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MILESAGO: Australasian Music and Popular Culture 1964-1975 |
| Curing cultural anmesia since 1999 ... | |
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"One For The Road" - A Benefit for Norm Sweeney Until his recent cancer diagnosis, Norm Sweeney was the last of the great Australian roadies of the 1960s still working. He started out in 1966 with Max Merritt & The Meteors before signing on with Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, a relationship that lasted on and off for 39 years, until Billy's untimely death in 2007. Norm also worked on tours by many famed overseas acts including The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, Joe Cocker, Alice Cooper, Bad Company and Frank Zappa. Up until his recent illness, he still toured with Brian Cadd and Rose Tattoo.On Sunday 15 June 2008 some of Australia's greatest rock musicians got together at the Bridge Hotel in Balmain, Sydney, to help Norm out. They were ably assisted by MCs Michael Chugg, Donnie Sutherland and Glenn A. Baker. The show kicked off with a short set by John 'Swanee' Swan, who was in fine form and sang several of his hits including "Lady" and "If I Were A Carpenter". Next up was Jim Keays -- himself still recovering from treatment for pancreatic cancer -- who performed a rousing version of "Turn Up Your Radio" and "Because I Love You". The legendary Dinah Lee got everybody bopping with her classic hits "Reet Petite" and Don't You Know Yokomo", followed by a fine set from Richard Clapton. Next up was the incredible Doug Parkinson, who delivered towering renditions of some of his best-known songs, including "Dear Prudence" and his Southern Star Band hit "I'll Be Around", and a truly gorgeous version of "Blackbird". This was followed by a special performance of The Bee Gees "To Love Somebody" sung by the all-star trio of Doug, Brian Cadd and Marcia Hines (making a surprise appearance). Caddie had the crowd in the palm of his hand with a brilliant set of his favourites including "Ginger Man" and "Let Go" and this performance was one of the highlights of the night. Next up was the great JPY, still loooking and sounding fantastic, and backed by the legendary All-Stars including Warren Morgan and Ronnie Peel. Squeak's rendition of "Love Is In The Air" included a surprise cameo 'dance' performance by a bare-chested Michael Chugg, who flounced on stage with a shirt tied around his head, camping it up hilariously . The final numbers featured The Aztecs (Morgan, Wheeler and Matthews with Phil Manning) with special guest vocalists Danny Young and his dad JPY. Danny tore the place up with his powerhouse performance of "Somebody Left Me Crying” -- the opening song from The Aztecs' fabled 1971 Melbourne Town Hall show, on which Warren Morgan played the Town Hall organ, and cranked it up to the point that (according to him) it cracked the foundation in the neighbouring Commonwealth Bank, earning them a lifetime band from the venue. JPY then returned to teh stage to close the night with the anthemic "Most People I Know". The show was a great success, and at last report the ticket sales and a memorabilia auction conducted by Chuggie have raised more than $20,000 for Norm's treatment. Milesago wishes Norm all the best for his treatment and recovery. "I once was lost, but now I'm found "  Fans
of Australian psychedelic music and progressive rock have good reason
to
celebrate this May, thanks to the release of the long-lost album by
Sydney progressive band King
Fox, which has just been issued on CD some 38 years after the
original tracks were recorded.King Fox -- which included future star Billy Field -- shot to local fame in Sydney after winning the 2UW "New Sounds of '69" competition, and in mid-1969 their debut single "Unforgotten Dreams" shot into the charts, reaching the Top 5 and charting for more than four months. In January 1970, the young members of King Fox -- who were all still in high school at the time -- went into Martin Erdman's World Of Sound Studio at Ramsgate, Sydney to record the tracks for a planned LP. Unfortunately, just days after the last track was recorded, the band was forced to break up. When Martin moved his studio a few years later, the multi-track tapes went missing, and for many years they were thought have been lost. Happily, it turned out that they were merely misplaced, and they were finally relocated a couple of years ago. Shortly after that discovery, Martin was able to contact King Fox founder Paul Radcliffe -- whom he had not seen in over 30 years -- and the two began work on mixing the tracks and preparing the album for release. The result is 70207: The Unforgotten Album, which brings together all the studio recordings by this legendary band. The CD was launched on 21 May 2008 at a special function in Sydney, hosted by Martin and Donnie Sutherland, for which all five members of the group reunited for the first time in 38 years. Part A, subtitled "A Psychedelic Symphony in six parts" features all the 'lost' King Fox tracks recorded in 1970 for the never-released LP; to decribe them, we need simply quote Martin Erdman's decaration: "Listen and be amazed". Part B features all the other King Fox studio tracks including "Unforgotten Dreams" and their other single tracks, plus bonus material that has never been issued on CD before. It's a "no brainer" to describe this CD as an essnetial purchase for any fan of psych / prog music, and it's a tribute to the trememdous talents of King Fox as writers and performers, and to Martin Erdman, who created extraordinary productions with what would today be considered the most primitive of equipment. 70207 is available online now from Martin's own CD Ozzie website: http://www.cdozzie.com It's also available from Redeye Records' Sydney shops, or online at the Redeye site: http://www.redeye.com.au and from Timewarp: http://www.timewarp.com.au/ |
Fare thee well ... We're sad to note the recent passing of two rock'n'roll soldiers:Dave Mills, drummer with '60s Sydney band Clapham Junction, died in China of a heart attack, aged 57. Born in Blackpool, UK, Dave moved to Australia in his mid-teens. Clapham Junction was inspired by The Who and the Motown greats, and they ran their own discotheque called Union Jack. One of many fine bands discovered by Sydney producer Martin Erdman, Clapham Junction is best known for their 1969 single "Emily On Sunday". Lead singer Dennis Laughlin went on to front the original version of Sherbet in 1969-70. Paul Brownlow, who died of a sudden heart attackin Sydney at the end of June, was the drummer in '60s Sydney band The Pogs, which also featured Rory O'Donohue (of Aunty Jack fame). New status for National Film & Sound Archive Fresh from sticking to the Japanese over their abhorrent whaling activities, Federal Arts & Environment Minister Peter Garrett has announced that Grannie Rudd has kept to her election promise to make the National Film and Sound Archive an independent body. On 1 July 2008 the NFSA became an independent statutory authority, with its own governing board and management. The late and unlamented Howard
junta forced the NFSA (previously known as ScreenSound) to become a division
of the Australian Film Commission (now known as Screen Austraia). This move caused many to worry that the NFSA's role
in preserving Australia's precious audio and musical heritage
would be downgraded or curtailed. In the shops ... Aztec Music continues to delight OzRock fans with its fantastic reissues of classic Aussie '70s albums. Their current catalogue includes some of the rarest and most sought-after albums of that decade, with many more fabled titles still to come. Recent releases of particular interest include: - Mandu's ultra-rare 1974 sci-fi concept album To The Shores Of His Heaven, featuring an all-star backing band comprising Phil
Manning, Barry Sullivan, Gary Young and Peter Sullivan Among the other priceless OzRock gems in the Aztec pipeline are the first-ever CD release for Mighty Kong's All I Wanna Do Is Rock, Mondo Rock's Primal Park, Madder Lake's Stillpoint and Butterfly Farm, classic
studio and live albums by Carson, Blackfeather, Band of Light, The
Aztecs, Chain, Dragon, Finch, Mark Gillespie, Pirana, Levi Smith's
Clefs, Jeff St John & The Id and Mackenzie Theory, and
the soundtrack album of the cult '70s surf movie Highway One.
Scheduled Votary releases for '08 include classic '70s Australian jazz albums originally released on Horst Lieplot's 44 label, including The Col Nolan Syndicate, The Brian Brown Quitet's Carlton Streets, the Charlie Munro Quintet's groundbreaking Eastern Horizons and The Jazz Co/Op, plus more reissues of Sven Libaek soundtrack music and, for vinyl freaks, an LP re-release of Inner Space. Copperfield Records is a recently re-activated Aussie indie label, originally set up in the 1970s by studio owner and producer-engineer David Gibson. Sydney musos of "a ceratin age" will remember David's Top Spot Studio in Hurstville, which later moved into the inner-city and was briefly renamed Sound 66. David also established the labels Top Spot and 66|Sound, with the latter releasing the classic "Mona" by Sydney garage-punk legends The Creatures. David renamed the studio Copperfield in the 1970s, and among his credits he engineered and co-produced all of the early 1970s recordings by singer-songwriter (and long-serving Double Jay DJ) John J. Francis, including John's 1973 hit "Play Mumma, Sing Me A Song". Luckily Gibson still has all the master tapes and among other plans, he is currently trying to convince Francis to release a compilation of his '70s recordings. Copperfield has also reissued another lost '70s classic, the 1974 Aidan Nolan LP Tales From The Sun. Find out more at: http://www.copperfieldrecords.com.au/index.html Tim Gaze anthology out now Tim's bulging CV includes work with some of the biggest names in Australian music including Tamam Shud, Khavas Jute, Ariel, Rose Tattoo, Angry Anderson, The Bushwackers, The Blues Doctors (with Jim Conway), Peter Wells and Gyan. Tim has recently released a career-spanning 2CD retrospective, Careless Love, issued on the Bombora label. It features tracks from his early days in Tamam Shud to his recent solo work, a rare track by his early 70s band Miss Universe, collaborations with Gyan, Pete Wells and The Blues Doctors, and a sample of his recent work on the Delightful Rain CD/DVD project. It is, at the risk of repeating ourselves, another "must have" addition for any serious Oz Music fan and is available from all good record bars. It can also be purchased online from these quality outlets: Bombora Records:http://www.bombora.net.au/timgaze.php Redeye Records: http://www.redeye.com.au Timewarp Records: http://www.timewarp.com.au/ and don't forget to visit Tim's own website at: http://www.timgaze.com/ |
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This
month
in history |
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NEWS
AND EVENTS The Groove win the 1968 Hoadley's Battle of
the Sounds. 1 The CIA institutes its controversial Phoenix Program, a covert operation designed to identify and "neutralize" (via infiltration, capture, or assassination) the civilian infrastructure supporting the Vietcong insurgency. 2 Thirty protesters are arrested when police clash with anti-conscription demonstrators in Sydney. - renowned Australian landscape artist Sir Hans Heysen dies, aged 90 4 Mounted police charge into a crowd of over 1500 anti-Vietnam war demonstrators outside the US consulate in Melbourne. 45 people are arrested. - British lone yachtsman Alec Rose, 59, receives a hero's welcome when he sails into Portsmouth, England after his 354-day round-the-world trip. 10 World-famous US paediatrician and best-selling child care author Dr Benjamin Spock is sentenced to two years in prison for encouraging draft dodging. 25 Pope Paul VI publishes the controversial encyclical Humanae Vitae, which condemns the use of birth control and bans the use of the Pill by Catholics. The encyclical splits believers and many Catholics defy the ban. 30 The Beatles announce the closure of their Apple Boutique in Baker St, London. The store is shut down after just six months in business, all the stock is given away and the controversial psychedelic mural on the building's exterior, created by design collective The Fool, is removed immediately after the closure. 31 The Beatles record "Hey Jude" at Abbey Rd Studios in London. The landmark single deliberately breaks the unofficial "3-minute rule" of commercial radio, clocking in at almost seven minutes. It tops the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for nine weeks from September to November 1968, making it The Beatles' biggest-ever American hit. It also goes to #1 in Australia on its second week in the Go-Set chart, staying there for 11 weeks and charting for a total of seven months. |
Major overseas releases: The Beach Boys - Friends, "Do It Again" The Buffalo Springfield - Last Time Around The Byrds - Sweetheart Of The Rodeo Aretha Franklin - "I Say A Little Prayer" The Move - "Wild Tiger Woman" Go-Set National Top 10 3 July 1968 1. (#1 last week) THE UNICORN - The Irish Rovers (9 weeks in chart) 2. (3) THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY - Hugo Montenegro (9) 3. (2) HONEY - Bobby Goldsboro (11) 4. (4) THIS GUY'S IN LOVE WITH YOU - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass (6) 5. (5) LAZY SUNDAY - The Small Faces (6) 6. (6) A MAN WITHOUT LOVE - Engelbert Humperdinck (8) 7. (7) IF I WERE A CARPENTER - The Four Tops (7) 8. (9) MRS. ROBINSON - Simon And Garfunkel (5) 9. (17) JUMPING JACK FLASH - The Rolling Stones (3) 10. (14) LOVE MACHINE - Pastoral Symphony (5) 10 July 1968 1. (1) THE UNICORN - The Irish Rovers (10) 2. (2) THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY - Hugo Montenegro (10) 3. (4) THIS GUY'S IN LOVE WITH YOU - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass (7) 4. (5) LAZY SUNDAY - Small Faces (7) 5. (9) JUMPING JACK FLASH - The Rolling Stones (4) 6. (3) HONEY Bobby Goldsboro (12) 7. (6) A MAN WITHOUT LOVE - Engelbert Humperdinck (9) 8. (16) ANGEL OF THE MORNING - Merrilee Rush (3) 9. (8) MRS. ROBINSON - Simon And Garfunkel (6) 10. (10) LOVE MACHINE - Pastoral Symphony (6) 17 July 1968 1. (3) THIS GUY'S IN LOVE WITH YOU - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass (8) 2. (5) JUMPING JACK FLASH - The Rolling Stones (5) 3. (8) ANGEL OF THE MORNING - Merrilee Rush (4) 4. (2) THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY - Hugo Montenegro (11) 5. (1) THE UNICORN - The Irish Rovers (11) 6. (4) LAZY SUNDAY - The Small Faces (8) 7. (7) A MAN WITHOUT LOVE - Engelbert Humperdinck (10) 8. (12) LADY WILLPOWER - The Union Gap (3) 9. (6) HONEY - Bobby Goldsboro (13) 10. (10) LOVE MACHINE - Pastoral Symphony (7) 24 July 1968 1. (1) THIS GUY'S IN LOVE WITH YOU - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass (9) 2. (2) JUMPING JACK FLASH - The Rolling Stones (6) 3. (3) ANGEL OF THE MORNING - Merrilee Rush (5) 4. (8) LADY WILLPOWER - The Union Gap (4) 5. (6) LAZY SUNDAY - The Small Faces (9) 6. (4) THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY - Hugo Montenegro (12) 7. (5) THE UNICORN - The Irish Rovers (12) 8. (13) YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY - Ohio Express (5) 9. (12) THE ORANGE AND THE GREEN/WHISKEY ON A SUNDAY - The Irish Rovers (3) 10. (11) MRS. ROBINSON - Simon And Garfunkel (8) Source: Go-Set Charts, July 1968, originally compiled by Ed Nimmervol |
| "Fuzzy
Memories"
A look back at Australian hits from the '60s and '70s that don't seem to get played on "Golden Oldie" radio anymore. June's Fuzzy Memory: "If I Only Had Time" - John Rowles (MCA, 1968) -- #5, June 1968 New Zealand born vocalist John Rowles was a major solo star in Australasia in the Sixties and Seventies, and is best remembered for his perennial 1969 hit "Cheryl Moana Marie". It's not so well remembered that in mid-1968 John scored a major international hit with his third single, recorded in England with renowned producer Mike Leander. John had come to Australia in 1963, aged 17, to sing at the Riverside Inn in Melbourne. He then moved to Sydney and joined a group with the unlikely name of TheDingdongers. John stayed with them for about a year, during which time they rather wisely changed their name to The Sundowners. In 1966 John launched his career as a solo singer, and manager Graham Dent organised an appearance on Australian television's "New Faces Of 1966". At this stage Dent had him performing under the name "The Secret", and he proved so popular that there were huge numbers of offers for work. Despite this, Dent kept him away from promoters and press until after he had made a showcase appearance on the nationally televised Bandstand. He then launched John to the Australian music world as "JA-AR" and promoters were soon scrambling to sign him up. After singing with Ivan Dayman's Sunshine organisation, John recorded his first solo single "The End (Of The Rainbow)"/"You Still Love Him" which was simultaneously released in 1966 on both the Sunshine and Kommotion labels under the name JA-AR. It was followed early in 1967 with "Please Help Me I'm Falling" / "Girl Girl Girl" on Sunshine. Thanks to regular appearances on pop shows like The Go!! Show and Kommotion, both singles did well. In 1967, John went to England where he hooked up with independent producer Mike Leander, who wrote the string arrangement on The Beatles' "She's Leaving Home", produced ex Manfred Mann singer Paul Jones and went on to produce and co-write Gary Glitter's biggest hits in the early 1970s. Leander was impressed with John's talent and dark good looks, and was convinced that with the right material John could have the same impact as Tom Jones or Engelbert Humperdinck. John's first UK release was "If I Only Had Time" / "Now Is The Hour", with the A-side being a reworking of a French song. It became a huge hit, reaching #3 on the British charts, #5 in Australia and #2 in New Zealand in mid-1968. John has enjoyed a long and very successful career, which has included headlining shows in Las Vegas; he has recorded over twenty albums and was awarded an OBE for his services to entertainment and the promotion of his home country. He now lives back in New Zealand, where he still performs regularly, and retains a dedicated worldwide fanbase. References: New
Zealand Music:
John Rowles
March's Fuzzy Memory: "Melborn and Sideny" by The Idlers Five |
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Legendary
Aussie guitarist and songwriter Tim Gaze needs no introduction
to
regular readers of Milesago, because we love his work -- he
has
long been regarded as one of Australia's finest blues-rock guitarists
and he's a brililant songwriter to boot (cf.
the superb "Shaking Out The Stones" on Tamam Shud's comeback album