John Farnham’s ‘Whispering Jack’ Gets Special 40th Anniversary Release

Jack’s back, with a new, numbered vinyl and range of merchandise to mark a special occasion.

John Farnham’s benchmark-setting 1986 album Whispering Jack enjoys the 40th anniversary treatment with an expanded edition pairing the original LP with the live recording, Whispering Jack Live In Concert.

Recorded in Melbourne back in 1987, at the very peak of Whispering Jack’s success, Live In Concert has never been available on vinyl until now (it was original distributed on DVD-only).

With an expected shipping date of Sept. 18, the limited-edition release is pressed on black and white vinyl, and individually numbered from one to 2,500, with the collector’s edition reimagining the iconic artwork through an inverted design (see below). A two-CD set is also available.

To celebrate the milestone anniversary, Farnham rolls out a range of fresh merch, including apparel, t-shirts, mugs, accessories and more.

Whispering Jack is no ordinary ‘80s album. With the release, Farnham, a former teen idol who found himself at a crossroads in his career, enjoyed a hit quite like nothing the domestic industry has seen before or since. Released through Sony Music, the album spent 25 weeks at No. 1, en route to shifting more than one million copies, becoming the first homegrown LP to do so. It remains the highest-selling album ever in Australia by a local talent.

The collection houses the hits “Pressure Down,” “A Touch Of Paradise,” and Farnham’s signature song “You’re The Voice,” a top 10 hit in the U.K. and, four decades on, the unofficial anthem of Australia.

The legendary, ARIA Hall of Fame-inducted singer is the subject of the 2023 film John Farnham: Finding the Voice, which became the all-time highest-grossing Australian music documentary in these parts, and his life, career and catalogue will be celebrated with the new musical Whispering Jack: The John Farnham Musical, the world premiere for which will be presented Nov. 15 at the Roslyn Packer Theatre, presented by the Sydney Theatre Company.

Farnham’s fame has barely dwindled in his homeland, though the star is rarely seen in public since he underwent major surgery to remove a cancerous growth in August 2022, and embarked on a lengthy rehabilitation process.