Review: John Farnham: Finding the Voice

Technically a ‘pom’ by birth, but we claim him as Australia’s own, John Farnham is for me the best vocalist we’ve ever had here. In addition, he was the sound of my childhood, especially his “Whispering Jack” and “Age of Reason” albums. He’s the perfect showman in concert and seemingly a great bloke too, with a fun sense of humour. He’s had a tough time of it health wise in recent years, known as ‘The Voice’ his voice has been dimmed through throat cancer surgery. Even in this documentary he sounds really raspy and unwell, I imagine even the more recent audio interview bits with him were still recorded some time before the 2022 surgery date. Directed by Poppy Stockell, I suspect this was a mater of getting this made as soon as humanly possibly before it potentially became too late to hear from the man first-hand (though I hear he has been at least able to sing a bit at home fairly recently). This 2023 documentary is essential viewing for all Australians as far as I’m concerned, but international viewers would do well to acquaint themselves with Farnham (known colloquially here as ‘Farnesy’) by watching this as well, if you’re not already familiar with his life and career.

 

I won’t deny that this doco is just a collection of his mates and family talking about him, but honestly, isn’t that lovely in a way? He deserves to have this tribute to him. Aussies will recognise the likes of the now late Olivia Newton-John, veteran backing vocalist Venetta Fields (looking fabulous), Farnham’s former guitarist Brett ‘Rambo’ Garsed, singer Daryl Braithwaite, guitarist Tommy Emmanuel (who was briefly part of Farnesy’s band before “Whispering Jack”), Farnham’s manager Glenn Wheatley, and of course his old mate ‘Barnesy’, Jimmy Barnes. Even American singer Richard Marx is here to talk about him, as are Robbie Williams and the typically phony and over-dramatic Celine Dion. I probably could’ve done without those two being here but some of you may be fans of theirs and will appreciate their contributions. One notable omission is Farnham’s backing vocalist since 1988 (and recording artist in her own right) Lisa Edwards. Might’ve been a schedule clash there, but it’s certainly curious given Celine Dion and Robbie Williams are here for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

 

I knew a lot about Farnesy just from having been alive for 4 ½ decades, he feels like an old mate, really. However, there was quite a few things that even I learned in this one. I had no idea his career was intertwined with LRB even before he briefly joined the band, or that he sang on some of Daryl Braithwaite’s solo songs. I’d also forgotten that he actually wrote their hit ‘Playing to Win’ (absolute cracker of a song) which is likely why he was able to continue to sing it in concert after leaving the band to go solo. I also didn’t know that Farnham rejected ‘We Built This City’, which became a hit for Starship. I’m glad because it’s not even the best of Starship’s two big 80s hits anyway. Almost worth watching for alone is the performance of ‘Amazing Grace’ by Farnham and his long-time backing vocalists Venetta Fields and Lindsay Field. Truly stunning. Meanwhile, it really is amazing and frankly sad how long ‘Sadie’ dogged Farnham’s career. He started out in England as a teenybopper singer called Johnny Farnham and had a huge hit with this song about a cleaning lady named Sadie. It became such an albatross that Farnham would for many years bristle about it, because it felt like he was being chided as a twee pop singer one-hit wonder or whatever. Personally I’ve always liked the song for what it is, and by the time I became aware of it he’d turned it into a funny bit in concerts where he’d pretend he didn’t want to play the bloody thing before being ‘convinced’ by the crowd. He’d obviously made some peace with it.

 

The documentary isn’t all that substantial if I’m being honest, but it deserves to be seen, and you may just tear up from time to time. Its strongest assset is showing the struggle to be taken seriously before hitting the soaring heights of “Whispering Jack”, an album so iconic it’s sometimes joked that you got a copy of the album when you bought a house back in the day. Everyone owned a copy, we certainly had one in the house when I was a kid. I think part of the reason for that album’s success is because Farnesy is such a likeable guy we all wanted him to succeed and we were all proud that he had finally made that big, mature album that would allow him to shed the ‘Johnny Farnham’ label and be taken seriously henceforth. Whilst that album is really only known for its four singles, those four singles are absolutely brilliant, including the now somewhat forgotten ‘Reasons’. My favourite Farnham song is the title track of his next album “Age of Reason”, but let’s be honest, the man will forever be associated with the anthemic ‘You’re the Voice’. Farnham has a few songs that give me chills every time I hear them, including his moving cover of ‘Help!’ (my favourite Beatles album and film, yet I somehow prefer Farnsey’s cover of the actual song), but ‘You’re the Voice’ is his signature song (much as Heart’s Ann Wilson does a rather fine cover herself) and always will be.

 

Look, I know this hasn’t been a terribly deep review but it doesn’t need to be. Farnsey’s the best. Top bloke. See this movie however you can, it needs as many eyes and ears on it as possible. We owe it to Whispering Jack.

 

Rating: B-