Lost and Forgotten Aussie Albums - Part 1

For this series I'm listing albums by Australian artists that have been "lost and forgotten" in time for different reasons, but still worth a first time listen or revisit. Where possible I've included a link for more information about the relevant artist.

BIGSTORM - Living In Exile (1989)

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Digby Richards (self-titled) 1974

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Doug Parkinson - Heartbeat (1983)

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James Freud - Step Into the Heat (1989)

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Jon English & Marcia Hines - Jokers and Queens (1982)

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more information (Marcia Hines)

Then and Now...Australia Salutes The Beatles...various artists

This compilation sees some of Australia's finest artists covering classic Beatles songs.

"No single instance of Beatlemania throughout the globe ever came close to the intensity and sheer magnitude of the social upheaval which occurred beneath the southern cross. No street crowds, in New York or London or Liverpool ever eclipsed the antipodean hordes which, at times, comprised a third of the entire population of a city.  Not since the VE and VJ days which marked the end of WWII had the streets been filled with such celebration and abandon. No royal tour could match the displayed devotion - 350,000 in the streets of Adelaide alone, compared to 10,000 at Kennedy Airport in New York 4 months before. As tour press officer Derek Taylor once declared: "It was clear that many of eleven million people in Australia viewed the Beatles in a messianic light" - Glenn A Baker.

                                                                  
Disc 1

    From Me To You - The Bee Gees
    Yesterday - The Seekers
    For No One - Little Pattie
    It Won't Long - The Rajahs
    You've Got To Hide Your Love Away - Ronnie Burns
    All My Loving - Johnny Young
    Obla-Di, Obla-Da - The Executives
    I Feel Fine - Masters' Apprentices
    With A Little Help From My Friends - Doug Ashdown
    Tomorrow Never Knows - Wendy Saddington
    Hey Jude - Max Merritt & The Meteors
    Come Together - The La De Das
    Dear Prudence - Doug Parkinson In Focus
    Eleanor Rigby - The Zoot
    Carry That Weight - Colleen Hewitt
    Nowhere Man - Sherbet
    Paperback Writer - Glenn Shorrock


Disc 2

    Help - John Farnham
    Oh! Darlin' - The Models
    Birthday - Sunnyboys
    I've Just Seen A Face - Jenny Morris
    Baby You're A Rich Man - Company Of Strangers (W/James Reyne)
    A Hard Days Night - The Hoodoo Gurus
    I'm So Tired - You Am I
    I'm Only Sleeping - The Vines
    Two Of Us - Josh Pyke & Bob Evans
    Girl - Glenn Cardier
    Blackbird - Katie Noonan
    Across The Universe - Rachael Leahcar
    Day Tripper/lady Madonna - Tommy Emmanuel
    Things We Said Today - Marty Rhone
    Like Dreamers Do - The Beatnix
    'Til There Was You - Harrison Craig
    Strawberry Fields Forever - John Waters 

Fanny Adams....first Aussie "supergroup"...rare, one-off album from 1971

On paper, Fanny Adams looked like a dream team, with four of Australasia's best musicians combining in a 'supergroup' and intent on conquering the world. Given the talent involved, this should have been a great group who did grand things, but, as so often happened in OzRock, the reality proved to be drastically different.

Vince Maloney, Johnny Dick, Teddy Toi and Doug Parkinson were veterans of some of Australia and New Zealand's top bands of the 1960s:

Vince Maloney had been in the original 1963-65 lineup of The Aztecs, but quit in '65 (along with the rest of the band) after a financial dispute. He and fellow Aztec Tony Barber then formed a shortlived duo, followed by a stint with Tony Worsley & The Fabulous Blue Jays. Vince then formed his own band The Vince Maloney Sect, which became the house band on the mid-'60s pop show Kommotion. Moving to England, he spent several years as lead guitarist in the late-60s UK lineup of The Bee Gees with drummer Colin Petersen

Johnny Dick had joined Max Merritt & The Meteors in 1963 in New Zealand and came to Australia with them in '65, alongside Teddy Toi. After the original Aztecs split from Thorpe, he and Teddy jumped ship and joined the "new" Aztecs, which lasted until 1966. He later teamed up with 'Parko' in the highly-regarded Doug Parkinson In Focus

Teddy Toi was a highly respected bassist, already a rock'n'roll veteran whose CV went back to New Zealand in the late '50s with Sonny Day & the Sundowners and included a stint in the second lineup of The Aztecs in 1965-66.

Doug Parkinson was (and still is) one of Australia's finest male singers. He started his career in a high-school band The A Sound, followed Newcastle pop outfit The Questions, which evolved into Doug Parkinson In Focus with Johnny, Duncan McGuire and Billy Green, scoring a Top 20 hit in '68 with their superb rendition of The Beatles' "Dear Prudence" and winning the Hoadley's Battle Of The Sounds in '69.

Fanny Adams were, unfortunately, short lived. Due to various issues within the band and resistance from a sceptical public, they went their separate ways, but left us with this, now rare, album which showed the enormous talent that was within.

text courtesy of Milesago

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