The Party Boys - A Collection

 

Live At Several 21st's (1983)

The Party Boys were an Australian rock supergroup with a floating membership that existed from 1982 until 1992. Created by Mondo Rock's bass guitarist, Paul Christie as a part-time venture for professional musicians with downtime from their other projects, the group had temporary members from acts such as Status Quo, The Angels, Sherbet, Skyhooks, Rose Tattoo, The Choirboys, Australian Crawl, Divinyls, Models, Dragon and Swanee plus international stars including Joe Walsh, Eric Burdon, Alan Lancaster and Graham Bonnet. In March 1983 their debut album, Live at Several 21sts, peaked at No. 9 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. In June 1987 they had a number-one hit on the related Singles Chart with a cover version of John Kongos' hit, "He's Gonna Step On You Again". It also peaked at No. 10 on the New Zealand Singles Chart. 

Paul Christie was the bass guitarist for Australian rock group Mondo Rock, which he left in 1982. He put together the first line-up of The Party Boys in Sydney with guitarists Kevin Borich (ex-The La De Das, Kevin Borich Express), Harvey James (Mississippi, Ariel, Sherbet), and drummer Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup, who had recently left The Angels.Australian Crawl vocalist James Reyne was in Sydney shooting the TV mini-series Return to Eden and agreed to play some shows between filming. The band did a short run of shows performing cover songs chosen by various members. Recordings made of these gigs became the basis for the group's album Live at Several 21sts. When Reyne's filming schedule was over, he returned to his work with Australian Crawl in Melbourne and left the band. In March 1983, the album reached No. 9 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart and spawned the single, "Bitch"   a cover of The Rolling Stones' album track from 1971's Sticky Fingers. Christie, Borich and James were encouraged to continue with the project.

Richard Clapton was brought in as Reyne's replacement on vocals and Don Raffaele joined on saxophone. The band toured the east coast, again playing only covers from artists including Bob Dylan, Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones. A second live album, Greatest Hits (of Other People) (1983) was the result of that tour and the Bobby Fuller Four cover single, "I Fought the Law", was issued in November. Clapton and James left the group. Greatest Hits (of Other People) peaked at No. 25. The singer for the next tour was former Skyhooks vocalist and TV personality Graham "Shirley" Strachan with Rose Tattoo guitarist Robin Riley replacing James; this version of the band produced the album No Song Too Sacred, yet another live album of covers. The related single, "Kashmir", was a Led Zeppelin song.

The band's 1985 line-up saw Strachan, Riley and Bidstrup (who was now with GANGgajang) replaced by Marc Hunter from Dragon, ex-Divinyls drummer Richard Harvey and United States guitarist, Joe Walsh (ex-The Eagles). The sold-out national tour that followed formed the basis of the album You Need Professional Help that featured an extended guitar duel between Walsh and Borich on Walsh's track "Rocky Mountain Way". [extract from World eBook Library]

In 1986, Christie, Borich and Harvey teamed up with Rose Tattoo lead singer Angry Anderson, guitarist John Brewster from The Angels and ex-Status Quo bassist Alan Lancaster to form a new version of The Party Boys. With Lancaster on bass, Christie switched to drums so the band now had two drummers. No recording was made of this line-up and following the tour, Anderson left. 

Greatest Hits (of Other People) - 1983

No Song Too Sacred (1984)

You Need Professional Help (1985)

The Party Boys self-titled (1987)

Greatest Hits, Misses, Rarities and B-Sides (1992)

Technical note: "Live At Several 21st's" is a vinyl rip and the sound quality is average compared to the other releases. This is the only good copy I could find as it has never been released in digital format. If someone out there has a better sounding copy please message me.

Skyhooks LIve! Be In It ...70's live set from legendary rockers

Skyhooks formed in Melbourne in March 1973 by mainstays Greg Macainsh on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Imants "Freddie" Strauks on drums. They were soon joined by Bob "Bongo" Starkie on guitar and backing vocals, and Red Symons on guitar, vocals and keyboards; Graeme "Shirley" Strachan became lead vocalist in March 1974. Described as a glam rock band, because of flamboyant costumes and make-up, Skyhooks addressed teenage issues including buying drugs "Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo)", suburban sex "Balwyn Calling", the gay scene "Toorak Cowboy" and loss of girlfriends "Somewhere in Sydney" by name-checking Australian locales. According to music historian, Ian McFarlane "[Skyhooks] made an enormous impact on Australian social life".

Skyhooks had #1 albums on the Australian Kent Music Report with their 1974 debut, Living in the 70's (for 16 weeks), and its 1975 follow-up, Ego Is Not a Dirty Word (11 weeks). Their #1 singles were "Horror Movie" (January 1975) and "Jukebox in Siberia" (November 1990).

Live! Be in It was their first live album and was released by Mushroom Records on cassette and vinyl in 1978 in Australia and on CD in 1991. The live recordings are taken from various concerts around Melbourne from December 1975 to July 1978.

Be in It

Track listing
"Mercedes Ladies" – 3:41
"Balwyn Calling" – 4:52
"Smartarse Songwriters" – 5:20
"Sitting in a Bar In Adelaide" – 4:59
"All My Friends Are Getting Married" – 4:43
"The Bruce Suite" – 10:08
"Kaboodleschnitzer Kommercials" – 2:15
"Wild in the Streets" – 6:26
"Do the Hook" – 2:36
"Why Dont'cha All Get Fucked" – 3:56
"Brown Sugar" – 6:22
"Bondage on the Boulevard" – 3:51
"Party to End All Parties" – 3:27
"Sex Is Not a Dirty Word" – 4:38
"Women in Uniform" – 5:00
"The Bruce Suite" is made up of "Big Bad Bruce", "Straight in a Gay Gay World" and "I'm Normal"

Greg Macainsh – bass, vocals, production
Freddy Kaboodleschnitzer – drums, vocals
Bob Spencer – guitar, vocals (tracks 1–5, 7–15)
Bongo Starr – guitar, vocals (track 6)
Red Symons – guitar, vocals (track 6)
Merry Took – percussion (track 6)
Danny Robinson – vocals (track 6)

Shirley Strachan – vocals


Read more about Skyhooks on Wikipedia HERE

Skyhooks..Living In the Seventies...released 40 years ago and still a classic

I've been wanting to post this one for a while and since this year is the 40th anniversary of its original release, I wanted to get in before everyone else does. One of the biggest selling Aussie albums of all time and certainly one of the most popular Australian bands ever. They turned the music world upside down when this was released in 1974 and it still remains a rock classic.

The Band, a brief history:
Skyhooks were an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in March 1973 by mainstays Greg Macainsh on bass guitar and backing vocals, and Imants "Freddie" Strauks on drums.They were soon joined by Bob "Bongo" Starkie on guitar and backing vocals, and Red Symons on guitar, vocals and keyboards; Graeme "Shirley" Strachan became lead vocalist in March 1974. Described as a glam rock band, because of flamboyant costumes and make-up, Skyhooks addressed teenage issues including buying drugs ("Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo)"), suburban sex ("Balwyn Calling"), the gay scene ("Toorak Cowboy") and loss of girlfriends ("Somewhere in Sydney") by namechecking Australian locales. According to music historian, Ian McFarlane "[Skyhooks] made an enormous impact on Australian social life".

Skyhooks had #1 albums on the Australian Kent Music Report with their 1974 debut, Living in the 70's (for 16 weeks), and its 1975 follow-up, Ego Is Not a Dirty Word (11 weeks).Their #1 singles were "Horror Movie" (January 1975), "Ego Is Not a Dirty Word" (April 1975) and "Jukebox in Siberia" (November 1990).

Symons left Skyhooks in 1977 and became a radio and television personality. Strachan had solo releases since 1976 and finally left the band in 1978 and was also a radio and television presenter. With altered line-ups, Skyhooks continued until they disbanded on 8 June 1980; they briefly reformed in 1983, 1984, 1990 and 1994. In 1992, Skyhooks were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame. Lead singer, Strachan died on 29 August 2001, aged 49, in a helicopter crash while solo piloting. Their original lead singer, Steve Hill, died in October 2005, aged 52, of liver cancer.

In 2011, the Skyhooks album Living in the 70s was added to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's Sounds of Australia registry.

The album:
Living in the 70's is the debut album by Melbourne band Skyhooks. Released in October 1974 on the Mushroom Records label, the album achieved relatively little success until early 1975. It spent 16 weeks at the top of the Australian album charts from late February 1975, and became the highest-selling album by an Australian act in Australia up until that time, with sales of 240,000. In October 2010, it was listed at No. 9 in the book 100 Best Australian Albums.

The album was produced by former Daddy Cool lead singer Ross Wilson.
Two singles were lifted from the album: "Living in the 70's"/"You're a Broken Gin Bottle, Baby" and "Horror Movie"/"Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo)". The latter spent 2 weeks at the top of the Australian singles chart in 1975. Six tracks from the album were banned on commercial radio in Australia; in defiance of this, however, the ABC's new youth station in Sydney, 2JJ, played the track "You Just Like Me 'Cos I'm Good in Bed" as their first ever song when they began broadcasting in January 1975.

"Broken Gin Bottle", the B-side of the original "Living in the 70's" single, was included as track 11 on the 2004 CD remaster.


In 2011 the album featured at number 75 on the Triple J Hottest 100 Albums of All Time. In the same year, the album was added to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's Sounds of Australia registry.

The tracks:
(All tracks by Greg Macainsh, except where noted. Red Symons provides lead vocals on "Smut".)
"Living in the 70's" – 3:42
"Whatever Happened to the Revolution?" – 4:08
"Balwyn Calling" – 3:44
"Horror Movie" – 3:47
"You Just Like Me 'Cos I'm Good in Bed" – 3:44
"Carlton (Lygon Street Limbo)" – 3:56
"Toorak Cowboy" – 3:45
"Smut" – 5:19 (Red Symons)
"Hey, What's the Matter?" – 2:47
"Motorcycle Bitch" – 3:56
Bonus track on CD remaster[edit]
11. "Broken Gin Bottle" – 4:14

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