Land Of Fortune/Red Neck Boogie/Gold Fever/Last Of The Riverboats/Innocent Bystanders/Wasted Words/In And Out Of Love/ All Good Things Will Come To You In Time/I'm Ready/Never Coming Back
Stars were an Australian country and rock band formed in Adelaide, South Australia in 1975 and disbanded in 1979. Founding members were Glyn Dowding on drums; Malcolm Eastick on guitar and vocals; Mick Pealing on vocals; and Graham Thompson on bass guitar. They were joined by guitarist, songwriter, Andrew Durant in 1976 and relocated to Melbourne. Thompson then left and was replaced by a succession of bass guitarists including Roger McLachlan (ex-Little River Band) and Ian McDonald.
The band's debut album, Paradise, peaked at No. 11 on the Australian Kent Music Report in 1978 and included their highest charting single "Look After Yourself" which reached No. 21 on the related singles chart. Their second album, Land of Fortune, was released in 1979 but did not reach the Top 50. By that time Durant had been diagnosed with cancer, the band had their last performance on 5 November and Durant died on 6 May 1980 at age 25. A tribute performance by Stars members and other Australian acts followed in August and a double-LP, Andrew Durant Memorial Concert was released in 1981. It peaked at No. 8 on the albums chart with proceeds donated to Andrew Durant Cancer Research Foundation.
Adelaide band Astra Kahn formed in 1972, including Glyn Dowding on drums, Andrew Durant on guitar, and Malcolm Eastick on guitar and vocals. They disbanded by 1973 with Dowding and Eastick forming Flash in 1974 with Mick Pealing on vocals. In May 1975, Dowding, Eastick and Pealing formed Stars with Graham Thompson on bass. As a country, rock band they were touted as Australian rock'n'roll cowboys and played the local pub and club circuit. They were noticed by pop group, Little River Band's guitarist Beeb Birtles, they signed to Mushroom Records and relocated to Melbourne. Birtles produced their debut single, "Quick on the Draw" which reached the Australian Kent Music Report top 30 in July 1976. Durant joined in August on guitar and became their principal songwriter.
Their second single, "With a Winning Hand" peaked into the top 40 in October. Founding bass guitarist Thompson left and was replaced first by Michael Hegerty and then by Roger McLachlan (ex-Little River Band). The band supported Joe Cocker on his Australian tour in mid-1977. They released their third single, "Mighty Rock" which reached the top 30 in August. By November, Ian MacDonald replaced McLachlan and they released, "Look After Yourself" which became their highest charting single at No. 21. It was issued ahead of their debut album, Paradise (January 1978) which peaked at No. 11 on the Kent Music Report albums chart. The album spawned two more singles, "Back Again" in April and "West Is the Way" in June. In September, founding drummer Dowding was replaced by John James Hackett (ex-Phil Manning Band).
Stars continued touring including supporting The Beach Boys and Linda Ronstadt on their Australian tours in 1978–1979. A second album, Land of Fortune appeared in June 1979, it was produced by Ern Rose and Eastick. By that time Durant had been diagnosed with cancer and Stars performed a last concert on 5 November. A live album, 1157—titled for the number of career gigs—appeared in July 1980, which was produced by Eastick. Durant had died on 6 May at age 25. A tribute performance by Stars members and other Australian acts followed in August and a double-LP, Andrew Durant Memorial Concert was released. It peaked at No. 8 on the albums chart with proceeds donated to Andrew Durant Cancer Research Foundation.
Now this looks like a rare treasure which I'm pretty sure I'm going to enjoy. I love the popular stuff but it's the relatively unknown albums like this that are a real pleasure to find. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI used to own all three Stars LP's and the ADM concert as well as being lucky enough to see them live in my hometown of Geelong and also in Melbourne and even Adelaide. Unfortunately the LP's didn't survive the heat and humidity of 17 years in Darwin and I was rapt to see you had all 3 albums available for downloading. I did manage to get the concert on CD and am still looking for a copy of the DVD.
ReplyDeleteAre you able to check the quality of this rip with the original work? I've tried it on three different audio systems and it just doesn't sound quite right to me. The sound is distorted and I haven't had any problems with any other downloads sound wise so I thought it might be beneficial to raise this with you.
Love your work, Thx and regards, Ron