Moondah/A Place To Go/Catchanemu/Song For Darwin/Angel In Disguise/Little Kings
Ayers
Rock was the leading Australian 'jazz-rock' group of the 70s, fusing
rock with influences from soul, R&B, jazz and Latin music. The band
was built on world-class standards of playing and complex arrangements,
and inspired by overseas groups such as Traffic, Santana and Weather
Report. The original members were all seasoned players, widely regarded
as among the best musos in the country, and their musical connections
were woven through a series of major bands of the 60s and early 70s.
Mark
Kennedy was and is still widely regarded as one of Australia's best
drummers. He rose to prominence as the original drummer in Spectrum. He
left that band in late 1970, just after recording their first LP, and he
became an in-demand session player, as well as working in a series of
loosely connected groups including King Harvest (where he first teamed
up with McGuire and Doyle) and Friends with Leo De Castro.
Left: the original lineup of Ayers Rock
(1973). Clockwise from left: Duncan Maguire, Mark Kennedy, Jim
Doyle, Ray Burton (seated)
Duncan
McGuire was a true rock veteran (and one of the unsung heroes of Aussie
music). His first band was The Phantoms way back in 1959. He was a
member of The Epics (1962-64), who backed Little Pattie live and on her
early Singles and first album, as well as playing with Reg Lindsay,
Johnny Ashcroft, Brian Davies, Jay Justin and Johnny O'Keefe. From
1966-68 he was a member of The Questions (Doug Parkinson's first major
band) which also included Ray Burton and Doug Lavery (who later joined
The Valentines and Axiom). McGuire stayed with Parkinson through In
Focus and Fanny Adams before shifting to Melbourne and playing with King
Harvest and Friends.
Jimmy Doyle had been a member of
the backing bands for The Delltones and Dig Richards, and during the
early Sixties he also worked as the musical director for renowned
honky-tonk pianist Winifred Atwell.
Ray Burton had been
the rhythm guitarist in the Dave Bridge Quartet in the early Sixties,
and then a member of the Delltones' backing band, after which he joined
the first lineup of successful Sydney harmony-pop group The Executives.
He worked variously with Doyle, McGuire and Kennedy in King Harvest,
Doug Parkinson In Focus and Friends. He relocated to the USA in the
early 70s, where he worked with Helen Reddy and co-wrote her 1972
international mega-hit "I Am Woman".
In 1973 the
above-named four took the logical step and formed their own band,
McGuire Kennedy Burton. Later in the year, they added another player,
multi-intrumentalist Col Loughnan. Col had actually started his career
as lead singer with Sydney vocal group The Crescents. In 1962 Col was
recruited to replace Noel Widerberg, lead singer with The Delltones, who
had been tragically killed in a car accident earlier in the year. Col
performed with The Delltones for five years (1962-67). In the late
Sixties Col returned to his first love, jazz, and his prowess on a wide
range of instruments (alto, tenor and baritione saxophones, flute,
keyboards and percussion) gave the Ayers Rock sound a distinctive edge.
With
Loughnan on board, the new band changed their name to the more
marketable (and patriotic) Ayers Rock. They were one of the first groups
signed to Michael Gudinski's newly established Mushroom label, and
their debut single, "Rock'n'Roll Fight", was issued at the end of 1973.
They
performed at Sunbury '74 and one track from their set, Ray Burton's
"Morning Magic", was included on the Highlights of Sunbury 1974 LP,
which has recently been re-released in the 2-CD set Highlights of
Sunbury 1973 and 1974 on Michael Gudinski's Liberation Blue label. These
tracks are the only extant Ayers Rock recordings to feature Burton, who
left the band during 1974. Col Loughnan's official website features a
superb colour clip of the group performing live at Sunbury, with
excellent sound.
Jimmy Doyle,Duncan McGuire,Col Loughnan,Chris Brown and Mark Kennedy
He
was replaced by singer-guitarist Chris Brown, whose previous credits
included a stint in Little Sammy & The In People, the noted '60s
Sydney club outfit led by singer Sam "Little Sammy" Gaha (father of TV's
Eden and Danielle Gaha); although not commercially successful, this
notable band variously included Brown, Harry Brus, Michael Carlos,
Barrie McAskill, Col Nolan and Janice Slater.
Ayers
Rock's debut album Big Red Rock was taped live before an invited
audience at Armstrong's Studios in Melbourne over two nights in
September 1974. The live-in-the-studio approach worked extremely well
for Ayers Rock, and the album clearly demonstrated why their awesome
live 'chops' had made them such a popular concert attraction. But it
also was something of a necessity for the cash-strapped label -- they
took the same approach with andnother early signing, Mackenzie Theory.
The Ayers Rock LP reportedly cost Mushroom a mere $5000 to record.
Big
Red Rock was an early critical and commerical success for Mushroom,
showcasing the band's considerable prowess and the material was a good
balance between the more commercial song-based material of McGuire and
Brown and the more adventurous instrumentals. The LP features three
songs by McGuire, including their memorable second single, the
Latin-flavoured "Lady Montego", a song that dated back to McGuire's
stint in Friends; an earlier, slower version appears (in a live
recording) on the Garrison: The Final Blow LP.
Big Red
Rock also features two excellent pieces by Loughnan, two songs by Chris
Brown, and a dazzling cover of Joe Zawinul's "Boogie Woogie Waltz",
originally recorded by Weather Report (who were at that time virtually
unknown in Australia). Loughnan's power-jam "Crazy Boys" is also worth
hearing for its hilarious intro; dedicated to an unnamed Sydney
hamburger joint, it includes a sly reference to a "Gudinski burger" and
very funny joke about "Dr Hopontopovus, the Greek gynaecologist".
As
Vernon Joyson has noted, Ayers Rock's recordings suggest that there was
some dilemma about whether they should pursue a more expansive
instrumental-based approach or opt for a more song-based commercial
sound. From the evidence of Big Red Rock, its arguable that its the
instrumental tracks -- "Crazy Boys", "Big Red Rock" and the brilliant
cover of "Boogie Woogie Waltz -- that stand up best today, but the
demands of radio airplay and gigging meant that this dilemma was never
satifactorily resolved, and the group's relatively short lifespan and
small catalogue meant that they never really got the chance to reach
their full potential.
Playing at the Concert For Bangladesh
In
the late 1975 Ayers Rock performed at the final gigs at Melbourne's
fabled Reefer Cabaret. Live versions of the Stones' "Gimme Shelter" and
"Boogie Woogie Waltz" were included on the double-album A-Reefer-Derci,
culled from performances from the last two nights on 30 and 31 December
1975, and released by Mushroom in 1976. Like Mushroom's earlier
Garrison: The Final Blow set, it commemorated the closure of the venue
and was a means of thanking the Reefer Cabaret for supporting Mushroom's
artists during 1974-75.
During '75-76, Kennedy began
working with Marcia Hines and they later became engaged, which led to
him leaving Ayers Rock in 1976. He was replaced for a time by Russell
Dunlop, who, like Kennedy, was a seasoned veteran, and a respected
session player and producer, but his permanent replacement was hotshot
young drummer Hamish Stuart, who has since become a mainstay of the
Sydney music scene and one of the most respected drummers in the
country. At this point the group also added a permanent keyboard player,
Andy Cowan (ex Madder Lake).
Ayers Rock's second LP
Beyond was not quite as successful sales-wise, but no less impressiv
musically. By this time the emphasis had shifted to longer works that
allowed the band to showcase its considerable improvisational skills,
and the LP consists of just six tracks, three each by Col Loughnan and
Chris Brown. One of Brown's songs, "Little Kings", was lifted to become
their third single.
Duncan McGuire (left) and Chris Brown at the Record Plant, L.A. in September 1975.
Recorded
in Los Angeles, the album was vastly more expensive to record than its
predecessor, reportedly costing Mushroom a whacking $60,000, but by this
time Mushroom's coffers had been swelled by the massive success of
Skyhooks. The LP was also released in the USA, with different cover art.
Their fourth and final single for Mushroom, "Song For Darwin" (May
1976) was inspired by the Cyclone Tracy disaster that had devastated the
city on Christmas Day 1975.
After parting with
Mushroom, the band broke up for about three years, but it was reformed
by Brown, Doyle, Stuart and Cowan in 1979 and they established their own
label, Red Rock. A new single, "On The Avenue" was released at the end
of 1979, followed by "Lies" in early 1980, both issued through Polydor.
The singles were both included on their third and final LP Hotspell,
distributed by RCA. Unfortunately, the album was not successful and the
band broke up in 1981.
Founding
members Jimmy Doyle and Duncan McGuire have, sadly, both since passed
away; Duncan died in 1986 from a brain tumour and Jimmy died in May 2006
from liver cancer.
On a happier note, we are pleased
to report that Mark Kennedy, Col Loughnan and Ray Burton are all still
going strong. Ray has his own website, faeturing great information and
images of his career, past and present. Col has recently released a new
CD, Ellen St, and his earlier collaboration with guitarist Steve Murphy,
entitled Feel The Breeze, is also highly recommended. Both are
available from Col's website, which is listed below.
