And as the train pulls in to Digger's Rest...
3:20 PM, 5/8/2006
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Here we go. This is the main reason I started ripping all this stuff to begin with. The golden age of Oz Rock, the era of the Sunbury Nation. Sometimes speciously referred to as the Australian Woodstock, Sunbury was special in that it was devoted to Australian acts. Watching the Sunbury film gives the impression that it was a non-stop OzBloozeBoogie-fest but there was a lot more going on at the time. It was before the death-grip of pub-rock had taken hold altogether and the more concert-focussed acts were able to push their progressive sides to ever increasing audiences as the big festivals needed stocking. An altogether amazing period.Before I start with the rants though, just a note about the download procedure. A few people mentioned that they either didn't know they could download what I was blathering on about or couldn't find it. It's down the bottom of the post but in future I'll try to make it more prominent. The link will take you to a file-share place where you just click the "free" option (unless of course you have a premium user account) which will yield a zipped file of all the songs I've been droning about. Easy huh? Just to get you started, here's last week's 6 O'Clock Rock-GTK vol. 1 link again http://rapidshare.de/files/27504851/6oClck_GTK1.zip.html and this week's Sunbury Nation Vol. 1 is at http://rapidshare.de/files/28238557/snbryNtn1.zip.html Remember, all links will only be valid for a month but I may consider reposting if someone really wants to check something out. Now, without further ado... 01 - Ariel - Launching Place (1974) The song. An ideal launching place (sorry) for the first Sunbury Nation post. This is a mighty little song and to my mind the stand-out track on an altogether great album (Rock and Roll Scars, recorded at Abbey Road, thank-you very much) and making the most of their new-found guitar grunt. Prog sensibility jam-packed into a tight little Partridge Family format, shattering the golden rule of progressive rock (which is something along the lines of "We might be able to get it down to ten minutes if we ditch the cor anglais solo") to deliver at under (that's right...UNDER) three minutes. I usually counter this shortcoming by playing it three or four times in a row. Great riffage and terrific, full, plaintive vox from Mike Rudd. This song originally appeared as the B side to I'll Be Gone, would you believe? The band To give an idea of the enduring appeal of these guys, the first two people to leave comments on this site both mentioned Spectrum. Ariel were yet another incarnation of Spectrum/Indelible Murtceps geared (as I understand it) to fulfill art-rock ambitions without the lingering Oz Blooze spectre forced upon them by the massively successful I'll Be Gone. Also a top song mind you, but there was a lot more to Spectrum and anyone discovering that for the first time is in for a treat. For the full picture, Mike Rudd and Bill Putt have their own great website (link on sidebar) with music to buy, lots of memorabilia and history, general ranting and news of gigs. Yep, they're still at it and sounding great, albeit generally in an accoustic-ey format which limits their epic swoosh repertoire a bit but definitely always worthwhile. You never know what you might hear, which separates them in a big way from the average "classic rock" act. 02 - Madder Lake - 12 lb Toothbrush (1973) The song If I had my way, this would be the Australian national anthem. Can't you just see it? The morning sun shines on large group of fresh-faced children standing to attention at a school assembly. The introduction crackles over the tannoy and then all at once, their sweet, youthful voices rise together in the patriotic paean: "NAA naa na NAnananaa,nanaNAnanaa naNAAna"! There's plenty to like about Madder Lake but I chose this one because anyone who hasn't heard it before has really been missing out. This is an ace song, let there be no doubt about it. I would probably even go so far as to say bulk ace. It's got it all...wa-wa guitar, noodling keyboards, gravelly vocals and lots of bits. I like bits. The rest of the album is damn near as good too. Still Point, it's called. The band. The thing that sets Australian "art-rock" apart is, I think, that most practitioners were faintly leery of being guilty of the cardinal Australian crime of "poofdah-ism". Consequently, there is something of a tendency to overemphasise the "rock" in the hope that the "art" will not have undue attention drawn to it. And it worked too. For a brief, glorious time there was a uniting power to bring together asthmatic music geeks, wattle-waving hippies and beer-swilling yobs. Admittedly, it was likely to get a bit messy after that. Nevertheless, there are few bands anywhere in the world who were able to pull it all together the way Madder Lake did. 03 - Ayers Rock - Lady Montego (1974) The song. One of Ayers Rock more lightweight numbers (as opposed to the heavy duty "jazz odyssey" repertoire, it's an excellent example of what can be done inside a fairly mundane format by people who really know what they're doing. This is taken from the Big Red Rock album which was recorded live in the studio, not that you'd know it until it finishes, which only goes to show just how well they put their sound together. I had given some thought to putting up Song For Darwin to make a Cyclone Tracy trilogy (more on that later) but I think this is a better introduction. The band. Considering just how much was happening in both jazz and rock in Australia at the time, it's surprising that there weren't more acts like this around at the time. Maybe they were scared. There aren't too many bands that could credibly put their stamp on a live Weather Report cover and drop it on their debut album. These guys are frighteningly good but at the same time had the graceful knack of not coming across as any kind of "Sit still and concentrate" sort of band. Music for the head and the feet, if you like. Sadly, ace guitarist Jimmy Doyle died this year (check out Milesago for a list of his amazing accomplishments) but at the time of writing, a version of Ayers Rock have reformed and will be appearing at the upcoming Lobby Loyd benefit. 04 - Band Of Light - The Destiny Song (1973) The Song. First cab off the rank for newly formed Band Of Light, this is a pretty punchy (and still OzBloozeBoogie-ish) number that showcases the distinctive slidework that characterised the band. The band. Finding it difficult to get his mystically-inclined songs played in the La De Das, Phil Key formed Band Of Light with fellow La De Da Peter Roberts (later replaced by "More Bands Than Brian Cadd" bassist Ian Rilen) and Gutbucket guitarist Norm Roue. 05 - Blackfeather - Seasons Of Change (1971) The Song My initial impressions of Blackfeather were understandably confused and I associated them with (a) Boppin' the Blues and (b) John Swan. Consequently, I didn't know what the fuss was about them. Then I heard this song and I got it. Seasons Of Change was the hit single from the critic wet dream album At The Mountains of Madness. As you might guess from the name, there is a decidedly proggy influence confirmed with a bullet by prominent recorder-tootling. Whether it makes any difference that Bon Scott was a guest recorder-tootler on the album you'll have to decide for yourself. Interestingly, Bon was at that time singer of Fraternity who also recorded and released Seasons Of Change that same year. The Band You would not believe how many people were in Blackfeather. Someone sent me a chart once but I had to delete it because I didn't have the storage space on my hard-drive. The only plausible explanation I can find for the sheer volume of personell is that people were queueing for a go mid-set. Sadly, this meant that the Seasons of Change line-up was very short-lived but with an impressive legacy nonetheless. 06 - Healing Force - Golden Miles (1971) The Song This is one of those that crops up every once in a while in those "Best Songs In The History Of Everything" lists (or best Australian songs of the 70s anyway) despite the fact that no-one except a few serious music nerds and old heads who were on the scene at the time have heard it. What is the story here? Is there some kind of musical masonic league trying to keep all this stuff to themselves? Anyway, here it is and it's a ripsnorter all right! Falls loosely into the prog category but well clear of the "Let Us All Wear Capes And Play Mellotrons!" aspects that put so many people off (I know not why). The Band Something of a supergroup, Healing Force suffered the traditional supergroup fate of collapsing under its own weight almost as soon as it started. I think they only recorded this one single and had already split up by the time it charted only to reform a year or two later in order to split up again. Fronted by the late, great Charlie Tumahai. See Milesago for the full story (http://www.milesago.com/Obits/tumahai-obit.htm). 07 - Kush - Easy Street (1975) The Song I love the Snow White and the Eight Straights album to the point where I find it difficult to isolate a song but once again I've taken the easy option and gone for a shorter, more accessible track. The band God knows how Kush came about. The basic premise is a sort of early Chicagoish kind of sounding outfit fronted by the fey sprite with the huge growl, Geoff Duff, whose goal in life seemed to be to have the proverbial kicked out of him by the evil, beer-swilling swine that he played to. Certainly nothing about the industrial strength, David Clayton-Thomas-type vocals gave any indication that you were going to be seeing an elf in a tutu up there and I sometimes wonder how many people knew what they were in for. Still, times were changing and Duffo didn't have too long to wait before the punk movement came along to catch up with him, allowing him to move to England and throw sheep's brains at people while dressed in cling-wrap (which if you ask me was a jolly sensible precaution in that notoriously phlegm-rich environment). But jeez, Kush were good. 08 - Thump'n Pig & Puff'n Billy - Captain Straightman (1973) The Song Hey, they're playing my song! This is a prime casualty of the arbitrary musical revisionism that drives me nuts. It's a great song, it's unusual (but not unapproachable) and it was apparently very fondly regarded at the time. Why then did I have to discover it on a scratchy K-Tel compilation record pressed cheaply on bad vinyl that I probably only bought because it had a version of some awful disco pap that I had to learn for some lousy band I was playing in after some berk had used it to store sandpaper and jam sandwiches on? To listen to the radio, you would think that Australian music prior to INXS, Midnight Oil and Cold Chisel consisted of One Axiom song, two Master's Apprentice numbers, a couple of Seekers and Easybeats songs apiece with a Russell Morris or LRB track on a good day. Argh! Where was I? Oh yes. Great song and fabulous example of the artistry of harmonic shouting. The band. Thump'n Pig and Puff'n Billy were a side project of Warren "Pig" Morgan (who played piano with Chain, The Aztecs, a late incarnation of the La De Das etc. etc.) and "Puff'n" Billy Thorpe. In the course of trying to find out just what these guys were up to at the time, I've discovered that the album this track appeared on has been rereleased on CD so that's on my shopping list. Vinyl nazi though I may be, I don't fancy my chances of picking up a copy of this one. See the Aztec Music link on the sidebar if you want one too. Sunbury Nation Vol. 1 link:http://rapidshare.de/files/28238557/snbryNtn1.zip.html Leave a Comment { Last Page } { Page 18 of 22 } { Next Page } |
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