WOCK On Vinyl - Lieutenant Pigeon - Mouldy Old Dough

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

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I remember hearing this track on a K-Tel album that I bought back in the 70's, and my mum just loved it. Personally, I couldn't see what all the fuss was about - and was more interested in some of the more 'conservative' rock tracks on the album. In fact, I thought the song was quite Korny with it's 'Sea Shanty' one liner 'Mouldy Old Dough'; but over the years I have heard it played on the radio every now and then and because it brought back some fond memories, I thought it deserved a spot as a WOCK on Vinyl post.

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Lieutenant Pigeon was a British musical group popular in the early 1970s. A spin-off from an experimental music band Stavely Makepeace, it was fronted by Rob Woodward. The group's sound was dominated by a heavy ragtime-style piano played by Woodward's mother, Hilda.

In 1972 "Mouldy Old Dough", their first hit, was #1 in Oz and top 10 in many other countries. In their UK homeland they had 2 singles in 1972 and then all but vanished from pop charts, They were more than just a one hit wonder in Oz as 3 of their album tracks were given 7" releases in various states.
In 1974, their next big Oz hit was a a revival of an old traditional song "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" - an Irish aire from long ago. It went to position #3 in some capital cities in Oz and was #1 in many regional centres.

I've included a promotional Video Clip of "Mouldy Old Dough" along with a 320kps mp3 rip (dedicated to my wonderful mum)

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Band Members

Robert Woodward - keyboards, guitar, tin whistle

Hilda Woodward - piano

Stephen Johnson - bass guitar, tin whistle

Nigel Fletcher - drums

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Mouldy Old Dough Link (19Mb) New Link 21/01/2020
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Sebastian Hardie - Four Moments (1975) + Bonus Tracks

(Australian 1973-76)

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Sebastian Hardie were Australia's first symphonic rock band and were fronted by the very talented Mario Millo.. They were initially formed in Sydney in 1967 as Sebastian Hardie Blues Band but dropped the 'Blues Band' reference when they became pop-oriented. By 1973 they developed a more progressive rock style sounding similar to the highly popular band Yes, and later performed as Windchase, but they disbanded by 1977. An early member of Sebastian Hardie was Jon English, who became better known after he left and starred as Judas Iscariot in the Australian version of the stage musical Jesus Christ Superstar in 1972, he subsequently had a solo career as a singer, actor and scriptwriter. A later member, Mario Millo became a multi-award winner for his television and movie music. Sebastian Hardie's other early members included Graham Ford, Peter Plavsic and his brother Alex Plavsic. After English and Ford had left, the Plavsic brothers were joined by Millo and Toivo Pilt. With their addition, Sebastian Hardie developed extended progressive rock tracks to become a symphonic rock group before they released their definitive album Four Moments in 1975, which peaked at #13 on the National albums chart. They followed with a second album Windchase in 1976, but it had less chart success. Four Moments is definitely the better album with a mystical feel to it, beautifully showcasing Mario's unique guitar style sounding marginally like slide guitar by using the volume control on his guitar giving his instrument a hauntingly beautiful wind-like sound.

“Rosanna” - the single lifted from the album and my favourite track, won the coveted Australian Music Industry Award for “Best Instrumental Single”. "Four Moments" reached double gold record status selling well in Australia and throughout Japan and Europe. This was an achievement for the band as at that time in Australia, progressive rock did not command much radio airplay as it was considered "not commercial enough".

Millo and Pilt later formed the band, Windchase, to release Symphinity in 1977, it was a heavier jazz-fusion album but didn't have chart success and they disbanded. (extracts from Small Town Pleasures and Wikipedia)

The album rip (thanks to Ozblogdownunder) ripped from vinyl at 256kps with full album artwork.

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Track Listing

01. Four Moments

02. Dawn of Our Sun

03. Journey Through Our Dreams

04. Everything Is Real

05. Rosanna

06. Openings

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Band Members

Mario Millo - Guitar, Mandolin, Vocals

Peter Plavsic - Bass Guitar

Alex Plavsic - Drums / Percussion

Toivo Pilt - Keyboards

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Sorry - this album is now available at Mario Millo's website (Please support our local artists).

Badfinger - Live In Vancouver (1974) SB

(U.K 1969-75, 1978-84)
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Badfinger was a rock band formed in Swansea, Wales in the early 1960s (playing under the name of "The Iveys") and was one of the earliest representatives of the power pop genre. During the early 1970s the band was tagged as the heir apparent to The Beatles, partly because of their close working relationship with the 'Fab Four' and partly because of their similar sound. However, Badfinger fell victim to some of the worst elements of the music industry, resulting in its two principal singers and songwriters (Pete Ham & Tom Evans) committing suicide in 1975 and 1983 respectively .

In October 1969, while the release of "Come and Get It" was pending, the band and Apple Records agreed that a name change was now critical. "The Iveys" were still sometimes confused with "The Ivy League", and the name was considered too trite for the current music scene. After much debate, the group changed their name to Badfinger. The name Badfinger had been suggested by Apple's Neil Aspinall as a reference to "Bad Finger Boogie", an early working title of Lennon/McCartney's "With a Little Help from My Friends", the idea alleged by Neil Aspinall that Lennon had composed the melody on a piano using only one finger, after having hurt his forefinger.
For over a month the group unsuccessfully auditioned band members to replace Ron Griffiths, chiefly bass players. With the release date of "Come and Get It" fast approaching, Badfinger finally hired Liverpudlian guitarist Joey Molland (previously with Gary Walker & The Rain, The Masterminds, and The Fruit-Eating Bears), which required Evans shift to bass guitar.
"Come and Get It" was released in December 1969 in the U.K. and January 1970 in the U.S. It reached Top 10 throughout the world, including #3 in the U.S. Billboard charts. For the group's initial LP release, their three songs on the soundtrack LP were remixed and combined with some older Iveys tracks (including seven songs from the rare Maybe Tomorrow album). This was released as Badfinger's first album 'Magic Christian Music'. The album peaked at #55 on the Billboard album charts in the U.S.

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New Badfinger recording sessions commenced in March 1970 with Mal Evans producing. Two songs were completed and submitted for the next single, including "No Matter What." The song was rejected by Apple staff as a potential single. Geoff Emerick then took over as their producer and they completed the album by late July 1970. The 'No Dice' LP was released in the U.S. in late 1970. It peaked at #28 on the Billboard charts. A newly re-mixed "No Matter What," was released as the single and it peaked at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 while achieving across-the-board Top Ten worldwide. Another track from No Dice, "Without You", as covered by Harry Nilsson became an international hit in early 1972, reaching the Billboard #1 slot. The composition was eventually covered by hundreds of artists and has since become an all-time ballad "standard."
Badfinger toured America for three months in late 1970 and were generally received well, although the group complained of constant comparison to The Beatles. For example, in his rave review of No Dice in 1970, Mike Saunders, a critic for Rolling Stone wrote that "it's as if John, Paul, George, and Ringo had been reincarnated as Joey, Pete, Tom, and Mike of Badfinger." Media comparisons between Badfinger and The Beatles would continue throughout Badfinger's career.
During this time, various members of Badfinger also recorded on sessions for fellow Apple Records labelmates, most notably playing acoustic guitars on tracks from George Harrison's All Things Must Pass and providing backing vocals on Ringo Starr's single "It Don't Come Easy."

Evans and Molland performed on John Lennon's album 'Imagine', and all four members of the band appeared as backup musicians throughout George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971, with Ham duetting with George Harrison on "Here Comes the Sun".
Badfinger finished recording its third album with Geoff Emerick as producer; however the album was rejected by Apple. George Harrison then took over as producer in spring of 1971. Harrison later pulled out of the project due to his Bangladesh commitments and the album was then completed by Todd Rundgren. 'Straight Up' was released in the U.S. in December 1971 and spawned two successful singles: "Day After Day" (Billboard #4) and "Baby Blue" (#14). The album reached #31. It included some uncredited special guest appearances from George Harrison, Leon Russell and Klaus Voormann.

"Day After Day" was written and sung by Pete Ham and produced by George Harrison, who plays some of the slide guitar parts of the song along with Ham. The record also features Leon Russell on piano. It would become the group's highest charting single there, peaking at number four on Billboard's Pop Singles chart. It also reached the top ten on the UK Singles Chart. It remains the band's best-known song, most notably for the slide guitar solos. It went Gold in March 1972, becoming the band's first and only gold single. The single reached number ten on Billboard's Easy Listening survey.
Because of all of the overdubs, Badfinger was hesitant to play this song live for years, since it was impossible for a four-piece group to reproduce the single production. However, the song was included in the setlist for Badfinger's 1974 tour, and is included in the Live In Vancouver LP, provided here.
By 1972, the group was under contract to release only one more album with Apple Records. Despite Badfinger's success, Apple was facing troubled times overall and its operations were dwindling down. Label president Allen Klein informed Badfinger's management that the label would not be as generous regarding a new contract. Badfinger's fourth and last album for Apple, 'Ass', had begun as far back as early 1972 and would continue at five recording studios over the next year. Rundgren, who was originally hired to produce, quit in a financial dispute during the first week; the band then produced itself, but Apple rejected that version of the album. Finally, Badfinger hired Chris Thomas to co-produce and complete the album. During the recording of 'Ass', Polley negotiated a deal with Warner Brothers Records that required an album from the group every six months over a three year period. The group signed the deal, despite a highly-suspicious Evans, and the Ass front cover featured his idea, a jackass observing a huge carrot being dangled (a metaphor of the band being enticed by the big money Warner Brothers contract.) The Ass release was held up further by Apple because of legal wrangling, as Polley had used the leverage of Molland's unsigned song publishing as a negotiating ploy. Apple listed the writers on the LP as "Badfinger" to try and cover up discrepancies and get the LP to the market. But both Ass and its accompanying single, "Apple of My Eye", failed to reach the Billboard Top 100. (Wikipedia)

Included here is a rare bootleg of recordings taken from a live concert recording from March 8, 1974 at the Exhibition Gardens in Vancouver, B.C. Canada. The rip was taken from Vinyl at 192kps and includes limited album artwork. See Badfingerlinks for more details of this concert plus photos.

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Track listing

01 - Day After Day

02 - Constitution

03 - Baby Blue

04 - Perfection

05 - Blind Owl

06 - Timeless

07 - No Matter What

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Band Members

Pete Ham (vocals, guitar, keyboards)

Tom Evans (vocals, bass, guitar)

Joey Molland (vocals, guitar, keyboards)

Mike Giggins (vocals, drums, percussion, keyboards)

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Badfinger Link (52Mb) REPOST

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Budgie - Never Turn Your Back On A Friend (1973)

(U.K 1967-1988, 1995-1996, 1999-2010)

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OK - let's cut to the chase. Budgie are my favourite English band and this album is my all time favourite LP by far. I first discovered Budgie while skimming through the records racks at my local K-Mart store back in the early 70's. It was the eye catching album cover (by Rodger Dean) that first caught my attention, and then the photos of the band members found in the inner LP gatefold - in particular the energy and drive depicted by drummer Ray Phillips. I took a punt and made my purchase, then quickly made my way home. Headphones on and the volume cranked up high on my Onkyo stereo, I placed the needle on Side A of the record and layed back on my bed, eyes closed. After a short introductory narative by Sir Winston Churchill, Breadfan's guitar intro came bursting out into my left ear and screamed across to my right, and it was like being hit by a train. The magic of Budgie's music had suddenly entered by life, and I've never been the same since!

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Originally released in 1973 on MCA, Budgie's third record, Never Turn Your Back on a Friend, was another slab of the band's signature plodding metal sound. Although they were never more than a cult band in the Australia, Budgie's popularity flourished in their native England, yet their influence was eventually felt by many notable American bands (Metallica, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains). The mammoth riffs created by guitarist Tony Bourge are definitely on par with Black Sabbath riff master Tony Iommi, while vocalist/bassist Burke Shelley's voice is a cross between David Surkamp (Pavlov's Dog) and early Geddy Lee (Rush). Drummers came and went (this would be original member Ray Phillips' last recording), but you'd never guess there would be a defection soon, judging from the tightness and interplay displayed on this album. One of their best-known tracks, "Breadfan" (later covered by Metallica), kicks off the album with rapid, almost speed metal, however, Budgie deliver it all in true hard rock style, pacing the album nicely with two acoustic songs to break up the heavy metal bluster. I'll even forgive the one minute thirty eight second drum solo at the beginning of the fourth song as it's so short, sharp and heavy.

It's the final epic "Parents", which is a supersonic power rock ballad that elevates you through the stratosphere. A song very similar in structure to "Led Zeppelins" "Stairway To Heaven", Burke Shelley sings of the torment of turning from child to parent, hitting the heart fair and square with Mott who has a few puppies of his own. This song alone makes this album worth hunting down.
The parents tell their children, "Wash your hands & up to bed, mind your manners or you're dead, watch the cars `cos you got school on Monday". Haven't all parents at sometimes spoken in these jumbled spurts of love and warning? The group also became notorious for coming up with profound (yet lighthearted) song titles, such as "In the Grip of a Tyrefitter's Hand" and "You're the Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk."
Though they never reached the dizzy heights of success like Deep Purple, Black Sabbath or Cream; Budgie did leave behind 10 hard rocking studio albums. Really, this is a million heavy metal dreams from their wild concerts attended by their substantial live following.

Recommended to anyone who finds solace in the metal forefathers (Sabbath, Zeppelin, Hendrix, etc.).  The rip included here was taken from my Vinyl at 320kps and includes album artwork. This album should be played at full volume, as any other volume level is unacceptable !

Please note that this release is no longer available from Budgie's website (Out Of Print)

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Track Listing

01 Breadfan

02 Baby Please Don't Go

03 You Know I'll Always Love You

04 You're the Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk

05 In the Grip of a Tyrefitter's Hand

06 Riding My Nightmare

07 Parents

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Band members:

Burke Shelley (Bass, Vocals)

Tony Bourge (Guitar)

Ray Phillips (Drums)

Never Turn Your Back On A Friend (159 Mb)  New Link 02/07/22

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Note: It has been brought to my attention by a blog follower that the Australian vinyl pressing of this album features the introductory narrative spoken by Sir Winston Churchill at the start of Breadfan, which is not included on any of the CD remasters.
Therefore, I am making this track available to Budgie fans who have the CD but have not heard this version before.   For me, the track would be not be the same without it !
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Breadfan.MP3
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Breadfan.FLAC

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Grand Funk - Live Album (1970)

(U.S 1968-77, 80-83, 96-present)
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.Grand Funk's  Live Album is the bands first live offering (a double one at that), and was put on sale in November 1970 by Capitol Records. It was produced by Terry Knight, who had just become their manager-producer, and helped steer the band to international fame, by first getting them onto the bill---for free---at the 1969 Atlanta Pop Festival, a performance that convinced Capitol to sign the trio.

The band's name is a play on words of the "Grand Trunk Western Railroad," a railroad line that ran through the band's home town of Flint, Michigan. The band was formed in 1968 by Mark Farner (guitars, keyboards, lead vocals) and Don Brewer (drums, lead vocals) from Terry Knight and the Pack, and Mel Schacher (bass guitar) from Question Mark & the Mysterians.

In 1969, the band released its first album titled On Time, which eventually went gold in 1970. During the same year, a second album, Grand Funk (AKA the Red Album), was awarded gold status. The hit single "I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)," from the album Closer to Home, was also released in 1970 and was considered stylistically representative of Terry Knight and the Pack's recordings. By 1971, Grand Funk broke The Beatles' Shea Stadium attendance record by selling out in just 72 hours.

The "Live Album", went RIAA Gold almost immediately, and earned GFR their fourth Gold Record Award in just one year. The raw energy of these live performances was captured without the use of any re-mixing, over-dubs or enhanced audio engineering. This "direct recording" method leaves a bit to be desired from a technical standpoint, but showcases the band in a live environment and never lets up in its effort to convey GFR's raw power as well as a sense of "being there" at a Grand Funk event.

.The album's gatefold cover depicts a photograph of the band at the Atlanta International Pop Festival in July 1970, but none of the music was actually recorded there. The album was recorded at several Florida venues during June 1970.
I first heard this album while helping a friend's band set up for a gig, and hearing 'Paranoid' and 'Inside Looking Out' for the first time, blasting out from a stack of Marshall Amps and Speakers is something that I'll never forget - I can only imagine what it was like at the original concerts.

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There is not one bad track in this live set and Mark Farmer is absolutely brillant - demonstrating some breath taking guitar work and taking full command of lead vocals throughout the whole show. The atmosphere of this live recording is simply electric and the crowd's enthusiasm is fully evident from the start when Farmer attempts to reason with the crowd asking them to sit down at the front, so those at the back of the stadium can see. I always compare this double live set with their other official live release "Caught In The Act", but it doesn't come close to capturing the full energy and excitement that the "Live Album" presents. Probably the one thing missing from this live set which would have put the icing on the cake, was their classic "I'm Your Captain (Closer To Home)". Perhaps because it was only released that same year, they felt it was still too new for inclusion in their live repertoire.

If you haven't heard this live set from Grand Funk, then you really don't know what you are missing. The rip included here was made from a remastered CD at 320kps and includes full album artwork. Thanks to ChrisGoesRock for the concert poster shown below.

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Track Listing

01 - Introduction

02 - Are You Ready

03 - Paranoid

04 - In Need

05 - Heartbreaker

06 - Words Of Wisdom

07 - Mean Mistreater

08 - Mark Say's Alright

09 - T.N.U.C

10 - Inside Looking Out

11 - Into The Sun

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Band Members

Mark Farmer (Guitar, Lead Vocals, Harmonica)

Mal Schacher (Bass)

Don Brewer (Drum, Vocals)

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Grand Funk Link (180Mb) New Link 22/10/2024

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Blackfeather - Boppin' The Blues (1974)

(Australian 1970-78)

Blackfeather was an Australian band founded in 1970 and led for most of its ten-year existence by singer Neale Johns. It began as a progressive rock unit, which can be heard on Mountains of Madness (1971), but later moved toward a simpler rock & roll style, resulting in the Australian #1 hit "Boppin’ the Blues" and the 1974 Live album. The group’s personnel was fluid in the second half of the ’70s, especially after Johns moved to the U.K. to form Fingerprint.

Although the record credited Carl Perkins as songwriter for "Boppin' the Blues", and is usually described as a reworking or a makeover of the Carl Perkins song, the two records, played back-to-back, reveal nothing in common but their title. Lyrically, melodically and structurally, they are different songs.

Jonathan Sturm, a friend of Blackfeather pianist Paul Wylde, writes at his website: Neither Paul nor the rest of the band could remember the lyric of the old Carl Perkins song, so they wrote their own.

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It seems to me that Blackfeather ended up writing a completely different song altogether, but generously kept the Carl Perkins songwriting credit.

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John Robinson (lead guitar), Leith Corbett (bass) and Mike McCormack (drums), all from the Dave Miller Set, along with vocalist Neale Johns formed the original line-up of this progressive rock band, although Corbett and McCormack were soon replaced by Bob Fortesque and Al Kash.

The album rip was taken from Vinyl at 160kps and includes back and front LP artwork, along with 2 bonus tracks recorded live by the recently reformed Blackfeather.

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Track Listing

01 - Pineapple

02 - Gee Wilkers

03 - Own Way Of Living

04 - Red Head Rag (Instrumental)

05 - Mama Roll

06 - Get It On

07 - Boppin' The Blues

08 - Lay Down Lady

09 - Boppin the Blues (Bonus Live 2007)

10 - Medley (Bonus Live at Musicland 2008)
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(20/03/2010)
Sorry - album just realeased by Aztec Music. Please support them
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The Party Boys - No Song Too Sacred (1984)

(Australian 1982-92)

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Ex-Mondo Rock member Paul Christie formed The Party Boys in 1982 as an occasional “super- group” consisting of some of Australia’s finest musicians. The concept was that Christie would employ players (all of whom had other commitments) when the need arose, and that the set they played would consist entirely of cover versions. By 1987, the band had released four live albums (and a Best Of collection), with Live At Several 21sts (1983) making the national Top 10. The band finally entered the recording studio in 1987 to put down a cover version of John Kongas’ 1971 hit He’s Gonna Step On You Again, which reached Number One.

Lead vocalists for the Party Boys have included some of Australia’s best known performers; Australian Crawl’s James Reyne (1982 – 1983), Richard Clapton (1983), Shirley Strachan (1983 – 1984), Marc Hunter (1984 – 1985), Angry Anderson (1986), John ‘Swanee’ Swan (1987) and Ross Wilson (1989).

In late 1989, Christie put together a final recording lineup: Ross Wilson on vocals, Stuart Fraser on guitar (from Noiseworks), Rick Mellick on keyboards, Dorian West on bass, Adrian Cannon on drums, and Kevin Bennett and Alex Smith providing backing vocals. Wilson's original vocals on their next single, a cover of Manfred Mann's "Doo Wah Diddy Diddy," couldn't be used due to contractual reasons, and singer Vince Contarino, from Adelaide cover band the Zep Boys, re-recorded the vocals. Released in early 1990, it peaked at number 24. A final Party Boys single, Billy Preston's "That's the Way God Planned It," was released in September 1992. The Party Boys concept finally came to an end after 10 years with an Honor Board List of Musicians that exceeds any other band in Music History, coming from such bands as Status Quo, The Eagles, The Animals, The Angels, Sherbet, Skyhooks, Rose Tattoo, The Choirboys, Australian Crawl, Divinyls, Models, Dragon, Swanee, La De Das, GANGgajang, Rainbow, AC/DC and Noiseworks.

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Christie went on to write a book about the music industry "The Rock Music Self Management Manual" and eventually became a band manager himself. [ Extracts from Australian Music History and Brendan Swift - All Music Guide ]

No Song Too Sacred was the third album by Australian rock band The Party Boys. It was recorded during a tour in 1984. The band's line-up on this release included the founding members Kevin Borich, Paul Christie and Graham Bidstrup along with former Skyhooks singer Shirley Strachan and Rose Tattoo/Jimmy Barnes guitarist Robin Riley. In keeping with the band's tradition, the album was recorded live and featured only covers of tracks by artists including the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Spencer Davis Group, Jimi Hendrix, The Who The Police and AC/DC. "Kashmir" was issued as a single but was not a hit.

My favourite tracks are the Zeppelin covers with Kevin pulling out all the stops with some very impressive guitar work and Shirley Strachan's vocals tearing apart the lyrics of Page & Plant.
Rip was taken from Vinyl in FLAC format and also includes full album artwork and label scans. I have combined tracks 6 & 7 into one because there is no real break between the songs, one minute they're smashing out "Kashmir" and a second later they jump into "Immigrant Song".  Because this is a live recording, I therefore decided to leave this alone to maintain the authenticity of the show and present it as it was.
Note: I've put a hyperlink in for YouTube clip of The Party Boys playing "My Generation"  - no where near as wild as how the The Who played it,  but still a great rendition nevertheless.

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Track listing
01 - Brown Sugar (Jagger/Richards)
02 - Foxy Lady (Hendrix)
03 - Walking on the Moon (Sting)
04 - Walking the Dog (The Stones)
05 - I'm a Man (Winwood/Miller)
06 - Kashmir (Page/Plant/Bonham)
07 - Immigrant Song (Page/Plant)
08 - Crossroads (Johnson)
09 - Let There Be Rock (Young/Young/Scott)
10 - My Generation (Townshend)


Band Members:
Shirley Strachan - vocals (ex Skyhooks)
Kevin Borich - guitar (ex La De Das)
Paul Christie - bass (ex Mondo Rock)
Graham Bidstrup - drums (Ex The Angels)
Robin Riley - guitar (ex Rose Tattoo)

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Party Boys FLACs Link (277Mb)  New Link 26/12/2023

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Angels - Never So Live 12" E.P (1981) / Radio Promo (1977)

(Australian 1970-present)
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The Angels are a hard rock Aussie band that formed in Adelaide, Australia in 1970 under the name of the ‘The Keystone Angels’. The band relocated from Adelaide to Sydney and in 1975, on the recommendation of Bon Scott and Malcolm Young from AC/DC, the band was offered a recording deal with the Alberts label. They dropped "Keystone" from their name and became simply "The Angels". As this point the band was a four-piece with Neeson on bass guitar, Charlie King (Peter Christopolous) on drums, Rick Brewster on lead guitars and John Brewster on lead vocals and rhythm guitar.

The Angels' first single, "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again", was released in April 1976. The Angels made their debut TV appearance on Countdown. Later in the year, Charlie King, at the time AWOL from the army, was replaced by Graham "Buzz Throckman" Bidstrup on the drums. This would be the first of three different versions of the song the band released as singles throughout their career.

July 1977 saw the release of the band's second single, "You're A Lady Now", followed a month later by their self-titled debut LP, 'The Angels' (see LP cover below). By now Chris Bailey had joined the band on bass, allowing Neeson to concentrate on vocals. Bailey had been a member of Mount Lofty Rangers with Bon Scott in 1974. They released Round and Round, later remixed by Vince Lovegrove as Round and Round and Round in 1996. Neeson's move to specialist frontman allowed the band to develop an energetic and theatrical live presence. Neeson would typically appear on stage as a wild extrovert, dressed in a tuxedo and shaking maracas. As a foil, Rick Brewster would remain motionless, his head cocked to one side, for the entire performance.

  1978's 'Face to Face' album reached #16 in November and stayed on the Australian charts for 79 weeks. Mark Opitz engineered, and along with The Angels, co-produced the album. Peter Ledger, who designed the cover, won Best Australian Album Cover Design Award. Face to Face produced the band's first hit single, "Take a Long Line", which has gone on to become one of the Angels' most-recognised songs. In November, the band supported David Bowie on his first Australian tour, resulting in The Tour EP 7" single.
'No Exit', issued in June 1979, entered the Australian album chart at #8 upon its release and again at #15 in September. George Young contributed as a backing vocalist. In October 1979, Albert released the 'Out Of The Blue' 12" EP, featuring the third version of "Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again" in three years.

In March 1981, drummer Graham Bidstrup left the band, reportedly due to non-musical differences, and was replaced by New Zealander Brent Eccles. Bidstrup joined The Party Boys in 1983 and later formed GANGgajang. The Never So Live 12" EP, issued in October, received heavy airplay and on the strength of the new song "Fashion And Fame" went to sell some 80,000 copies. The songs were recorded at The Comb and Cutter, The Astra, Sylvania Hotel and The Manly Vale. In November 1981 'Night Attack', produced by Ed Thacker and the Brewsters, was released [Extracts from Angels Website ]
'Never So Live' was ripped from Vinyl at 320kps (thanks to Skids at Ausrock) and includes limited artwork.

Track Listing

01 Fashion And Fame

02 Talk About You

03 Bad Dream

04 Angel

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I've also included a 50min radio promo for the Angels debut album recorded in 1977 (thanks to Voulamay at Midoztouch). Although not specified in the broadcast, the radio DJ sounds a lot like Lee Simon who was currently working for 3XY at the time. In the interview, the band talks openly about each song as the tracks are played in exact order from their selftitled album. Ripped at 160kps the quality of this recording is excellent for a Radio Recording.

1. Take Me Home
2. You're A Lady Now
3. Goin' Down
4. Shelter From The Rain
5. Can't Get Lucky
6. Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again
7. You Got Me Runnin'
8. High On You
9. Hot Lucy
10. Dreambuilder

Band Members:

Doc Neeson (Vocals)

Rick Brewster (Lead Guitar)

John Brewster (Rhythm Guitar)

Chris Bailey (Bass, Vocals)

Brent Eccles (Drums)

R.I.P  Doc Neeson  (04/06/2014)  One of Australia's finest

The Angels Link (90Mb) 

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