Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs .. 1964-75..It's All Happening!...23 track compilation

Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs were an Australian beat, pop and rock group dating from the mid-1960s. The group enjoyed huge success in the mid-1960s, but split in 1967. They re-emerged in the early 1970s to become one of the most popular Australian hard-rock bands of the period.

Originally a four-piece instrumental group who had put out one surfing instrumental, "Smoke & Stack", they formed in Sydney in 1963. With the advent of the Merseybeat sound, they added a lead singer, Billy Thorpe. His powerful voice and showmanship (which made him one of the most popular and respected rock performers in Australian music), completed the original line-up, which consisted of drummer Col Baigent, bassist John "Bluey" Watson and guitarists Valentine Jones and Vince Maloney (who later played with The Bee Gees).Valentine Jones left the band shortly after Billy Thorpe had joined and was later replaced by Tony Barber.

The group broke through in mid-1964 with a massive nationwide hit, their cover of the Leiber and Stoller classic "Poison Ivy", which famously kept The Beatles from the #1 spot on the Sydney charts at the very moment that the group was making its first and only tour of Australia—a feat which resulted in Thorpe being invited to meet the Fab Four at their hotel. Over the next twelve months the band reigned supreme as the most popular 'beat' group in Australia, scoring further hits with the songs "Mashed Potato", "Sick And Tired" and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", until they were eclipsed by the emergence of The Easybeats in 1965.

During 1965 the original Aztecs quit after a financial dispute, so Thorpe put together a new five-piece version consisting of drummer Johnny Dick, pianist Jimmy Taylor, guitarists Colin Risbey and Mike Downes and NZ-born bassist Teddy Toi. This group performed until 1966, scoring further hits with "Twilight Time", "Hallelujah I Love Her So", "Love Letters" and "Word For Today".

This 23 track compilation contains all their hits and gives a good cross section of their output.

1. Poison Ivy 
2. Mashed Potato 
3. That I Love You 
4. Sick 'N' Tired 
5. Don't You Know 
6. Hi Heeled Sneakers 
7. What I Say 
8. I Got A Woman 
9. Don't You Dig This Kind Of Beat 
10. Funny Face 
11. Talkin' Bout You 
12. Dancing In The Street 
13. Baby Hold Me Close 
14. Twilight Times 
15. Love Letters 
16. I Told The Brook 
17. Over The Rainbow 
18. I've Been Wrong Before 
19. The New Breed 
20. Wee Bit More Of Your Lovin' 
21. The Word For Today 
22. Most People I Know 
23. It's Almost Summer 

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