Bobby and Laurie - Jump Back/Derek's Accent - Ain't Got No Feelin'/Barrington Davis - Raining Teardrops/The Birds - Dust in My Pants/The La De Da's - Little Girl/The Blue Beats - She's Comin' Home/The Jet Set - What Did the Man Say?/The 5 - There's Time/Grandma's Tonic - Lost Girl/The Sunsets - The Hot Generation/The Atlantics - It's a Hard Life/The Purple Hearts - Just a Little Bit/The Throb - I Need You/The Clefs - I Can Only Give You Everything/Vyt - Why Do I Cry?/Laurie Wade's Cavaliers - To Win Your Love/Tony Worsley - Talk About Love/Tony Cole - Beat It/The Cherokees - I've Gone Wild/Ray Columbus and The Art Collection - Kick Me (I Think I'm Dreaming)
Premliminary studies of the unique garage dwelling Antipodean marsupial mutant known commonly as UGLY THING (Uglidendrom Thingamibob) were commenced with volume one of this folio (Raven RVLP-02). This second volume, representing further study of the species by the Ugly Things Unit of the Raven Institute of Advanced Rockology, is the culmination of two years of extensive research, excavation and restoration. Though by no means a definitive thesis on the subject, it does shed educated light upon the species' habitat, lineage, behaviour and mating.
By close perusal one can build up a composite picture of this rare and precious creature which failed to survive foreign substances introduced into its diet during the later stages of the nineteen sixties and subsequently tumbled into oblivion and extinction. Nocturnal, congregational, given to bursts of intense excitement bordering on frenzy, remarkably hirsute, carnivorous, barely intelligent but surprisingly cunning, the mysterious Ugly Thing takes its place alongside the Unicorn, Dodo, Kiwi, Honest Politician, Dinosaur, Self-Programming Disc Jockey, Teenage Virgin and Pterodactyl on the
World Heritage listing of extinct creatures. Denied its presence in this decaying world, we can glean much for our own survival from the remnants of its brief reign of existence. Accordingly, further notes are provided hereunder regarding the choicest examples of the species.
The tempestuous duo BOBBY & LAURIE hold a revered position in Australian rock. Their January 1965 recording of I Belong With You, produced by Englishman Roger Savage (engineer of the Stones' Come On) was the very first, real 'beat' recording done in Melbourne, following swiftly upon Sydney's ground breaking effort- Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs' Poison Ivy. After a string of vibrant, boot-stomping hits on the Go!! label, Bright and Allen were snapped up by Sydney's Albert Productions and became stablemates to their good pals the Easybeats. This pulverising version of Rufus Thomas' Jump Back (also recorded in NZ by the La De Das) was included on their second album, the first for Alberts.
And speaking of the LA DE DAS, New Zealand's finest r&b/beat exponents of the centre sixties, this humble platter is pleased to present their very first single, issued on the long-evaporated Talent City label in April 1965. Penned by guitarist Kevin Borich and bassist Trevor Wilson, Little Girl is as exhilarating as garage rock came in that amazing year ...
But to get back to our opening act, Melbourne guitarist Laurie Allen (now a leading country performer), before he joined up with Bobby Bright and after he played with Malcolm Arthur & The Knights, was guitarist-cum-organist with Brisbane instrumental combo THE BLUE JAYS, the group chosen by entrepreneur Ivan Dayman to back wild Sydney singer TONY WORSLEY. With outrageously long hair and a gruff sensuality, Worsley became a hot teen idol and supported the
1965 Kinks/Manfred Mann tour. Talk About Love is perhaps the most strenuous of his handful of fiery beat recordings (five more of which can be found on Raven album RVLP-03).
The Blue Jays are of course not to be confused with the Blue Streaks, Blues Syndicate, Blues Rags & Hollers or Sydney's most interesting BLUE BEATS, remembered for the world's finest version of Summertime Blues and a support gig to the Rolling Stones when they came to town in 1965. Comprising Wayne Poll, Brian Patterson, Mike Gibbons, Barry Dessaux and John Petro, they were managed by hotshot Sydney OJ John Melouney, whose influence did nothing to stop their three singles stiffing. Just to confuse matters, Patterson was once a member of the Blue Jays.
Some parallels can be drawn with Brisbane's THE FIVE, who also cut three thumpin' singles for the Sunshine label in 1965-66. Like the Blue Beats, their exemplary efforts were very much in vain, so far as the charts were concerned. After bombing with a killer rendition of Jimmy Reed's Bright Lights, Big City and the steaming original There's Time, the band dissolved, with members Andy Paradise and Pete Thompson joining up with ex-Loved One I an Clyne in Excalibur. The Five were of course mere apprentices compared to the northern city's Princes of Punk, the ferocious PURPLE HEARTS. Led by
revolutionary guitarist Lobby Loyde, their impact upon Australian rock is still being realised. Full biographical notes can be found on the jacket of Raven album RVLP-05, which does not include the riff-laden Just A Little Bit, also recorded by the aforementioned Tony Worsley and by England's The Undertakers.
In terms of hierarchy, Sydney's THE ATLANTICS, who made an appearance on Ugly Things Vol. 1, are definitely upper echelon. Having previously recounted their credentials, might we point out that the original It's A Hard Life is another killer example of their post-surfbeat recording work, and that a detailed anthology of the group is currently in progress. THE SUNSETS are also a return booking, having impressed greatly with I Want Love on volume one. Their soundtracks for the surf movies A Life In The Sun and The Hot Generation were as innovative as the flicks themselves. The title song
for the latter appeared on a soundtrack album in this and a much longer (6 min.) version.
From Newcastle a direct south western tangent takes us to Adelaide, home of the hard drivin' CLEFS, sort of a southern version of the Purple Hearts. These dance haunt heroes were Tweed Harris, Barrie McCaskill, Les Turner, Bruce Howe and Vince Jones. Suburban thrush Bev Harrell sometimes guested with them, as she did with the Harts and Vibrants. I Can Only Give You Everything, first cut by Them, has also been committed to vinyl over the years by The MC5, Little Boy Blues, Iguanas, Troggs and Spitballs, among others. Not long after the Clefs' version appeared the group disintegrated, with McCaskill forming the soulful Levi Smith's Clefs with Les Stacpool and Gil Matthews. Organist Tweed Harris became part of supergroup The Groove and is now a leading MOR arranger.
Venturing over the Nullabor to the far flung western city of Perth, best known for swans (in cans or on lakes), we encounter THE BIRDS, a fascinating cul-de-sac of Anglo-Antipodean rock. The discerning ear will possibly note that Dust In My Pants was recorded sometime after the other tracks on this album, though it possesses the same manic energy. The story is: two British musicians, guitarist Terry Clarke and bassist Brian Curtis, emigrated downunder in 1969 and, laying claim to being members of (Ronnie Wood's) Birds in the Old Dart, signed up to Clarion Records, with Aussie drummer John Goldsmith. They even cut the real Birds' No Good Without You for a debut single. The original track included herein was the flip of the third and final single by this highly questionable entity.
GRANDMA'S TONIC were questionable in a different way. This Melbourne outfit were lightweight all the way down the line, for a time backing Peter Doyle in straw boaters and tweeds. The. closest they came to a hit was with a cover of the dipsy Hi Hi Hazel, and yet, to their credit, they managed to leave behind a much raunchier Troggs cover in Lost Girl. Fellow Melbournites THE CHEROKEES are also rather unexpected guests on this disc. A solid all-round pop outfit who first formed in 1961 and supported the Monkees on their 1968 Australian tour, their singles were covers of songs by Cab Calloway, The Crests, The Impressions and Beau Brummels. The ripping I've Gone Wild was the flip of their seventh and final Go!! label single, by which time the line-up was Doug Trevor, Marty Van Wynk, Max Sliney, Peter Tindal and Kevin Ross. (Five more Cherokees chestnuts can be found on Raven album RVLP-09).
Beat It! is the obscure but dynamite first single by Melbourne schoolteacher TONY COLE, who resurfaced in 1972 in London with two David McKay produced albums, released in America by 20th Century Records, which sounded, in parts, remarkably like Leo Sayer, a couple of years before anybody had ever heard Mr Sayer and which featured the musical contributions of Terry Britten from the Twilights, Kevin Peek and Alan Tarney from Kevin Broome & The Handels, and
John Farrar from the Strangers.
BARRINGTON DAVIS was a popular Sydney beat singer around 1966 who recorded on the Down Under label out of the St. Clare Studio in Hurstville, home base of the young Bee Gees and their producer Nat Kipner. Raining Teardrops was one of a handful of songs penned by Kipner and Maurice Gibb, who at that time was vainly trying to match the achievements of older brother Barry. The POWER PACT was a fairly impermanent unit which boasted whizz guitarist Dennis Wilson and eventually evolved into Mecca. The Down Under stable also included such obscure notables as The Mystics, Rick & The Bad Boys, The Second Thoughts, Kevin Bible & The Book, The Soul Agents and DEREK'S ACCENT, led by young Derek Lee, whose entire vinyl output was one single - the A side of which is included herein. And if that data seems sketchy, it is positively voluminous compared to what we have been able to muster concerning Sydney band THE JET SET, who embody the true garage ethic of obscurity and brash enthusiasm.
However, on two other Harbour city entities, we can shed some light. LAURIE WADE'S CAVALIERS first recorded in 1964 for the Linda Lee label (home of Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, Johnny Noble & The Mods/Incas, Jackie Weaver), as a surf instrumental act (Cloudburst). A year later they turned up on CBS complete with vocals and a definite 'beat' approach. This was the second of two CBS singles, their third altogether.
VYT & THE WORLD, best remembered for the delightful Flower Children also recorded at the St. Clare Studio and in fact recruited the young Brothers Gibb for backing vocals on this killer cover of the Remains' Why Do I Cry? Vyt, whose real name is about three miles of Lithuanian and best left undisturbed, faded from sight, but not so guitarist Chris Eggleton, who surfaced recently as a producer/writer/performer of considerable talent, with a single on Parole and an album, recorded in LA, for WEA.
Before we leave Sydney, we must check out the grimy 'n' gungy THROB, who were represented on an earlier Raven EP (RV-05). Sadly, this brain-numbing quartet left behind just two singles. Happily, two unissued tracks have recently been unearthed, of which the pulverising Kinks cover I Need You is one. To keep the family tree intact, member Marty Van Wynk was also in the Cherokees, as heard elsewhere on this pleasant platter.
Finally, we move over the Tasman once more to New Zealand for a curio of considerable delight. Kick Me appeared on the flip side of a 1967 American reissue of Ray Columbus & The Invaders' 1964 Australasian number one single She's A Mod. Totally out of context with the familiar body of Columbus' work in the sixties (i.e. fine beat pop), it is a blitzkreiging effort long overdue for attention.
Until next time.
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