Missy Higgins has followed The Temper Trap in covering an Australian classic to celebrate Mushroom Group’s 50th anniversary.
Earlier this month, Mushroom Group announced it was celebrating the landmark in a big way with a series of events and initiatives to be held throughout this year.
Formed by the late, great Michael Gudinski in 1972, Mushroom Group released its first album the following year, the iconic Sunbury 1973, The Great Australian Rock Festival. Very quickly Gudinski established Mushroom as one of Australia’s foremost and finest record labels; 50 years later, Mushroom now represents Australian culture around the world, as well as bringing the globe’s best talent to this country.
That’s why Mushroom decided to mark its five decades at the top in such style. Before a massive Mushroom 50 concert in November featuring a to-be-announced all-star lineup, some of Australia’s most iconic musicians will release stunning works throughout the year, including Bliss n Eso and Paul Kelly.
The series started last week with the release of a cover of The Church’s hit “Under the Milky Way” by The Temper Trap, one of the country’s biggest musical exports of the last 15 years. “Under the Milky Way” was a notable critical and commercial success for the seminal rock band, earning them the ARIA Single of the Year award in 1988 and reaching the top 30 on the US Billboard chart.
The second reworked single was shared today, a cover of The Triffids’ “Wide Open Road” by wonderful singer-songwriter Missy Higgins. Originally released in 1986, David McComb started writing “Wide Open Road” in St Georges Road in Toorak, which just so happened to be around the corner from Michael Gudinski’s home.
A member of the Mushroom family for many years, Higgins was only too happy to take part. “It’s a song I’ve always loved. It feels expansive and full of possibility, despite the pain,” she says about her cover. “A kind of sombre hope, like life has been hard up until this point but from here on you can choose wherever you want to go. And it may be great. The chance of a new start. I feel like I can relate, at this point in my life, moving into a new chapter.”
You can listen to Higgins’ cover below. The series will end with the release of a Mushroom 50 album containing all the songs, serving as the definitive compilation of reimagined Mushroom music.
