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Monday 25 September 2017

Roxus - 1991 - Nightstreet FLAC


Rock 'n' Roll Nights/My Way/Bad Boys/Midnight Love/Where Are You Now/Nightstreet/This Time/First Break From The Heart/ Stand Back/ Jimi G



Roxus were an Australian hard rock band which existed between 1987 and 1993. Members included Juno Roxas - lead vocals, Dragan Stanić - guitar, Darren Danielson - drums, John 'Stones' Nixon - bass guitar and Andy Shanahan - keyboards. Their debut album, Nightstreet was released in August 1991 and peaked at No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Their most successful single, "Where Are You Now?", reached No. 13 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified gold.



Roxus formed as Bah Ragah in 1987 in the Melbourne south-eastern suburb of Springvale with Joseph La Ferlita (Joe Cool) on guitar; Darren Danielson (ex-Windsor Jamm) on drums; John 'Stones' Nixon (Windsor Jamm) on bass guitar; Juno Roxas on lead vocals (Party Pies); and Andy Shanahan on keyboards. Roxus gained a considerable live following. Australian rock music historian, Ian McFarlane, found the group played a "blend of tuneful, Van Halenesque hard rock and Living Colour-inspired funk around the Melbourne pub circuit ... with their carefully cultivated image of black leather, ripped jeans, cowboy boots, bandannas and big hair". In 1989 Roxus supported international bands, Poison and Bon Jovi, on their respective Australian tours. Also that year Dragan Stanić replaced Joe Cool on guitar. The band came to the attention of music commentator and promoter, Ian (Molly) Meldrum, who signed them to his Melodian label via Mushroom Records. The group issued two singles in 1989, "Stand Back" in July and "Body Heat" in November. In 1990, they released a live EP, including live versions of the tracks "Stand Back" and "Body Heat".


In April 1991 Roxus supported US band, Warrant, on their Australian tour. In September that year their debut album, Nightstreet, was released, which reached No. 5 on the ARIA Albums Chart. In July they issued their most successful single, "Where Are You Now?", which is a power ballad that received considerable radio airplay and peaked at No. 13 on the ARIA Singles Chart and No. 11 on the AMR Singles Chart. In August, they followed up with "Bad Boys", which reached No. 39 on the ARIA chart, "Jimi G" was released in September.

In 1992, American AOR maestro Jeff Paris was hired to produce what was to be Roxus' second album. Recorded at Platinum recorders in Melbourne, the sessions engendered four tracks; "Invisible Man", "What You Don't Know", "Stop Playin' With My Heart" and "All The Way". The recording were cut short with unanimous decision to replace Danielson with a drum machine after time restrictions became an issue, with Danielson unable to provide adequate rhythm tracks.


 Roxas and Stanic returned to Los Angeles with Paris, to mix the four completed songs. The album however, was never completed and on New Year's Eve, 1992, Roxus played their last show before disbanding early in 1993.
Afterwards

After Roxus had disbanded, Juno Roxas went solo and recorded the album, Far From Here, on Melodian in 1994. He has worked as a musician and producer in both Los Angeles and Melbourne. Stanić continued playing locally in a range of projects including De-Arrow, Among Thieves and Kream. By March 1993 Danielson and Nixon had joined Melbourne rockers, Chocolate Starfish. Shanahan became a lecturer at RMIT University in Sound Production.

Tuesday 19 September 2017

Stevie Wright - 1975 - Black Eyed Bruiser FLAC


Black Eyed Bruiser/The Loser/You/My Kind Of Music/Guitar Band/The People And The Power/Help, Help/Twenty Dollar Bill/I've Got The Power



Black Eyed Bruiser is the second studio album from Australian singer Stevie Wright. The album was not as commercially successful as its predecessor Hard Road and would be the Wright's final album released with production team Vanda and Young and record label Albert Productions.

After the success of Stevie Wright's debut album Hard Road and it's lead single "Evie", producers Harry Vanda and George Young returned to Albert Studios with Wright to record the follow-up album. The recording of the album was problematic as Wright's heroin addition, unbeknown to Vanda and Young, had escalated. During one session, Wright's manager Micheal Chugg saw Wright doing heroin, out of sight of George and Harry who were in the recording booth. Chugg walked into the booth and told them to, "Come with me, I want you to see this." He led around to where they could see Stevie sniffing heroin from aluminium foil and said, "There you go, that's your problem, end of story". 


Because Wright was going through drug rehabilitation, he was not able to promote the album. The album sold less than the more successful Hard Road, although the lead single "Guitar Band" reached No. 13 on the Australian Charts and No. 8 in Melbourne.

The compact disc is currently out-of-print and has become quite rare. A digital edition was available on iTunes as of June, 2014.


Stevie Wright may well be regarded as the forgotten man of Australian rock & roll thanks to a career that was curtailed and shortened by a long-running battle with drugs. Wright joined the Easybeats in 1964 and had several Australian hits, including the worldwide smash "Friday on My Mind," before the band broke up in 1969. He then formed the band Rachette and produced Bootleg's debut single, "Whole World Should Slow Down." He performed with Rachette at the Odyssey Music Festival in 1971 before briefly joining Likefun in Perth. He returned to Sydney to perform in the Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar and stayed with the production from 1971-1973. During 1972 he also performed with Black Tank and appeared on the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack, released in 1973.

Stevie with Ray Hoff and  Shirley Read in Like Fun


He then began work on his debut album Hard Road with Easybeats' songwriters Harry Vanda and George Young. Released in April 1974, the album peaked at number five on the national charts and spawned Wright's best-known hit, "Evie," which peaked at number two. After touring the country with his band, the All Stars, he followed Hard Rain with Black Eyed Bruiser, another fine example of Australian '70s rock. It produced the hit "Guitar Band," which peaked at number eight in December 1974.

The All Stars left to back John Paul Young in 1975 so Wright formed the Stevie Wright Band but, by this stage, Wright's drug addiction had begun to curtail his career. He performed a few gigs with Sacha in 1976 and performed "Evie" alongside performances by the cream of Australian pop and rock at the Concert of the Decade in November 1979, captured on the double album Concert of the Decade (1980).




He next appeared on Flash and the Pan's 1982 release, Headlines. The single "Waiting for a Train" hit number seven in the U.K. and Headlines became Flash and the Pan's third consecutive number one hit in Scandinavia. His career, however, soon derailed again when Wright appeared in court charged with housebreaking in January 1984 while undergoing drug rehabilitation. Wright was arrested for heroin use in the same month after being found unconscious in a hotel toilet. The Easybeats reformed for a successful six-week national tour in October 1986. Wright formed the band Hard Rain in 1988 and released the album Striking It Rich in 1991.  

 

New Link Added 01.07.2021

Sunday 17 September 2017

La De Das - 1975 - Legend


Gonna  See  My  Baby  Tonight/Morning  Good  Morning/I Guess I'll Never Stop Lovin' You/It's  The  Beginning/Honky  Tonkin'/ Too  Pooped  To  Pop/Feel  Like  A  Dog/Sentimental  Rose/ I'm  In  Love  Again/All  Along  The  Watchtower




In their 12-year journey through New Zealand and Australia in the 1960s and 1970s, The La De Da’s never took a backward step. They conquered New Zealand with a passionate live show, a string of hard, uncompromising chart singles and two of the best NZ albums of the 1960s.

Changing gear from R&B to psychedelia, The La De Da's shifted base to Australia in 1967 and 1968 where they released New Zealand’s first rock opera, The Happy Prince. In England in 1969 they captured a fine version of The Beatles’ voodoo rocker ‘Come Together’ at Abbey Road studios before returning to Australia and success as pioneering festival blues rockers.  By the time the Auckland band went their separate ways in the early 1970s they were a chart group once again and considered among Australasia’s best. 




The new wave of R&B was already breaking big ­in charts across the world when four of its best practitioners – The Kinks, Manfred Mann, The Rolling Stones and The Pretty Things – rolled through New Zealand in 1965 for a series of concerts still vividly recalled decades later. The raw pull of the sound and the style and ethos of the players galvanised local teenagers, throwing up a large and responsive audience to be serviced by the likes of The Unknown Blues in Invercargill, The Third Chapter in Dunedin, Peter Nelson and The Castaways and Chants R&B in Christchurch, Bari and The Breakaways and Tom Thumb in Wellington, The Mods and The Trends in Hamilton, and The Dark Ages and The La De Da's in Auckland, along with dozens of lesser lights.

While beat music provided a new soundtrack to teenage lives, the group aesthetic and anti-social veneer of R&B offered up an alternative lifestyle to teenage fans – and a good living, local fame and the distant lurking prospect of a hit for groups – by pushing a covert message that being uncompromising not only paid, it gave you the freedom to behave in the way you wanted. Teenage heaven.

 In West Auckland at Te Atatu’s newly opened Rutherford High School, were the mod-ish Mergers with Kevin Borich (lead guitar/vocals), Trevor Wilson (bass), Brett Neilsen (drums) and Phil Key (rhythm guitar/vocals) who attended Mount Albert Grammar. They had heard the word and flirted with an anti-social name, The Criminals, before settling on the provocative ambiguity of The La De Da’s.

Establishing an immediate following through hall and club dates, they stepped into a residency at inner city teen club The Platterack in April 1965. That’s where NZBC producer Robert Handlin found them and soon became their manager, releasing Kevin Borich’s folkie ballad ‘Ever Since That Night’ backed with the Borich/Wilson penned R&B of ‘Hey Little Girl’ on his Talent City label in June.

The emerging group soon found space in their ranks for classically trained organist Bruce Howard, who swelled their sound and added another vocalist. With guitar whiz Kevin Borich picking out the leads, they had a strong rhythm section in Wilson and Neilsen with Phil Key on rhythm guitar. And when Samoan New Zealander Key came out of his shell, he revealed one of New Zealand’s finest R&B and soul voices.


By February 1966, now signed to Eldred Stebbing's Zodiac label, The La De Da’s were in Stebbing's Auckland studio with producer John Hawkins, recording ‘How Is The Air Up There?’. The song now most readily identified with them is usually mentioned as a Blues Magoos cover. However, The Blues Magoos never recorded the song and was most likely sourced from US folk pop group The Changin’ Times, who released it as the follow-up to ‘The Pied Piper’, a version of which was on the flip of The La De Da’s’ hit single. Both songs were written by The Changin’ Times’ Artie Kornfeld and Steve Duboff.

Success didn’t mellow The La De Da's. They were right back in your face with their third single, the hard swinging R&B of ‘Don’t You Stand In My Way’, a Bruce Howard/Trevor Wilson original backed by the pumping soul of Sam and Dave’s ‘I Take What I Want’, which was also released by Philips Records in Great Britain, Australia and the USA via a deal with Zodiac.


A creative triumph it may have been, but it was also a chart mis-step that was quickly redeemed by another cover, the slow fuzzed R&B of John Mayall’s ‘On Top Of The World’, which threatened the top of the New Zealand charts in November 1966.  The La De Da’s stepped up to a residency at the harbourside Galaxie Lounge, where their sharp stage set, live verve and impeccably tailored look  established them as one of Auckland’s top groups

With two hits under their finely styled belts, The La De Da’s stepped up to a residency at the harbourside Galaxie Lounge, where their sharp stage set, live verve and impeccably tailored look – by Jerry at His Lordships – established them as one of Auckland’s top groups. While no film or live recordings exist of the group in their early prime, you need only slap the much-reissued first La De Da’s album from December 1966 onto the record player to get a taste of what Auckland fans heard.

Lead track ‘On Top Of The World’ was a John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers song, first recorded three months after Eric Clapton joined in June 1965. Jimmy Page was the producer. ‘My Little Red Book’ was a show tune made popular by Manfred Mann and LA group Love who edged it to No.52 in the US charts in March 1966. Manfred Mann’s version, released in April 1966, is a more likely source for the song.

‘Jump Back’, ‘Bright Lights, Big City’ (sung by Phil Key) and ‘I Put A Spell On You’ (sung by Kevin Borich) are R&B standards taken from Rufus Thomas’ October 1964 Atlantic single and Jimmy Reed and Screaming Jay Hawkins (1956 Okeh Records) respectively. They were all songs covered by British R&B groups, which is likely where The La De Da’s copped their versions. ‘Whatcha Gonna Do About It?’ was a recent R&B hit for group faves The Small Faces.


 Wilson Pickett's frantic soul hit ‘Land Of A Thousand Dances’ was a No.6 hit in 1966 on Atlantic Records. ‘I Take What I Want’ was a Stax/Atlantic hit for Sam and Dave, although, The La De Da’s version was most likely taken from The Artwoods' fourth single released on Decca in April 1966.

‘Shake’ – a Sam Cooke 1965 No.7 for RCA Victor – was another Small Faces cover and a No.3 hit single from the first Small Faces album from May 1966. The La De Da’s returned to John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers for ‘Parchman Farm’ (a John Mayall solo), originally released in September 1966. ‘The Pied Piper’ I’ve already mentioned.

Rounding out one of our finest 1960s albums is Muddy Waters' ‘I Got My Mojo Working’ (sung by Kevin), and ‘Ride Your Pony’, a foot down R&B screamer sung by Phil Key which was written by Allen Toussaint and originally released by Lee Dorsey on Amy Records in 1965, when it became a No.28 hit in the US. and just in case the fans still didn't get the point, The La De Da’s unleashed a live EP called Stupidity in April 1967.


Having shown their knack and feel for interpretation, and with a good grasp on the best music coming in from overseas, Auckland’s finest R&B group dipped into their own strong collection of songs in May 1967 for successful follow-up album Find Us A Way. They were billing themselves live as “Soul Blues”, which nicely sums up the churchier, more gospel feel of their new record. While the band still found a frantic sweaty beat on ‘Find Us A Way’, ‘I Gotta Woman’, ‘Tell The Truth’, ‘Cool Jerk’ and ‘Gimme Some Lovin’, they left room for the sunny pop of ‘Sonny Boy’ and spacier keyboard-led originals ‘All Purpose Low’, ‘Thank You For The Flowers’, ‘Rosalie’ and ‘Beside Me Forever’. Meeting the two strands in the middle was the fine organ-led, gospel inclined soul of ‘Goodbye Sisters’ – a take on The Artwoods' third single from April 1965 – and their version of The Marvelettes’ ‘Too Many Fish in the Sea’ from 1964. 


The heavy nature of The La De Da’s NZ-recorded covers reflects the importance of interpretation in the 1960s and echoes the similar makeup and musical influences heard on early records by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks, amongst others. The care taken to find rare B-sides and album tracks or songs that were minor or non-hits, and therefore contemporary, chart-minded and accessible to Kiwi musicians, is similarly an echo of other groups who fished around in rare back catalogues for material.

The La De Da’s spent 1967 managing themselves, running their fan club and touring, including a long national jaunt in January alongside frequent appearances on the new and influential live pop TV show C’Mon. The group's pop currency was still high after another massive No.1 hit in March with a laid back version of Bruce Channel’s ‘Hey Baby’, a song recommended by blind pianist and former Johnny Devlin and The Devils member Claude Papesch one night at the Galaxie Lounge.
Making it in Australia

With four hit singles, two classy albums and a national following behind them, The La De Da’s set out for Sydney. Their first two singles had been released across the Tasman, but with pop’s menu changing daily they had quickly fallen from view. The independent quintet struggled, finding their R&B and soul based set outdated. They also bristled at micro-management and unsuccessful recording attempts, despite gaining fans at Ivan Dayman’s Op Pop disco.

They flopped even worse on the strong Melbourne club circuit before heading home in September 1967 for a month-plus residency at 1480 Village in the old Top Twenty premises in Auckland, where they retooled their set and sound before touring New Zealand. Godzone hadn’t forgotten them, sending ‘All Purpose Low’ to No.5 in June and ‘Rosalie’ to the same spot in August.

In January 1968, Brett Neilsen left the group, replaced by The Action’s Bryan Harris, who gave way on the group’s return to Sydney in June to Australian drummer Keith Barber (The Wild Cherries). Wielding a wide and eclectic array of instruments and introducing Sydneysiders to The Doors, Vanilla Fudge, Traffic and The Band, this was the psychedelic La De Da’s, and their heady themed sets immediately caught on.


 Back on the front foot, they returned to Melbourne in August 1968 with the show they had wowed Sydney with. This time the city fell for their charms, sparking a long and close relationship with the Victorian capital’s music scene. At year’s end they were voted Australia’s Best Disco Group in popular music magazine Go Set.

Better was to come in 1969. ‘Come and Fly With Me’, their first single since mid-1967, was an upbeat burst of good feeling and the standout track on The Happy Prince, the rock opera on based on Oscar Wilde’s short story, which Trevor Wilson and Bruce Howard had long been working on. The ambitious project had finally found firm ground in January with the group entering EMI studios in Sydney with producer David Woodley-Page and narrator Adrian Rawlings to record for an April release.

Rock operas were thick on the ground by then, and while the opera created by The La De Da’s had its highpoints in Kevin Borich’s slide guitar and Phil Key’s soul-gospel vocals, the songs too often struggled to elevate the storyline.

None of the band ever dismissed it. It was an artistic statement they needed to make. But now it was done, they set their sights on London – a trail well-worn by New Zealand and Australian groups.
 


Finding their set out-dated and record company interest in London lukewarm, it was Melbourne the first time all over again – a comedy of missed opportunities and half chances. The La De Da’s performed little outside of a short tour of West Germany, and recorded only once, a menacing take on The Beatles’ ‘Come Together’ taped with Norman “Hurricane” Smith at Abbey Road Studios for Parlophone Records, which was released in Great Britain (as The La De Dah Band), Australia and New Zealand.

Down, but not out, they headed home in February 1970 and regrouped with new bass player Reno Tehei (Sounds Unlimited/Compulsion), then refocused their repertoire and settled into a booming Australian circuit energised with the opening of pub venues and the sparking of large outdoors festivals.

All that travel inevitably took a toll on the group’s stability. Trevor Wilson remained in England and wouldn’t return until October. When he did, the group fractured, first with Bruce Howard, then everyone except Wilson departing.

Wilson didn’t want to start all over again, leaving the remaining La De Da’s to claim the name. Managed by Phil Key, they headed out on the live circuit with new bassist Peter Roberts and a core set of hard-rocking blues and boogie.

Bruce Howard soon joined The Clefs and went on to one of Australia’s biggest groups, Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs, where he was a key member in 1972 and 1973. Trevor Wilson joined fellow New Zealand veterans Glyn Mason and Mal Logan in Sydney-based Home in early 1972, pushing what Australian music historian Ian McFarlane called “a light and nimble country rock with a clean blues edge.”


 The La De Da’s meanwhile set about building a dedicated live following for their hard, blues-based rock. This time, pop culture’s fast flowing current was running their way. Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs had opened up a successful circuit of big live rooms in Melbourne’s suburban pubs and the public’s taste for bigger festival events was rising. The group took on Sydney-based Mike Chugg as their manager in November after he signed them to his new booking agency Sunrise, then released their first Australian hit record, the Borich-sung, Howard Gable-produced, locomotive blues of ‘Gonna See My Baby Tonight’, which spent eight weeks in the Go Set National Top 20 between November 1971 and February 1972. It was only one of a number of distinctive songs that The La De Da’s got down that year. Their take on Bob Dylan’s ‘All Along The Watchtower’ became a signature live song, and they captured a studio version with Bruno Lawrence drumming, which would appear belatedly on 1976’s Legend compilation. There's also a fine live-for-TV interpretation featuring a haunted Phil Key vocal and biting Borich guitar lead, filmed for Melbourne magazine show, GTK (Get To Know).


After cancelling a New Zealand tour in November 1971, The La De Da's fronted up at Rosebud, a Melbourne free festival, which drew 40,000 fans to Mornington Golf Course at Christmas to hear Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs and Daddy Cool. It was a dress rehearsal for what was to come. In the early 1970s live music spilled from city clubs into summer festivals in the surrounding countryside, and The La De Da’s nearly always played. They were there at the successful first three-day Sunbury festival outside the city on Australia Day long weekend in January 1972, which showcased Melbourne’s rock and roll talent and community, and New Zealand musicians’ prominent place in it. 



As one of the festival’s highpoints, The La De Da’s had three songs – their upcoming hit single ‘Morning Good Morning’, the dynamic blues rock of ‘Roundabout’ and their 1971 hit ‘Gonna See My Baby Tonight’ – included on EMI Records’ Sunbury live album, from a set which included ‘Carol’, B.B King’s ‘Rock Me Baby’ and Traffic’s ‘Give More Than You Can’.

The La De Da’s didn’t linger at Sunbury long. The same weekend they had a festival date at Meadows Technicolour Fair in Adelaide in South Australia where they performed before 30,000 people. Again, New Zealand musicians were thick on the stage with John Bissett in Fraternity, Wellington’s Highway, and Spectrum and Friends wowing the crowd.

Six weeks later on March 12, The La De Da’s helped break Australian attendance records at a free 3XY concert at Melbourne’s traditional Moomba festival at Myers Music Bowl. Three weeks after that, on Easter weekend, they fronted the Mulwala Festival midway between Sydney and Melbourne, which no doubt helped push their festival anthem, the Phil Key sung, ‘Morning Good Morning’, into the Australian charts in May for a 10 week run, peaking at No.17.


When The La De Da’s closed the year out at the Bungool Festival of Music outside Sydney with Band of Light, Bakery, Home, Spectrum and Sherbet before a disappointing crowd of 2,000 people, they were a three-piece with sole remaining member and Go Set best guitarist winner Kevin Borich in charge, backed by Ronnie Peel on bass and Keith Barber drumming. Phil Key and Peter Roberts had jumped ship in September, forming Band of Light with ace slide guitarist Norm Roue and experienced drummer Tony Buettel after arguments over money and frustration that Key’s songs weren’t being played live. Roberts soon departed, replaced by Ian Rilen.


 The stripped down La De Da’s had boogied on, playing out again by November and supporting Manfred Mann Chapter Three, Little Richard, The Guess Who, Gary Glitter, Lindisfarne and Three Dog Night. They were a massive hit back home in January 1973 at The Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival, returning on the back of the buzz generated for a successful national tour in April. New Zealand Rolling Stone caught up with them in Dunedin, asking Borich about the trio’s drug consumption – no dope or acid in the mid-1960s but he noted there was now plenty of acid around – and he revealed the group had been stalling on doing anything with EMI Records to get out of the contract, but were now working on the blues-boogie Rock And Roll Sandwich album, which would be released in November, following non-charting single ‘The Place’. Recorded live at Doncaster Theatre in Kensington and tidied up at EMI studios in Sydney by ex-pat New Zealand producer Rod Coe, the album showed Borich firmly in charge, augmenting his searing blues guitar with flute and piano.

A subtler La De Da’s can be heard that year, backing folkie cum street rocker Richard Clapton on the bright and breezy funky blues of ‘Hardly Know Myself’ (B-side to ‘All The Prodigal Children’ October 1973) and providing a wordy, weary-eyed blues shuffle with sparking Borich solo, ‘I Am A Survivor’ (July 1974 single) on Clapton’s November 1973 Infinity Records’ album Prussian Blue.


With Band of Light, Phil Key was determined to find an outlet for his slow, slide-driven hard blues originals. He had near immediate success with the Sunbury’ 73 blooded ‘Destiny Song’, which climbed to No.18 in the Go Set national chart in July 1973, having placed ‘Messin’ With The Kid’ onto a triple LP Sunbury festival soundtrack, once again crammed with other New Zealand musicians.

Key clearly still had as much of an Australian following as Borich. Band of Light’s debut album Total Union showed he had paid close attention to the distinctive utopian cover, aspirational words, importance of packaging and the mournful expressive slide and churchy vocal of The Happy Prince. His new group had its own distinctive logo, emotive music and words concerned with racial equality, social justice and spiritual harmony. Key also found the creative freedom he sought by leasing the tapes to record companies for release. Total Union was on record shelves by August 1973 and while it sold well, reaching No.13 in the Go Set charts, it lacked the “stinging white heat” of their live shows. That could be found on the B-sides of their three singles in ‘Over B’, ‘The Cat’ and ‘If’.

A second, less well received album, The Archer appeared in 1974 with two more singles. But with core line-up changes stunting their progress, Band of Light soon split up, leaving fans with memories of “Norm (Roue) storming across the stage like a kind of psychedelic Eddy [sic] Cochran, cutting the air to ribbons with bottleneck” and a peerless cover of blues standard ‘Crossroads’ on GTK.



In 1974, Kevin Borich’s La De Da’s had the pub rock formula down and were filling a hungry Australian live circuit, scoring one last Top 30 hit with Chuck Berry’s ‘Too Pooped To Pop’ in July, followed by a neat take on Hank Williams’ ‘Honky Tonkin’, both produced by Rod Coe.

Their final New Zealand show was a brief visit to Western Springs Stadium in Auckland to support Elton John. They were back on the bill at the final Sunbury in January 1975, but with the appeal of festivals dwindling the group weren’t going anywhere new on the endless pub circuit. They finally called it a day in May, 1975. Kevin Borich would soon be back on the road to being one of Australia’s favourite guitarists. But the others faded away, with Phil Key leaving music completely. He died young in Sydney in 1984 from a congenital heart problem.

New Link Added 01.07.2021

Monday 11 September 2017

Australian Jazz Quartet - 1956 - The Australian Jazz Quartet @320


01 A Foggy Day    
02 Broadway    
03 Little Girl Blue    
04 September Song    
05 Loose Walk    
06 Like Someone In Love    
07 You Are Too Beautiful    
08 Music For Walkin'    
09 Lullaby Of The Leaves    
10 The Things We Did Last Summer    
11 Fascinating Rhythm









In the early '50s, the Australian Jazz Quartet was born, featuring Bryce on piano and fellow Australians Errol Buddle (on saxophone), and Jack Brokensha (vibes and drums), along with American Dick Healey (on alto sax, flute and bass). The group's different sound attracted the attention of Joe Glaser, who managed a stable of famous musicians from Louis Armstrong to Dave Brubeck. Glaser sent them out to back singers such as Helen Merrill and Carmen McRae but, before long, they became a draw in their own right.
Their U.S. journey took them to jazz clubs across the nation and to more prestigious performances in Carnegie Hall and the Chicago Opera House. They toured for 48 weeks a year playing opposite the likes of Count Basie, Brubeck, Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald and backing Billie Holliday.
In 1955, bass player Ed Gaston joined and the quartet which then became the Australian Jazz Quintet. They continued performing and recording and became the fifth-highest paid jazz band in the U.S. after Armstrong, Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan and George Shearing.
An invitation to play in Australia in 1958 saw the quintet return for a series of concerts. It was to become the group's swan song, with Buddle announcing he was wanting to resettle in Australia. Thanks To Tom

New Link Added 05.11.2022

 

Divinyls - 2006 - Greatest Hits FLAC


01     Boys In Town    
02     Science Fiction    
03     Siren
04     Only Lonely    
05     Casual Encounter    
06     Good Die Young 
07     In My Life    
08     Pleasure And Pain    
09     Sleeping Beauty    
10     Temperamental    
11     Back To The Wall    
12     Hey Little Boy    
13     Punxsie    
14     I Touch Myself    
15     Love School    
16     Make Out Alright    
17     I'm On Your Side    
18     I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore 


 19     I'm Jealous    
 20     Human On The Inside




The Divinyls' Christina Amphlett was the most dynamic female performer Australia ever produced, let alone sent out into the world. With the help of an ever changing Divinyls lineup, Amphlett and guitarist Mark McEntee created a legacy of powerful pop records.


 After running away from home to follow her favorite group, at 14 Amphlett joined her first band in Melbourne. In 1971 she turned up in Sydney as one of the featured singers in One Ton Gypsy, an ambitious country-rock band. At 17 she left Australia to travel alone through Europe, spending some time living on the streets of Paris, and at one point ending up in a Spanish jail for busking.

Back in Sydney, Amphlett joined a church choir, purely to develop the upper register of her voice. During one choir performance, her stool fell over and became tangled up in her microphone chord. Watching her drag the stool across the stage while continuing to sing was Mark McEntee, so enamored by her performance he decided he had to meet this girl. It was the start of a long and robust professional relationship.

In December of 1980 they started performing in the sleazy bars of Sydney with a Divinyls lineup made up of musicians who all had long histories in Australian rock & roll without achieving mainstream success, apart from bassist Jeremy Paul, who was in the original lineup of Air Supply. They had only just started performing live when the group was spotted by film director Ken Cameron, who was looking for a group to appear in his film Monkey Grip. Cameron was so impressed by Amphlett he invented a small speaking part for her. What he also hadn't imagined was finding a group capable of providing the movie with a soundtrack.

The single from the soundtrack mini-album, "Boys in a Town," came with an eye-catching video of Amphlett at her provocative best, dressed in a school uniform and fishnet stockings, filmed from below as she performed on top of a metal grill. It was an image that would stay with the Divinyls for a long time. The single made the Australian Top Ten. Jeremy Paul left on the eve of the single's release and was replaced by Richard Grossman (later of Hoodoo Gurus).

With a one-off deal for Monkey Grip, the Divinyls were in a position to take advantage of the record company offers that flooded their way. With just one hit to their credit, the Divinyls were able to sign a worldwide deal with Chrysalis. In a defining moment, Chrysalis offered to fix Amphlett's protruding teeth, and the singer refused. She was what she was. Their debut album, Desperate, was recorded in New York with Australian producer Mark Opitz.


While the group toured the world extensively in the years that followed, the lineup kept changing around the Amphlett-McEntee team. As well as musicians, the Divinyls had a habit of losing managers and record companies. The group's output on record was hindered by the struggle to get all the pieces together long enough to release albums. Issued in 1985, What a Life album took three producers to complete. Frustrating for all those concerned, the wait between releases might also have contributed to the group's longevity.

 
In 1991, the Divinyls stirred up a storm again with the song "I Touch Myself" and a video with a tied-up Amphlett back in fishnets. The ensuring controversy helped make the song a huge hit around the world: number one in Australia, Top Ten in America. By now there was no pretense of a "group" and the Divinyls' duo toured on the back of their hit with the help of session musicians. Amphlett also indulged her talent for acting with her starring role in the Australian production of Blood Brothers and her standout portrayal of Judy Garland in the Peter Allen-inspired musical The Boy From Oz. Sadly, Christina Amphlett died in New York City in April 2013 at age 53 after a long battle with breast cancer; she also suffered from multiple sclerosis, which reportedly prevented her from having radiation therapy or chemotherapy for the disease to which she ultimately succumbed.

Choirboys - 1987 - Big Bad Noise FLAC


01 Run To Paradise    
02 Struggle Town    
03 Boys Will Be Boys    
04 Brave New World    
05 Guilty    
06 Like Fire    
07 Big Bad Noise    
08 Fireworks    
09 Gasoline    
10 One Hot Day    
11 Last Night Of My Life    
12 Struck By Lightning    
13 James Dale






The Choirboys is an Australian hard rock and Australian pub rock band from Sydney formed as Choirboys in 1978 with mainstays Mark Gable on lead vocals, Ian Hulme on bass guitar, Brad Carr on lead guitar and Lindsay Tebbutt on drums. Name was changed to The Choirboys with preparation for the sophomore album Big Bad Noise in 1988. The band whose set-up saw many changes went on to release 8 studio albums from 1983 to 2007. Their 1987 single "Run to Paradise" remains their biggest commercial success.

Big Bad Noise is the second album by Australian rock band The Choirboys which was released in 1988. This album was produced by Peter Blyton (The Radiators, Machinations), Brian McGee (The Rolling Stones, Cyndi Lauper) and The Choirboys. The album peaked at No. 5 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart, it was certified double platinum and ranked No. 21 for 1988 in Australia.

It featured their number one Australian hit and most popular song "Run to Paradise". Other singles from the album included "Boys Will Be Boys" and "Struggle Town" reaching No. 14 and No. 34 respectively.

Sunday 10 September 2017

Australian Crawl - 1996 - Lost & Found FLAC


01 Things Don't Seem    
02 Too Many People    
03 My Place    
04 Without You    
05 Oh Boy    
06 Who Said    
07 Don't Go    
08 Yesterday    
09 What's In It For Me?    
10 Never Said    
11 Lies And Kisses    
12 Footsteps    
13 Memory






Lost & Found is a compilation album of recording studio sessions credited to members of Australian Crawl and other artists,  it includes tracks originally recorded with Guy McDonough and released on his 1985 posthumous solo album My Place. Guy McDonough had been Australian Crawl's guitarist, vocalist and songwriter from late 1980 until his death in 1984. Former Australian Crawl drummer Bill McDonough (Guy's older brother) and producer Peter Blyton compiled, produced and mixed the tracks for Lost & Found.


In mid 1996, former Australian Crawl drummer Bill McDonough and producer Peter Blyton uncovered some lost 24 track master recordings, some of which were to become Lost & Found. Copyrights that McDonough had collected and archived resulted in six reel to reel tapes containing a collection of about 17 original songs by Crawl songwriters.

The tapes had suffered slight damage due to poor storage so McDonough and Blyton traveled to Germany where the tapes were restored and transferred onto new tape stock at the EMI studios in Cologne. Next stop, Peak Studios in Düsseldorf where, for two weeks they sifted through the tapes and digitally re-mixed and re-mastered as many songs as possible, resulting in thirteen re-mastered tracks.

Seven of the tracks were from Guy McDonough's album My Place, which had been produced by Bill McDonough. Musicians joining Guy McDonough included Bill McDonough (drums), Sean Higgins (keyboards) and Nigel Spencer (bass) (all former bandmates in The Flatheads), Mick Hauser (saxophone) and Michael Bright (guitar). My Place tracks include "Too Many People" a duet sung by Guy McDonough with Colin Hay of Men at Work. Some My Place tracks have Crawl's James Reyne singing backing vocals.

Daddy Cool - 1974 - Daddy Cool Live! The Last Drive-In Movie Show (1994) FLAC


01 That'll Be The Day    
02 Zoom Zoom Zoom    
03 Cherry Pie    
04 Sh-Boom    
05 Little Darlin'    
06 Guided Missile    
07 Duke Of Earl    
08 Roll With Me Henry    
09 Momma Don't You Tear My Clothes    
10 One Night    
11 Come Back Again    
12 Flash In My Head    
13 Teenage Blues    
14 I'll Never Smile Again    
15 Shake, Rattle 'N' Roll    
16 Daddy Cool




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.



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 Cool Live! The Last Drive-In Movie Show released on the Wizard label (September 1973) reached #34 on the Australian Album charts.

Dragon - 1990 - Cuts From The Tough Times FLAC


01 Rain    
02 Dreams Of Ordinary Men 
03 Speak No Evil    
04 Western Girls    
05 Promises (So Far Away)    
06 Wilder World    
07 Cry    
08 Cool Down    
09 Body & The Beat    
10 Witnessing    
11 Magic    
12 What Am I Gonna Do    
13 Fool    
14 Start It Up    
15 Smoke




 Cuts from the Tough Times is a compilation album by New Zealand group Dragon, released in January 1990 through Polydor Records. The album comprised all the tracks from their 1984 album, "Body and the Beat" and a selection of tracks from their 1986 album, "Dreams of Ordinary Men". The album has been re-released numerous times.


 Dragon is a rock band which was formed in Auckland, New Zealand, in January 1972 and relocated later to Sydney, Australia in May 1975. They were originally fronted by singer Marc Hunter and are currently led by his brother, bass player/vocalist Todd Hunter. They performed and released material under the name Hunter in Europe and the United States during 1987.

Keyboard player Paul Hewson wrote or co-wrote most of the group's 1970s hits: "April Sun in Cuba" peaked at #2 on the 1977 Australian singles chart; "Are You Old Enough?" reached #1 in 1978; and "Still in Love with You" reached #15 also in 1978. Later hits, from when the band re-grouped in the 1980s, were written by other band members, often working with outside associates: The Hunter brothers, with Todd's partner, Johanna Pigott, wrote "Rain," a #2 hit in 1983, while other, more minor hits were written by the Hunters and/or Alan Mansfield, frequently in collaboration with any combination of Pigott, Mansfield's partner Sharon O'Neill, Marc Hunter's partner Wendy Hunter, or producers Todd Rundgren and David Hirschfelder.

 The name Dragon came from a consultation of I Ching cards by early band vocalist Graeme Collins.

Dragon have endured tragedy, adversity and notoriety, and during the course of the band's earlier career, several members died from drug-related causes. Problems began soon after their arrival in Sydney in late 1975, when all their equipment was stolen. Several months later, in 1976, drummer Neil Storey died of a heroin overdose; Paul Hewson of a drug overdose in 1985 and Marc Hunter of smoking-related oesophageal cancer in 1998. Several members of the group including Hewson and Marc Hunter were heavy heroin users during the band's heyday, and The Stewart Royal Commission (1980–1983) which investigated the Mr. Asia drug syndicate obtained evidence that Dragon members were clients. 


Two members were involved in a serious car crash in 1977, where Paul Hewson's neck was in a brace as well as having a broken arm and Robert Taylor needed plastic surgery, and Hewson also suffered from debilitating scoliosis and arthritis, the pain of which reportedly contributed to his heroin use. The band also undertook a famously disastrous 1978 tour of the USA, supporting Johnny Winter, which ended when Marc Hunter abused the Texan audience as "faggots" and the band were pelted off stage, while Winter's band were said to have taken bets about how long it would be before Hunter was shot. On 1 July 2008, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) recognised Dragon's iconic status when they were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.



Stevie Wright - 1974 - Hard Road FLAC


01 Hard Road    
02 Life Gets Better    
03 The Other Side    
04 I Got You Good    
05 Dancing In The Limelight    
06 Didn't I Take You Higher    
07 Evie:    
7a Part I (Let Your Hair Hang Down)    
7b Part II (Evie)    
7c Part III (I'm Losing You)    
08 Movin' On Up    
09 Commando Line








 Stephen Carlton "Stevie" Wright (20 December 1947 – 27 December 2015), formerly billed as Little Stevie, was an English-born musician and songwriter who has been called Australia's first international pop star. During 1964–69 he was lead singer of Sydney-based rock and roll band the Easybeats, widely regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s.


Early hits for the Easybeats were co-written by Wright with bandmate George Young, including, "She's So Fine" (No. 3, 1965), "Wedding Ring" (No. 7, 1965), "Women (Make You Feel Alright)" (No. 4, 1966), "Come and See Her" (No. 3, 1966), "I'll Make You Happy" (track on Easyfever EP, No. 1, 1966), and "Sorry" (No. 1, 1966). He was lead vocalist on their only international hit, "Friday on My Mind", which peaked at No. 1 in Australia in 1966. It also made No. 6 in the United Kingdom, the Top 10 in France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, No.13 in Canada, and the Top 20 in the United States in 1967.

After the Easybeats disbanded in 1969, Wright fronted numerous groups including Stevie Wright Band and Stevie Wright & the Allstars; his solo career included the 1974 single, "Evie (Parts 1, 2 & 3)", which peaked at No. 1 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart. Wright had problems with alcohol and drug addictions. By 1976 he was hospitalised and undertook methadone treatment. In the late 1970s he was treated at Chelmsford Private Hospital by Harry Bailey who administered deep sleep therapy with a combination of drug-induced coma and electroshock.


Wright's life was detailed in two biographies, Sorry: The Wretched Tale of Little Stevie Wright by Jack Marx (1999) and Hard Road: The Life and Times of Stevie Wright by Glenn Goldsmith (2004). On 14 July 2005, the Easybeats, with Wright as a member, were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

Hard Road is the debut solo album from Australian singer Stevie Wright. The album's first single "Evie (Part 1)" was hugely successful and the title track was later covered on Rod Stewart's 1974 album Smiler. The album itself reach #2 on the Australian albums charts in 1974 was the 16th highest selling album in Australia that year. The compact disc is currently out-of-print and has become quite rare. A digital edition was available on iTunes as of June, 2014.

 In 1973, Harry Vanda and George Young returned to Australia after a period working in London paying off debts incurred while working as the Easybeats. They renewed their partnership with Albert Productions and as in-house producers began assembling a roster of artists for the label, among them their former Easybeats bandmate Stevie Wright. Work soon commenced on an album with Wright, with Vanda and Young assembling a backing group that included themselves, pianist Warren Morgan of The Aztecs, and Malcolm Young, George's younger brother and the rhythm guitarist for AC/DC, on guitar. Wright wrote six songs for the album, while Vanda and Young wrote the remainder, including the title track and the three part "Evie".


 There are four different album covers for the album: The original Australian release, the Polydor release, the Atco release and the Australian compact disc reissue cover (which also serves as the artwork for the digital edition). Hard Road was scheduled to be re-released worldwide on high quality, 180 mg vinyl for maximum dynamic and authenticity, April 19, 2014 through Albert Productions (Alberts). Renowned mastering expert Don Bartley converted the original analogue tapes to new vinyl masters, on vintage and retooled analogue gear.

Ian Moss - 1996 - Petrol Head FLAC


01 Petrol Head    
02 Two Seconds Too Long    
03 The Whole Way Down    
04 It Ain't Easy    
05 Poor Boy    
06 Heaven    
07 Made Her Mine    
08 Albino Faye    
09 Mother Mercy    
10 80 Mph Blues    
11 All Alone On A Rock









Ian Richard Moss (born 20 March 1955) is an Australian rock musician from Alice Springs. He is the founding mainstay guitarist and occasional singer of Cold Chisel. In that group's initial eleven year phase from 1973 to 1984, Moss was recorded on all five studio albums, three of which reached number one on the national Kent Music Report Albums Chart. In August 1989 he released his debut solo album, Matchbook, which peaked at number one on the ARIA Albums Chart. It was preceded by his debut single, "Tucker's Daughter", which reached number two on the related ARIA Singles Chart in March. The track was co-written by Moss with Don Walker, also from Cold Chisel. Moss had another top ten hit with "Telephone Booth" in June 1989.


 At the ARIA Music Awards of 1990 Moss won five categories: Album of the Year, Best Male Artist, Breakthrough Artist – Album, Single of the Year and Breakthrough Artist – Single. Since then his solo music career has been more low-key, his other top 50 albums are Worlds Away (November 1991), Let's all Get Together (July 2007) and Soul on West 53rd (November 2009). In 1993 Cold Chisel, with Moss as a member, were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame. Moss has participated with periodic Cold Chisel reunion tours or new studio albums in 1998, 2003 and from 2009 to 2012 (as from August 2013).


Petrolhead is the third studio album by Cold Chisel guitarist / vocalist Ian Moss. The songs on the album are written by Don Walker, Ian Rilen, Spencer P. Jones and Andy Heggen. This album was a departure from Ian's previous albums as it has more of a Hard Rock sound to it. Moss said that "it was a conscious decision to get back to something I was always happy doing. The result is tough, ballsy blues meets rock...plenty of heart, alive and kicking."

Friday 8 September 2017

Flash And The Pan - 1978 - Flash And The Pan FLAC


01 The African Shuffle    
02 California    
03 Man In The Middle    
04 Walking In The Rain    
05 Hey, St. Peter 
06 Lady Killer    
07 The Man Who Knew The Answer    
08 Hole In The Middle    
09 Down Among The Dead Men    
10 First And Last










Flash and the Pan were formed in Sydney, Australia in mid-1976, initially as a studio-only pop rock band, by Harry Vanda and George Young both on guitar, keyboards and vocals. The duo had been members of the Easybeats, and subsequently worked as songwriters and producers, Vanda & Young, both in Australia and in the United Kingdom (UK). They were A&R agents for Albert Productions, and its in-house producers at Albert Studios in Sydney, from mid-1973.


Flash and the Pan's debut single, "Hey, St. Peter" was issued in September 1976 on Albert Productions, which they had co-written and co-produced "as an engaging diversion from the real job of record production for other artists." It peaked at No. 5 on the Kent Music Report Singles Chart in November. Australian musicologist Ian McFarlane felt "The music was based around an accessible, yet inventive synthesiser-based pop rock sound with an emphasis on George's spoken-word vocals and shouted chorus."

John Paul Young (no relation), speaking to Kathy McCabe of News Corp Australia, remembered the story of the song: "George was in New York chatting to the hotel doorman about the weather and the African American guy says 'Oh well, man, when my time comes, I am going to say to St Peter "You can't send me to hell, I have done my time in hell in New York!"' George just picked up things you and I would say and turn them into songs." John Paul Young had hit singles written and produced by Vanda & Young including "Yesterday's Hero" (1975) and "Love Is in the Air" (1977).


"Hey, St. Peter" was released internationally in July 1977 on Mercury Records for continental Europe, where it reached No. 6 on the Belgian Ultratop 50 Singles chart and No. 7 on the Netherlands' Dutch Top 40. In the United Kingdom it appeared on the Ensign Records label, and for the North American market it was issued in July 1979 on Epic Records – it peaked at No. 76 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August of that year. "Down Among the Dead Men", their second single, was issued in Australia in July 1978, which peaked at No. 4 on the Kent Music Report. On the UK Singles Chart it reached No. 54 (re-titled "And the Band Played On"). In November they followed with their third single, "The African Shuffle".



The group's debut album, Flash and the Pan, was issued in Australia in December 1978 on Albert Productions, and internationally in the following year on Mercury, Ensign and Epic. It was recorded at Albert Studios in Sydney; the duo co-produced it and co-wrote nine of its ten tracks. Aside from Vanda and Young, the studio musicians included Ray Arnott on drums, Les Karski on bass guitar and Warren Morgan on piano. Arnott was signed by Vanda & Young to Alberts for a recording contract; Karski produced Arnott's solo debut album, Rude Dudes (1979), as well as providing bass guitar. The Ray Arnott Band, which included both Karski and Morgan, toured to support the album.

Although Flash and the Pan appeared on various national charts – including reaching No. 14 on Sweden's Swedish Albums Chart and No. 80 on the US Billboard 200 – the duo did not support its release with a tour: "they preferred the sanctity of their 24-track Albert Studio enclave." AllMusic's Steven McDonald rated the album as four-and-a-half stars out of five and explained, that it had "some seriously deranged songwriting, with quirky but attention-grabbing music peppered with pointy, strange lyrics. A soundtrack for the dark side of the moon that's well worth searching out."


For the group's second studio album, Lights in the Night (early 1980), Vanda and Young again used Arnott, Karski and Morgan. All eight tracks were co-written by Vanda and Young, who also co-produced it. The album reached the top 100 in Australia, and peaked at No. 1 on the Swedish Albums Chart in June. It provided two singles, "Welcome to the Universe" (July 1980) and "Media Man"
(December 1980).

In October 1981, UK-based artist Grace Jones released her cover version of "Walking in the Rain", the B-side of "Hey, St. Peter", as a single, which peaked at No. 34 in New Zealand. Dmetri Kakmi provided Stereo Stories with his recollection of first hearing it: "I was transported. Vanda and Young's lyrics and Jones's detached delivery captured the restlessness, alienation and pent-up emotions of a stifled adolescence... By the end of the track I was liberated, lifted out of a traditional Greek upbringing and pointed toward a future filled with wide horizons."

Headlines, their third studio album, appeared in August 1982. Joining Vanda and Young in the studio were Arnott; Alan Dansow; Lindsay Hammond on backing and lead vocals (on loan from Cheetah); Ian Miller on guitar; Ralph White on brass instruments and keyboards; and Stevie Wright on backing vocals, as well as lead vocals on two tracks, "Where Were You?" (July 1982) and "Waiting for a Train" (December 1982), both of whichwere issued as singles. McFarlane felt that Headlines "featured a more basic rock approach, but with no loss of power or originality. Headlines reached No. 13 on the Swedish Albums Chart.




Hammond's group Cheetah, had been signed by Vanda & Young to Alberts in 1978. Arnott, Karski and Miller were all members of Cheetah during 1982, alongside Hammond and her sister, Chrissie. Wright was the duo's bandmate from the Easybeats, and they had written and produced material for his solo career, including his number one hit "Evie" (April 1974).

"Waiting for a Train" reached the top 100 in Australia, but had greater chart success in Europe when issued there in April 1983: it peaked at No. 7 in the UK, No. 15 in Belgium and No. 26 in the Netherlands. According to Duncan Kimball of MilesAgo, it is "a song with definite drug overtones that could well have been written about Stevie's predicament."

Late in 1984, they issued their fourth studio album, Early Morning Wake Up Call, which Neil Lade of The Canberra Times opined showed that the duo were "content to rest on their laurels... they have lapsed into the world of 'gimmick' songs... [and] an exercise of the bland and boring... Trite lyrics are made even more limp by droning vocal work." Their next studio album, Nights in France, appeared in October 1987 via Epic Records. It provided two singles, "Ayla" in September and "Money Don't Lie" in April 1988. Their final studio album, Burning up the Night, was issued in October 1992 with two further singles, "Burning up the Night" (October) and "Living on Dreams" (March 1993). Thereafter the duo concentrated on their songwriting and production work for other artists.

Sherbet - 1978 - Highway 1 FLAC


(Feels Like It's) Slippin' Away/Skyline/Another Night On The Road/Don't Wait Too Long/ Winnipeg Sidestep/Take My Heart/Cheatin' Eyes/You Made A Fool/(If I) Breakdown/Beg, Steal Or Borrow/Howzat (bonus track)/Summer Love (bonus track)/Heart Get Ready (bonus track)


 Sherbet formed in 1969 from the remnants of two Sydney dance bands. After eight long months playing in Jonathan’s discotheque in Ultimo, they were spotted by the young Roger Davies, who was later to manage Tina Turner and Janet Jackson. By January 1972 the lineup had settled to the members shown here: Daryl Braithwaite, Clive Shakespeare, Garth Porter, Alan Sandow (left to right) and Tony Mitchell (foreground). Between 1971 and 1978 Sherbet released 15 albums and 30 singles, 20 of which were consecutive hits. Named Best Australian Group in the TV Week King of Pop Awards every year from 1973 to 1978, they gained a sound edge over other bands through Garth Porter’s Mellotron machine. Singer Daryl Braithwaite was King of Pop in his own right in 1975, 1976 and 1977, enjoyed huge solo success in the 1980s, and has drawn good crowds at pubs and clubs across the country ever since.

Hoping to achieve international success, from 1977, Sherbet spent several years trying to make an impact in the US. Their 1977 album Photoplay was retitled Magazine for US release, and featured an elaborate gate-fold packaging. Though Photoplay and its lead single, "Magazine Madonna", were successful in Australia – both reached No. 3 on their respective charts – the retitled Magazine LP failed to chart in the US as did the associated single. In the same year Sherbet provided the soundtrack for the buddy comedy, High Rolling. With US success proving elusive, the band's label RSO Records felt that the lightweight name Sherbet may have hurt their chances. Accordingly, their US-recorded self-titled album, was issued in the US under a new group name, Highway, and re-titled as Highway 1 – despite the change it also flopped.