peaked at No. 4. Ian Hockley of Beyond the Pale website described the "return to basics with few overdubs and often just a voice and piano base" where the first disc "deals with John Howard's re-election and the bleak feelings that event engendered" and the second one "is more hopeful and life-affirming with bigger, more elaborate productions." Several tracks received considerable airplay, including "I Was Alive". Three of the songs on the album have been released as radio-only singles, with a fourth, "Beautiful as You", released as a CD single. The album was followed up with almost non-stop touring around Australia, including performances at political and university events. Freedman released Little Cloud outside Australia under his own name. The band made the news in September 2006 when, for political reasons, Freedman refused to perform to troops in Iraq, he told Peter Holmes of The Sunday Telegraph, "I was asked, and decided not to go. ... I went to East Timor and enjoyed the experience. I understand how hard the soldiers do it. In this instance, I don't agree with the war." 2007–2010: Sydney Symphony to Truth, Beauty and a Picture of You The Whitlams performed an orchestral tour from September to November 2007, performing shows with the Sydney Symphony, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and The Queensland Orchestra. In mid-2008 they gave away 700,000 copies of The Whitlams & The Sydney Symphony Live in Concert, as a free CD with various newspapers: The Sunday Telegraph (1 June), The Australian (26 July) and The Mercury. It contains material from their four live performances with the Sydney Symphony at the Sydney Opera House in the previous September. The Whitlams released a compilation album, Truth, Beauty and a Picture of You in August 2008, which peaked at No. 3. As part of it promotion the group performed on TV programs including Nine's Footy Show (NRL), Seven's Sunrise and The Morning Show. The Whitlams performed with the Sydney Symphony in 2009 to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the release of their breakthrough album, Eternal Nightcap. 2011–2016: Australian Idle From 2011 to 2013 the Whitlams were on hiatus. On 11 November 2011 (the anniversary of Gough Whitlam's dismissal), Freedman released a solo album, Australian Idle, which featured his new backing band The Idle. The line-up was Heath Cullen on guitar, Zoe Hauptmann on bass guitar, Dave Hibbard on drums and Amy