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
The Aussie Music Blog is winding down and I won't be posting any more. Thank you to all the visitors and readers who have stopped by over the years and left supportive comments, I do appreciate them.
For this last post I am sharing again the very first post from this blog (originally posted in December 2012), the compilation album "So You Wanna be A Rock'n'Roll Star", one of the most popular posts from the blog. This now very rare 82 track compilation presents some of the more popular and obscure music from the 1960's and is the perfect anthology for fans of classic Australian music. This version is in FLAC with all artwork. The MP3 version can be found on the original post HERE.
From ABC news: Stevie Wright, who fronted rock outfit The Easybeats in the 1960's, and is widely regarded as Australia's first international pop star, has died at the age of 68. The ARIA hall of famer became ill on Boxing Day and was taken to Moruya Hospital on the New South Wales south coast, where he died on Sunday night with his son Nick by his side. Rock historian Glenn A Baker said Wright "was a dynamo on stage". Read full article HERE.
Stephen Carlton "Stevie" Wright (20 December 1947– 27 December 2015), formerly billed as Little Stevie, was an Australian musician and songwriter who has been called Australia's first international pop star. During 1964–1969 he was lead singer of Sydney-based pop/beat/rock and roll band The Easybeats, widely regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960's (see original post on this blog about The Easybeats HERE). After The Easybeats disbanded in 1969, Wright fronted numerous groups including The Stevie Wright Band and Stevie Wright and The Allstars; his solo career included the 1974 single, "Evie (Parts 1, 2 & 3)", which peaked at No. 1 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart. (See original post on this blog HERE).
Down Under Nuggets is a collection of 29 gems from the heyday of Aussie sixties music. From garage to punk, surf, mod, beat, psychedelic and just plain groovy! Many well known artists like The Easybeats, The Atlantics, Bobby and Laurie, Bee Gees, Wild Cherries, Cherokees, The Loved Ones, Purple Hearts, Missing Links, MPD LTD plus a few more lesser known for you to discover. I'm not going to say much more about this release so I'll let the track listing do the talking. Enjoy!
The Master's Apprentices–Buried And Dead2:39
The Elois–By My Side2:15
The Black Diamonds–I Want, Need, Love You3:00
The Atlantics–Come On2:54
The Purple Hearts–Early In The Morning2:08
The Missing Links–Wild About You2:36
The Creatures –Ugly Thing3:18
The Lost Souls–This Life Of Mine2:41
The Moods –Rum Drunk2:19
Derek's Accent–Ain't Got No Feeling2:14
The Bee Gees*–Like Nobody Else2:35
Barrington Davis–Raining Teardrops2:29
The D-Coys–Bad Times2:54
The In-Sect –Let This Be A Lesson2:42
Steve & The Board*–I Want2:37
Toni McCann–No1:49
Peter & The Silhouettes–Claudette Jones2:04
The 5*–There's Time2:18
Bobby & Laurie*–No Next Time2:25
MPD Ltd*–I Am What I Am2:25
The Cherokees –I've Gone Wild2:41
The Loved Ones –The Loved One2:51
Phil Jones & The Unknown Blues*–If I Had A Ticket2:39
The Throb –Black3:11
The Blue Beats –She's Comin' Home2:24
The Easybeats–Sorry2:35
Bobby James Syndicate*–Hey Hey Hey2:31
The Wild Cherries–Krome Plated Yabby2:58
The Sunsets –The Hot Generation (Soundtrack Version)5:29
The Masters' story began in the South Australian capital of Adelaide in early '65, with The Mustangs, a dance band formed by four Adelaide teenagers: Mick Bower, Brian Vaughton, Gavin Webb and Rick Morrison. The Mustangs were a typical example of an early-60s instrumental band, playing the obligatory Shadows and Ventures covers. The cataclysmic visit by the Beatles in 1964 rendered all that passe overnight. The Mustangs were canny enough to realise that the surf/instrumental craze was past its 'use-by' date, and they decided to change their style to incorporate the new "beat' music, so they placed a "singer wanted" ad on the noticeboard at a local music centre. On his third (and last) visit there, the ad was spotted by a young would-be bass player called Jim Keays, who was taking lessons from musician and guitar teacher John Bywaters (who was a member of one of Adelaide's most popular and accomplished beat groups). The Mustangs began to established themselves on the dance circuit around Adelaide, in suburban halls and migrant hostels. They built up a strong following with the local teenagers, many of whom were, like Jim, migrants from the UK (Adelaide was a major destination for UK migrants in the 50s and 60s). Their audiences were also an important influence for the band - some of these kids were very recent arrivals, who had seen the top UK bands in action only weeks before, and they had a strong effect on the band's "look", since they were directly in touch with current 'mod' fashions, a trend which was still not very well known in Australia. The next step was a name change, and because they regarded themselves, at least for a while, as apprentices to those musical "masters" like Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, their new name (suggested by Bowers) paid homage to these heroes. They decided early on to dispense with the apostrophe. Towards the end of 1965 they found their home-base at an Adelaide club called The Beat Basement. Before long they were they regularly packing out the club, and they graduated from the less prestigious spots to the prized Saturday afternoon residency. They also became a prime attraction at the Octagon Ballroom in the Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth (The Twilights' home turf) which was located near another large migrant hostel. Keays recalls that the regulars included two young Scots migrant boys, John "Swanee" Swan and his brother Jimmy Barnes. The band also played at a dance in Salisbury, promoted by a young Doc Neeson, later the lead singer of The Angels. By early in the new year the Masters were one of the most popular bands in town and regularly packed out gigs across the city, as well as making mini-tours to outlying towns and cities like Murray Bridge, Mt Gambier and Whyalla. The Masters' first big break was their appearance on the Channel 7 Good Friday telethon hosted by Adelaide TV celebrity Ernie Sigley. The Masters played four songs, to a rousing reception, and by the next day they were the talk of the town. ..text courtesy of Milesago
Talented, sexy, sophisticated, adventurous, dynamic, innovative -- just some of the many tags that have been been attached to The La De Das' name. But one word was always associated with them more than any other - the La De Das were cool. Their career spans the entire '64-'75 period. Formed in New Zealand at the very start of the beat boom, they were already major stars at home when they relocated across the Tasman a couple of years later. They're practically the only major group (on either shore) to emerge from the beat boom of 1964-65 who managed to ride out the massive musical changes of the Sixties and adapt to the new scene in the Seventies, emerging as one of Australia's most popular hard rock groups during the first half of the Seventies. There are a lot of similarities to their Aussie contemporaries The Masters Apprentices. Both were touted as their country's answer to The Rolling Stones. Both survived for so long in that mercurial era because they had tons of talent, determination and the ability to adapt their sound and look to align with prevailing trends. Both groups went through major personnel changes -- by the time the Masters split, singer Jim Keays was the only remaining original member, and by the time of their final 1973-74 'power trio' incarnation, only guitarist and singer Kevin Borich remained from the original La De Das lineup. Like the Masters, they started off as blues/R'n'B purists, and their original style leaned heavily on British R'n'B practitioners - The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - and on the American originals like John Lee Hooker, Elmore James and Muddy Waters. They moved into their 'mod' period - with covers of Ray Charles, Motown and Northern Soul favourites, replete with tartan trousers, satin shirts and buckle shoes. Then they plunged headlong into psychedelia (the obligatory concept album, covers of songs from West Coast outfits like Blues Magoos, paisley shirts, sitars, long hair and moustaches). They almost came unstuck after the inevitable -- and ultimately futile -- attempt to "make it in England". But it's here that the stories diverge -- the Masters fell apart in England in 1972, but the Las De Das survived (just) limped back to Australia, regrouped, and bounced back with a mature and reinvigorated take on their R'n'B roots. Their final incarnation as a hard-rockin', no-frills, blues & boogie band carried them very successfully through to the mid-70s. Here are there first 3 albums which were all originally released in the sixties.
Ray Brown and the Whispers were in the vanguard of the first wave of Australian beat pop, from 1964-67, and during their brief career they were one of the most successful and celebrated bands in the country. Aided by his boyish good looks and considerable charm, singer Ray Brown ranked alongside Stevie Wright, Billy Thorpe and Normie Rowe as one of the most popular stars of the period, and The Whispers are now widely recognised as being one of its most accomplished bands. Although they enjoyed unprecedented success at the time, the group was short-lived, and their contribution to Australian music, both during and after the beat boom, is still sadly under-appreciated. From the outset, Ray and The Whispers distinguished themselves as a top-notch performing unit, both live and on record, and they thoroughly road-tested all their material. In retrospect their only real weakness, as far as a long-term career was concerned, was that there were no writers in the group (unlike The Easybeats, The Blue Jays and their label mates The Bee Gees). But like The Blue Jays, their choice of material showed off both their versatility and their wide-ranging tastes.
Probably the Whispers' greatest love, though, was American soul and R'n'B, and they were tireless champions of the style, covering many numbers by the top performers of that period.Their first major break in came late in the 1964 when they secured the gig as resident band at Sydney's Surf City and The Beach House, taking over from Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs. Within a short time the Whispers were regularly pulling in 2000 punters per night on Fridays and Saturdays, and by the new year they were rivalling The Easybeats for popularity in Sydney. Their rise to national fame was meteoric -- in just six months they scored four Top 5 hits in a row in Sydney, including their record achievement -- still unbroken -- of three consecutive #1 hits from their first three releases! They were also among the most prolific recording outfits of the day, with a nine singles, ten EPs and five albums to their credit in in little more than two years. This 2 for 1 album combines their first 2 albums and contains all their hits.
This is a double treat for fans of the original Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs. These 2 albums were released at the height of their popularity in the mid 1960's. They show why they became so big, so fast. The tracks on these albums were a combination of beat, pop, rock 'n'roll and rhythm'n'blues, which highlight the versatility and talent within the group. They covered numbers from the likes of The Beatles, Rolling Stones and Ray Charles and capitalised on the beat boom from Great Britain. Listening to these again after nearly 50 years of their original release, you can see what the excitement was all about.
The Merv Benton story is a fascinating chapter of the Beat Boom in Australia. From his base on the Melbourne dance circuit, Merv gained national attention and quickly became one of the most popular male singers in the country. In early 1964 he signed with Melbourne's W&G Records and became one of their most prolific artists, releasing seventeen singles, six EPs, and three LPs between 1964 and 1967, and scoring an impressive run of fifteen Top 40 singles in his hometown (several of which also charted in other cities). But in 1967, at the height of his popularity, Merv was struck down by throat problems that ended his singing career. Merv (real name Mervyn Bonson. b. 12 August 1942) grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Reservoir and went to school at Preston High. Merv's first year as a pop star was frantic -- in just nine months he had released four singles, one EP and one LP By the end of '64, the 19-year-old singer had appeared on appeared on national television shows such as Brian Henderson's Bandstand and Johnny O'Keefe's Sing Sing Sing, and W&G released his debut album, Come On And Get Me, by which time he had become a regular on national and local TV pop shows; and had toured the country supporting Merseybeat star Billy J. Kramer. Merv's look has been described as being in contrast to the new wave of long-haired, Liverpool-sound groups of the era, but this is something of a misnomer. Films and photos of the period will reveal that Merv's style was actually fairly typical of the time -- take a look at an old Aztecs clip, for example -- and with his clean-cut image and matinee-idol good looks, immaculately coiffed hair and sharply tailored clothes. he undoubtedly won the hearts of young fans all over Australia.
Popular Melbourne band The Town Criers formed around 1965. Their first single, a cover of The Kinks' "The World Keeps Going Round", was released on the Melbourne independent label Trend but didn't make any impression on the local charts. The B-side, a great 'garage-punk' number called "Big Deal", was included on the bootleg Oz '60s compilation CD It's A Kave-In, which also features another Criers rarity from this period, a version of the blues standard "Mama Keep Your Big Mouth Shut". The Criers gigged consistently around Melbourne over the next two years, and in late 1967 they were signed to the Astor label by A&R manager Ron Tudor. Their second single, released in February 1968 and nominally produced by Geoffrey Edelsten, was a strong version of "Everlasting Love", the much-covered hit originally recorded by American singer Robert Knight in 1967 and also released in 1968 in the UK by The Love Affair. It was an immediate success and became a big hit in Melbourne, reaching #2 and also charted in Sydney (#16) and Adelaide (#33) in April-May 1968, and this success propelled it into the Go-Set Top 20; it peaked at #18 and consistently out-charted the Love Affair version. The song has been covered many times since then, including a 1990s version by U2.
During the latter half of 1968 the Town Criers traveled to South East Asia where they entertained Australian and American troops stationed in Vietnam. This was followed by a trip to the USA, where they appeared on the Bob Hope Christmas Special. In early 1969 founding vocalist Andy Agtoft and John Taylor both left the group. Agtoft was replaced by singer Barry Smith from Adelaide; this raised the band's profile in Adelaide, but it may also have led some fans to think that the band itself was from Adelaide. Taylor subsequently joined the Sydney band Daisy Clover, who released two singles on Festival. Andy Agtoft (vocals) 1967-69 Mark Demajo (bass) Sam Dunnin (guitar) Chris Easterby (drums) George Kurtiss (keyboards) 1967 - May 1968 John Taylor (keyboards) 1968-69 Barry Smith (vocals) 1968-69
These collections from Raven Records have been posted on this blog previously and I wanted to bring them back again to reiterate what a classic collection of tracks they feature and also for anyone who may not have seen the original posts. They are essential for any serious Australian music aficionado. Here they are again:
The Groop, Mark I, 1964-66 Peter Bruce (guitar) Peter McKeddie (vocals) Max Ross (bass) Richard Wright (drums, vocals) One of many "two-phase" groups that featured in the Aussie rock scene of the 60s, the first incarnation of The Groop emerged from Melbourne's thriving performing circuit in 1966, with a unique sound which hinged around a mixed repertoire of soul classics, big beat numbers and whimsical originals from all four members. The Groop originated as The Wesley Three, a folk trio formed by school friends from Melbourne's exclusive Wesley College, Peter McKeddie, Max Ross and Richard Wright.The Wesley Three signed with CBS Australia label in 1964 and released a single, an EP and an album. The Wesley Three evolved into The Groop in 1965 with the addition of English-born guitarist Peter Bruce, who was recruited through a 'musicians wanted' ad in a music shop window. The Groop drew on a range of diverse musical influences including jug-band and Cab Calloway-style "jump" music, as well as zany vaudeville/cabaret material. After signing to CBS in 1965 they released their first two singles, "Ol' Hound Dog" and the double-entendre laden "The Best In Africa". Although considered by some as frivolous novelty records, they proved very popular both with radio programmers and the buying public, and both made the Top 20 in Melbourne. Their self-titled debut album (CBS 1965) featured several witty originals, together with covers of staples like Them's "Gloria"; it sold in respectable numbers, particularly in their hometown, where they were feted as a top-drawer live attraction, strongly supported by regular airplay on Melbourne radio stations 3UZ and 3AK, TV appearances and consistently favourable and prominent coverage from the fledgling Go-Set magazine.
The new lineup made its recording debut in late '66 with a storming rendition of Solomon Burke's "Sorry" (b/w Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love"), scoring a national Top 10 hit. Both live and on record, Ronnie Charles' gritty, soulful voice was the undoubted focus (not to mention his dark, sultry looks that appealed to a growing contingent of young lady followers) but the new Groop proved to be an extremely tight, musically dextrous and creative pop band, each of whose members contributed to the songwriting.
In May 1967 saw the release of the soul-inflected, reverb-drenched "Woman You're Breaking Me" (b/w "Mad Over You", which was written by, and heavily featured drummer Richard Wright, with organist Brian Cadd. This was a major hit -- #6 in Melbourne, #12 in Sydney -- and even charting in some key American centres when it was put out by Columbia Records there. The single was followed by an album of the same name. It was a strong collection of originals and well-chosen covers that were mostly drawn from the band's current popular performing repertoire. It's also notable as one of the first Australian pop LPs to be recorded in stereo.
The peak of The Groop's career came in July, when they took out the grand prize in the Hoadleys' Battle of the Sounds, competition, ahead of other worthy finalists like The Questions, James Taylor Move and Gus & the Nomads. After their tenth single, a fine soul-inflected groover called "You Gotta Live Love" / "Sally's Mine", was ignored, The Groop abruptly broke up mid-year. In late 1969, Don Mudie and Brian Cadd teamed with former Twilight Glenn Shorrock to create one of Australia's first supergroups, Axiom, who achieved considerable success with a batch of strong singles and two superb LPs.
There are 52 sensational tracks here from the 60s and early 70s. As the cover says: "Little known songs, hard to find B-sides and bands you may not have heard of". From Beat, Garage, Surf, Instrumental, Pop, Rock and everything in between. The download comes with all artwork too. I've played it through a few times and just about every track is good if not great. Some artists you may know (or at least I do) are The Strangers, Python Lee Jackson, The Rondells, The Cherokees, Ian Turpie, Johnny Young, Marcie and The Cookies and Patsy Ann Noble. It will take you back to those TV shows of the 60s like Go! and Kommotion and have you groovin', stompin', rockin' and whatever other dance you care to remember!
