Tribute to Ross Hannaford, former Daddy Cool guitarist and Aussie music legend, 1950-2016

Daddy Cool band members Ross Wilson, Gary Young and Wayne Duncan were today devastated to learn of their long term friend and band mate Ross Hannaford’s death. “We’re gutted” says Wayne Duncan, before adding “We’ve lost a great friend today. He took me on many a journey”. Gary joined in “We’ve lost one of the world’s most unique guitarists” Ross Wilson said of his lifelong friend and musical colleague “We were so lucky to find each other in the wilds of 60’s suburban Melbourne. He was like my little brother, we grew up together in life and in music. He was truly one of a kind”

The band send deepest condolences to his family and many friends.

See previous post on Daddy Cool

                                            

Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons...Don't Waste It...1976 album

In late 1975, Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons were formed in Melbourne as Jo Jo Zep and His Little Helpers. The band was put together after Ross Wilson (ex-Daddy Cool, Mighty Kong), who was waiting out his recording contract, had turned to producing other artists for the label, Oz Records. He decided to produce a version of Chuck Berry's "Run Rudolph Run", as a one-off Christmas single for Mushroom Records. Contractually, Wilson could not perform the vocals himself, so he asked his friend, Joe Camilleri (ex-The Pelaco Brothers with Stephen Cummings) to sing and play on the recording. Camilleri's nickname was Jo Jo Zep, which was derived from a traditional Maltese nickname for "Joseph", so the group was named Jo Jo Zep and His Little Helpers. The line-up included bass guitarist, John Power (ex-Foreday Riders).

Jo Jo Zep and the Falcons signed with Oz Records and, in July 1976, released their first single, "Beating Around the Bush". The track was written and sung by Wayne Burt and peaked at No. 73 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. The song was also one of two tracks by the group on Wilson's soundtrack for the feature film Oz (1976). The follow-up single was a cover of Otis Redding's "Security" sung by Camilleri, which peaked at No. 98. In February 1977, the band released their debut album, Don't Waste It, which was produced by Wilson and contained both singles. The album featured lead vocal turns by Camilleri, Burt and Power. The songwriting was mostly by Burt, with a few cover tunes, and one song by Camilleri. Although the intent was to be a serious R'n'B band, the musical direction was never set in stone.

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Mighty Kong...successor to Daddy Cool...All I Wanna Do Is Rock..1973

Mighty Kong was the 'supergroup' successor to the legendary Daddy Cool, which broke up in August 1972. It was also the fifth (and technically the last) in the line of groups that featured Ross "The Boss" Wilson and Ross Hannaford, which began with Pink Finks in 1965. Despite its all-star lineup, culled from three of the top groups of the time, the band was short lived and never really achieved its considerable potential, effectively relegated to being a footnote in the larger story of Daddy Cool. The main relic of this period was their excellent (and greatly underrated) LP, All I Wanna Do Is Rock.

Personnel:
Ross Wilson - chief vocals, pignose guitar (09)
Ross Hannaford - guitar, deep throat
Russell Smith - guitar, lead vocals (03)
Tim Partridge - bass guitar
Ray Arnott – drums
+
John Fishbach - producer, engineer

Tracks:
01. All Through The Day (Into The Night We Play) – 6:02
02. Callin’ All Cats (The Cats Are Callin’) – 4:01
03. Some Other New Address – 4:05
04. Hard Drugs (Are Bad For You) – 2:57
05. All I Wanna Do Is Rock!! #1 – 4:15
06. Jungle In My Blood – 5:57
07. Got My Beliefs – 4:34
08. With A Smile Like That (How Could We Refuse) – 7:30
09. Homesick & Horny – 4:18
Bonuses:
10. Callin' All Cats (The Cats Are Callin') [Single Version] – 3:28
11. All I Wanna Do Is Rock [Unreleased Studio Jam] – 8:40

Mighty Kong

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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Daddy Who Daddy Cool...all time classic best selling Aussie album

Daddy Cool is an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1970 with the original line-up of Wayne Duncan (bass, Vocals), Ross Hannaford (lead guitar, bass, vocals), Ross Wilson (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica) and Gary Young (drums, vocals) . Their debut single "Eagle Rock" was released in May 1971 and stayed at number 1 on the Australian singles chart for ten weeks. Their debut July 1971 LP Daddy Who? Daddy Cool also reached number 1 and became the first Australian album to sell more than 100,000 copies. Their name comes from the 1957 song "Daddy Cool" by US rock group The Rays, Daddy Cool included their version on Daddy Who? Daddy Cool.

The album was originally issued in a textured cover and featured a cartoon rendering of band members by Melbourne artist Ian McCausland which became the group's logo. While Daddy Cool's guitarist, Ross Hannaford, was responsible for overall album cover design, McCausland created the band's graphics and much of their visual image. Most of the original songs were written by guitarist, vocalist Ross Wilson except "Bom Bom", which was co-written with Hannaford. The rest of the album contained 1950s R&B covers - The Rivals' "Guided Missiles", Etta James' "Good Rockin' Daddy", Marvin & Johnny's "Cherry Pie", The Rays' "Daddy Cool" and Chuck Berry's "School Days".

Daddy Cool's music featured 1950s Doo-wop style rock cover versions and originals which were mostly written by Wilson. On stage they provided a danceable sound which was accessible and fun. Their second album was Sex, Dope, Rock'n'Roll: Teenage Heaven from January 1972 and reached the Top Ten. Breaking up in August 1972, Daddy Cool briefly reformed during 1974–1975 before disbanding again, they reformed with the band's original line-up in 2005. Their iconic status was confirmed when they were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame on 16 August 2006.

Daddy Who?... Daddy Cool was also released in the US on the Warner/Reprise label and the band toured in support of its release. Two singles were lifted from the album: "Eagle Rock" #1 on the Australian national singles chart and "Come Back Again" which reached #3.

The album was re-issued in 1975 (with different sleeve under the title Daddy Who? Daddy Gold!) on Wizard Records (also owned by Porter) and in 1982, with the original artwork but non-gatefold sleeve.

The Australian release on Sparmac Records contains different tracks than the US Release on Reprise Records five months later. The Australian release includes the tracks "Good Rockin' Daddy" and "Cherry Pie" not found on the Reprise Records edition. The US release includes the tracks "Flip", "Lollipop" and "Just As Long As We're Together" not found on the Sparmac Records edition.

In October 2010, it was listed at No. 14 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums

1. "Daddy Cool" (Frank Slay/Bob Crewe) - 2:31
2. "School Days" (Chuck Berry) - 3:03
3. "Come Back Again" - 4:51
4. "At The Rockhouse" - 3:42
5. "Guided Missile" (Alfred Gaitwood) - 3:02
6. "Good Rockin' Daddy" (Richard Berry/Joseph Bihari as "Joe Josea") - 2:21
7. "Eagle Rock" - 4:07
8. "Zoop Bop Gold Cadillac" - 3:56
9. "Blind Date" - 4:12
10. "Bom Bom" (Ross Wilson/Ross Hannaford) - 2:34
11. "Cherry Pie" (Joseph Bihari as "Joe Josea"/Marvin Phillips) - 3:40
12. "Flip" (Carl Green) - 2:26 (bonus track from US release)
13. "Lollipop" (Beverly Ross/Julius Dixon) - 1:36 (bonus track from US release)
14. "Just As Long As We're Together" - 2:32 (bonus track from US release)

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