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1978 is the first official release from Melbourne post-punk band Young Charlatans, out on new label, Eminent Vinyl. The band existed in volatile form for roughly six months in 1978, playing just over a dozen gigs across Melbourne before dissolving, having never released a record. This LP compiles 13 original songs drawn from two sources: a demo recorded with Ron Rude in June 1978, and a live recording from the Tiger Lounge in Richmond. Both have been remastered by Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control), and the package includes a four-page booklet with extensive liner notes by music writer Clinton Walker. There are also photos and ephemera sourced by Phil Morland and Triple R's own Bruce Milne, the band's original manager.

In the group were guitarists and vocalists Rowland S. Howard and Ollie Olsen, with bassist Janine Hall and drummer Jeffrey Wegener. Howard would go on to join the Boys Next Door and then the Birthday Party. Olsen would found Whirlywirld and later Max Q with Michael Hutchence. Hall played with the Saints and Weddings Parties Anything, and Wegener co-founded the Laughing Clowns with Ed Kuepper.

These recordings catch all four still working out what punk could become. The songs are fast and abrasive, with two guitars often pushing against each other rather than locking in. Wegener's drumming is more rhythmically varied than the genre usually heard, and Olsen's electronic influences were already pulling at the edges of the arrangements.

Among the 13 tracks is an early version of 'Shivers,' written by Howard at 16 and later recorded by the Boys Next Door for their 1979 debut Door Door. This one's faster and less polished, a compelling draft of what would become a foundational text of post-punk. The song appears in the 1986 film Dogs in Space (sung by Marie Hoy), and has been covered more than 36 times since, including versions by Courtney Barnett and The Screaming Jets.