Fundamental (Mental As Anything album) explained

Fundamental or Fundamental As Anything is the fifth studio album released by Australian rock/pop group, Mental As Anything.^{[1] [2]} The album was produced by Richard Gottehrer and was released on Regular Records in March 1985.^{[1] [2] [3]} It peaked at No. 3 on the Australian Kent Music Report albums charts.

Recording

The band had intended to use Gary Langan as producer as they admired his work with Art of Noise and were happy with the "wild" album he had planned. O'Doherty said, "He took on too much at the time and he got zonked out at all the stress and he pulled out something like five days before he was meant to be on the plane." The replacement was Richard Gottehrer, but they had to wait for a gap in his schedule, delaying the recording. O'Doherty said, "It’s too long because we’ve got four songwriters in the band and we ended up with over 30 songs demoed for Fundamental, more than enough for two albums."^[4]

Reception

Cash Box magazine said "Another strong album from this powerhouse Australian band. Variety is the key here, as the music runs the gamut from the gritty sensualism of "Hold On" to the depth and richness of "Date with Destiny"'."^[5]

Personnel

Musicians

• Martin Plaza - lead vocals, guitar
• Greedy Smith - lead vocals, keyboards, harmonica
• Reg Mombassa - guitar, vocals
• Peter O'Doherty - bass, guitar, vocals
• Wayne de Lisle – drums

Additional personnel

• Martin Armiger - guitar
• Mary Bradfield-Taylor - vocals
• Rick Chadwick - keyboards
• Sandi Chick - vocals
• Andrew Farriss - keyboards
• Mark Kennedy - percussion

Recording details

• Producer - Richard Gottehrer
• Engineer, mixing - Thom Panunzio
• Assistant - Allan Wright

Art work

• Art direction - Jana Hartig, Ken Smith, Sue Woollard
• Design - Martin Plaza, Greedy Smith (and cover design)
• Photography - Paula Clarke (cover photo), Paul Clarke, Hugh Hamilton, Frank Lindner (and sleeve photo), Francine McDougall

Charts

Year-end chart

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalogue
Australia / New Zealand	March 1985	Regular Records		RRLP1212
	12 May 1986	Festival	CD	D20208
United States	February 1986	Columbia	LP	BFC 40299
Netherlands	1987	Epic	LP, Cassette	EPC 450641
Australia	September 1989	Festival	CD	D20208

Notes and References

1. Encyclopedia: McFarlane . Ian . Ian McFarlane . . Encyclopedia entry for 'Mental as Anything' . 17 July 2009 . 1999 . . . 1-86508-072-1 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20040813100933/http://www.whammo.com.au/encyclopedia.asp?articleid=483 . 13 August 2004 .
2. Web site: https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20120726191200/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/14231/20120727-0512/www.howlspace.com.au/en2/mentalasanything/mentalasanything.htm. Mental As Anything. Nimmervoll. Ed. Ed Nimmervoll. Howlspace – The Living History of Our Music. White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd (Ed Nimmervoll). 26 July 2012. 7 February 2014.
3. Web site: https://web.archive.org/web/20120929074329/http://hem.passagen.se/honga/database/m/mentalasanything.html . Mental As Anything . Holmgren . Magnus . Shane . Johns . Stefan . Warnqvist . Australian Rock Database. Passagen.se (Magnus Holmgren) . 29 September 2012 . 9 March 2014 .
4. . Method In Their Mentalness. George Kay. 98. 1 September 1985.
5. Album Reviews. Cash Box. World Radio History. 8. 22 February 1986. 8 December 2021.
6. Book: Kent, David . David Kent (historian)

   . . David Kent (historian) . Australian Chart Book . St Ives, NSW . 1993 . 0-646-11917-6. 198 .

7. Book: Kent, David . David Kent (historian)

   . . David Kent (historian) . Australian Chart Book . St Ives, NSW . 1993 . 0-646-11917-6. 437 .