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

.

.
Showing posts with label Country Rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Country Rock. Show all posts

Sunday, April 1, 2018

Silver Roads..Australian Country-Rock and Singer-Songwriters of the 70's



47 track compilation of country-rock and singer-songwriters from the 70's including The Dingoes, Country Radio, Axiom, Russell Morris, Richard Clapton, Stars, Anne Kirkpatrick, Flying Circus, Daddy Cool, Johnny Chester, Fraternity, Doug Ashdown.

1-1 Country Radio– Gypsy Queen
1-2 Axiom – Arkansas Grass
1-3 Russell Morris– Lay In The Graveyard
1-4 Brian Cadd & Don Mudie– Show Me The Way
1-5 The Dingoes– Starting Today
1-6 The Flying Circus– The Longest Day
1-7 Anne Kirkpatrick– Feel A Whole Lot Better
1-8 Third Union Band*– Hyway Ryder
1-9 Richard Clapton– Down The Road
1-10 Home – Forget Me Not
1-11 John J. Francis– Play Muma Play (Sing Me A Song)
1-12 Carrl & Janie Myriad– Back In The Wildwoods Again
1-13 Fotheringay– The Ballad Of Ned Kelly
1-14 Quinn – The Mighty Quinn
1-15 Bluestone – Wind And Rain
1-16 Sundown – Outback Dan
1-17 Saltbush– Brown Bottle Blues
1-18 Uncle Bob's Band– Mr Domestic
1-19 Digby Richards– People Call Me Country
1-20 Lee Conway– I Just Didn't Hear
1-21 Johnny Chester– Midnight Bus
1-22 Daddy Cool – Just As Long As We're Together
1-23 Gary Young's Hot Dog– Rock-a-Billy Beatin' Boogie Band
1-24 The Autodrifters– The Birth Of The Ute

2-1 Billy Thorpe And The Aztecs– Cigarettes & Whiskey
2-2 Stars – Land Of Fortune
2-3 The Dingoes– Boy On The Run
2-4 Cold Chisel– Khe Sanh
2-5 Fraternity Featuring Bon Scott– Sommerville
2-6 Chain – Show Me Home
2-7 Broderick Smith– She's Gone
2-8 Axiom – Ford's Bridge
2-9 Johnny Chester– Glory Glory
2-10 The Laurie Allen Revue– Not Born To Follow
2-11 Gary Shearston– Faded Streets, Windy Weather
2-12 Margret Roadknight– Girls In Our Town
2-13 Doug Ashdown– Winter In America
2-14 Ross Ryan– I Don't Want To Know About It
2-15 Russell Morris– Alcohol Farm
2-16 Ray Brown & Moonstone – Call Me A Drifter
2-17 The Flying Circus– Silvertown Girl
2-18 Tymepiece– Sweet Release
2-19 Autumn – Falling
2-20 Max Merritt And The Meteors– Slippin' Away
2-21 Little River Band– It's A Long Way There
2-22 Hot Knives Featuring Greg Quill– Wintersong


                                                                 
                                                                 



Saturday, September 2, 2017

Keep On Rockin'...Australian Pop of the 70's compilation album..original artists



This eclectic mix of 45 tracks from the early to mid 1970's has everything from rock, pop, soul, country, progressive, glam, punk and singer-songwriters. The collection of artists range from solo performers like Brian Cadd, Doug Ashdown, Renee Geyer, Kevin Johnson, Russell Morris, Richard Clapton and Jon English to groups like TMG, Flake, Ariel, Stars, Ol'55, Mississippi, Supernaut, Railroad Gin, King Harvest, Finch and Rabbit. For fans of 70's Aussie music this is an essential collection.






Saturday, May 7, 2016

Stars...Land of Fortune...1979 album..featuring "Redneck Boogie"




Stars were a country and rock band formed in Adelaide, South Australia in 1975 and disbanded in 1979. Founding members were Glyn Dowding on drums; Malcolm Eastick on guitar and vocals; Mick Pealing on vocals; and Graham Thompson on bass guitar. They were joined by guitarist, songwriter, Andrew Durant in 1976 and relocated to Melbourne. Thompson then left and was replaced by a succession of bass guitarists including Roger McLachlan (ex-Little River Band) and Ian McDonald.

They were touted as the "rock'n'roll cowboys" and played the local pub and club circuit. They were noticed by Little River Band's guitarist Beeb Birtles and were signed to Mushroom Records. Birtles produced their debut single, "Quick on the Draw" which reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 30 in July 1976. Their second single, "With a Winning Hand" peaked into the top 40 in October.

The band's debut album, Paradise, peaked at No. 11 on the Australian Kent Music Report in 1978 and included their highest charting single "Look After Yourself" which reached No. 21 on the related singles chart. 

Their second album, Land of Fortune, was released in 1979.







Visit my other music blogs here:


Twitter @islandmanrocks

Friday, September 4, 2015

Stars...Paradise...debut album from 1977



Stars were a country and rock band formed in Adelaide, South Australia in 1975 and disbanded in 1979. Founding members were Glyn Dowding on drums; Malcolm Eastick on guitar and vocals; Mick Pealing on vocals; and Graham Thompson on bass guitar. They were joined by guitarist, songwriter, Andrew Durant in 1976 and relocated to Melbourne. Thompson then left and was replaced by a succession of bass guitarists including Roger McLachlan (ex-Little River Band) and Ian McDonald.

They were touted as the "rock'n'roll cowboys" and played the local pub and club circuit. They were noticed by Little River Band's guitarist Beeb Birtles and were signed to Mushroom Records. Birtles produced their debut single, "Quick on the Draw" which reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 30 in July 1976. Their second single, "With a Winning Hand" peaked into the top 40 in October.

The band's debut album, Paradise, peaked at No. 11 on the Australian Kent Music Report in 1978 and included their highest charting single "Look After Yourself" which reached No. 21 on the related singles chart. Their second album, Land of Fortune, was released in 1979 but did not reach the Top 50. By that time Durant had been diagnosed with cancer, the band had their last performance on 5 November and Durant died on 6 May 1980 at age 25. A tribute performance by Stars members and other Australian acts followed in August and a double-LP, Andrew Durant Memorial Concert was released in 1981. It peaked at No. 8 on the albums chart with proceeds donated to Andrew Durant Cancer Research Foundation.

Post Stars, Eastick joined Broderick Smith's Big Combo (1979–1982) and later provided guitar for different artists including Max Merritt and Jimmy Barnes. Pealing formed his own band Mick Pealing and the Ideals (1980–1981), they were also a backing band for Renée Geyer, he then formed The Spaniards (1983–1986) and worked with other artists including Eastick. McLachlan toured with Cliff Richard in 1978, worked with John Farnham (1987–1988), briefly rejoined Little River Band (1998–1999) and was a member of Mighty Oz Rock with Pealing in 2004.

click here for more information






Saturday, April 25, 2015

Axiom...Fool's Gold..debut album from 1970..supergroup that combined folk, country and rock


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




Sunday, June 1, 2014

Greg Quill and Country Radio...Fleetwood Plain...classic 1971 album



The blending of rock with elements of country music and folk was one of the most important directions in music in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Singer-songwriter Greg Quill and his band Country Radio were pioneers in this field in Australia. Many people will remember Country Radio for their popular and enduring hit "Gypsy Queen", which made the Australian Top 20 in late 1972. 

Prior to forming Country Radio, Quill was already well-known on the Sydney folk scene as a solo performer, and he also ran The Shack, the fondly-remembered folk venue at Narrabeen, on Sydney's Northern Beaches in the late 1960s. A meeting with publisher and producer Gus McNeil led to Greg being signed to Gus's new Cellar Music publishing company. Gus produced Greg's first commercial recordings, the single "Fleetwood Plain" and the subsequent album of the same name, recorded for EMI in 1970, on which he was backed by John Walsh (bass), Chris Blanchflower (harmonica), Orlando Agostino (guitars) and members of Pirana, the band which had formed from the final lineup of McNeil's old backing group The Nomads -- Graeme Thompson (bass), Jim Yonge (drums),  Tony Hamilton (lead guitar) and  Stan White (piano). The LP was released on EMI's new progressive subsidiary, Harvest.

1. "Empty Pockets/Leaving The City" 
2. "Fleetwood Plain" 
3. "Paradise" 
4. "Just Goodbye"  
5. "I'd Not Let You Be"  
6. "Song To David" 
7. "Commissar" 4:32 
8. "Observations From A Second Storey Window" 
9. "Windy On The Main" 
10. "Susannah Lee"  
11. "If You Ever" 

12. "Kitty's Song" 





Friday, April 11, 2014

Autumn..Comes Autumn..rare album from 1971...underrated Sydney band that had more talent than was recognized


AUTUMN ...Sydney 1970-72

Tony Romeril (vocals) 
Glenn Beatson (drums) 
Rick Graham (bass) 
Steve McMurray (guitar) 
Greg Jacques (organ) 1969 - Apr 1971 
Allan Magsuball (guitar) Apr. 1971- early 1972 
Charlie Wright (keyboards) late 1971- early 1972

Like their contemporaries The Executives, The Affair, New Dream and Zoot, Sydney band Autumn has been unfairly labelled as a lightweight pop band, mainly on the basis of their early recordings. They've also been tagged as 'one-hit wonders', although in fact they had four hits. Fronted by grievously underrated lead vocalist Tony Romeril, Autumn was a superb band with a strong following in their home city of Sydney, and they could tackle pop, country-rock and heavy/progressive rock with equal ease.

Like their close contemporaries The Flying Circus, Autumn formed at a time when rapid and significant changes were taking place in the music scene and the formerly homogeneous "pop" field was diversifying into several distinct genres. The trends that were drawing 'pop' musicians towards progressive music, "heavy rock" and country rock was counterbalanced by the popularity and commercial success of so-called "bubblegum" pop. This created to a situation where, as Glenn A. Baker has observed, "being identified as a pop band "drew automatic derision and critical dismissal".

Autumn's chart success with straight-ahead pop material has obscured the fact that this was a highly competent group, with tastes and abilities which went well beyond the confines of the three-minute formula pop single. Their true talents were not really showcased on record until their last few recordings for the Warner label and, as Glennn Baker notes "... nobody, save those who caught them live, came to realise what a sturdy, musically adept and diverse unit they were."

During the second half of 1971 Autumn released an EP, A Patch Of Autumn, followed by their hugely underrated second album Comes Autumn. Although it is dismissed by Vernon Joyson as "unremarkable", it in fact contains some outstanding material. As Aussie music archivist "MidozTouch" has noted, "Autumn's second album is so strikingly different in style and sound from their first LP that one could be forgiven for thinking they were recorded by two different groups". This included re-recordings of some of their Chart material, including Allan Magsuball's riff-tastic psych-prog nugget "Get It Down" (one of several fine tracks he contributed), a re-recorded version of "Lady Anne", and the country-styled hits "Falling" and "Miracles". This excellent LP, which has never been reissued, is one of the genuine lost treasures of early 70s Australian rock. Like all the early '70s Australian Warner recordings, the original LP is now quite rare and has become a sought-after collector's item.






Saturday, March 22, 2014

The Dingoes...debut album from 1974..a fine example of Australian country rock


The Dingoes were a country rock band initially active from 1973 to 1979. Formed in Melbourne they relocated to the United States from 1976. Most stable line-up was John Bois on bass guitar, John Lee on drums, Broderick Smith on vocals and harmonica, Chris Stockley on guitar and Kerryn Tolhurst on guitar. Mal Logan (who provided keyboards on the first LP) on keyboards joined after Stockley left due to illness. The Dingoes debut single, "Way Out West", was released in November 1973, which peaked in the top 40 of the Australian Kent Music Report singles chart. Subsequent singles were "Boy on the Run", "Smooth Sailing" and "Into the Night", which did not reach the top 50. They had three top 40 albums, The Dingoes in 1974, Fives Times the Sun in 1977 and Orphans of the Storm in 1979.

On 27 August 2009, The Dingoes were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame alongside Kev Carmody, Little Pattie, Mental As Anything and John Paul Young. The Dingoes reformed in late 2009 and released a new album "Tracks" in 2010 which was followed by a tour of Australia. A live album 'Live at Last' came out after the tour.

Track list

  1. "Come On Down" (Stockley) 
  2. "Boy On The Run" (Smith/Stockley) 
  3. "The Last Place I Wanna Be" (Tolhurst) 
  4. "Way Out West" (Dingoes) 
  5. "Pay Day Again" (Tolhurst) 
  6. "Goin' Down Again" (Tolhurst) 
  7. "Aaron" (Tolhurst) 
  8. "My Sometime Lady" (Tolhurst) 
  9. "Sydney Ladies" (Smith/Tolhurst) 
  10. "Dingoes Lament" (Du Bois) 

Produced by The Dingoes & John French 

Recorded at TCS Studios Melbourne, January 8-11, 13-23, 1974 



                                      click here for more information

Line up
Ray Arnott (drums, vocals) 1974 
John Bois (bass, guitar, keyboards, vocals) 1973-79 
Andrew Jeffers-Hardin(g) (guitar) 1979 
John Lee (drums, percussion, vocals) 1973-74, 1976-79 
Mal Logan (keyboards) 1973 
Broderick Smith (vocals, harmonica) 1973-79 
Chris Stockley (guitar, vocals) 1973-79 
John Strangio (bass) 1973 
Kerryn Tolhurst (gtr, mandolin, vcls) 1973-78