The White Albun

Background information

The first disc of this release is a live concert, titled "Save Our TISM" it was recorded at the Hi Fi Bar on 26 September 2003. The title of the disc itself refers to Madman Entertainment, who released the Albun. Ron Hitler-Barassi stated:

"I’ve never seen such a pencil necked bunch of jerky movie aficionados in my fuckin’ life. All the chicks are anorexic and nervy and all the blokes have got their little French moustaches, and I’m not kiddin about this, but the bloody poster on the wall is Elégie de la traverse un film de Aleksandr Sokurov" [1]

The title of the disc can be seen as an expansion on this statement, claiming that their live concert was filmed by acclaimed director Michelangelo Antonioni.

The concert

The concert features a telethon hosted by "Marcel Proust" (Mark O'Toole) in which TISM need to raise a million dollars before the end of the concert or they will split up for good. This comes about after it is revealed that Powderfinger wish to merge with TISM, but TISM deny the merger because Powderfinger refuse to "get a sense of humour".

This concert, as with all TISM concerts, contains many events which occur on stage. Along with the telethon running constantly in the background, the concert includes: audio snippets of some of the callers and a re-occurring host to update us on the telethon, TISM members Jon St. Peenis and Les Miserables push wheelie bins around the stage, Humphrey B. Flaubert peeling a piece of fruit, several members hitting inflated rubber balls into the crowd with cricket bats and a fan is picked from the crowd to sing on "(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River", along with other incidents.

Extras

The "extras" on this DVD are interviews with the crowd before and after the concert, an option called "Ron-Cam" which is an edit of the footage where Ron Hitler-Barassi is always in shot and an optional "Audience Edit" of Forty Years - Then Death. The "Audience Edit" came from talks with TISM and Madman Entertainment, the creator/distributors of the disc.

"The thing about DVDs is that it allows for something called the directors cut, which is basically [where] all the boring crap that was taken out for good reason, is put back in to satisfy the grand ego of the director. What we said here at Madman was, ‘we want a whole radical new departure on this on [sic]. Now hold onto your chairs there, we want to give it what’s called the Audience cut. What we do is we edit the thing down so that it is entertaining to the audience.’ It took them a long, long time to come around to that." [2]

This extra allows the viewer to select from any four of the camera's footage at any time and view their results on-the-fly with near-instant results for their own edit of the song. A bonus of this feature is that this extra does not need DVD-Rom support and very few stand alone DVD players would have trouble with the feature.

Disc 2: The White Albun

The White Albun is a full-length studio album featuring sixteen tracks. The title of the album, as stated earlier in the article, is a deliberate misspelling of the Beatles album, The White Album. The title was chosen because, as Ron Hitler-Barassi put it:

"What we're doing here is basically what Jet are doing, which is taking The Beatles ideas and changing them a little bit at the end. If it's worked for Jet, it's going to work for us, that's what we're hoping." [3] (see video)

The only single released off the album was Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me, the video of which was chosen in a competition. The winner was Bernard Derriman and his "bunny" clip. Made in flash, the video enjoyed popular internet success through the ease of flash file distribution online.

Disc 3: TISM. A Docunentary.

The third disc in the set, the second DVD, contains the most content. It is filled with interviews with Ron and Humphrey and a tour of Melbourne highlighting places which have been important throughout TISM's career. Also on the disc is rare and some unseen footage of TISM concerts ranging from their first ever gig through to 2002, their full video collection (first pressings of The White Albun exclude "Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me" because the video wasn't animated at that time) and other rare footage.

The White Albun

All songs written by TISM except "Bone Idol" by TISM and J. Weaving and "As Seen on Reality" by TISM and Mike Rudd.

1. "Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me"
2. "Bone Idol"
3. "Message from the Big Day Out Port-A-loo"
4. "DJ Trevor"
5. "I Rooted a Girl Who Rooted a Guy Who Rooted a Girl Who Rooted a Guy Who Rooted a Girl Who Rooted Shane Crawford"
6. "The Birth of Uncool"
7. "As Seen on Reality"
8. "The Song of the Quarter Time Siren (Car Battery)"
9. "Diffident Strokes"
10. "Ken Bruce Has Gone Mad"
11. "Sorted for D'n'M"
12. "Cerebral Knievel"
13. "Tonight Harry's Practice Visits the Home of Charlie "Bird" Parker"
14. "Somebody Start a Fight or Something"
15. "Neck It"
16. "TISM Are Shit"

"As Seen on Reality" is built around a sample of the main riff from the Spectrum song "Launching Place, Part II". The outro to "Cerebral Knievel" is a reference to "Revolution 9" by the Beatles and features many samples, including an old tape of Tokin' Blackman laughing that was recorded at Noble Park Youth Club in 1977 and some extra recording from the Princes Highway and Sans Souci in 1995.

Save Our TISM concert

The "Save Our TISM" parts are spoken word pieces of the telethon running behind the band during the concert. They are not actual songs, nor are the first and last tracks listed.

1. "Intro"
2. "Untitled" (I Don't Give a Fuck)
3. "Death, Death, Death, Amway, Amway, Amway"
4. "I'm Interested in Apathy"
5. "40 Years - Then Death/Taking Care of Business"
6. "Save Our TISM 1" (Requests for Donations)
7. "Sid Viscous"
8. "Saturday Night Palsy"
9. "Save Our TISM 2" (List of Donators)
10. "Five Yards"
11. "Whatareya?"
12. "Diatribe" (Don't Tell Me You Didn't Know)
13. "All Homeboys Are Dickheads"
14. "Root"
15. "Save Our TISM 3" (Angry Donator)
16. "Greg! The Stop Sign!!"
17. "I'll 'Ave Ya"
18. "Save Our TISM 4" (Powderfinger)
19. "(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River"
20. "TISM Are Shit"
21. "Save Our TISM 5" (One More Dollar)
22. "I Drive a Truck"
23. "BFW"
24. "Defecate on My Face"
25. "End of Show"

Legacy

The track "Somebody Start a Fight or Something" would later be used as the theme song for The Green Room with Paul Provenza.