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)

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The Twilights...Once Upon A Twilight..almost forgotten second album from 1968

Once Upon A Twilight was The Twilights' second and final album, released in 1968. It went largely unnoticed at the time, and was a dramatic change from their previous pop oriented first album and their big hit "Needle In A Haystack".

While showcasing Peter Brideoake's plaintive, cello and horn-embellished "Tomorrow Is Today" and Laurie Pryor's raucously daft comedy turn, "The Cocky Song", the album is essentially Terry Britten's own. As main songwriter he provided lush settings for Glenn (the title track, "Found To Be Thrown Away" and the psychedelic gem "Paternoster Row") and delicate arrangements for Paddy's sweet lilt ("Bessemae"). Terry also made his own mark with lead vocals and almost solo instrumentation on "Mr Nice" and the Eastern-flavoured "Devendra" -- the latter featuring an arrangement of Indian string and percussive sounds similar to George Harrison's "Within You Without You". Embellished by brass, strings, Clapton-esque wah-wah guitar, Keith Moon-ish drum patterns and the latest studio trickery --feedback, reverse-tape effects masking, stereo panning and Leslie'd vocal effects -- the album presented a suite of spirited and captivating psychedelic pop-rock songs that hinted at brilliance.

At the time of its release the album was regarded by some critics as music past its use-by-date! Well, at the time, sure, the considerable time-lapse between the album's conception and its eventual release maybe didn't do the band many favours, but 36 years later this album sounds as fresh and fine and seminal as something like The Small Faces' Ogden's Nut Gone Flake -- an album The Twilights were known to perform in its entirety in concert.

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see also other post on first album The Twilights 1968

The Twilights..first album from 1966...featuring Glenn Shorrock and Terry Britten

The Twilights were a rock-pop  group of the mid to late 1960s. Alongside their own career successes, The Twilights are also notable for the inclusion of vocalist Glenn Shorrock, who later fronted Axiom, Esperanto and Little River Band, and guitarist Terry Britten who went on to become an internationally successful songwriter and producer and pen major hits for artists such as Cliff Richard and Tina Turner.

Alongside The Easybeats and The Masters Apprentices, The Twilights are widely considered to be one of the most significant Australian rock groups of the 1960s. Highly popular with teenage audiences, they were renowned for their musical excellence and live prowess, as well as their on-stage humour, and they were held in high respect by fellow musicians. The group is also notable as one of the few major Australian rock bands of the period to retain the same personnel for virtually all of its career. Like most of their contemporaries, they began as a cover band, playing accomplished renditions of hits by popular overseas bands of the era such as The Beatles, The Who and The Small Faces, and their early hits in Australia were all cover versions. The Twilights were noted for being on top of current musical trends, and their early repertoire was regularly updated with the latest British and American rock hits, which were regularly sent to them on record and tape by family and friends in the UK. Later in their career guitarist Terry Britten began to write original material but the group did not last long enough for this to have a significant impact on their career.

This album is the first of only two studio albums they released in their time and has now become a collectors' item. They do some covers on the album including "Diddy Wa Daddy", "Satisfaction" and "You've Got Soul". Their biggest hit "Needle In A Haystack" is also a cover and was originally recorded by a Motown group "The Velvelettes".

I remember my sister having the LP but I didn't take much notice of it at the time. Now I'm sorry I didn't grab it!

1. Sorry She's Mine
2. La La La Lies
3. It's Dark
4. Diddy Wa Diddy
5. Long Life
6. Needle in a Haystack
7. You've Got Soul 
8. Yes I Will
9. I'm Not Talking
10. Let Me Go
11. Lucky Man
12. Satisfaction

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