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

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Showing posts with label 80s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 80s. Show all posts

Saturday, December 7, 2024

The Sports - A Collection

 


The Sports were an Australian rock group which performed and recorded between 1976 and 1981. Mainstay members were Stephen Cummings on lead vocals and Robert Glover on bass guitar, with long-term members such as Paul Hitchins on drums, Andrew Pendlebury on lead guitar and vocals, and Martin Armiger on guitar. Their style was similar to both 1970s British pub rock bands (such as Brinsley Schwarz) and British new wave (such as Elvis Costello). 

The Sports' top forty singles are "Who Listens to the Radio", "Don't Throw Stones", "Strangers on a Train" and "How Come" . Their top 20 releases on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart are Don't Throw Stones (February 1979), Suddenly (March 1980) and Sondra (May 1981).

In October 2010 Don't Throw Stones was listed in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.




















Thursday, November 21, 2024

Skyhooks - A Collection

 


Skyhooks were an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1973. Their classic lineup (1974–1977) comprised Graeme "Shirley" Strachan (vocals), Greg Macainsh (bass and backing vocals), Red Symons (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Bob "Bongo" Starkie (guitar and backing vocals), and Imants "Freddie" Strauks (drums).

Known for their flamboyant costumes and makeup, their music addressed a variety of issues including drugs, sex, and the gay scene while frequently referencing Australian places and culture. Evolving from a series of groups with Macainsh and Strauks in the late 1960s and early 1970s, they rose to national prominence when their debut album Living in the 70's (1974), which was initially a moderate success upon release, gained unprecedented popularity the following year, aided by the nascent ABC music show Countdown; the album topped the Australian Kent Music Report chart for a record-breaking 16 weeks and sold over 200,000 copies, becoming the best-selling Australian album at the time. Their second album Ego Is Not a Dirty Word (1975) topped the Kent Music Report for 11 weeks.

Symons and Strachan left in 1977 and 1978 respectively and became media personalities; Symons was replaced with Bob Spencer and Strachan was replaced with Tony Williams, before they disbanded in 1980. The classic lineup reunited four times in the ensuing years, with reunions in 1990 and 1994 producing new material, including the number-one song "Jukebox in Siberia" in 1990. Strachan died in a helicopter crash in 2001; original lead singer Steve Hill, who left and was replaced by Strachan, died in 2005, and original guitarist Peter Starkie died in 2020.

Music historian Ian McFarlane stated that the band "made an enormous impact on Australian social life". In 1992, the group was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame. In 2011, the Skyhooks album Living in the 70's was added to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's Sounds of Australia registry.




























Skyhooks/Daddy Cool




Wednesday, October 2, 2024

All Fired Up - The Lost Treasures Of Australian Music 1970-1990

 


All Fired Up is a collection of Australian rock rarities released by ScreenSound Australia, the National Screen and Sound Archive, which features "hits, near misses and obscurities" of Australian music. The lineup includes famous Australian acts such as Mondo Rock, Icehouse, Redgum, Richard Clapton, John Paul Young, Ted Mulry and Goanna, and is especially welcome for the inclusion of some long-lost rarities by cult acts like Friends and Mandu.

The compilation presents an eclectic sampling of OzRock from the 70s to the 90s, and many tracks, most lifted from the B-sides of rare singles, have never before been released on CD. These include the original Australian version of the Pat Benatar hit All Fired Up (performed by Rattling Sabres), the Franklin Dam protest song Let the Franklin Flow performed by members of bands Goanna and Redgum, and the novelty song How About a Beer for the Horse performed by John Paul Young and the All Stars under the jokey guise of 'Sandshoe Willie and The Worn Out Soul Band'. The tracks were selected by Canberra music historian and radio presenter Paul Conn, author of 2000 Weeks: The First Thirty Years Of Australian Music And Then Some.



1 Rattling Sabres– All Fired Up
2 Sharon O'Neill– Power
3 Friends – B B Boogie
4 Richard Clapton– Goodbye Barbara Ann
5 The Chinless Elite – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
6 Sandshoe Willie & The Worn Out Soul Band– How About A Beer For The Horse
7 Mario Millo– Rebecca
8 Gordon Franklin And The Wilderness Ensemble– Let The Franklin Flow
9 Mondo Rock– Il Mondo Cafe
10 Redgum– Roll It On Robbie
11 Mandu– To The Shores Of His Heaven
12 Doug Parkinson– Arcade
13 Split Enz– Two Of A Kind
14 Ted Mulry– So Much In Love
15 Flowers – Sorry

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Something In the Air...music from the ABC TV series....various Australian artists


This 22 track compilation released in 2001 was the soundtrack to the popular ABC TV series and contains tracks from various Australian artists including Vika and Linda, Crowded House, Leonardo's Bride, Paul Kelly, Christine Anu, The Badloves, Archie Roach, Skyhooks, Hunters and Collectors, Big Pig, Josh Arnold, Jane Saunders, Goanna, Penny Flanagan and Nikka Costa, plus themes and music by Kane and Walmsley.







Monday, June 3, 2019

Australian Celebration...various artists compilation album from the 90's



Tracklist:
01 –Deborah Conway It's Only The Beginning
02 –Hunters & Collectors Holy Grail
03 –Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls To Her Door
04 –Jimmy Barnes Stone Cold
05 –Archie Roach From Paradise
06 –Kate Ceberano Think About It
07 –Ian Moss Tucker's Daughter
08 –Peter Andre Gimme Little Sign
09 –Rockmelons That Word (L.O.V.E)
10 –Models Barbados
11 –Yothu Yindi Tribal Voice
12 –Frente! Ordinary Angels
13 –Kylie Minogue Celebration
14 –The Badloves Lost
15 –Toni Pearen I Want You
16 –Neil Murray Holy Road
17 –Nathan Cavaleri Josh's Boogie
18 –Roxus Where Are You Now ?
19 –Skyhooks Million Dollar Riff
20 –The Angels Love Waits








Thursday, April 25, 2019

Wide Open Road..a road trip through Australia's musical landscape...various artists


An excellent 31 track compilation featuring a cross section of Australian artists from the 60's to the 90's...

Tracklist
1-1 –The Triffids Wide Open Road
1-2 –Hunters & Collectors 42 Wheels
1-3 –The Saints (I'm) Stranded
1-4 –The Cruel Sea This Is Not The Way Home
1-5 –Dave Graney & Clare Moore I Was A Country Boy
1-6 –Darren Hanlon Manilla, NSW
1-7 –No Fixed Address We Have Survived
1-8 –Midnight Oil The Dead Heart
1-9 –The Reels World's End
1-10 –Hilltop Hoods City Of Light
1-11 –TISM Morningtown Ride
1-12 –Cold Chisel Khe Sanh
1-13 –Skyhooks Balwyn Calling
1-14 –Hard-Ons Wog Food
1-15 –TZU City
1-16 –Weddings, Parties, Anything Under The Clocks
1-17 –You Am I Soldiers

2-1 –The Birthday Party Cry
2-2 –Laughing Clowns Holy Joe
2-3 –The Scientists Murderess In A Purple Dress
2-4 –The Celibate Rifles Kent's Theme
2-5 –Spiderbait Sam Gribbles (Live)
2-6 –Custard Music Is Crap
2-7 –The Grates Inside Outside (Live)
2-8 –The Atlantics Bombora
2-9 –James Reyne The Boys Light Up (Acoustic)
2-10 –Taman Shud What's Come Over You
2-11 –The John Butler Trio Home Is Where The Heart Is
2-12 –The Waifs Highway One
2-13 –The Pigram Brothers  Saltwater Cowboy
2-14 –Warumpi Band My Island Home





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Monday, March 11, 2019

The Glory Days of Aussie Pub Rock Vol.2....various artists compilation


Volume 2 of The Glory Days of Aussie Pub Rock gathers once again gathers the cream of Aussie Rock from the 70's, 80's and 90's. 

It features different tracks from the much the same list of big names as last time and much much more. That list of big names is massive. Cold Chisel, The Angels, Men at Work, Australian Crawl, the Sports, Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons, Mental As Anything, Split Enz, Sunnyboys, Screaming Jets, Rose Tattoo, the Radiators, Paul Kelly & The Coloured Girls, the Dingoes, Ian Moss, Goanna, Dragon, Flowers, Noiseworks, Hunters & Collectors, Skyhooks (their lone post-Shirl hit 'Over the Border'), Baby Animals, Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, TMG, Dragon, Dave Warner's From the Suburbs, Choirboys, Richard Clapton, the Saints, the Reels, Mi-Sex, Mondo Rock, the Models, The Badloves (with Jimmy Barnes), Matt Finish, V Spy V Spy, Uncanny X-Men, Warumpi Band, Weddings Parties Anything, Russell Morris, Black Sorrows; all these and more are represented by tracks that not only shook pub walls back in the day but pumped out of transistor radios and, in most cases, Sunday night ABC TV screens too. 

Also featured are plenty of big names who weren't included last time, including the Hoodoo Gurus, Jim Keays with his 1975 remake of 'Undecided', Ol'55, Kings of the Sun, Daddy Cool (with the rare 1975 comeback single 'All I Wanna Do Is Rock'), Little River Band, Mother Goose, Kevin Borich Express, Rose Tattoo slide guitarist Peter Wells' brilliant 'Between the Saddle and the Ground', Little Heroes with 'One Perfect Day', indigenous reggae-rock trailblazers No Fixed Address with 'Black Man's Rights', Vika & Linda rocking up a storm on a song that Paul Kelly wrote but never recorded with the Dots 'I Didn't Know Love Could Be Mine', Sydney '80s faves Flaming Hands, the Riptides and Dynamic Hepnotics, Melbourne mainstays Nick Barker & The Reptiles, Mike Rudd & the Heaters and the Spaniards (featuring Billy Miller & Mick Pealing), and glam-era pub favourites Hush, Taste and Supernaut. 

Other noteworthy tracks include rare singles by Stars (1976's 'With A Winning Hand', which never appeared on an album) and post-Ol'55 power poppers the Breakers who featured in the original 'Puberty Blues' movie, and the first ever reissue of anything by Gary Young & the Rocking Emus (the great single 'Rockabilly Heaven', featuring the great Daddy Cool/Jo Jo Zep drummer together with late fellow DC members Wayne Duncan and Ross Hannaford). There's also the rare but great 1971 single 'If You Got It' by legendary Adelaide group Fraternity, featuring Bon Scott on vocals. 

The collection ends with the Party Boys and John Swan - John had replaced Bon in Fraternity - who together give us an idea of what AC/DC might've sounded like if Swanee had also replaced Bon (or Brian) in AC/DC, with a ripping 'High Voltage.'

A sheer smörgåsbord for lovers of classic Aussie Rock!

see also blog post for Vol.1: https://theaussiemusicblog.blogspot.com/2019/01/the-glory-days-of-aussie-pub-rockvol1.html

available on Amazon HERE: