Bear Witness

Not to be confused with Bear Witness, Take Action.

Bear Witness
The group's name is shown in large, white block capitals on a dark blue background across the top. Below is a collage of images as if torn from a book. The central image is tilted almost vertically and shows various flowers with a stylised block capital version of the album's name. Four other images, tilted vertically, are partially seen underneath. They appear to be the same image, showing written/typed descriptions and three postage stamps. One written phrase appears to be Arabic, another is French "a l'ocassion de la journee de protection de l'enfance" (translation: "on child protection day"). The stamps are labelled in Arabic and French, the latter as "Postes Afghanes" ("Afghan Posts"). They depict: flowers (200 Af), two men running (75 Af), and fruit (150 Af).
Studio album by
I'm Talking
Released4 August 1986 (1986-08-04)
RecordedJanuary–March 1986
Studio
Genre
Length36:15
LabelRegular
Producer
I'm Talking chronology
Bear Witness
(1986) 		Dancing
(1988)
Singles from Bear Witness
  1. "Do You Wanna Be?"
    Released: May 1986
  2. "Holy Word"
    Released: July 1986
  3. "How Can It Be?"
    Released: October 1986

Bear Witness is the first and only studio album by Australian pop rock band I'm Talking. The line-up was Zan Abeyratne and Kate Ceberano on co-lead vocals, Stephen Charlesworth on keyboards, Ian Cox on saxophone, Robert Goodge on lead guitar, Barbara Hogarth on bass guitar and Cameron Newman on drums. It was released in August 1986 on Regular Records and reached No. 14 on the Kent Music Report albums chart. All eight tracks were co-written by Cox (lyrics) and Goodge (music). The album yielded three singles, "Do You Wanna Be?" (May), "Holy Word" (July) and "How Can It Be?" (October).

At the 1986 Countdown Australian Music Awards Bear Witness was nominated for Best Debut Album. Richard Alan, responsible for its cover, was nominated for Best Cover Artist at the 1987 ARIA Music Awards. I'm Talking received international interest; as a result they undertook a 36-date tour of the United Kingdom supporting Five Star in late 1986. In October 2010, Bear Witness was listed in the book 100 Best Australian Albums. In December 2021 Rolling Stone Australia ranked it No. 162 on their list of 200 Greatest Australian Albums of All Time. An expanded re-mastered version of the album was issued in March 2018 by Bloodlines, a subsidiary of the Mushroom Group. It included three non-album singles—"Trust Me" (November 1984), "Lead the Way" (June 1985) and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore" (August)—as well as B-sides and mix tracks. This release peaked at No. 41 on the ARIA Top 100 Physical Albums chart and No. 2 on the ARIA Hitseeker Albums chart.