Dirty Three Ulterior Motives

Originally issued in 2012 as a limited-edition CD available exclusively at Dirty Three concerts, Ulterior Motives offers a rare and revealing glimpse into the Australian instrumental trio’s formative years.

Bringing together early demos and live radio performances, the collection captures Warren Ellis, Mick Turner and Jim White at their rawest, most instinctive and gloriously unrestrained. “Better Go Home Now” was recorded live at Sydney’s triple j studios in 1994, by which point the band’s relentless performing had made its music tighter, louder and heavier.

Demo recordings of “Indian Love Song,” “Everything Is Fucked,” “The Last Night” and “Sue’s Last Ride” were captured in the band’s small rehearsal space as the trio developed the songs in real time. The closing “Deep Waters” was recorded at Mick Turner’s home after their first overseas tour, offering an early glimpse of a piece that would later appear on Ocean Songs.

Long admired for their intensely emotional and electrifying performances, Dirty Three are heard here in the process of discovering the sound that would carry them from Melbourne stages to international acclaim.

This edition is pressed across two 150g records—one green and one red.