REPOST: Jimi Hendrix - Last American Concert (30-7-1970) Ex Bootleg

(U.S 1967-1970)
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(Thursday July 30th 1970. Rainbow Bridge Vibratory Color Sound Experiment, Haleakala Crate, Island Of Maui, Hawaii. Jimi Hendrix was supported by Air)
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Jimi Hendrix (Cry Of Love) take the stage in the afternoon for the first of their performances. Jimi: "Glad to see you again, I hope everything's alright. Dig, give us about a minute, give us about a minute to set up and, er, yeah we'll forget about tomorrow and yesterday, get into... our own little world for a while, catch up to the wind." Someone offers Jimi something. He replies: "Er, I've had mine actually. Yeah I'd like to get into a thing called "Spanish Castle Magic" and, er, check out everything and see what's happening."

Afterwards: "Yeah, okay... we'd like to do another thing, go into another thing, if... the bass is working. Testing, testing, testing, testing, one, two, three." The crew has to come on stage to adjust the equipment. When they have finished, Jimi continues with "Here Comes Your Lover Man" and "The Land Of The New Rising Sun" and a completely new song, "In From The Storm". Then: "Yeah, thank you very much, thank you. I'd like to tune up one more time, okay? I'd like to do this tune that everybody here knows about, it's a thing called "Message To Love" - everybody knows about that. We'd like to just bathe in it for a second, for always actually." Jimi continues with "Message To Love".
Afterwards he announces: "I'd like to go into one of those other things, do a thing... dedicated to that little girl over there called Hartley, a thing called "Foxy Lady" — look out! Plug your ears, plug your ears, it's gonna be loud!" When the song is over, Jimi says: "Thank you very much, I'd like to do a slow blues right now.

It's a thing about a cat, you know, he gotta leave town because his old lady don't want him around, because, you know, nobody [wants] him in town and all the downs. You know, the cat's all low and everything, but then he's gonna get it together, 'cause he's going down the train station with his little baby and his little pack on his back. Come back and buy the town and maybe the girl does it to him one more time, might even marry her and give a piece to her. It's called "Get My Heart Back Together'" — I don't know whether it's about myself, I don't know." After this blues track, the set continues with "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" and "Fire".
"Yeah we'd like to do another one, I think, er, a few of us might remember this one, some of us will never forget it, including me..." Jimi ends the first show with "Purple Haze", then tells the audience: "Thank you, thank you, peace with you man,thank you. We'd like to come back later on and we're bound to get it on again if we can, okay, [unless] anything stops us."

Cry Of Love return for their second performance. Jimi opens the show with another new song, "Dolly Dagger". He slows the song down at the ends and proceeds to play a very melodic version of "Villanova Junction", before continuing the set with "Ezy Ryder". He announces: "I'd like to do a little blues to the sun called "Red House". After this number, Cry of Love continue with "Freedom", "Beginnings" and "Straight Ahead" ending this last song with the introduction to "Land Of The New Rising Sun". After thanking the crowd, Jimi continues with "Land Of The New Rising Sun" and then plays "Keep On Grooving". Mitch plays an extended drum solo and Jimi returns to play "Stone Free". He ends the concert with a few bars of "Hey Joe" before revisiting the solo of' "Stone Free". Jimi says "Thank you very much, good night."
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Note from Chuck Wein: "Even though the album and video are called 'Rainbow Bridge', it was known as Rainbow Ridge because that's the name of the ridge on which the concert was held." [Transcript from Tony Brown's "Jimi Hendrix Concert Files" 1999, Omnibus Press]
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Ok - this is my last post for the 2010, and in fact the decade. To celebrate this I have decided to post my most treasured album. I purchased this bootleg in 1978 from Reading Records in Carlton, Melbourne for the pricely sum of $30 (a small fortune for a poor Uni student at the time).

It still has the shrink wrap on it and I reckon I've only played it half a dozen times in the past 32 years. I instead, transfered it to cassette tape and wore out several copies! It really is an awesome stereo recording (a soundboard for sure) and at the time was the best Hendrix 'bootleg' around. I have yet to see this exact bootleg available on any other website, so I am confident that this is the first time it has been posted. There are other bootlegs around with the same name (Last American Concert Vol 1 & 2) but are on different labels and have different track listings and covers. This bootleg was also released under a completely different name and cover design - 'Unknown Wellknown' (see cover above) but was only a mono pressing.

Also note that this Maui concert was not in fact Hendrix's last American Concert as he played at the Honolulu International Centre, Hawaii the following night on August 1st - which was the last time he played on American soil.
This rip has been taken from my 'near mint' condition vinyl copy in glorious FLAC format and I have included full album artwork and a selection of photos taken at the concert by Tony Brown himself.
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      NEW IMPROVED RIP !

Track Listing
01 - Interview: James Marshall Hendrix
02 - Hey Babe / In From The Storm
03 - Hear My Train A'Comin'
04 - Voodoo Child
05 - Maui Sunset
06 - Foxy Lady
07 - Red House
08 - Easy Rider
09 - Purple Haze . 

Released by Jupiter records, Jupiter S-444, California, US
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Cry Of Love Members:
Jimi Hendrix (Guitar, Vocals)
Billy Cox (Bass)
Mitch Mitchell (Drums)
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Last American Concert (221Mb)
New Link 18/03/2025

Deep Purple - BBC 1969-1970 (2021) Bootleg

(U.K 1968 - 1976, 1984 - Present)

After Deep Purple split in 1976, interest in preparing complex reissue projects waned. When the group did reform in 1984 the interest from their old label was on back-catalogue collections and 'Best Of's'. In the absence of anything official, the bootleggers attempted to fill the BBC rarities gap and a number of titles appeared which all contained vintage BBC material. A detailed Deep Purple EMI back-catalogue programme then began which saw some BBC recordings emerge as bonus tracks. Even so, there were sessions which remained unreleased officially, and others assumed to be 'lost'.

The BBC's Transcription Service began back in the thirties to press UK programmes (light and classical music, comedy, drama etc) onto records for the BBC Empire Service, offered to subscribing radio stations abroad. In The sixities, the BBC began adding pop sessions to the mix, firstly on a programme called Pick Of The Pops, then via a new show called Top Of The Pops, both distributed abroad to subscribing stations. The producers of these pop programmes put together selected tracks from recent radio sessions, with DJs like Brian Matthew adding new links and instructions.

Radio 1 presenter Brian Matthew

Participating stations paid the BBC a modest annual fee to air them. At the time the BBC didn't really have a proper active policy for pop music. Many of the session tapes were reused so offten it was only via the transcription department that session tracks survived. The compillers rarely put entire sessions on the discs, but just made a selection - which is why tracks from sessions survive, but not others. And to describe the Transcription programme mix as eclectic is almost to redifine the word: Volume 262 for exampole features Deep Purple, Roger Whittaker, The New Seekers, Lulu, Jethro Tull, Clodagh Rodgers and The Plastic Ono Band together on one 40 minute album!

Researcher Ken Garner discovered that engineers from the Transcription service actually recorded their own live feed alongside that being captured for UK radio. It was these tapes used to make the Top Of The Pops programme, which accounts for the accasional different version or edit of some tracks. The albums themselves were issued on a strict license basius and after a year, the radio stations were under ordrers to return them to London where some were kept but many more were destroyed.

Aside from the discs, fans sometimes managed to record sessions 'off-air', sticking a microphone in front of a radio speaker, As recordings came to light it was possible for collector's to assemble a list of Deep Purple's sessions. Unlike the tapes, the BBC were meticulous in keeping paperwork, so when Garner wrote his definitive 'In Session Tonight' book in 1993, this more or less completed (confirmed) the research.

Although radio in the UK was still resolutely mono, stations abroad were moving over to stereo. Transcriptiuoin engineers (based at Kensington House in Shepherd's Bush since the early sixties) used the session recordings to develop their skills in this area, so while the sessions went out in mono in Britain, some which made it to transcription discs were in stereo. The Transcription albums did also occassionally 'cheat' in an attempt to cover breaking chart singles which the BBC didn't have a session version of. There is one Transcriptioin disc with Strange Kind Of Woman introduced by Brian Matthew as 'live', but which is just the regular single.

Deep Purple BBC Sessions 1968-1970

Deep Purple's original producer Derek Lawrence recollections of the band's early trips to the BBC are understandably hazy. But Derek did recall walking around to the appropriate office at the BBC with a large bunch of red roses and talking the woman into giving them a hearing. This was before they'd even released their debut record and was something of a sharp move, but then Deep Purple did enjoy a number of breaks in those early days. They'd made contact with a businessman, Tony Edwards, wanting to invest in a band and through his financial support found time to audition, rehearse and write.

Derek Lawrence

Through another of Derek's contacts came an approach from a flash new record label in New York seeking a new British cross-over rock/psych/pop band to market in the aftermath of the British invasion. Early monitor mixes impressed and over the next twelve months Deep Purple rode their luck across America with headlining shows. TV appearance and three months of intence gigging at the end of 1968 to support two Billboard top thirty albums and high charting singles. A UK record deal with EMI was also soon in place, again in part thanks to Derek's contacts as an independent producer for the label, but in the UK sales were modest.

Happily though the baand's first BBC session got a positive response from the station. It was BBC policy to assess intial 'pop' sessions via a production panel, whose comments would then decide whether or not the radio station would let them do further work. The panel reported that they found Deep Purple to be a 'Polished commercial group' and cleared the way for further bookings, giving the group an 'Enthusiastic, Unanimous pass'.

At this time Radio One was only just over a year old. Due to Musicians Union restrictions on the number of records which could be played, a number of the DJs on the new station featured In Session recordings by pop bands instead. Deep Purple did six different sessions inside a year for DJs such as Chris Grant, Tony Brandon, Dave Symonds and of course John Peel - who was quite a fan of the early incarnation of the group. And while some of the tracks are a little poppy, many showed just why insiders were so enthusiastic about the potential of the group, and their playing clearly gets more exciting and confident through the sessions. Deep Purple's first line-up did their final BBC session in July 1969 unaware that the rest of the group had already decided to bring in two new members. And with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover in place, Deep Purple were back at the BBC studios just six weeks later for the Mk 2 line-up's Radio 1 debut. The band continued to grace the various studios of the BBC for another year.

Chris Grant's Tasty Pop Sundae, July 1969

Deep Purple Mk1
Session 6 [30.06.1969]
Studio 2, Aeolian Hall
Show Producer: Paul Williams
Aired: 06.07.1969
1. The Painter (Ver 2)
2. I'm So Glad (Ver 1)
3. Hush (Ver 4)

Although Deep Purple had signed replacements for Simper and Evans, the pair had yet to be given their marching orders at the time of this recording. The band looked back to their first album for two of the tracks, performing Hush for the fourth time in session. Here we get the rather camp spoken introduction from Chris Grant ("mmm....boys....!") but there is another surviving albeit poorer quality off-air version fronted by Brian Matthew. Another take of The Painter reveals a much stronger attack to the performance too. Just four days after this session, Deep Purple Mk 1 played their final live concert and the management told Simper and Evans that they were out of the group.
The Aeolian Hall studio was a building that the BBC took on during the war. It was used for all sorts of recordings by the BBC, including rock and pop sessions, before they gave it up in 1975.

Mike Harding's Sounds Of Seventies, April 1970

Deep Purple Mk2
Session 11 [21.04.1970]
Studio 5, Maida Vale
Show Producers: Malcolm Brown,  Mike France, Mike Harding

Aired: 28.04.1970
1. Hard Lovin' Man (Ver 1)
2. Bloodsucker (Ver 1)
Living Wreck (Ver 2)

Mike Harding was the only BBC DJ who produced his own sessions according to Ken Garner. Again saved by the Transcription Serrvice people (Vol 286) with new introductions by Brian Matthew. A suitably heavy set plugging the 'In Rock' album, the band were already gaining a big live following in Europe. Alternate edits of a couple of these tracks do exist, as both transcription and off-air recordings (tweaked for the different uses) have survived. It is in some ways a shame that we lose a little of the music to the DJ voice over too, but this does add a bit of context to the tracks. And besides, when the DJ in question is Brian Matthew, who is to gripe? The original presenter of the session, Mike Harding, also went on to front the BBC in Concert programme.

Sounds Of The Seventies (which had only kicked off at the start of April) was part of a new progressive music strand the BBC introduced on Radio One in March.

BBC Transcription Service, September 1970

Deep Purple Mk2
Session 12 [23.09.1970]
Studio T1, Shepherds Bush
Producer: Unknown
1. Black Night (Ver 1)
2. Grabsplatter (Ver 1)
3. Into The Fire (Ver 1)
4. Child In Time (Ver 2)

This final session was recorded especially for the BBC Transcription Service (Vol 309) for foreign radio stations. It marked the final visit of Deep Purple to the BBC (with the exception of a second In Concert recording in 1972). The session included a short interview with Jon Lord.

The "Glabsplatter" featured here is an instrumental, strangely for a booked session - you might have expected them to record another album track. The title goes way back to Ian Gillan's ramblings in his Episode Six days. Deep Purple later recorded the track in the studio with vocals as "I'm Alone", released on a B-Side. The BBC take of Grabsplatter was first issued on their New Live & Rare EP in October 1980.

This post consists of FLACs freshly ripped from my recently acquired Vinyl (purchased from 'Radiation Records' in Rome while on hols in Europe) and includes limited artwork. The Pink Vinyl is a nice feature with this release, and the colouration is perfect (rare for these type of bootlegs). 

Although these tracks have already been officially released on CD (see cover below), the quality of the recordings on this release is excellent and there isn't any surface noise. My first DP album was 'In Rock' and the track selection on this release is featured heavily. Pity that "Speed King" is missing however.

Interesting note made by Bootlegger: These recordings are in public domain according to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, sections 6-9 "Copyright in broadcasts made for, or first published by BBC, lasts fo 50 years from the end of the year of first publication"

This is another prize addition to my Deep Purple Vinyl collection and I was more than happy to part with the €20.00 to acquire it. Needless to say it was safely tucked away inside the clothing compartment in my suitcase when flying home.    

Track Listing:

Chris Grant's Tasty Pop Sundae, July 1969 *

A1 The Painter

A2 I'm So Glad

A3 Hush

Mike Harding's Sounds Of Seventies, April 1970 **

A4 Hard Lovin' Man

A5 Bloodsucker

A6 Living Wreck

Transcription Service, September 1970 **

B1 Black Night

B2 Grabsplatter

B3 Into The Fire

B4 Child In Time

Deep Purple Mk1 *

Bass – Nick Simper
Drums – Ian Paice
Guitar – Ritchie Blackmore
Keyboards – Jon Lord
Vocals – Rod Evans

Deep Purple Mk2 **

Bass – Roger Glover
Drums – Ian Paice
Guitar – Ritchie Blackmore
Keyboards – Jon Lord
Vocals – Ian Gillan

Deep Purple BBC Link (234Mb)
 

REPOST: Sherbet - Howzat (1976) + Bonus Live Track

(Australian 1969-84)
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Between 1971 and 1978, Sherbet released 15 albums and 30 singles. Among these were Australian pop classics such as "You've Got The Gun", "Slipstream", "Howzat, "Life", and "Summer Love". Their earlier singles and albums were produced by Festival house producer Richard Batchens, but in 1975, with Batchens increasingly concentrating on Richard Clapton, Sherbet's production was taken on by Richard Lush, the former Abbey Rd alumnus and engineer on many of the The Beatles' later recordings, including the Sgt Pepper's LP. Braithwaite also branched out with a solo career, releasing several singles under his own name -- "Old Sid", "Love Has No Pride", "Afterglow" (a cover of the Small Faces classic) and his solo No.1 hit version of the Cilla Black hit "You're My World".

One of the most celebrated images of the band was created in at the height of their fame in 1974, when the group posed nude -- although discreetly draped in detergent suds -- for a series of photos by renowned photographer Lewis Morley for a feature on the group in the magazine Pol, published in October- November 1974. 

From 1974, lead singer Braithwaite also maintained an active solo career alongside Sherbet, with Sherbet members often playing on Braithwaite's solo singles.
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Beginning in 1975, Sherbet's records were produced by Richard Lush who had begun his career in the UK as a trainee engineer at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, where he helped to engineer a number of Beatles' recordings including Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Porter also began to take an occasional lead vocal on Sherbet singles. His vocals can be heard on "Hollywood Dreaming" and "A Matter of Time".

The high point for Sherbet came in 1976, with the release of their hit single "Howzat". Ironically, this breakthrough came hot on the heels of press predictions that Sherbet's demise was imminent. Just prior to recording the new single and album, founder member Clive Shakespeare left the band.  Shakespeare was finding the growing pressure less and less easy to bear and by 1976 he had decided it was time to quit: Shakespeare was eventually replaced Harvey James (ex Ariel).

The inclusion of Harvey into the band saw their music move towards a heavier feel than anything previously released, and he adds some great guitar licks to nearly every track on the album. Around this same time, bassist Tony Mitchell stepped up to join Porter as Sherbet's new main songwriting team. The Porter/Mitchell duo was responsible for penning "Howzat" (1976), the band's only international hit, and a song which was inspired by the sport of cricket. The song's success lead to an extensive international tour in 1976-77. "Howzat" went to #1 in Australia, and was a Top 10 hit through most of Europe, South Africa, several Asian nations and parts of the Middle East -- but it failed to reach the American Top 40, stopping at #61 in the Billboard Hot 100. As well, while the Howzat album also made #1 in Australia, it failed to chart in the U.S. altogether.
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For those of you who enjoy a little trivia, you might be interested to know that Sherbet and their hit single "Howzat" were acknowledged by Australia Post in 1998.
Sherbet, AC/DC and the Easybeats were among 12 Australian bands to feature on a set of stamps issued by the Australian post office in 1998. The set of 12 stamps were issued on the 26th May and were withdrawn on the 30th October 1998. The stamps were issued to celebrate the contribution that Australian has made to the Rock and Pop world from the 50's to mid 70's.
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The rip for this posting includes FLACs taken from CD and contains both CD and LP artwork, along with label scans. As a bonus, I have included a live version of "Howzat' which was taken from their "Caught In The Act - Live" album from 1977. 

          IMPROVED RIP !
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Track Listing

01 - Howzat
02 - Lady Of The Night
03 - Gimme Love
04 - If I Had My Way
05 - Hollywood Dreaming
06 - Dancer
07 - Blueswalkin'
08 - Motor Of Love
09 - The Swap (You Can Get The Lot)
10 - Can't Find True Love
11 - I'll Be Coming Home
12 - [Bonus Track] Howzat (Live)

Band Members:
Daryl Braithwaite (Lead Vocals, Tambourine)
Harvey James (Guitar, Vocals)
Tony Mitchell (Bass, Vocals)
Alan Sandow (Drums)
Garth Porter (Keyboards, Vocals)
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Sherbet Link (302Mb) New Link 11/03/2025
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REPOST: Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come - Journey (1973) + Bonus Tracks

(UK 1970-73)

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If you've been brought up on 1960s psychedelic rock, you've probably heard "Fire", the 1968 classic from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. That band featured Arthur Brown, of course on vocals, as organist Vincent Crane (later of Atomic Rooster) and drummer Carl Palmer (later briefly of Atomic Rooster before joining Emerson, Lake & Palmer, one of the biggest names in prog rock). By 1969, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown was no more. A second album was recorded and scrapped (but later surfaced years later).

So Arthur Brown formed a new band called Kingdom Come (not to be confused with the hard rock band from the 1980s), in which he explored more spacy progressive rock. Kingdom Come released two albums, Galactic Zoo Dossier (1971) and Kingdom Come (1972) before releasing Journey. I have these two albums, which were OK, but 'Journey' really took me by surprise. Brown stated in an interview with an English music magazine that the three albums were intended to present a thematic progression. The first focused on the state of humankind in the present, the second on the human animal itself and the dichotomy between the body and mind, and the third focusing on cosmic and spiritual matters.

.While the Hammond organ dominated the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, the dominant instruments on Journey were the Mellotron, ARP 2600 and VCS-3 synthesizers, with some great guitar work, and no real drums. Arthur Brown uses the Bentley Rhythm Ace drum machine on this album, which sounds like a cheap piece of crap toy (no wonder it took until the 1980s before drum machines were used regularly in recordings), but the totally amazing music makes up for the drum machine being used.
The album opens with "Time Captives" which starts off with the sound of Brown's drum machine, before eventually all the strange electronic effects come in. By the time the vocals come in, the music is totally in progressive space rock territory. The next cut is the instrumental "Triangles", not the most remarkable cut on the album, but the following cut, "Gypsy" totally makes up for that, because it's simply one of the best cuts on the album.

"Supernatural Roadblocks" starts off with some totally amazing use of Mellotron, of the type the Moody Blues could only dream of, before the the music starts. The next cut, "Conception" is largely instrumental, but you get treated with Arthur Brown's terrifying screams from time to time. "Spirit of Joy" is the closest thing to a hit on this album, and, unsurprisingly, the song was released as a single prior to the album's release. The last song, "Come Alive" continues in the same synthesizer dominater prog rock territory, with a great bluesy middle passage with vocals that oddly remind me of Frank Zappa.

A number of factors contributed to the end of Kingdom Come, including mediocre album sales, critical disdain, the revolving door membership of the band, and Brown's frustration with the music business in general. The band dissolved rather than officially breaking up, with Brown citing a desire to play simpler music and opt for a simpler lifestyle in general in later interviews. However, the music that Kingdom Come left behind is certainly worth exploration for progressive rock and psychedelic rock enthusiasts, and stands up well as a part of Arthur Brown's 40-plus year legacy.

After Kingdom Come broke up, Arthur Brown recorded again under his own name. I have his 1975 album 'Dance', but it was a real disappointment (except for a cover of "We've Gotta Get Out of This Place"). So, surprisingly, Arthur Brown gave us much more than The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and "Fire", as 1973's Journey proves. 'Journey' is another classic album, in my book (Some extracts were taken from a review by Ben Miller).

This NEW IMPROVED rip was taken from a 2003 CD remaster in glorious FLAC and includes bonus tracks, full album artwork and publicity photos of Arthur Brown and Kingdom Come. Displayed right, is an alternative front cover for the album, released on the Passport Label. 

I personally owned the album back (Polydor Label featuring above cover) in the 70's, but stupidly traded it in for cash - something I've always regretted.

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Track Listing

01. Time Captives  - 8:18

02. Triangles - 3:17

03. Gypsy  - 9:10

04. Superficial Roadblocks - 6:56 including:

      a). Lost Time

      b). Superficial Roadblocks

      c). Corpora Supercelestia

05. Conception  - 2:06

06. Spirit Of Joy  - 3:15

07. Come Alive - 8:45

Bonus Tracks

08. Spirit Of Joy (alternative take)  - 2:47

09. Time Captives (alternative take) - 7:08

10. Conception (alternative take) - 2:02

11. Come Alive (alternative take) - 8:21

12. Slow Rock (BBC Radio One John Peel Show) - 7:08

13. Spirit Of Joy (BBC Radio One John Peel Show) - 8:35

Band Members

Arthur Brown: Bentley drum machine, lead vocals

Andy Dalby: Guitar, vocals

Victor Peraino: Mellotron, ARP 2600 and VCS-3 synthesizers, Theramin, piano, percussion, vocals

Phil Shutt: Bass, percussion, vocals

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Arthur Brown Kingdom Come Link (475Mb)

W.O.C.K On Vinyl: EMI Little LP Sampler Show Special (1969)

 Before things get too serious here at Rock On Vinyl, I thought it might be fun to post a song / album at the end of each month, that could be categorized as being either Weird, Obscure, Crazy or just plain Korny.

This very rare EMI  E.P, was a Show Souvenir Sampler, from Sydney’s 1969 Royal Easter Show.  Profits from the sale of this record were donated by E.M.I. (Aust.) Ltd., to the 1969 Heart Fund Appeal.

Being a Melbournite, I first thought this Show Special may have originated from our very own Royal Melbourne Show, but after some research discovered that it was referring to Sydney's Royal Easter Show. 

Now, I am unsure if this EP was associated with one of the many novelty show bags sold at the Royal Easter Show, or was simply on sale at the entry / exit gates. If anyone can sheed more light on how this EP was distributed, I would love to know.

Featuring some well known Australian artists from the 60's, this really is a very rare gem indeed and I am grateful to Deutros for providing the rip (MP3) and artwork. Of course this item certainly ticks the Obscure box for this months WOCK on vinyl post and I have only ever seen one advertised for sale over at popsike.com (selling for $64).   

And now for some back ground information on the artists and tracks featured on this little EMI sampler:

The Flying Circus - Shame Shame
The original lineup of Flying Circus was Doug Rowe [lead guitar, vocals], James Wynne [lead vocals, rhythm guitar], Bob Hughes [bass, vocals] and Colin Walker [drums].

 

"Shame, Shame" was to have been Sydney band Flying Circus’s first single. Instead, the first single was Hayride (1969 #3 Sydney #1 Brisbane #13 Perth), followed by La La (#5 Sydney #4 Melbourne #1 Brisbane #1 Adelaide #9 Perth). The song was a cover of The Magic Lanterns’ hit, and was written by Keith Colley - Knox Henderson - Linda Jo Colley.

A custom acetate pressing of  "Shame, Shame" is shown right, but it was never released to the general public. It was, however, later anthologised by Glenn A. Baker on the CD release 'Best of Flying Circus 1969-71 (1995)'. 

So its appearance on this EMI sampler makes it highly desirable and rare.

The Groove - Stubborn Kind Of Fellow
The Groove were an Australian band from Melbourne (1967-1970). Their name changed to Eureka Stockade in 1970. They recorded 5 singles and 1 album in Australia and 2 singles in England.
Band members were Jamie Byrne [Bass], Geoff Bridgford [Drums], Rod Stone [Guitar], Tweed Harris [Organ] and Peter Williams [Vocals], and they were mostly a soul-pop band.

This Marvin Gayer cover appeared on their selftitled album which was released in 1968, however it was never released as a single. So again, its appearance on this EMI sampler makes it highly desirable to collectors.

Johnny Farnham - Everybody Oughta Sing A Song
'Everybody Oughta Sing A Song' is the second solo studio album by Australian pop singer John Farnham (billed then as Johnny Farnham) and was released on EMI Records in November 1968. Its first single, released in July, was the double A-sided, "Jamie"/"I Don't Want To Love You", which peaked at #8 on the Go-Set National Singles Charts. The second single, "Rose Coloured Glasses" was released in October and peaked at #16. Writers on the album included Hans Poulson, Neil Diamond and Quincy Jones. The album was re-released in 1974 with a different cover, it shows Farnham performing live on stage, whereas the initial 1968 release had him leaning against a Holden Monaro (see above).

The title track "Everybody Oughta Sing A Song" was released as the B-Side to the New Zealand release of "Jamie" and appears on this EMI sampler.

Little Pattie - What The World Needs Now
Patricia Amphlett (aka Little Pattie) began singing while still a young schoolgirl and had a surprise hit in 1963 with "He's My Blonde Headed Stompie Wompie Real Gone Surfer Boy". 

She released further singles over the following two years, scoring a number of hits, making regular appearances on shows like Bandstand and Sing, sing, sing, and winning the Best Australian Female Vocalist award in 1965. By 1966 she was among Australia's most popular performers. 

Having made one of several attempts to drop the 'Little' from her name, Pattie became, at 17, the youngest Australian entertainer to perform in Vietnam. She was performing at the Australian base at Nui Dat on the night of the Long Tan battle. Some soldiers recall having heard snatches of music as they headed out on patrol in the hours before the fight.

Patti released 8 solo albums and 30 singles during her career, and was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 2009. She was inducted by her cousin, Christina Amphlett of Divinyls, with former Australian Idol star, Lisa Mitchell performing "He's My Blonde-Headed, Stompie Wompie, Real Gone Surfer Boy".

Her Burt Bacharach cover "What The World Needs Now", was never released as a single and was lifted from her 1969 LP 'Beautiful In The Rain' for inclusion on this EMI Sampler.

Johnny Ashcroft and Kathleen McCormack... By The Time I Get To Phoenix
Johnny Ashcroft and Kathleen McCormack were Australian country music artists who collaborated on the album "You And I - Country Style" in 1967, which was a major success, catapulting modern country music into mainstream markets.

 The album is credited with awakening the sleeping giant of modern country music in Australia, and it quickly went gold, becoming the biggest-selling Australian country album of its time.
Ashcroft's album featured a set of duets with Australian singer-actress Kathleen McCormack, who had an extensive recording career of her own, mostly covering nostalgic oldies as well as Irish and Scottish folk songs and Australian-themed material. 

The gimmick on this album was that McCormack and Ashcroft traded off dueling version of country hits, strung together as medleys of sorts -- i.e. "He'll Have To Go" paired with "He'll Have To Stay" or "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" with "By The Time You Get To Phoenix" -- and various themed medleys: songs about roses, songs about waltzes, songs with German motifs, etc. A little bit corny, if you ask me.

Their Glen Campbell cover "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" was chosen for inclusion on this EMI sampler.

The Twilights - Once Upon A Twilight
The Twilights were an Australian rock band, which formed in Adelaide in 1964 by Peter Brideoake on rhythm guitar, John Bywaters on bass guitar, Clem "Paddy" McCartney and Glenn Shorrock both on lead vocals. They were joined by Terry Britten on lead guitar and Laurie Pryor on drums within a year.

Heavily influenced by the British Invasion, they became a significant Australian band during the mid-1960s. They were noted for their musicianship, on-stage humour and adoption of overseas sounds and trends. Their most popular single is a cover version of "Needle in a Haystack" (originally by the Velvelettes), which topped the Go-Set singles chart in 1966. Also in that year, they won the Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds competition and were awarded a trip to London.

During late 1967 and early 1968 the Twilights were incredibly busy with endless tours and the filming of their prospective TV pilot. All the more remarkable then that the group managed to find the time to construct a record as satisfying as their sophomore album 'Once Upon A Twilight', a tour de force of songwriting and studiuo sawy unprecedented in Australia up to that point. There is no doubt that the expert ear of producer Mackay and the brilliant orchestration of Johnny Hawker were of immense benefit, as was the arrival of a Scully 8-track machine, the first in the country. But it was The Twilights themselves whose instrumental competence and sheer inspiration that made Once Upon A Twilight such a successful album.

There are subliminal touches of Beatles and Hollies, and hardcore followers of the era will find facile references to many of the UK records of that time.This point is made not to suggest that Once Upon A Twilight is derivative: rather, it is cut from the same cloth as, and can stand proudly alongside, the prime arbiters of British pop-psych of that era. Indeed, had the album been the product of a UK act rather than one of its outpost colonies, it would now be a far more familar and highly-regarded recording from the 60's.

The title track from the album was never released as a single, however it has been included on this EMI sampler for your enjoyment.

Track Listing:

Side One 

1) The Flying Circus ...Shame Shame 

2) The Groove...Stubborn Kind Of Fellow 

3) Johnny Farnham...Everybody Oughta Sing A Song 

Side Two 

1) Little Pattie...What The World Needs Now Is Love 

2) Johnny Ashcroft and Kathleen McCormack...By The Time I Get To Phoenix 

3) The Twilights...Once Upon A Twilight.

EMI Little LP Sampler Link (30Mb)

Bluestone - The Closer You Get (1982)

(Australian 1972 -1984)

Melbourne singer Terry Dean formed country rock band Bluestone in 1972. Terry had enjoyed an extremely successful solo career recording a number of hit records, performing regularly in Melbourne and interstate and appearing nationally on TV shows including The Go!! Show, and Happening 70. The band's line-up included Terry Dean on lead vocals and guitar, Col Millington on drums (who played on the 6-track demo tape the band recorded at Laurie Arthur Studios at East Brunswick but had left the band when they recorded their debut album), John Creech (ex -The Mixtures) on drums and vocals, Ted Fry on bass and vocals (ex-Blues Rags 'n' Hollers) plus Mike Burke on pedal steel.

Bluestone was heavily influenced by west coast American country rock including artists such as The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Emmylou Harris and numerous other influential songwriters as well as performing and recording much of its own material. It was renowned for its strong vocal harmonies and was also one of the first Australian country rock bands to feature pedal steel guitar on stage and in the recording studio. They were signed to the Bootleg label. The band's first album, self-titled 'Bluestone', was released to excellent reviews in 1974 and helped to cement the band as a major force in Australian country music.

The single from the album, ''Wind and Rain'', was a hit across Australia. Gavan Anderson (lead guitar and vocals) and Nigel Thompson (bass and vocals) who had both been members of The New Dream, joined the band in 1975 and this line up remained together until Bluestone disbanded in 1984 (see above). 

The band toured and recorded in the US in 1979 and 1982 and released a number of singles on the Scotti Brothers label. It also released its second album, 'The Closer You Get' in 1982, from which the singles "Single Again / Keep On Dancing" and "Remember / Oh How She Loves Me" were released. 

During its twelve years together the band performed regularly on Australian television (Hey, Hey It's Saturday, The Daryl Somers Show, Shirl's Neighbourhood and Countdown) and was invited to support a number of international acts including Cat Stevens, Dolly Parton and America on their Australian tours.

Since the mid 1980's, the members of Bluestone have gone on to pursue successful careers in the music industry: Terry Dean formed the successful duo Dean & Carruthers with Garry Carruthers and they celebrated 25 years on the road in July, 2010. Terry recently established Terry Dean's Guitars selling some of the world's finest acoustic instruments.

Avenue's PR Sheet for Bluestone

John Creech has continued his career as drummer to the stars touring with Kylie Minogue in the early 1990's and with Cotton, Keays & Morris, Brian Cadd, Mike Brady and many others.

Gavan Anderson joined legendary video game software development company, Beam Software as their music composer & producer. His best known work is the soundtrack on the Back to the Future game, although he did voices and sound effects for a wide variety of games titles, from their space game Star Wars to the sports game Bo Jackson Baseball. During that time he continued to work with numerous artists and bands including an 8 year stint with the legendary Spot the Aussie at the Esplanade Hotel, touring with Brian Cadd, Max Merritt and, most recently, Andy Cowan. He has also released a number of his own solo EP's. and an album in 2006, called 'Youth In Asia'.

Nigel Thompson continues to work with various bands (including 60's Band, The Substitutes) and has continued his involvement in events management and promotion.

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my vinyl and includes artwork for vinyl only, as this album has never been released on CD.  Label scans are also included.

It is worth while noting that some Aussie Rock music royalty made contributions to the recording of this album, namely 'Ian Mason' (keyboards) from Bootleg Family / Stockley, See & Mason; 'Broderick Smith' (Harmonica) from Carson / Broderick Smith's Big Combo; 'Colleen Hewitt' (Vocals) and 'Sam See' (Guitar) from Stockley, See & Mason.

Track List:

01 The Closer You Get 4:53

02 It Only Takes A Minute 4:11

03 Single Again 3:53

04 Full Moon Fool 2:49

05 Remember 3:38

06 Don't Blame It On Love 3:55

07 Ready For The Times To Get Better  3:20

08 Too Far 4:50

09 Let It Shine 4:21

10 Oh How She Loves Me 3:21

Bluestone were:

Gavan Anderson (Lead Guitar & Vocals)

John Creech (Drums & Vocals)

Terry Dean (Guitar & Vocals)

Nigel Thompson (Bass & Vocals)

Guest Artists:

Andy Tainsh (Bass & Keyboards)

Ian Mason (Keyboards)

Chops Veall (Keyboards)

Buzz Carson (Backing Vocals & Piano)

Colleen Hewitt (Back Vocals on 'Let It Shine')

Broderick Smith (Harmonica on 'Let It Shine')

Sam See (Guitar on 'Single Again')

Bluestone Link (232Mb)