DOGS IN SPACE:

The film 'Dogs in Space' centres on a group of young music fans sharing a house in the inner Melbourne suburb of Richmond. Sam (Michael Hutchence) and Tim (Nique Needles) are the key members of a band called Dogs in Space, and share a house with a variety of social misfits, including Sam's girlfriend Anna (Saskia Post), a university student called Luchio (Tony Helou) and a transient and apparently nameless teenager known only as The Girl (Deanna Bond).

The film's minimal plot traces the day-to-day existence of the characters, particularly the relationship between Sam and Anna, and is largely made up of a sequence of party scenes involving live music and drug use. In between, there are trips to Ballarat (at the time, the closest town to Melbourne with a 24-hour convenience store) and humorous encounters with an aggressive neighbour (Joe Camilleri) and one character's fast-talking, chainsaw-wielding uncle (Chris Haywood), who simply turns up one afternoon with his family (the baby in this scene is Lowenstein's niece Robyn). There is also a minor incident in which the characters burn some rubbish in a plan to claim it as a piece of Skylab for a local radio station. In the end, the group's dysfunctional and hedonistic lifestyle claims a victim when Anna dies from a heroin overdose. Footage of Sputnik 2 is intercut with the narrative, focused largely on Laika (the first dog in space), and can also be seen on television in the background of several scenes.

For full cast and crew credits click HERE

SOUNDTRACK:

The soundtrack album was released on Chase Records in February 1987 (CLPX14), featuring several tracks from reformed "little bands" and other contemporary tracks of the time.

The album came in two versions: a censored version in a white sleeve with the band name "Thrush & the Cunts" bowdlerised to "Thrush and the C**ts" and possibly-offensive song vocal tracks removed, and an "R"-rated version in a black sleeve with all band names in full, movie dialogue between the songs and all vocal tracks in full. The album's liner notes were written by Clinton Walker.

Chase Records went out of business soon after and, despite much effort, the record has never been reissued and has remained unavailable since. It is now a collector's item, commanding high prices. It was only available on LP and cassette and was issued on CD - at least the censored version appeared on discount bins in shopping malls in Lisbon, Portugal, somewhere around 1996-1997.

The Hutchence tracks were his second official solo recordings, after releasing a single in 1982 titled "Speed Kills" from the soundtrack to the film "Freedom," and his first with Ollie Olsen. They would later collaborate on the Max Q recordings.

Side One:

• "Dog Food" (Iggy Pop)
• "Dogs In Space" (Michael Hutchence)
• "Win/Lose" (Ollie Olsen)
• "Anthrax" (Gang of Four)
• "Skysaw" (Brian Eno)
• "True Love" (Marching Girls)
• "Shivers" (Boys Next Door)

• "Diseases" (Thrush & the Cunts)
• "Pumping Ugly Muscle" (The Primitive Calculators)
• "Golf Course" (Michael Hutchence)
• "The Green Dragon" (Michael Hutchence)
• "Shivers" (Marie Hoy and friends)
• "Endless Sea" (Iggy Pop)
• "Rooms For The Memory" (Michael Hutchence)