Who’da think it

Melodious Thunk – “La Dolce Vita” (Australian 1980’s Latin Pop)

Rare late 80s music video for Sydney based Latin Pop/Funk ensemble called, “Melodious Thunk” (a riff on jazz maestro, Thelonious Monk) The group was formed from the ashes of the band “Deckchairs Overboard”. Former Deckchairs members – Cathy McQuade and Scott Saunders began performing in Sydney around 1988 – 1989. Their style and sound was a blend of sweet Latin pop best exemplified by British group, “Matt Bianco” and the nascent crossover flavour of what was to become known as acid jazz. Not surprisingly, once Melodious Thunk had run its course, Scott Saunders went on to form acid jazz outfit “Directions In Groove” (DIG)

The song, “La Dolce Vita” was intended as a single but ultimately never officially released. The music video was shot in the old Dugout Bar in the Burdekin Hotel in Oxford Street, Darlinghurst and was directed by, then Australian Film and Television School student, Chris Tuckfield and photographed by future Oscar winning cinematographer, Dion Beebe on scrounged 35-mm short ends. And best to my knowledge, the clip was never broadcast.

The clip features the gorgeous Cathy McQuade as the Latina Diva in a clip with vague references to the Fellini film of the same name and is a long way from McQuade’s punk origins when she played bass for Melbourne’s seminal art-punk band, “The Ears” (whose erratic and rag tag story was chronicled in the cult feature film “Dogs In Space” directed by Richard Lowenstein ) Lowenstein directed ” The Ears” first music video “Leap For Lunch” while still at Swinburne Film School, – also found on YouTube.

A quality master of this clip has long since disappeared and this version has been sourced from an old VHS tape- hence the audio drop outs and tape hiss. This version of the clip is also slightly different to the original – it has undergone a re-grade, re-format and slight re-edit to remove some tape damaged shots and bring it closer to its original concept.

Duration : 0:3:49

[youtube rFLCREAqA5U]