Wednesday, September 29, 2010

W.O.C.K On Vinyl - Australiana (Austen Tayshus 1983)

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Before things get too serious here at Rock On Vinyl, I thought it might be fun to post a song at the end of each month, that could be categorized as being either Weird, Obscure, Crazy or just plain Korny.
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"Australiana" is a spoken-word "song" from the 1980s in Australia and contains loads of great puns on well-known Australian flora, fauna, slang and place names. For a transcript of of the lyrics to Australiana by Austen Tayshus, go to this website.
"Australiana" was released in 1983 and went to Number 1 and double platinum on the Australian singles chart. "Australiana" holds the record for the biggest selling single of all time in Australia.
Austen Tayshus continues to do live comedy shows and other interesting things - see Austen's offical website.
The stage name "Austen Tayshus" is an aptronym based on the word "ostentatious". Austen Tayshus burst into the consciousness of Australians in 1983 performing his comedy single, Australiana, written by fellow comedian Billy Birmingham. It is a spoken word piece that contains many puns using Australian terms, especially with the names of Aussie icons, places and animals. For example:
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"...my mate Boomer rang" (boomerang)
"...do you wanna game of Euchre, Lyptus?" (eucalyptus)
"...how much can a koala bear?" (koala)
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He branched out into highly political, controversial humour, often drawing on his Jewish background. A tall man (6 foot six), he appears on stage wearing a black suit and dark sunglasses. He is characterised with a resonant deep voice and a gift of mimicry. He is often moody, and taunts his audience and venue staff. He might now be compared to 'controversial' comedians such as Bill Hicks and Lenny Bruce, whom he has cited as an influence.
Since Australiana, he has performed over 10,000 shows, and produced films, documentaries and records, mostly dealing with social issues.
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This W.O.C.K on Vinyl post covers all the four letters:
W
is for Wacky, O is for Ozzie, C is for Comical and K is for 'well, how much can a Koala Bear?'
The post contains 192kps rips of the A & B sides of his hit single "Australiana" / "The Comedy Commando" with full album artwork and also includes the unedited video clip (avi) of "Australiana" (sourced from YouTube) for your enjoyment.
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Australiana link (34Mb) REPOST
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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

The Seekers - Live On (1989)

(Australian 1962-68, 1975-90, 1992-Present)
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The Seekers were a group of Australian folk-influenced popular musicians that was formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States. They were a highly popular band during the 1960s.
They had nine hits in Britain and Australia in the 1960s: "I'll Never Find Another You", "A World of Our Own", "The Carnival Is Over" (which The Seekers have sung at various closing ceremonies in Australia, including Expo '88 and the Paralympics and still stands as the 30th Best Selling Song in the United Kingdom), "Someday One Day", "Walk With Me", "Morningtown Ride", "Georgy Girl" (the title song of the film of the same name), "When Will the Good Apples Fall" and "Emerald City".
[extract from wikipedia]
Their best-known configuration was:
* Judith Durham: lead vocals, piano, tambourine
* Athol Guy: double bass, vocals
* Keith Potger: twelve string guitar, banjo, vocals
* Bruce Woodley: guitar, mandolin, banjo, vocals
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Later members:
Buddy England (vocals, guitar) 1973-77, replaced Bruce Woodley
Lisa Wisseling (vocals) 1973-81
Julie Anthony (vocals) 1989-90
Karen Knowles (vocals) 1990
Peter Robinson (bass, vocals) 1978-81, replaced Athol Guy
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Riding with the success of other folk acts Peter Paul & Mary, they enjoyed colossal success in the UK, Europe and the USA. The Seekers were far and away Australia's biggest musical export of the decade and for the better part of two years their success as a singles band rivaled that of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The Seekers are also a particularly interesting case study for music historians. They are sometimes marginalised in accounts of Australian "rock" history because, as Ian McFarlane points out, they were "too pop to be considered strictly folk and too folk to be rock". Their popularity crossed all boundaries and their success far outstripped that of any other Australian group in either field. Today they remain one of the most enduringly popular and successful Australian groups of the 20th century. [extract from Milesago]
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The Story Behind 'Live On'
As Australia's Bi Centennial World Expo in Brisbane drew to a close in 1988, the producers of the farewell concert settled on the song that would help create an unforgettable grand finale to the nation's greatest Festival. The Seeker's all time classic "The Carnival Is Over" certainly filled the bill. It evoked the mood and feelings required for Expo's last contact with both visitors and staff.
The televised event would also embrace Australia in Expo's last magical moments. The producers reflected on how best to present this soul-stirring finish. Obviously with the The Seekers themselves, but each was now happily pursuing their independent, individual lifestyle
Julie Anthony was already committed to perform during the closing ceremony. The producers could count on her incomparable voice and presence to bring the song and its meaningful lyrics to the heights they deserved for the dramatic farewell. Julie didn't know that the producers had again contacted the original members of the Seekers, Athol Guy, Bruce Woodley and Keith Potger were asked to name the voice that would finally convince them to come together in performance of song.
Their answer was short and sweet. Julie Anthony.
Julie loved the idea - The Seeker's music had always held a special meaning for her.
• The producers rejoiced.
• The song was performed.
• The audience roared their approval.
• The Expo closed with a magnificent swansong.
And the world briefly welcomed back the refreshed and still unique sound of Australia's first truly international musical group

After that momentous night, events moved swiftly. And there were some crucial questions on everyone's minds.
• Was there a project worthy of a more permanent bond of The Seekers legendary music, Julie's brilliant voice and the original Seekers themselves?
• Was there new and original "Seekers" music available to record so those magnificent melodies and harmonies could re-created for today's audience?
Would this musical marriage also suit Julie's future career directions?
• Was there an audience still looking for music of fun, hope and optimism, mirroring life's real moments, without gimmicks, but full of quality and meaning?
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With Julie's sparkling presence the Seeker's and their music would, indeed... LIVE ON
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Into this unique 'Australian-Made" project, prepared and produced for ultimate presentation as a stage musical, came the unconditional moral and financial support of Australia's Pioneer Electronics, old friends of the Seekers and great admirers of Julie.
Pioneer instantly committed to underwrite tie costs of producing this album. Polygram moved quickly to sign The Seekers to new international recording agreements. The "Australian-Made" group are supporting the project with all their resources, both within Australia and internationally, in conjunction with the Australian Tourist Commission.
The Australian Broadcasting Coporation are planning a series on Television for the group
The total project will be a unique international joint venture, combining the marketing skills of all the participants in order to export the project to all parts of the globe.
The Seekers' musical carnival may have indeed once seemed over. Now, with Julie, Athol, Keith and Bruce, The Seekers and their unique music achieve new heights of appreciation world wide.
We are proud to present you with this collection of brillant and original material. The combination of freshly recorded Seekers classics with new material ensures that a legendary Australian musical story will certainly - LIVE ON!
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OK - so this isn't really a 'rock' posting but hey - as a young boy I have fond memories of listening to The Seekers on the radio and grew up on classics such as "Georgy Girl", "World Of Our Own" and "Morningtown Ride". So, here's my rip of 'Live On' taken from an 'out of print' CD at 320kps and includes full album artwork.
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Track Listing
01 - Prelude (Live On)
02 - The Streets Of Serenade
03 - I'll Never Find Another You
04 - Georgy Girl
05 - Building Bridges
06 - Love Is Me Love Is You
07 - Come The Day
08 - The Carnival Is Over
09 - One Step Forward, Two Steps Back
10 - Some Day One Day
11 - Taking My Chances With You
12 - Morningtown Ride
13 - Time And Again

14 - Keep A Dream In Your Pocket
15 - Here I Am
16 - World Of Our Own
17 - How Can A Love So Wrong Be So Right
18 - Sparrow Song
19 - House Of Cards
20 - Red Rubber Ball
21 - When Will The Good Apples Fall
22 - Live On

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The Seekers Link (128Mb) New Link 06/05/2020
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Thursday, September 23, 2010

Daryl Braithwaite - Rise (1991) + Bonus Tracks

(Australian Solo 1973 -Present)
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It would be hard to find a voice that captures the mood of a song more perfectly than this one. It’s the voice that soars with inspiration, soul and warmth. The voice of course belongs to Australian singer Daryl Braithwaite.
In a distinguished career spanning more than 30 years, Daryl Braithwaite is one of Australia’s award winning premier performers.
His initial success as a singer came with Sherbet, a band which forever remains in the history books of Australian music. Throughout the 70’s, Sherbet produced 20 national Top 40 singles and were the first Australian band to top the one million dollar mark in album sales in the country with a total of 15 albums and 30 singles to the credit with songs like “Summer Love” becoming the highest selling single of 1975. And, “Howzat” not only a #1 hit in Australia, but also achieved #2 in England.
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Following the success of Sherbet, Daryl returned to the Australian music scene in a very big way as a solo performer in 1988 with the release of the phenomenally successful album “Edge” (see earlier posting) which spent well over a year in the national charts.
Edge spawned four hit singles with “As The Days Go By”, “All I Do”, “Let Me Be”, and the gold single “One Summer”. The album itself topped the ARIA charts in 1989 and became the highest selling CD in CBS Australia’s history. During this period, Daryl toured extensively not only in Australia, but also in Canada, USA, UK and Europe adding to the incredible sales figures for “Edge”.
Braithwaite went on to have a number of solo hits in the early 1990s, including "The Horses" the beautiful Rickie Lee Jones penned ballad that featured Margaret Urlich. "The Horses" went to number 1 on the national ARIA Chart and won a richly deserved ARIA Award. Daryl continued to dominate the airwaves with three other single releases from "Rise", "Higher Than Hope" (a song he co-wrote with Simon Hussey which also became a Top 50 hit in the US). "Don't Hold Back Your Love" and "Nothing To Lose". By the end of 1991, Braithwaite's "Rise" album had become Australia's biggest selling CD of the year, and "Edge" had become the best selling album ever released by Sony Music Australia to that time.
"People wondered if there was a lot of pressure going into the recording of Rise", says Daryl. "But I applied the same philosophy that I adopted from "Edge". To make an album that means something to me and hopefully other people would relate to those feelings."
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For a blast from the past, have a listen to the Jono and Dano's fun filled radio interview (GOLD 104.3 Melbourne - 1/9/2010) with Daryl when he reflects on his years with Sherbet and talks about his latest album 'Beautiful Day'
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The rip provided here was taken from CD at 320kps and includes full album artwork and lyrics. This was Daryl's final release on vinyl and I have included some bonus acoustics recordings of "Rise" and "Horses", which were released on his single 'Breakin The Rules' in 1993, along with the B-Side to his 'Horses' Single "I Can't Wait" (a non-album track).
For the latest information on Daryl Braithwaite and his tour dates, click on the banner below.
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Track Listing
01 - Rise

02 - Nothing To Lose

03 - Modern Times

04 - Ghost There Waiting

05 - Waters Rising

06 - Higher Than Hope

07 - Don't Hold Back Your Love

08 - The Horses

09 - Where The Famous Came Out To Play

10 - I Can See Higher Than Before

11 - Poverty Dancing

12 - Goodbye Blue Sky

Bonus Tracks

13 - I Can't Wait (B-Side Single)
14 - Rise (Acoustic Version 1993)

15 - Horses (Acoustic Version 1993)

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Band Members:
Daryl Braithwaite (Vocals)
Jef Scott (Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Bass, Mandolin)
Andy Cichon (Bass)
John Watson (Drums)
Simon Hussey (Drum Machine, Electric Piano, Hammond Organ)
Scott Griffiths (Keyboards)
Alex Pertout (Percussion)
Guest Artists:
Tommy Emmanuel (Guitar)
John Farnham, Graeme Strachan, Margaret Urlich (Backing Vocals)
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Rise Link (127Mb) New Link 05/09/2018
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Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Jimi Hendrix - War Heroes (1972)

(U.S 1967-1970)
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'War Heroes' was the third posthumous Hendrix Studio album to come out under Michael Jeffery's (Hendrix' manager) supervision.
Had it been tough for Eddie Kramer and Mitch Mitchell to complete the 2nd posthumous studio album 'Soundtrack of the film Rainbow Bridge" to a satisfying result, the compiling of 'War Heroes' was what Eddie Kramer called 'scraping the bottom of the barrel'.
With only two recordings that Hendrix had more or less approved during his life ("Izabella" & "Stepping Stone") and two older recordings which had not been released in the States yet ("Highway Chile" & "Stars That Play With Laughing's Sam's Dice" which would eventually turn up on 'Loose Ends' from 1973), Kramer -now fully assisted by John Jansen- once again went through all the tapes in the hopes to find useable pieces of music.
The collection they came up with did indeed not live up to the standard that was set with 'Cry of Love', 'Rainbow Bridge' & the live album 'In the West'. But for a more than average fan, 'War Heroes' does not disappoint. It has a few blistering instrumentals, that Hendrix may not have wanted to be released, but who demonstrate his fine talents on the guitar nonetheless. Only "3 Little Bears" and "Peter Gunn/Catastrophe" are throwaway's.

Apart from the fact that Kramer wanted to offer a glimpse of Hendrix working (and joking around) in the studio, he probably also had another motive for including these. Kramer realized that Michael Jeffrey and Warner Bros. would want him to compile more studio albums, and by using these two tracks he was able to back-up his argument that there simply were no quality studio recordings left in the vaults.
When Kramer delivered 'War Heroes' to Warner Brothers, he also made a silent statement by not delivering any background information on the songs for the sleeve. The gloomy front cover and the unexplained album title (was it supposed to be a link to 'Izabella') only added to the confusion.
The album sold a moderate 180,000 copies, and reached #48 in the US charts.
Together with 'Rainbow Bridge' & "In the West, "'War Heroes' was deleted from Warner's catalogue in 1975, after WB's chief Mo' Ostin decided that Alan Douglas was far more capable of maintaining the quality of Hendrix's posthumous discography than Michael Jeffrey and Eddie Kramer had been. A dumb and unnecessary move from Mo', as history has proven it.

The fact that nearly all Warner executives at the time hated Michael Jeffery (who died in 1973) may have played a role in this decision. The 'Rainbow Bridge' album had been excusively licensed to Warner Brothers, and has been out-of-print in the states ever since, although the German division of Reprise started re-pressing the album on vinyl during the 80's.
Fortunately, 'War Heroes' and 'In the West" remained in print in the rest of the world, thanks to Michael Jeffreys' clever 1967 contracts . Polydor did the CD release of the albums in the eighties in Europe & Japan. It was later re-pressed in Europe (1991/1992) with a different catalogue number and different mastering. The sound had noise reduction and limiting -though not as severe as we know it by today's standards - in order to make the CD louder and cleaner.
The re-presses can only be clearly identified with by its number: 847-262-2
The original West-German 1988 CD (which was mastered from the same digital master as the Japanese P20P and P33P series) doesn't have any of this and is the source used here.

.I purchased my vinyl copy of War Heroes from an import shop in the 70's, as the album was not officially released in Australia until the 80's. It is one of my prize possessions (a German pressing in mint condition) and was the first posthumous Hendrix LP that I bought. Of course, I now have all of them and can boast having 50+ Hendrix LP's in my collection.

Favourite tracks are the instrumentals "Midnight" and "Beginning" (it's riff almost identical to the Stones' "Bitch") which demonstrate Jimi's ability to change key and time signatures at the drop of a hat.
The rip provided here was taken from CD at 320kps and includes full album artwork.
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Track Listing
01. Bleeding Heart

Recorded with the Band of Gypsys including Juma Sultan on percussion on 12 Decembe
r 1969 at the Record Plant Studio in New York City. Overdubs were added on 24 March 1970. Previously played by the Experience as a slow blues (a sublime rendition can be heard on Reprise's 'Concerts'), this version takes a more funky approach. Originally produced by Jimi Hendrix.
02. Highway Chile

Recorded with the Experience on 3 April 1967 at Olympic
Studios, London, UK. This song reflected on Hendrix' restless time as a traveling musician on the Chitlin' circuit. In Europe it became the B-side of the "Wind cries Mary' single (released: 5 May 1967 in the UK) and later appeared on the Track/Polydor version of 'Smash hits', but wasn't released in the States until 1972 when 'War heroes' came out. This track only existed in mono until 2000 when EH released a newly made (but disappointing, IMO) stereo mix on the box set. Engineered by Eddie Kramer. Produced by Chas Chandler.
03. Tax free

Recorded on 26 January 1968 at the Olympic Studios, London, UK and Record Plant, NYC, 1 May 1968. This was written by Sweden's Bo Hanssen and Janne Karlsson. Hendrix heard this instrumental while touring Sweden in 1967 and decided to record it. The Experience recorded five basic tracks, the fifth being successful. When production switched to over to the Record Plant Studio in New York, Hendrix worked on the track again there, trying to add some overdubs. The Experienc
e added Tax Free to their set list during early 1968 and continued to play it live until early 1969. A live version can be heard on the now out-of-print "Live at Winterland" album. Originally produced by Jimi Hendrix
04. Peter Gunn / Catastrophe
Recorded mid-summer of 1970 at the Electric Lady Studios, NYC. 'Peter Gunn' was the first song that Jimi learned to play during his Seattle childhood days. 'Catastrophe' is a take-off by Jimi of the song 'Jealousy' popularized by Frankie Laine in late 1951. During the improvisation of 'Catastrophe' Jimi invented his own lyrics. This little ditty was added to the album by Eddie Kramer just to give a little insight into Hendrix's sense of humor, and is without a doubt the weakest selection. Maybe even the weakest Hendrix studio performance ever officially released. Engineered by Eddie Kramer. Originally produced by Jimi Hendrix
05. Stepping Stone

Originally recorded on 18 December 1969 with the Band of Gypsys at the Record Plant, NYC, and Electric Lady Studios, NYC. 1970. This recording was rush-released as a single with 'Izabella' on the B-side (Reprise 0905, Rel: 13/04/70), and quickly withdrawn again. Only a few copies of this single leaked out, making it a ultra-rare item. According to Hendrix: "Some of the copies out there have no low-end on them. I had to go out somewhere and tell the guy to remix it but he didn't. Sure, it matters..." The single contained a mix with Buddy Miles on drums. Jimi -who was still working on the recording- later opted to erase Miles' drums from the multitracks to be replaced by Mitchell's. However, the drums were never fully completed to Hendrix's satisfaction during his life and therefore it's a pity that Kramer and Jansen did not use the original mix with Miles' drums for this album. While being a far more technically skilled drummer than Miles, Mitchell failed to lay down the steady beat that this track really needs. The original mix can be heard on the OOP compilation 'Cornerstones: 1967-1970' and the 2001 EH release 'Voodoo child; The JH Collection'. Engineered by Bob Hughes 1969 at the Record Plant and Eddie Kramer at Electric Land Studios 1970. Originally produced by 'Heaven Research Unlimited' (aka Jimi Hendrix).
06. Midnight

Recorded by the Experience during October 1968 at the TTG studio's, Los Angeles, CA. These October sessions were booked to record the fourth Experience studio album, which never materialized. Later on in early 1969, the group cut a similar instrumental called "Trashman", that was eventually released (with lots of overdubs & editing) on the inferior Alan Douglas' produced 'Midnight Lightning' album from 1975. Engineered by Angel Balestier. Originally produced by Jimi Hendrix.
07. Three Little Bears

Recorded on 2 May 1968 at the Record Plant, NY. Another left-over from the 'Electric Ladyland' sessions. The first half of this extended jam was released on 'War Heroes'. The U.S. lp version had parts of Hendrix' frustrated comments censored by wiping them out or mixing them down very low ("Oh, fuck me" and "stop that shit, stop it"). In 1999, EH released the Jimi Hendrix "Merry Christmas and happy new year" EP, which made "Three Little Bears" available again. The complete extended version is only available on bootlegs - 'The Mixdown Master Tapes Vol 1-3', for example. Originally produced by Jimi Hendrix
08. Beginning
Recorded on 16 June 1970 and on 1 July 1970 at Electric Lady Studios, NYC. This instrumental had previously been known as 'Jam back at the house' and was developed during the Woodstock rehearsal sessions in the summer of 1969. It first appeared as a strongly edited live version on the 'Woodstock 2' triple album in March 1971. It's not very likely that Mitch Mitchell actually composed this track. It seems more likely that Mitchell was given this credit in an attempt to compensate him financially for his tireless dedication over the 1967-1971 period. This version is slightly edited as well, and a complete version can be found on bootlegs (ie Gypsy, Sun and Rainbows: Shokan) Originally produced by Jimi Hendrix.
09. Izabella

Recorded on 28/29 August 1969 at the Hit Factory, NYC, and featured the "Gypsy suns and rainbows" line up with Mitchell being replaced by Miles. It was released first as a B-side on a quickly withdrawn single (see "Stepping Stone" details). However, unlike "Stepping Stone" this recording was not further overdubbed, and appears here in a slightly different mix. The original mix can be heard on EH's 2001 release 'Voodoo child: The JH Collection'. Originally produced by 'Heaven Research Unlimited' (aka Jimi Hendrix)
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Band Members:
Jimi Hendrix (Vocals, Guitar)
Mitch Mitchell (Drums)
Billy Cox (Bass)
* Noel Redding plays bass on Highway Chile, Tax Free and Midnight

+ Buddy Miles plays drums on Izabella
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War Heroes Link (111Mb) New Link 27/02/2024

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Jesse Harper - Guitar Absolution in the Shade of a Midnight Sun (1969)

(New Zealand 1967 - 1969, aka Doug Jerebine)
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During the mid sixties in New Zealand, the leading bands all included strong lead guitarists. Human Instinct had Billy TK, Ticket had Eddie Hansen, the Underdogs had Harvey Mann and the Brew had Doug Jerebine (aka Jesse Harper). Harvey Mann had learned much of his technique and style from Doug Jerebine. The Underdogs and Human Instinct were good competition for each other, both fighting for the ultimate cult following.
The 'Brew' were regarded as New Zealand’s first “Underground” band. It was put together by Californian Bob Gillet who was a jazz musician living in New Zealand. He had decided to form his own band to play a new kind of music. His first recruit was guitarist Doug Jerebine (pictured far left in the B&W photo below) who was fond of experimenting with equipment and sounds. Doug was a guitar wizard and had previously played with the 'Embers'. They only produced one bizarre / experimental single called "Bengal Tiger" in 1967,with a distinctive eastern influenced guitar before splitting and going onto other musical endeavours.
When the Brew folded, Doug went to England and began writing and recording under the name Jesse Harper and made a powerful LP 'Guitar Absolution in the Shade of a Midnight Sun'.
When the Human Instinct made a brief visit to England, they met up with Jesse and he provided them with a number of his songs. In fact seven of the songs on the Human Instinct's first two albums were written by Jesse.
While in England, Jesse Harper recorded an album full of original material, and this music was finally released in 1992 by Kissing Spell. This is a limited edition of 1000 copies vinyl - acetete only MONO recording from 1969 by one of those Hendrixians from NZL - first time available in restored sound quality. A re-mastered version has also been made available by Kissing Spell in 2002 which featured extensive liner notes but replaced the cover art as shown below.
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While the tracks on the album are titled differently to the Kissing Spell release Guitar Absolution in the Shadow of a Midnight Sun, they are in fact the same songs. The cover image is "The Agony In The Garden, Studio Of El Greco, 16th Century" and the music has been described as being 'Killer Acid Psych 60s Rock Guitar Fuzz Trips'.
The ten demos, which make up this album, were recorded live with a drummer and had bass, lead parts, and vocals overdubbed by Harper. It was literally a one-man project. And like the Bevis Frond, who followed a similar pathway later, the music is mainly super heavy, washed in phasing with multi-tracked guitar leads battling for attention. The Hendrix approach was very clear. It's all noisy and druggy, with the occasional mellower moment creeping in. Perfect for fans of late-'60s fuzzed-out hard rock. Yet another discovery from the ever widening crevice of obscurities from the psychedelic era.
While in England, Harper played bass with Jeff Beck, recorded an album that would become a underground classic and formed the World Band with another Kiwi Mike Donnelly on drums.
They played London, toured Holland and turned down a recording deal with EMI.
Harper quit the music scene to join the Hare Krishna movement but not before leaving a musical legacy that New Zealand's Human Instinct turned into a piece of underground history.
For more information on Doug, check out Keith Newmans excellent Doug Jerebine story.
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The first time I heard this album, I was completely blown away by two tracks - "Jug-a-Jug Song" and "Midnight Sun". Both tracks have a real Hendrix feel about them, and have been covered by Human Instinct on their classic LP 'Stoned Guitar'. In comparison, I gotta say that Harper's original take of these two tracks are far superior. Harper was renowned by his peers in the 1960’s as an “out there” guitar player with the playing ability to rival Hendrix. To read more about this interesting parody, have a look at this article from fishriderrecords
The remaining tracks are not quite so psychedelic and his playing style and vocals for me are somewhat reminiscent of Ten Years Afters' guitarist 'Alvin Lee'.
Overall, this album is a lost KIWI gem from the late 60's and is well worth the listen.
The rip was taken from CD at 256kps and includes full album artwork (thanks to the original uploader Dr Bell Otus)
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Track List 
01. - Jug-a-Jug Song
02. - Blues News
03. - Other Side of Time
04. - Circles
05. - Keep Cool
06. - Midnight Sun
07. - Hole in his Hand
08. - Fall Down
09. - Ashes and Matches
10. - Love Song

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Jesse Harper Link (95Mb) New Link 02/08/2015
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Saturday, September 11, 2010

Ayers Rock - Beyond (1976) + Bonus Tracks

(Australian 1973-81)
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Ayers Rock was a jazz-rock group formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1973. Members included drummer Mark Kennedy, Ray Burton, Russell Dunlop, Chris Brown, James Doyle, Doug Gallacher, Col Loughman, and Duncan McGuire and the band toured the U.S. in 1975-1976. 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 impressive 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.

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 James 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.

However, it is great to see that Mark Kennedy, Col Loughnan and Ray Burton are all still going strong. Ray has his own website, featuring 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
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Alt U.S Cover
The rip of Beyond was taken from CD at 320kps and includes full album artwork along with select photos of the band. I have also included the A & B sides of their first single "Rock 'N' Roll Fight" (1973) as bonus tracks (thanks to RobyB at Midoztouch for the Single rips)
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Track Listing
01. - Moondah (Beyond)
02. - A Place To Go
03. - Catchanemu
04. - Song for Darwin
05. - Angel in Disguise
06. - Little Kings
[Bonus Tracks]
07. - Rock 'N' Roll Fight
08. - Sorrowful Eyes
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Band Members
Chris Brown (guitar, vocals)
James Doyle (guitar, vocals)
Mark Kennedy (drums)
Col Loughnan (saxes, clarinet, flute, keyboards, vocals)
Duncan McGuire (bass)
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Ayers Rock Link (84Mb) Link fixed 26/10/2014
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Sunday, September 5, 2010

Daryl Braithwaite - Edge (1988) + Bonus Tracks

(Australian Solo 1973 -Present)
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Daryl Braithwaite's initial success as a singer came with Sherbet, a band which forever remains in the history books of Australian music. Throughout the 70's, Sherbet produced 20 national Top 40 singles and were the first Australian band to top the one million dollar mark in album sales in the country with a total of 15 albums and 30 singles to the credit with songs like "Summer Love" becoming the highest selling single of 1975. And, "Howzat" not only a #1 hit in Australia, but also achieved #2 in England. However, while singing for Sherbet, Daryl decided to pursue a solo career and in 1973 he played the lead role in the Australian production of the rock opera Tommy. The following year, amidst unfounded rumours that he would soon be leaving Sherbet, 

Braithwaite began his official solo career with a cover of the ballad "You're My World", which went to #1 in Australia. More hits followed throughout the 1970s, including a cover of The Small Faces' "Afterglow (Of Your Love)". An infrequent songwriter, Braithwaite's solo career has been dominated by cover songs. Curiously for the 'album rock' era, Braithwaite's solo recordings from 1974-78 appeared only on 7-inch singles. A 'best of' solo LP was compiled in 1978, but Braithwaite's first original full-length album as a solo artist (Out On The Fringe) didn't appear until 1979, during a time when Sherbet had briefly broken up. He was crowned Australia's King of Pop by TV Week over three consecutive years from 1975 to 1977.

By 1980, the members of Sherbet were back together and had renamed themselves The Sherbs. At this point, Braithwaite put his solo career on hold to concentrate on work with his bandmates. However, The Sherbs had only a very few minor hits and broke up in 1984. For a period of time after the break-up, Braithwaite played regular gigs, but as of 1987, he had left the music industry and was working as a builder of footpaths for less than 200 Australian dollars a week.

Following the success of Sherbet, Daryl returned to the Australian music scene in a very big way as a solo performer in 1988 with the release of the phenomenally successful album "Edge" which spent well over a year in the national charts. Edge spawned four hit singles with "As The Days Go By", "All I Do", "Let Me Be", and the gold single "One Summer". The album itself topped the ARIA charts in 1989 and became the highest selling CD in CBS Australia's history. During this period, Daryl toured extensively not only in Australia, but also in Canada, USA, UK and Europe adding the to incredible sales figures for 'Edge'.

Braithwaite went on to have a number of solo hits in the early 1990s, including the Australian #1 "The Horses", a cover of a Rickie Lee Jones recording written by Jones and Walter Becker. He also made his first US chart appearance as a solo artist at #47 with the 1991 single "Higher than Hope", a song he co-wrote with Simon Hussey. By the end of 1991, Braithwaite's 'Rise' album had become Australia's biggest selling CD of the year, and 'Edge' had become the best selling album ever released by Sony Music Australia to that time.

Daryl continues to record and tour today and is fondly remembered as a mainstay of Countdown. The friendly rivalry between Daryl and Shirley Strachan on the Countdown set still stirs emotions today. Sherbet or Skyhooks? You choose! In 2006 the boys from Sherbet returned to the stage to blow away audiences in the Countdown Spectacular Tour. [extracts from wikipedia and Daryl's webiste)

.The rip was taken from CD at 320kps and includes full album artwork, including lyric sheets and single covers. As a bonus, I have included two A side singles that Daryl released in the mid seventies, ripped from vinyl - "Old Sid" and "Cavalry".
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Track Listing
01 - As The Days Go By
02 - You Could Be Wrong
03 - All I Do
04 - Let Me Be
05 - Sugar Train
06 - Down Down
07 - In My Life
08 - Edge(Instrumental)
09 - I Don't Remember
10 - One Summer
11 - It's All In The Music
12 - All The Same
13 - Up-Out
14 - Pretending To Care
[Bonus Tracks]
15 - Old Sid (Single 1976)
16 - Cavalry (Single 1975)

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Band members:
Daryl Braithwaite (Vocals)
Jef Scott (Guitar)
Andy Cichon (Bass)
John Watson (Drums)
Simmon Hussey, Scott Griffiths, Jef Scott (Keyboards)
John Farnham, Glenn Braithwaite (Backing Vocals)
Brett Kingman (Guitar on Up-Out)

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The Edge Link (118Mb) New Link 19/12/2023

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

U2 - Unauthorised Live Vol. 3 (The Lovetown Tour)

(Irish 1976-Present)
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I bought this U2 'Unauthorised Live' recording a while back, when they were really popular in Australia, as few bootlegs existed on CD format at the time and the series is no longer available. In fact, I've found quite a few other titles since at garage sales and flea markets, but none quite match the recording quality of this little gem.
This is a classic example of 'don't judge a book by it's cover' - the cover might look pretty average but the music is excellent, and I would compare it to any of their 'official live releases' such as 'Under a Blood Red Sky' and 'Rattle and Hum'.
The cover makes no mention of the origin of the recordings, but a little research on the Internet has revealed that the recordings were made during U2's Lovetown Tour in 1989-90 when they toured DownUnder, so I'm guessing the recordings were done in Australia and consequently released by an Australian company called Joker.
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The Lovetown Tour was limited in scope, but did try to reach places that their 1987 Joshua Tree Tour had missed, all the while avoiding the United States entirely. The tour's opening night was on September 21, 1989 at the Entertainment Centre in Perth, Australia. The first leg took place over the next 10 weeks in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. A brief second leg hit four countries in Europe for four weeks, ending on January 10, 1990 at the Sport Paleis Ahoy in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Of the tour's 47 concerts, 23 were played in Australia.

The Lovetown Tour is famed among fans as it had the greatest set list variety of any U2 tour, including the use of six separate songs to open concerts, which is still U2's record amount of concert openers for one tour. The tour featured the most different original U2 songs of any tour in the 1980s, though it did not have as many total different songs as the Joshua Tree Tour, which featured a large number of cover songs.
B. B. King toured with the band and played the first set each night. At the end of U2's set, King and his band joined them for a short encore.

The tour was plagued by troubles with Bono's voice due to both excessive use and illness - he stated in concert that he caught "some pretty psychedelic germs" in Australia and that they were "having their Annual General Meeting" in his throat. These vocal troubles meant three Sydney concerts had to be postponed. Later, severe troubles meant a concert in Amsterdam had to prematurely conclude; two other Amsterdam shows were cancelled and replaced by four shows in Rotterdam, causing the tour to spill over into 1990 instead of ending on New Year's Eve at Dublin's Point Depot as planned. However, when Bono's voice was not troubling him, he had an impressive singing range, with the falsetto later mastered starting to seriously appear, but without sacrificing the powerful depth of his lower singing range.
As with all U2 tours from 1983 on, the stage and lighting design was done by Willie Williams. The tour name, possibly a contraction of the Rattle and Hum song "When Love Comes to Town", was the first not to be named for the band's then-current album, all of their subsequent tours have also had different names from any album [extract from wikipedia]
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The rip was taken from CD at 320kps and includes full album artwork (plain though it might be)
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Track Listing
01 - Twilight
02 - Two Hearts Beat As One
03 - Sunday Bloody Sunday
04 - An Cat Dubh
05 - I Threw A Brick Through A Window
06 - A Day Without Me
07 - October
08 - Gloria
09 - 11 O'Clock Tick Tock
10 - I Will Follow

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Band Members:
Paul Hewson (Bono) - Vocals
Dave Evans (The Edge) - Guitar
Adam Clayton - Bass
Larry Mullen - Drums
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U2 Link (86Mb) New Link 09/07/2023
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