(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)

Ed Kuepper, formerly the guitarist of the Saints, was one of the most important figures in Australian rock of the 1980s. Kuepper formed the Laughing Clowns, which initially was a quintet featuring saxophone and electric piano. Their first EP (Missing Link, 1979) showcased an unusual blend of acid-jazz and decadent cabaret.

The mood turned darker on the EPs Sometimes (Prince Melon) and 3, and especially on the album Mr Uddich Schmuddich Goes To Town. With Around The Table (Red Flame) and Law Of Nature (Hot), Kuepper experimented with increasingly unusual and challenging arrangements. After one final triumph with the tabula rasa of History Of Rock 'n` Roll Volume One, Kuepper shifted, beginning with Ghosts Of An Ideal Wife and its solemn title track, toward a more controlled sound.

On his subsequent solo albums, Kuepper adopted an almost folk style, though he did not abandon the saxophones. Electrical Storm (Hot, 1985), featuring Electrical Storm and Car Headlights, and Rooms Of The Magnificent (Hot, 1986), with Also Sprach The King Of Eurodisco, failed to make an impact despite their elegantly innovative constructions.

He came close with Everybody's Got To (True Tone, 1988), strengthened by a more elaborate sound and catchier choruses like Not A Soul Around, Burned My Fingers, When There's This Party, as well as conceptual songs like Nothing Changes In My House and the melancholic title track.

Kuepper entered the 1990s with the acoustic and spartan Today Wonder (Rattlesnake, 1990), filled with covers of 1960s folk singers (but also including the original version of There's Nothing Natural), followed annually by Honey Steel's Gold (Hot, 1991), with his melodramatic King Of Vice and title track; Black Ticket Day (Hot, 1992), featuring the long Blind Girl Stripper (nine minutes), the impeccable pop of the title track, and the subdued blues of The Way I Made You Feel; Serene Machine (Hot, 1993), his most relaxed album, almost country-rock (When She's Down, Married To My Lazy Life); and Character Assassination (Hot, 1994), whose By The Way, La Di Dah, and Cockfighter finally found him an audience. The second album would later be reissued as a double CD with an additional disc of acoustic versions.

Butterfly Net (Restless, 1994) and Legendary Bully (Castle Communications) are anthologies of Kuepper’s career. Exotic Mail Order Moods (Hot, 1995) is instead a cover album. I was a Mail Order Bridegroom (Hot, 1995) is an acoustic reinterpretation of his favorite songs.

At the head of the Aints, he tried to continue the Saints’ legacy, first with an album, S.L.S.Q. (Hot, 1991), which simply reproduced Saints songs live, and then with Ascension (Hot, 1991), a collection of six long tracks somewhat uncertain in retracing the old band’s path but elevated by free-jazz ambitions (not only in the title track, dedicated to John Coltrane, but also in the fierce It's Still Nowhere and What's It Like Out There). Better was Auto Cannibalism (Hot, 1992), with the long You Can't Please Everybody (eight minutes) and Linda And Abilene (ten minutes) driven by Tim Hopkins’ saxophone (again six tracks in total), and even better Shelf Life Unlimited, which anthologizes the previous three.