Aussie proto-punks The Saints release the final song recorded by singer Chris Bailey before his death in April 2019.

The Saints might have kicked punk into life back in the mid-’70s with (I’m) Stranded but few bands evolved quite so much and so far from their roots.

When singer Chris Bailey died three years ago that seemed to put a full stop on their music. But now comes a posthumous tune, Empires (Sometimes We Fall). And it’s just beautiful.

I’d expect nothing less from The Saints, who no less a judge than Nick Cave once described as Australia’s greatest band, and Bailey as his favourite singer.

Unlike the punky thrashes with which we might associate the band, or the fiery brass-filled sound they embraced soon afterwards, Empires is built around a Spanish guitar that gives the song a Western mood.

If my ears don’t deceive me, that opening motif is reminiscent of Cat Stevens’ lovely song Lady D’Arbanville.

It’s the warm embrace of Chris’s distinctive vocals that immediately marks it as a Saints song, as he sings, wistfully: “Sometimes we rise, sometimes we fall.”

The self-penned song was recorded late in 2018 – months before Bailey’s death in April – in Sydney with long-time Saints drummer Pete Wilkinson, guitarists Davey Lane and Sean Carey, and an ensemble of Sydney’s most exciting young horn, string and keyboard players.

It comes from a final Saints album, Long March Through The Jazz Age, completed from demos recorded by Bailey, to be released in November, marking what would have been the singer’s 69th birthday.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=7OhEDrB4Xzg&si=Cxp6tKa-JHZvqfGC