Big Dog

Bingo.

In their previous two albums, the band Seven Nations found their identity. With Big Dog (1996), they found their groove. The signature album of the Neil Anderson era of 7N (and the only one still published and sold by the band), Big Dog clicks on all cylinders. The synergy between Anderson and Kirk McLeod is evident, even for a studio album.

This is Nick Watson's last Seven Nations album; he would be replaced by Ashton Geoghagan, thus increasing the number of times fans would say, "How do you spell that, again?" by a factor of ten.

The album is also notable for two concert mainstays: their cover of The Church's Under the Milky Way and the get-up-and-stomp anthem Our Day Will Come.

Track list:

1. Under the Milky Way
2. Crooked Jack
3. The Mountains of Pomeroy/Garrett Barry's/Snug in a Blanket/Iain's Jig/Clumsy Lover/Itchy Fingers
4. Finish Line
5. Our Day Will Come
6. Johnny Cope/Fermoy Lasses/Jerusalem Rap
7. Blackleg Miner/Mairi Anne MacInnes
8. The Selling of Waternish
9. Big Dog/Trip to Pakistan
10. Finish Line (reprise)

Not living in Australia any more I'm not sure if he is still around or not, but when I was a kid he had a two hour breakfast show on Saturday mornings with his friend, Miss Kim. Also, every night at 7:30 (I think) it would be time for him, and all his friends to say goodnight, and go to bed. "Goodnight Big Dog, and goodnight boys and girls, sweet dreams." As he was unable to close his eyes on his huge plastic head, it would be interesting to see how he would cover his eyes each night after Miss Kim tucked him in.

In the early days the guy in the Big Dog suit was John Church, then a lowly 7 am news bulletin reader. I know this because one morning during the school holidays, I was at my grandparent's house waiting for Aqua boy (or was it Marine boy?) to come on, hoping against hope that they weren't going to show my all time most hated/least favorite cartoon, speed racer. The tail end of the news was on, you know, the heartwarming human interest story designed to take your mind of off all the bad news they just fed you. John Church was doing the closing and he said, " well, it's out of the suit and tie, and into the dog suit, Big Dog is next."
I couldn't believe it! The bastard ruined it for me.

I remember one time as a kid,around the time when Big Dog first appeared, I was at some kind of carnival and he was there. This is probably around 1982 or something. There were many young kids clamboring around Big Dog trying to cop a feel, and also a number of smart alec bigger kids, maybe around twelve or thirteen. These bigger kids were pulling his tail, kicking his ass and so, until eventually he lost his balance , if only for a second. I was unfortunate (or fortunate, depending on your politics) enough to be beside him, in fact on the polar opposite side of him than the bigger kids who were pushing him. He started to fall on top of me, and I swear that I heard coming from the depths of Big Dog's huge smiling head, the words, "Aw Fuck!!"
I raced and told my mother about it, but all I got was a smack in the gob for my troubles.