with Farnham winning the 'Best Album Award' for ''Whispering Jack''. In October 2010, ''Whispering Jack'' (1986) was listed in the book, ''

100 Best Australian Albums 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length&nb ...

''. In December 2021, the album was listed at number three in ''Rolling Stone'' Australia's ‘200 Greatest Albums of All Time’ countdown. In 2011 Farnham announced a national tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ''Whispering Jack'', including the album being performed in its entirety in track order.

Track listing

#" Pressure Down" (Harry Bogdanovs) – 3:50 #"

" ( Andy Qunta,

, Maggie Ryder, Chris Thompson, Roger McLachlan) – 5:04 #"One Step Away" (Jon Kennett, Dave Skinner) – 3:36 #"

" (Sam See) – 4:26 #"Going, Going, Gone" (John Farnham,

, Ross Fraser) – 3:33 #"No One Comes Close" (Eric McCusker) – 4:09 #"Love to Shine" (Bogdanovs,

Kiki Dee Pauline Matthews (born 6 March 1947), better known by her stage name Kiki Dee, is an English singer. Known for her blue-eyed soul vocals, she was the first female singer from the UK to sign with Motown's Tamla Records. Dee is best known for h ...

) – 4:01 #"Trouble" (Dennis East) – 3:25 #"

" ( Ross Wilson, Gulliver Smith, Roger McLachlan) – 4:48 #"Let Me Out" (Farnham) – 4:22

Alternate track listing

#"Pressure Down (remix)" (Bogdanovs) – 3:45 #"You're the Voice (remix)" (Qunta, Reid, Ryder, Thompson) – 5:35 #"A Touch of Paradise (remix)" (Wilson, Smith) – 4:39 #"One Step Away" (Kennett, Skinner) – 3:36 #"Reasons" (See) – 4:26 #"No One Comes Close" (McCusker) – 4:09 #"Love to Shine" (Bogdanovs, Dee) – 4:01 #"Trouble" (East) – 3:25 #"Let Me Out" (Farnham) – 4:22 #"Going, Going, Gone" (Farnham, Hirschfelder, Fraser) – 3:33

''Whispering Jack Live''

Following the initial success of the album, a series of concerts was performed around Australia in 1987. One such performance was recorded at the Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Centre, and broadcast on Network Ten. A full version of the concert was also released to video in the same year. #"Pressure Down" (Bogdanovs) #"One Step Away" (Kennett, Skinner) #"Going, Going, Gone" (Farnham, Hirschfelder, Fraser) #"Paper Paradise" (Hirschfelder, Nelson) #"Infatuation" (Brady, Goble) #"Let Me Out" (Farnham) #"A Touch of Paradise" (Wilson, Smith) #"When the War is Over" (Prestwich) #"Comic Conversations" (Bromley) #"All in Love Is Fair" (

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...

) #"Amazing Grace" (Traditional) #"Reasons" (See) #"No One Comes Close" (McCusker) #"Trouble" (East) #"Love to Shine" (Bogdanovs, Dee) #"Playing to Win" (Farnham, Goble, Hirschfelder, Housden, Proffer, Nelson,

Prestwich Prestwich ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, north of Salford and south of Bury. Historically part of Lancashire, Prestwich was the seat of the ancient pari ...

) #"One" (Nilsson) #"Down on the Border (Goble) #"Help" (Lennon, McCartney) #"You're the Voice" (Qunta, Reid, Ryder, Thompson)

20th anniversary edition

Disc One (CD) #"Pressure Down" (Bogdanovs) - 3:50 #"

" (Qunta, Reid, Ryder, Thompson) - 5:04 # "One Step Away" (Kennett, Skinner) - 3:36 #"Reasons" (See) - 4:26 #"Going, Going, Gone" (Farnham, Hirschfelder, Fraser) - 3:33 #"No One Comes Close" (McCusker) - 4:09 # "Love to Shine" (Bogdanovs, Dee) - 4:01 # "Trouble" (East) - 3:25 # "A Touch of Paradise" (Wilson, Smith) - 4:48 # "Let Me Out" (Farnham) - 4:22 #"Pressure Down

xtended Version ''X'' is the second studio album by American rapper Ken Carson, released through Opium and Interscope Records on July 8, 2022. In the United States, the album entered at number 115 on the ''Billboard'' 200. The deluxe version, titled ''Xtende ...

(Bogdanovs) - 5:55 Disc Two ("Whispering Jack Live in Concert" DVD) (NOTE: The DVD used the edited version originally broadcast on television in 1987, minus "Paper Paradise".) #"Pressure Down ive (Bogdanovs) - 4:19 #"One Step Away ive (Kennett, Skinner) - 3:35 #"Going, Going, Gone ive (Farnham, Hirschfelder, Fraser) - 3:47 #"Let Me Out ive (Farnham) - 4:21 #"A Touch of Paradise ive (Wilson, Smith) - 5:29 #"When the War Is Over ive ( Steve Prestwich) - 5:33 #"Amazing Grace" ivesmall>(Traditional) - 4:39 #"Reasons ive (See) - 5:14 #"No One Comes Close ive (McCusker) - 4:26 #"Love to Shine ive (Bogdanovs, Dee) - 4:23 #"One ive (H Nilsson) - 5:47 #"Playing to Win ive (

Graham Goble Graeham George Goble, (born 15 May 1947)Goble, Graeham (2006Graeham Goble: Biography. Retrieved on 14 July 2008. is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter and record producer, best known as a founding member of Australian rock group Little Riv ...

, Farnham, Hirschfelder,

Stephen Housden Stephen Frank Housden (born ) is an English-born Australian musician. He joined the rock group Little River Band (LRB) in 1981 on lead guitar and vocals and ceased performing with them in 2006. Previously, Housden had worked as a session musi ...

, Spencer Proffer,

Wayne Nelson Wayne Nelson (born June 1, 1950) is an American musician best known for being the current lead singer of the rock band Little River Band, in which he also plays bass. Shortly after his birth, Nelson's family moved to Rome, Illinois, a suburb ...

, Prestwich) - 3:08 #"

ive (

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

) - 4:58 #"

ive (Qunta, Reid, Ryder, Thompson) - 6:13 #"Credits" - 2:06

Personnel

John Farnham band

– vocals, drum machine, percussion (credited as ''Whispering Jack'') *

– guitars *

– keyboards, drum machine, percussion *

Roger McLachlan Roger McLachlan (born 15 January 1954) is a New Zealand bass guitarist based in Australia. He was an early bass player for Little River Band. Early life McLachlan was born on 15 January 1954 in the small town of Riverton, near Invercargill, New ...

– bass guitar

Additional musicians

*Rozzi Bazzani – backing vocals *Sandy Weeks – backing vocals *Helen Cornish – backing vocals *Penny Dyer – backing vocals *Colin Setches – backing vocals *Mal Stainton – backing vocals *Nikki Nicholls - backing vocals *Ross Fraser – drum machine, percussion *Wickow – percussion *Dougie – low moans

Production

*Ross Fraser – producer *Doug Brady – recording and mix engineer *Michael Wickow – assistant engineer *Don Bartley – original 1986 mastering engineer *Martin Pullan – 2006 remastering engineer

Background

Recording

Reception

Track listing

Alternate track listing

''Whispering Jack Live''

20th anniversary edition

Personnel

John Farnham band

Additional musicians

Production

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

See also

References