WOCK On Vinyl: Banana Splits - We're the Banana Splits (1968)

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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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This WOCK posting comes under the 'crazy' category. As a young teenager, I have fond memories of tuning in to the ABC on a Sunday night to watch another one of my favourite shows "The Banana Splits Show". The show ran for an hour and featured both animated and live-action segments, in particular a satirical action thriller called 'Danger Island' which always left you hanging on the edge of your seat, and always teasing you into watching next weeks episode !

To a pre-teen generation for whom the concept of "free love" equalled unlimited hugs from mom and the notion of "getting high" meant nothing more than a breakfast cereal-induced sugar coma, the Banana Splits marked the apotheosis of such staples of late 1960s culture as psychedelia, pop art and, of course, music. Like the Archies and Josie & the Pussycats, the band was essentially nothing more than a marketing front for a collective of faceless studio musicians; unlike their peers, however, in their own unique way the Banana Splits represented the acid culture's subtle encroachment into mainstream children's entertainment.

.Essentially, the Banana Splits concept was like the Monkees once removed; clearly modeled on the exuberance and slapstick comedy of the Beatles' film A Hard Day's Night, the show also borrowed heavily from the bright, psychedelic image the Fab Four sported on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Like both the Beatles and the Monkees, the Splits were a four-piece pop band, and like the Monkees (and the Beatles in Help!), they even lived together in the same mod digs. Unlike their human predecessors, however, the Banana Splits were bizarre, anthropomorphic animals: rhythm guitarist Drooper was a lion, lead guitarist Fleegle was a dog (my favourite character by the way), keyboardist Snorkel was an elephant, and drummer Bingo was a monkey.

For all its good-natured, well-produced late-'60s pop, the Banana Splits LP is sweet and happy in one dose, like having a banana split for appetizer, lunch, and dessert. Still, those songs do include the well-remembered hit "The Tra La La Song," plus some surprisingly raving garage- soul-pop with "I'm Gonna Find a Cave" and the Wilson Pickett-like "Doin' the Banana." The more bubblegummy happy-go-lucky numbers and ballads are harder to bear, but obviously the session cats playing on these tried harder than they had to, putting sitar on the lightly psychedelic "In New Orleans" and Baroque harpsichord on the uncharacteristically moody "Wait Til Tomorrow." Note that a recent CD re-release of this LP also adds eight non-LP bonus tracks, including more typically bouncy lightweight kiddie pop/rock and a boisterous alternate version of "The Tra La La Song". I am not including these here as the CD is still available commercially.
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The rip provided here was taken from vinyl at 192kps and includes full album artwork. Also for your entertainment, I am including the words from their very catchy opening theme song: The Tra La La Song.

One banana, two banana, three banana, four
Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more.
Over hill and highway the banana buggies go
Comin' on to bring you the Banana Splits show
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(CHORUS):
Makin' up a mess of fun, makin' up a mess of fun
Lots of fun for everyone
Tra la la, la la la la
Tra la la, la la la la
Tra la la, la la la la
Tra la la, la la la la.

Track Listing

01. We're the Banana Splits
02. I'm Gonna Find a Cave
03. This Spot
04. Doin' the Banana Split
05. Toy Piano Melody
06. Soul
07. The Tra La La Song
08. Wait Til Tomorrow
09. You're the Lovin' End
10. In New Orleans
11. Two-Ton Tessie
12. Don't Go Away - Go-Go Girl
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Banana Splits Link (40Mb) New Link 12/11/2024

Divinyls - Live (1983 & 1986) Ex SB

(Australian 1980-97, Present)

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Led by provocative singer Christina Amphlett, whose songwriting with guitarist Mark McEntee is the basis of the band, Divinyls have recorded a wealth of excellent material, from commercial hard pop and driving arena-rock to alluring ballads.
Divinyls formed in Sydney, Australia, in 1980. Legend has it that guitarist Mark McEntee first saw vocalist Christina Amphlett performing with a church choir at the Sydney Opera House, and took notice of her when the cord of the microphone she was using became tangled on her stool, which she proceeded to knock over and drag across the stage, singing all the while. Mark: "From that moment, I knew something had to be done, that we should form a group."
As the bands focal point, Amphlett - who is the cousin of 60s Australian "Queen of the surf", Little Pattie (real name Patricia Amphlett) - has strutted her stuff the world over, astounding and bewildering audiences with her displays of school uniform-clad bump'n'grind burlesque, unrestrained sexuality and animal grace.

 

By the time Divinyls formed in 1980, Amphlett had been singing in bands since the early 1970s. Her early bands included Daisy Clover (which she joined at age 14), One Ton Gypsy and Steamhammer.

She had also spent three years travelling throughout Europe, during which time she spent a period in a Spanish jail. Jeremy Paul and Mark McEntee had both served sentences in the softest of all soft-rock bands, Air Supply.
Divinyls emerged out of inner-city Sydney and quickly built a national following. In September 1981, WEA issued the band's debut single Boys In Town which reached Number 6 during October. It was lifted from the mini-album Music from 'Monkey Grip' which was the soundtrack of the Australian low-budget movie Monkey Grip. Amphlett took the small speaking part of Angela in the film.
The band supported UK band Simple Minds on an Australian tour and Divinyls signed to Chrysalis and recorded the punchy 'Desperate' album in New York with producers Mark Opitz and Bob Clearmountain. The album spawned the singles Science Fiction (Nov 1982), Siren (Never Let You Go) (April 1983) and Casual Encounter (August 1983).

.The band continued to tour extensively, both locally and overseas, and the singles Good Die Young (August 1984) and In My Life (November 1984) followed.
The 1985 album 'What A Life! ' reached Number 2 in Australia within a week of release. The first single, Pleasure And Pain (co-written by British 70's pop guru Mike Chapman) peaked at Number 5 and also cracked the American Top 40. Two other singles were lifted from the album - Sleeping Beauty and Heart Telegraph.
Following months of touring in the US, Divinyls returned to Australia with a line-up containing three Americans (including Frank Infante from Blondie). Such was their stadium rock experience at that time that the band consistently blew audiences away on the enormous Australian Made tour in 1987.

By the time their second Mike Chapman produced album, 'Temperamental', was released, the band were basically back to a duo of Amphlett and McEntee. The singles from the album were Back To The Wall (March 1988), Hey Little Boy (July) and Punxsie (October). All were minor domestic hits.
In 1990 Divinyls signed with Virgin and issued the biggest album of their career, Divinyls, spawning the Number 1 Australian single I Touch Myself in January 1991. This provocative paean to masturbation also took the band into the US Top Ten (Number 4) and UK Top Ten (Number 10).
Divinyls tracks subsequently started to appear in the soundtracks to US movies and TV shows (including Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and the band signed with BMG/RCA in 1996. [Extract from nostalgiacentral.com]

The live recordings included here are taken from the pinnacle period in the bands career, when they released their 'Desperate' and 'What Is Life' LP's, with both concerts sourced from U.S tours. My favourite track is "Elsie" - purely for the raw energy that Christie Amphlett exhibits in this classic track.

The rip was taken from tape at 192kps and includes full album artwork.

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Track Listing

(Spit - 4th May 1983, Boston, MA)
01 - Introduction

02 - Make You Happy

03 - Only You

04 - Only Lonely

05 - Science Fiction

06 - Boys In Town

07 - Elsie
(Tower Theater - 22nd Jan 1986 Philadelphia, PA)
08 - Sleeping Beauty

09 - In My Life

10 - Pleasure And Pain

11 - Don't You Go Walking

12 - Science Fiction

13 - Boys In Town

14 - Guillotine

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Band Members

Christie Amphlett (Vocals)

Mark McEntee (Guitars)

Bjarne Ohlin (Keyboards)

Richard Harvey, J J Harris (Drums)

Rick Grossman (Bass)

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Divinyls Link (71Mb) New Link 24/08/2024

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Stomu Yamashta - Go Live in Paris (1978)

(UK 1976-1977)

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Stomu Yamashta was born in 1947 in Kyoto Japan, with the name Yamashita Tsutomu.

Since the late 60's he has developed an international reputation as a composer and performer (percussion, keyboards) of serious music, jazz rock fusion, rock, electronica as well as multi-media projects for the theatre, a ballet score ("Shukumei" ) and cinematic soundtracks. He has toured and played with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the rock group Come to The Edge. Yamashta has recorded not only jazz rock fusion and rock but music by the serious modern composers Maxwell-Davis and Henze.

He came to Europe in the early 70's working briefly in France on theatrical multi-media projects (e.g. the precursor for "Red Buddah Theatre" and "The Man From The East") before moving across the Channel to England. Through the 70's Yamashta recorded the majority of his 70's albums in the UK but alas very few of the Island Records recordings have been issued on CD.

  He has composed the soundtracks of the David Bowie film "The Man Who Fell to Earth" (which borrowed significantly from earlier recordings), Ken Russell's "The Devils", and race car documentary "One By One".

However, Stomu Yamashta is probably best known nowadays as the leader of the supergroup GO with Stevie Winwood, Al Di Meola, Klaus Schulze and Michael Shrieve for three albums and related performances.

What first attracted me to these albums was Al Di Meola's involvment, as I am a huge fan of this legendary guitarist and jazz rock in general. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard their first selftitled album and realised that there was more to Go than just the brillant guitar work from Di Meola.

The primary difference when comparing the live performance at Paris and the rendering simply titled Go (1976) is that Go Live From Paris (1978) presents the proceedings (as they exist) in a properly linear fashion, as correlated to the Eastern mythology that informed the extended two-part suite. This is in direct contrast to Go, which assembled the contents out of sequence.

The stage show was recorded at the Palais Des Sports in Paris, France on June 12, 1976 and the recital setting allows for considerably longer and more exploratory interaction amongst Stomu Yamashta (percussion/piano), Steve Winwood (vocals/keyboards) and (drums). They are joined by legendary jazz axeman Michael Shrieve, Al DiMeola (guitar) as well as Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel veteran Klaus Schulze (synthesizer) -- all of whom had contributed to Go. Filling out the band are Jerome Rimson (bass), Pat Thrall (guitar), Brother James (congas) and Karen Friedman (vocals).

Specifically, the licks traded between DiMeola and Shrieve are comparable to the workouts the pair shared as part of the Borboletta (1974) era Santana.

In terms of sheer intensity, it is hard to beat Di Meola's searing leads and Winwood's blue-eyed soul on the driving "Ghost Machine," easily topping its former incarnation. "Surfspin" lands into the funky mid-tempo "Time Is Here" highlighted by Karen Friedman's expressive exchanges with Winwood, while Rimson punctuates the rhythm with some penetrating bass interjections. This is followed by the sole Winwood composition "Winner/Loser," which further exemplifies how the spontaneity of the concert yields results that best their predecessors.

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In fact, on the whole the material on Go sounds like a blueprint for the exceptional and inspired outing found here. The second movement commences with fairly even renditions of the trifecta "Solitude," "Nature" and "Air Voice" -- which had previously been given the name "Air Over." "Crossing the Line" is an additional zenith, spotlighted by Winwood's emotive vocals and the untamed and otherwise incendiary frenzy of fretwork courtesy of Di Meola. Clocking in just shy of 15mins, "Man of Leo" provides another opportunity for the players to loosen up and fuse their collective improvisations behind Di Meola's intense soloing and the similarly seminal instrumental offerings from Shrieve, Rimson -- who is at his most melodic -- and Freidman's haunting warbles (Extract from spinatosmusicpills.blogspot.com)

I highly recommend this double live album to those who can't get enough jazz fusion and spacey, cosmic orientated music that takes the listener on a voyage filled with guitar and synthesier meanderings. Steve Winwood's vocals then puts the icing on the cake.

The rip was taken from CD at 320kps and includes full album artwork for both LP and CD.

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Track Listing

01 - Space song

02 - Carnival

03 - Wind spin

04 - Ghost machine

05 - Surf spin

06 - Time is here

07 - Winner Looser

08 - Solitude

09 - Nature

10 - Air voice

11 - Crossing the line

12 - Man of Leo

13 - Stellar

14 - Space Requiem

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Band Members

Stomu Yamashta (Percussion / Drums)

Steve Winwood (Vocals / Keyboards)

Klaus Schulze (Synthesizers)

Michael Shrieve (Guitar)

Al DiMeola (Guitar)

Pat Thrall Guitar)

Jerome Rimson (Bass)

Karen Friedmann and two others (vocal choir)

Brother James (Congos)
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Go Live In Paris Link (146Mb) New Link 17/01/2019

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Skyhooks - Festival Hall (1975) - VG SB

(Australian 1973-1980, 1983-1984, 1990)

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Skyhooks were an Australian rock band of the 1970s, sometimes classified as a glam rock band, because of their flamboyant costumes and make-up. Skyhooks formed ca. 1973. They gained a cult following around Melbourne but a poorly-received performance at the 1974 Sunbury Festival saw the group booed off the stage. Soon afterwards, the original lead singer Steve Hill resigned. To replace him, the group recruited occasional singer, surfer and carpenter Graeme Strachan. The replacement of Hill by Strachan was a pivotal moment for the band, as Strachan had remarkable vocal skills, magnetic stage and screen presence. Alongside Macainsh's acerbic lyrics, another vital facet of the group's sound was the twin-guitar attack of Red Symons and Bob "Bongo" Starkie (younger brother of original guitarist Peter Starkie). [Extract from Wikipedia]
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With "Living In The 70's" recorded and released to much acclaim in 1975, Skyhook's confidence started to soar. They decided to tour the country to promote their album and their live shows reached a new high, pulling publicity stunts wherever they went. With the band starting to make money, they got heavily into stage props, hiring a guy called Hank, who did the special effects for the TV show Homicide. They got a mock TV set, which would explode during "Horror Movie". During the show, Shirl would mount a four-foot polystyrene falic-shaped prop that would also explode, showering Twisties upon the crowd. The ejaculating twisties was the climax of "Smut". Unfortunately, this prop was confiscated by the vice squad at a Adelaide concert. The Skyhooks always delivered an explosive live show - literally. Several of their roadies had to do a course so they'd be allowed to use gunpowder and explosives.
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During their tour, Skyhooks played at the Sunbury 1975 concert and went down a storm, making up for their poor performance at the Sunbury concert the year before. Many critics said they were the highlight of the festival, having blown the overseas drawcard "Deep Purple" off stage. The Rolling Stone review called Skyhooks "the explosion point of Sunbury 75....arguably quite the best set, Deep Purple included". The irony was that Deep Purple got paid close to $300,000 for their appearance, but the Hooks, who were meant to be paid $3,000, didn't get a cent because the company running the the event, Odessa Promotions, went into liquidation. It was the final Sunbury.

Skyhooks ended that tour with a huge show at Festival Hall on Anzac Day, 1975. Special guests were AC/DC, Bob Hudson and New Zealand's top group Split Enz. Tickets were $2.70. Shirley made the papers again by asking teenage girls to come to the concert and throw their bras and panties on stage. "This is our way of celebrating Anzac Day", he said. "It is a much better release than getting drunk or breaking the gaming laws by playing 2-Up on the street". Truth reported that the lingerie throwing caused trouble in Brisbane when Skyhooks' fans returned home without their underwear, and the band draped their guitars with bras and panties. Shirley said: "When Winter comes, we will be able to tell our real fans. Of course, our fans shouldn't feel the cold. We have a pretty hot act". And they did.

A Rolling Stone live review by Terry Durack captured the excitement: "There was a drum roll and flashes of smoke bombs, and the entire stage was blanketed by thick, multi-colored smoke. Somewhere behind it, all we could hear was 'Whatever happened to the revolution...' You could just make out Greg Macainsh in a tight royal blue satin suit, topped off with a yellow Stetson (hat) and yellow boots. Sitting regally on a draped throne, Fred Strauks sported a silver crown. As the smoke cleared, the rest of the band came into view: Red Symons in a white fright wig, Bongo Starkie, mysterious and sinister in a black jump suit and green boa, and Shirley, bumping and grinding his way through the lyrics. As the song ended, an unexpected explosion echoed through the hall. Shirley smiled. 'That scared the shit out of everyone'!"

The Anzac Day show caused the craziest reaction. The Age said: "A Monster - that's the only way to describe the concert at Festival Hall yesterday afternoon."
The Sun review said: "Memories of Beatlemania returned to Festival Hall yesterday.... About 50 fans were carried semi-conscious on to the stage after being crushed in the crowd. Some determined girls used this as a ruse. After being brought onto the stage, they made a desperate dash for their favourite band member. The article also reported that Split Enz were booed and AC/DC's Bon Scott bared his behind to the audience".

Molly Meldrum also picked up on the Beatlemania line in his 'Meldrum Beat' column in Listener-In TV: "Festival Hall was witnessing scenes of hysteria and adulation that have not been seen there since the days of Beatlemania. The crowd went absolutely out of their minds....Like in the early 60's, when a place called Liverpool turned the eyes and ears of the worldwith the Beatles, the 70's could very well see Melbourne become the city of the music world".

A Rolls Royce was hired to take the band to the gig at Festival Hall. The band met at Red's house in Bell Street, Fitzroy. "It was a funny scene," Shirl recalls. "Red was spewing, a Rolls Royce was the last thing he wanted people to see outside his Fitzroy house." For a lark, Shirl travelled to the gig in the boot !" [Extracts from 'Ego Is Not A Dirty Word - The Skyhooks Story' by Jeff Jenkins, 1994]

.Although I didn't attend the 1975 Festival Hall concert, I did see Skyhooks play the following year at the Geelong Show Grounds when they headlined the Summer Rock one day festival. My girl friend at the time was a big fan of Skyhooks, and spent the whole time sitting on my shoulders yelling and screaming while they were on stage. Needless to say, I didn't really see or hear much of the Skyhooks set!
However, also playing at the concert were Ariel, Redhouse and Taste who I was more interested in anyhow.

The rip of this legendary concert at Festival Hall was taken from tape at 160kps and includes full album artwork (Thanks to Woodynet)

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Track Listing

01 - Horror Movie

02 - Whatever Happened To The Revolution

03 - Hey What's The Matter

04 - Balwyn Calling

05 - 3FQ (Love On The Radio)

06 - Loves Not Good Enough

07 - The Other Side

08 - Nursery Rhymes and Band Intro

09 - All My Friends Are Getting Married

10 - Mercedes Ladies

11 - Every Chase A Steeple

12 - Ego

13 - Saturday Night

14 - You Just Like Me Cause I'm Good In Bed

15 - Let It Rock

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Band Members:

Shirley Strachan (Lead Vocals)

Greg Macainsh (Bass, Vocals)

Red Symons (Guitar, Vocals)

Bob Starkie (Guitar, Vocals)

Freddie Strauks (Drums, Vocals)

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Skyhooks Link (71Mb) New Link 01/01/2024

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Robin Trower - Live In Concert, New George's San Raphael, CA - KRQR-FM Broadcast (1988) - Ex SB

(U.K 1973-Present)

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Robin Trower's career has spanned more than four decades, starting first with Procol Harum and then as a solo artist in the early 70's. He is one of the finest guitarists in Rock n' Roll history. Throughout his long and winding solo career, Robin Trower has been called the "White" Hendrix due to his uncanny ability to channel Hendrix' bluesy / psychedelic, Fender Strat-fueled playing style. This of course was what attracted me to his music in the first place as I am a huge Hendrix fan also. However, by the dawn of the '80s, it became quite obvious that Trower's stardam was rapidly fading, as each album sold less than its predecessor. A brief union with ex-Cream bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce spawned a pair of releases, 1981's B.L.T. and 1982's Truce, before Trower returned back to his solo career. The mid-late '80s saw Trower try and expand his audience with several releases that attempted to update his blues-rock style (such as 1987's slick produced Passion), but none returned the guitarist back to the top of the charts. Nevertheless, I believe this 2nd incarnation of Trower's band was as good as that first one which featured the lengendary James Dewar on vocals. In fact, Trower's album, 'Living Out of Time' (2004), featured the return of veteran bandmates Dave Bronze on bass, vocalist Davey Pattison (formerly with Ronnie Montrose's band Gamma) and Pete Thompson on drums - the same lineup as the mid 1980s albums 'Passion' and 'Take What You Need'.
The FM concert provided here features the same band members, and the recording was made on Trowers promotional tour for his then up and coming 'Take What You Need' LP. The concert was played at New George's San Raphael on 27-01-1988 and broadcast by a San Francisco FM radio station - 97.3 KRQR. This is a good show...KRQR used to do weekly live broadcasts from New George's for a short period of time in '88, the majority of which were local acts. This was one of the big names that they managed to broadcast. There were also shows by Paul Collins (The Beat), Eddie & The Tide, and Soft White Underbelly (a.k.a. Blue Oyster Cult). A small correction worth noting: the town actually spells it "Rafael," not "Raphael."
.I particularly like this concert as Trower's guitar playing is not self indulgent and he gets down to business immediately by giving the audience what they want, "Too Rolling Stoned" starts the concert and then the band proceeds to provide a mixture of new material blended in with the old. Davey Pattison's vocals are very strong and he is able to reproduce the old material with uncanny similarity to that of Dewar. Trower's guitar work is nothing short of brilliant and is consistently supported by his rhythm team with 'David Bronze' on bass and 'Pete Thompson' on drums. The combined tracks 'Day Of The Eagle / Bridge Of Sighs' are spectacular, with Trower demonstrating total control of feedback and guitar work that almost mesmorizes the listener. The new material is strong and tight, showing that the band was well rehearsed at the time. This is probably one of the best soundboard recordings I have heard and almost out does his earlier commercially released live material on 'Trower Live!' and 'Beyond The Mist'. All in all, this is a classic set and should not be overlooked if you are a Trower fan.
The rip was taken from CD at 320kps and includes customised album artwork.

.Track Listing
01 Too Rolling Stoned
02 Love Attack
03 Day of the Eagle
04 Bridge of Sighs
05 Second Time
06 No Time
07 Take What You Need
08 Rock Me Baby
09 Tear It Up
10 Little Bit of Sympathy
11 Into the Flame

Band Members:
Robin Trower - Guitar
Davey Pattison - Vocals
Dave Bronze - Bass
Pete Thompson - Drums
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Robin Trower Link (151Mb) New Link 02/10/2013
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