Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance is the debut album by the Australian band TISM. The album peaked at No. 48 on the ARIA Charts in October 1988. The vinyl version has a different vocal mix on the track, "Saturday Night Palsy", including an alternate line of lyrics, with the line "I want to shoot heroin through the eye" replaced by "I want to shove a red-hot poker through the eye" on the CD. The title is derived from the band's first album-length recording, which was recorded in December 1982, shortly after the group's formation. In March 2022, LP and CD reissues were announced, with the CD containing a bonus album with 40 minutes of unreleased content. A cassette reissue, featuring the bonus content and the LP version of the cover art on cassette for the first time, had been released that February. The CD was released that May, with the LP following in August due to delays involving the cover art.

Singles

Reception

The Age's Shaun Carney, in September 1988, described Great Truckin' Songs of the Renaissance as "a fine piece of work. Clever clever [sic] they might be on occasions, but if a few more bands applied even half the humor, social observation and melodic intervention that TISM seems to simply toss off, the world would be a, um, groovier place." Jonathan Lewis of AllMusic rated the album as four-and-a-half stars out of five, he explained "Completely tasteless and musically mediocre, the album was nonetheless fresh, witty, and extremely funny. The album is more or less standard guitar rock, but it is the song lyrics that make this album great." In December 2004 FasterLouder's Kathryn Kernohan felt the group had "always written simple, direct pop songs... [their] basic structure has remained the same – danceable guitar and keyboard lines coupled with catchy choruses. The band’s ability to write a ridiculously good pop song is second-to-none and this is no better exemplified than in Great Truckin’ Songs opening tracks." She noticed that "The second record of the double-vinyl set (it's not as much fun on CD, is it?) contains various odds and ends, including snippets of a Triple R interview in which the band rode into the studio on lawnmowers."

Track listing

The bonus tracks on the 2022 release are broken up with documentary-style narration and radio advertisements for concerts.

Personnel

Charts

Release history