classic and rare Australian popular music from the 1950's, 1960's. 1970's and beyond..including rock and roll, pop, beat, rock, surf and progressive, plus contemporary artists, new releases, reviews and other fun stuff
INXS formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney.They began playing covers in Western Australian pubs and clubs, occasionally playing some of their original music. Mainstays were main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss, drummer Jon Farriss, guitarists Tim Farriss and Kirk Pengilly, bassist Garry Gary Beers and main lyricist and vocalist Michael Hutchence. For twenty years, INXS was fronted by Hutchence, whose "sultry good looks" and magnetic stage presence made him the focal point of the band. Initially known for their new wave/pop style, the band later developed a harder pub rock style that included funk and dance elements. The origins of the band began with Andrew Farriss convincing his fellow Davidson High School classmate, Michael Hutchence, to join his band, Doctor Dolphin. The band contained two other classmates, Kent Kerny and Neil Sanders and a bass player, Garry Beers and Geoff Kennely, from a nearby high school, Forest High School. In 1977, Tim Farriss, Andrew's older brother, invited Andrew, Hutchence and Beers to join him and his schoolmate Kirk Pengilly. Tim and Pengilly had been playing together since 1971 as either an acoustic duo, Kirk and Tim, or as a four-piece band called Guinness (named after their bass player's dog). Together with younger brother Jon Farriss they formed the Farriss Brothers, who consisted of Garry Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar, Geoff Kennelly on drums, Michael Hutchence on lead vocals and Kirk Pengilly on guitar and saxophone.The band made their debut on 16 August 1977 at Whale Beach,40 km north of Sydney.
Taste were a glam/hard rock band that formed around 1975. The line-up consisted of Ken Murdoch ( Lead Vocals / Guitar), Joey Amenta (Guitar / Vocals), Michael Tortoni (Bass Guitar) and Virgil Donati (Drums). The boys paid their dues in pubs and "shitholes" until they got their lucky break and released their first album "Tickle Your Fancy" in 1976. They were an instant hit, especially with the younger music fans, and appeared regularly on Countdown and just about every other TV show of the time. They supported international artists including Queen, on their second Australian tour, Suzi Quatro and The Sweet. They also performed alongside the who's who of Aussie rock including Sherbet, Kevin Borich, TMG, Skyhooks and Hush. Their songwriting and musicianship were critically acclaimed, and their original 2 albums, "Tickle Your Fancy" and "Knights of Love" have become hard rock classics. Due to some bad management and not so good marketing, Taste never achieved the recognition they deserved, and split around 1977. They reformed in 2007 and released the album "Rock Dead".
Matt Taylor was born in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1948. Taylor began listening to blues records in high school, and taught himself the guitar and harmonica. In February 1966 he joined the Bay City Union, one of Australia’s first electric blues bands. They moved to Melbourne in December 1966 and achieved some success playing in dance halls and clubs. They recorded a single "Mo’reen" and "Mary Mary" released on the Festival label in 1968. Among the other members of this band was Glenn Wheatley, who was also their manager. The Bay City Union broke up in May 1968. Taylor joined the Wild Cherries in October 1968, but left the following month. During 1969 and 1970, he played with progressive heavy rock / blues bands Horse and Genesis (not the UK prog band of the same name). From September 1970 to October 1971, Taylor was the front-man for the blues band Chain, which had a hit single ("Black and Blue") and album ("Toward the Blues") during this period. He then quit the music industry and went to live on a commune led by Fred and Mary Robinson at Beechworth. In 1973 he returned to the music scene as a solo artist, releasing three albums over the next three years, and scoring a major hit with the single "I Remember When I Was Young". He was one of the first artists to record for Mushroom Records, and was managed by Michael Gudinski. "Straight As A Die" was released in 1973 and features prominent Australian guitarist Phil Manning.
Ayers Rock were an Australian jazz fusion, progressive rock band which formed in August 1973. Ray Burton (guitar and vocals), Mark Kennedy (drums) and Duncan McGuire (bass), members of Leo de Castro and Friends, left to form the eponymous trio of Burton, McGuire & Kennedy. They added a guitarist, Jimmy Doyle, changed their name to Ayers Rock and invited Col Loughnan (saxophones and flutes) to join. The group signed with independent label Mushroom Records in December 1973. Burton left the following March, and was replaced by Chris Brown (guitar, vocals). With live appearances, coverage in print media and word of mouth the group had a high national profile despite little radio airplay, and journalists praised their musicianship, music and live energy. The band's first album, Big Red Rock (November 1974), received positive reviews and peaked at number 32 on the Australian Kent Music Report album chart. It featured mainstream rock and three longer, instrumental tracks which introduced progressive styles, including jazz fusion. Label owner Michael Gudinski promoted Ayers Rock in Los Angeles and they signed with A&M Records, the first Mushroom Records artists to sign with an international label. The United States release of Big Red Rock in February 1975 was followed by a tour there, later that year. The band played to large crowds, supporting major international artists (including Bachman–Turner Overdrive) before 35,000 people – the first Australian band to perform in large US stadiums. Ayers Rock were named 1975 Musicians of the Year on RAM's "New Year's Honors List".
The Saints originated in Brisbane and were founded by Chris Bailey (singer-songwriter, later guitarist), Ivor Hay (drummer), and Ed Kuepper (guitarist-songwriter) in 1974. Alongside mainstay Bailey, the group has had numerous line-ups. In 1975, contemporaneous with the United States' Ramones, The Saints were employing the fast tempos, raucous vocals and "buzz saw" guitar that characterised early punk rock. With their debut single, "(I'm) Stranded", in September 1976, they became the first alleged punk band outside the US to release a record, ahead of better-known acts including the Sex Pistols and The Clash. They are one of the first and most influential groups of the genre. In early 1979, the Saints had imploded, leaving Bailey to continue the band, with a variable line-up. All Fools Day peaked in the Top 30 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart in April 1986. Bailey also has a solo career and had relocated to Sweden by 1994. The band was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2001. click here for more information Wikipedia listing Website - SaintsMusic.Com
This brilliant album , Rock'n'Roll Sandwich, which Glenn A.Baker rightly lauds as "one of Australia's finest rock albums; a fiery, cohesive work dominated by the superbly talented Kevin Borich and carried off by the reliable gutsiness of Ronnie Peel and Keith Barber." Touring around the new LP, released in November 1973, the La De Das enjoyed their most successive period in their career, including supports for Elton John and Suzi Quatro on their Australian tours. Tracks: "No Law (Against Having Fun)" (Kevin Borich)"" "The Place" (Kevin Borich - Keith Barber) "Searchin' "(Kevin Borich) "She Tell Me What to Do "(Kevin Borich - Keith Barber) "Temple Shuffle" (Kevin Borich) "To Get Enough" (Kevin Borich) "Who's The One You Love? "(Kevin Borich) Recorded at the Doncaster Theatre and EMI Studio 301, Sydney Producer by Rod Coe Engineered by John Taylor read more on Milesago here see also from this blog:
Sebastian Hardie were Australia's first symphonic rock band. They formed in Sydney in 1967 as Sebastian Hardie Blues Band but dropped the 'Blues Band' reference when they became pop-oriented. By 1973 they developed a more progressive rock style, and later performed as Windchase, but disbanded in 1977. An early member of Sebastian Hardie was Jon English (vocals, rhythm guitar), who starred as Judas Iscariot in the Australian version of the stage musical Jesus Christ Superstar in 1972, he subsequently had a solo career as a singer, actor and playwright. A later member, Mario Millo (lead guitar, mandolin, vocals) became a multi-award winner for his television and movie music.
Sebastian Hardie's other early members included Graham Ford (lead guitar), Peter Plavsic (bass guitar) and his brother Alex Plavsic (drums). After English and Ford had left, the Plavsic brothers were joined by Millo and Toivo Pilt (keyboards). With their addition, Sebastian Hardie developed extended progressive rock tracks to become a symphonic rock group before they released their definitive album Four Moments in 1975, which peaked at No. 13 on the National albums chart. They followed with a second album Windchase in 1976, but it had less chart success. Millo and Pilt formed the band, Windchase, to release Symphinity in 1977, it was a heavier jazz-fusion album but didn't have chart success and they disbanded.
Tully formed in Sydney in late 1968, and along with Tamam Shud they were the doyens of the Sydney underground/progressive scene in the late 60's and early '70s. Their lyrical and expansive music and their interest in mysticism and esoteric philosophy was at some remove from the earthy blues/boogie ethos of contemporaries like The Aztecs, but they built up a strong following on the Sydney underground scene and the Melbourne concert circuit. Tully's members were all highly accomplished multi-instrumentalists, with years of experience behind them, and this musical breadth quickly earned them a reputation as one of the most adventurous and polished concert bands of the period.
They originally signed with EMI and their excellent self-titled debut LP was released on the Columbia label in July 1970; it charted well, spending eight weeks in the Top 40 and peaking at #8. Around this time Michael Carlos became the proud owner of one of the first Moog synthesisers to be brought into Australia, and they became the first local band to use one in live performance. Such was the public profile of Dr Bob's new instrument (thanks to The Beatles, the Beach Boys and Walter Carlos) that Tully's concerts were co-billed as "Tully and The Moog". In 1971 Tully moved to EMI's new progressive label Harvest, and released their only single, the spiritually inspired Krishna Came / Lord Baba which came out in May. This was followed in June by their second LP Sea Of Joy, the soundtrack to the surf film of the same name by Paul Witzig, who had also previously worked with Tamam Shud. The band had stockpiled enough material prior to the split for EMI to compile a third and final LP which was released in 1972 as the album Loving Is Hard.
Colin Campbell (guitar) 1971-72 Michael Carlos (keyboards) Graham Conlan (bass) 1969 Richard Lockwood (flute/sax/clarinet/piano) 1968-72 John Blake (bass) 1968-69 Ken Firth (bass) 1970-72 Shayna (Karlin) Stewart (vocals) 1971-72 Robert Taylor (drums) 1968-70
Formed in Melbourne in 1969 by Brian Cadd and Don Mudie, both former members of leading Melbourne popsters The Groop, Axiom were arguably Australia's first true supergroup. Besides his success with The Groop, Brian Cadd wrote hits for other acts, including "Elevator Driver" for the Master's Apprentices and "When I Was Only Six Years Old" for Ronnie Burns and both he and Mudie worked as session players on a number of important recordings including the Russell Morris' classics "The Real Thing" and "Part III into Paper Walls". After linking up in The Groop, Mudie and Cadd formed a successful songwriting partnership that carried on through Axiom and beyond. Glenn Shorrock was the former lead singer of The Twilights; Lavery was from Perth's (in)famous The Valentines; Stockley was from leading Melbourne group Cam-Pact. Axiom signed to Ron Tudor's Fable Records. Their first single "Arkansas Grass" (co-written by Cadd and Mudie) was an immediate hit, reaching #7 in December 1969. Cadd, like many other Aussie musicians, had been deeply influenced by the trend towards a fusion of country and folk elements with rock. Songs like "Arkansas Grass" show how well and how quickly Axiom mastered the idiom. Their second single "Little Ray of Sunshine" shot to #5 in April 1970 and has since become a standard. Their first two Axiom singles are rightly considered classics, and the latter, a perennial favourite, has become one of Glenn Shorrock's trademark songs. It was followed by Axiom's brilliant debut LP Fools Gold, which was both widely praised and a significant commercial success, reaching #18 on the album chart in June. Fool's Gold unquestionably ranks as one of the best and most original Aussie albums of the period. It was also a significant step forward in creative control, being one of the very first Australian rock albums released on a major label that was produced by the artists themselves. Axiom deserve to be recognised as an important musical bridge between Sixties pop and Seventies rock in Australia, as one of the first serious attempts to make Australian rock with international appeal, and as one of the finest bands of their time. "Arkansas Grass" "Baby Bear" "Ford's Bridge" "Samantha" "Take It Or Leave It" "A Little Ray Of Sunshine" "Yesterday, Today And Tomorrow" "Mansfield Hotel" "Can't Let Go Of This Feeling" "Country Pickin' " "Once A Month Country Race Day" "Fool's Gold" "Who Am I Gonna See?" (All songs by Mudie-Cadd) Produced by Axiom Recorded at Armstrong's Studios, Melbourne Brian Cadd (keyboards, vocals) Doug Lavery (drums) 1969 Don Lebler (drums) 1969-71 Don Mudie (bass) Glenn Shorrock (vocals) Chris Stockley (guitar) click here for more information
Stevie Wright's first taste of fame was with the now legendary 60's group, The Easybeats. Together with Harry Vanda and George Young, they created some of the most memorable and iconic music to come out of Australia in the 1960's. They rivaled The Beatles in their talent and success and scored an international hit with "Friday On My Mind". After the breakup of The Easybeats, Stevie went solo and released his debut solo album, Hard Road, in 1974. Produced by none other than his former Easybeats partners, Harry Vanda and George Young, the album was a huge success in Australia, topping the charts everywhere. Hard Road is without question Stevie's finest hour, and it remains one of the best Australian albums of the period. The classic Vanda-Young tracks -- the autobiographical "Hard Road", "Didn't I Take You Higher?" and the epic "Evie" were ably complemented by Stevie's own strong compositions "Movin' On Up", "Commando Line", "Life Gets Better" and "Dancing in the Limelight". Stevie's groundbreaking debut solo single "Evie (Parts I, II and III)" is a genuine rock epic. It is arguably the perfect rock'n'roll song, encapsulating the three basic themes of all love songs -- (A) "Baby it'll be great once we're together, (B) "Baby, it's so great now that we're together" and (C) "Baby, it's so bad since you left me". Clocking in at a whopping eleven minutes in total, it seemed an unlikely chart contender, but the three parts were wisely split across the two sides of the single, and the head-on power rock of "Evie Part I" proved irresistible. Lyrically, it revisited the perennial "gonna have a good time tonight" theme of "Friday On My Mind" and "Good Times" and musically it is perhaps the ultimate distillation of the full-frontal hard rock Vanda & Young had previously essayed on V&Y classics like "Good Times", and showcased the no-frills hard-rocking sound which they would soon hone to perfection with AC/DC. Released in May 1974, Evie shot to the top of charts, peaking at #2 nationally during July. It did especially well in Melbourne, where it stayed at #1 for seven weeks. The Hard Road album also peaked at #5 nationally and #1 in Melbourne. It was released on Atlantic in the USA and Polydor in the UK and made a strong impression overseas -- Suzi Quatro later covered "Evie", and Rod Stewart included a version of "Hard Road" on his Smiler album. "Evie" is now widely considered to be one of best Australian singles of Seventies. To promote the records, Stevie hit the road with his aptly-named backing group, The All Stars. The band's lineup shifted several times during its existence but it featured many top-flight players including Warren "Pig" Morgan (piano; ex-Chain, Aztecs), Tim Gaze (lead guitar; ex-Tamam Shud, Kahvas Jute, Ariel) and Johnny Dick (drums; ex-Meteors, Doug Parkinson In Focus, Aztecs).
Lobby Loyde formed the psychedelic/hard/blues-rock group Coloured Balls in March 1972 with Andrew Fordham on guitar and vocals, Janis Miglans on bass guitar and Trevor Young on drums.Their first single, "Liberate Rock", had been recorded by Loyde with Aztecs' members, Gil Mathews (on drums), Morgan and Wheeler as studio musicians – it was issued in August. In January 1973, Coloured Balls teamed with guest vocalists Thorpe and Leo de Castro at the Sunbury Pop Festival, their performance was released in November as the "Help Me" / "Rock Me Baby" track on the live album, Summer Jam.The album included Coloured Balls' 16-minute version of "G.O.D.". Fordham had been replaced on guitar by Ian Millar early in the year. Coloured Balls released three singles including "Mess of the Blues" which reached the Top 40 in October.They supported Marc Bolan & T. Rex on their Australian tour. Coloured Balls released their debut studio album, Ball Power, in December, 1973 on EMI, which peaked at No. 13 on the Go-Set National Top 20 albums chart in February 1974. In January'74, Coloured Balls played at the Sunbury Pop Festival alongside hard rockers, Buster Brown, which included Angry Anderson on vocals and Phil Rudd on drums. An article on rare albums in the December 2014 issue of Record Collector magazine had this to say about the album: "Coloured Balls personified the uber-macho "sharpie rock" style beloved of skinheads, men at work and other assorted ne'er do wells who frequented urban Australia's fearsome 70's pub scene. They were a mean bunch, and this record remains a rough-as-arseholes testament to antipodean rock'n'roll. The original EMI pressing is as scarce as a teetotaller in Alice Springs!"
Any student of Australian rock music would be hard-pressed to argue against the pure fact that, since its inception in the late sixties, Chain has remained our foremost blues-rock band. In keeping with its hallowed name, there are many links to the Chain story…throughout its six year heyday over the early seventies the band, in its many permutations, commanded an undisputed dominance in the blues idiom. Chain has seen many varied line-ups, no less than 40+ different musicians passing through its ranks. Over the years, Perth has provided the setting for a thriving blues-rock scene, spawning many future stalwarts of the idiom who have gone onto greater national success. The original Chain grew out of this hotbed, forming from the ashes of The Beaten Tracks, who won the Perth heat of the 1967 Hoadley's Battle Of The Sounds. The band at that time comprised Warren Morgan (keys), Dave Hole (guitar), Ace Follington (dr), Murray Wilkins (bs) and Ross Partington (vcls); they moved to Melbourne in early 1968 to avail themselves of their prize, ostensibly recording and touring opportunities in the eastern states. While in Melbourne, Dave Hole (long recognised as one of Australia's top blues perfprmers) quit The Beaten Tracks, to be replaced by Tasmanian guitarist Phil Manning (formerly of Tony Worsley & the Blue Jays, The Laurie Allen Revue and Bay City Union, among others) and the band returned to Perth, where they lost the services of Partington. A return to Melbourne in December 1968 saw the group recruit ex-James Taylor Move singer Wendy Saddington, and the first incarnation of (The) Chain was established. Saddington was a blues/soul 'belter' in the vein of Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin, and it was she who came up with the band's name, derived from Aretha's classic hit, "Chain Of Fools". Sadly, this line-up of Chain never recorded, Saddington having departed by May 1969 to join Copperwine, and later to forge an erratic but compelling solo career. Chain relocated to Sydney in August and recruited bass player Tim Piper (ex-Chants R&B, Electric Heap, Wild Cherries) and legendary blind keyboardist Claude Papesch (who was also from Electric Heap, and who had been a member of Johnny Devlin & The Devils in New Zealand in the early '60s). This line-up stayed together long enough to record Chain's first single for Festival with house producer Pat Aulton -- "Show Me Home" b/w Morgan's "Mr Time", which was released in September. The single, while not a strong charter, convincingly displayed the group's abilities, and showed the strong and unmistakable influence of The Band -- who profoundly affected so many Aussie acts at the time -- as well as particularly showcasing Manning's fluid guitar style. The single is regarded by many as the earliest example of the "progressive" stance developing rapidly on the OzRock scene around this period. Follington, Piper and Papesch left Chain late in '69, to form Savage Rose, and each went on to reputable careers in a number of other prominent bands. Chain moved back yet again to Melbourne, where its core hooked up with the ex-Wild Cherries rhythm section of Barry Sullivan (bass) and Barry Harvey (drums). Nick-named, respectively, "Big Goose" and "Little Goose", the two Barrys injected a 'fish-arse-tight' cohesion into the band's sound, and helped unveil what was to become the classic, and best-remembered Chain configuration, gaining considerable notice in the southern capital's burgeoning blues-rock performing circuit in the process. (text courtesy of Milesago)
Blackfeather were one of the most popular and successful groups of the early '70s, and produced one of the landmark Aussie progressive rock albums, but a major split early in the group's history disabled what should have been a promising career for founder John Robinson. There was a bewildering series of lineup changes, with Blackfeather going through at least six major incarnations between 1970 and 1983, with a huge personnel list for each version. The list is a veritable 'Who's Who' of the 70s rock scene. However it's the first two lineups - 'Mark I', who made At The Mountains Of Madness and 'Mark II' who recorded "Boppin' The Blues" - that are the best known. Blackfeather (Mk I) formed in April 1970 with the original lineup being John Robinson (gtr), Neale Johns (vcls), Leith Corbett (bs) and Mike McCormack (dr). All but Johns had come straight from the split of the highly-rated Dave Miller Set, who were one of NSW's most popular live groups in the late 60s, and whose classic version of "Mr Guy Fawkes" was Go-Set's pick for the Best Single of 1969. Blackfeather began working consistently around the traps, cementing the strong fan base and critical interest that the Dave Miller Set had built up over the previous three years. As John noted, they became one of the first acts signed to Festival's newly-formed Infinity subsidiary. It was this second lineup -- Robinson, Johns, Fortesque and Kash -- which featured on their debut album, the Australian progressive classic At The Mountains Of Madness, recorded in late 1970 and released early the following year. The LP was produced by Richard Batchens, who later worked with Sherbet and Richard Clapton. Fraternity's singer Bon Scott guested on recorder and percussion, and their keyboard player John Bissett also contributed. At The Mountains Of Madness was released in April 1971 and was a national Top 10 LP (#7) in May. The album has perhaps not aged as well as some others from the period; the title track and the ambitious suite "The Rat" sound a little dated now, although there is sterling playing by Robinson throughout. Still, there are plenty of highlights, including the heavy-riffing "Long Legged Lovely" (with some of the heaviest bass yet captured on an Aussie recording) and the classic "Seasons Of Change", one of the most memorable and adventurous singles of the period. ..text courtesy of Milesago
As a tribute to the late Doc Neeson, here are the first 2 albums by The Angels with the now iconic and classic tracks "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again", "Comin' Down", "Take A Long Line" and "After the Rain". The Angels originally formed in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1974. The band later relocated to Sydney and enjoyed huge local success, clocking up hit singles across four decades, including "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again", "Take a Long Line", "Marseilles", "Shadow Boxer", "No Secrets", "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place", "Let The Night Roll On", "Dogs Are Talking", and "Caught In The Night". The Angels were cited by Guns N' Roses and a number of Seattle grunge bands, including Pearl Jam and Nirvana, as having influenced their music. In November 1970, brothers Rick and John Brewster formed The Moonshine Jug and String Band. In 1971, the band was joined by Belfast-born Bernard Neeson, an arts student and former Army sergeant and already a prominent figure on the Adelaide music scene. In 1974 they changed their name to The Keystone Angels, switched to electric instruments and began playing 1950s rock and roll on the pub circuit. In 1975, the band supported AC/DC during a South Australian tour, and later performed as the backing band for Chuck Berry. In 1975, on the recommendation of Bon Scott and Malcolm Young from AC/DC, the band was offered a recording deal with the Albert label. They dropped "Keystone" from their name and became simply "The Angels". At this point the band had four members: Neeson on bass guitar, Charlie King (Peter Christopolous) on drums, Rick Brewster on lead guitars and John Brewster on lead vocals and rhythm guitar. The Angels' first single, "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again", was released in April 1976. They made their TV debut appearance on Countdown. Later in the year, Charlie King, at the time AWL from the army, was replaced by Graham "Buzz Throckman" Bidstrup on the drums. This was the first of three different versions of the song the band released as singles throughout their career. The band's second single, "You're A Lady Now", was released in July 1977, followed a month later by their self-titled debut LP, The Angels. By now Chris Bailey had joined the band on bass, allowing Neeson to concentrate on vocals. Bailey had been a member of Mount Lofty Rangers with Bon Scott in 1974. Neeson's move to specialist frontman allowed the band to develop an energetic and theatrical live presence. Neeson typically appeared on stage as a wild extrovert, dressed in a Dinner suit and shaking maracas. As a foil, Rick Brewster remained motionless and wore sunglasses for every performance. He has stated that Beethoven convinced him not to move on stage. 1978's Face to Face album reached No. 16 in November and stayed on the Australian charts for 79 weeks. Mark Opitz engineered, and along with The Angels, co-produced the album. Peter Ledger, who designed the cover, won Best Australian Album Cover Design Award. Face to Face contained the band's first hit single, "Take a Long Line", which has become one of the Angels' most-recognised songs. In November, the band supported David Bowie on his first Australian tour, resulting in The Tour EP 7" single.
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