Max Merritt And The Meteors - Back Home Live (1977) + Bonus Track

(New Zealand 1956 - 2008)

In January 1971, deciding that his band had now probably done their dash in Australia, Max Merritt decided to make the trip to England that he had always wanted to do, but had been delayed by the accident. So he added two saxophone players and a trumpet player to the line-up and did a National farewell tour, taking in theatres only. The group stopped over for a few gigs in Singapore and then flew on to London.

In England, the group played the British pub circuit, slowly building up a solid following. As their popularity grew, they secured support roles for leading British bands, including Slade and the Moody Blues. Max Merritt and the Meteors returned to Australia in January 1972 to headline the first Sunbury Festival, after which they went on a national pub tour. They came back again in 1973 to do the Sunbury Festival again and then returned to England to concentrate on the British market.

Once again by 1974 it looked like Max was starting to make headway in England when another major problem occurred. His then manager, Peter Raphael, departed, leaving the group with no money and a pile of debts. They were forced to sell their transport to survive, and as a result the band basically fell apart. Dave Russell returned to New Zealand, Bob Bertles accepted a position with top UK jazz band Nucleus and Stewie Speer toured Europe with Alexis Korner. Max was forced to go back to his original trade of laying bricks for a while.

Max, always the determined fighter, never gave up and by the end of 1974 had put together another five-piece band. After Stewie finished the tour he joined back up with Max and together they added Barry Dugan on saxophone, John Gourd on guitar and piano, and Howard 'Fuzz' Deniz on bass guitar. Max also found a new manager, Bill Utley.

Throughout 1975 they continued to build on the pub rock reputation they had developed over the previous couple of years. Later in the year Barry was replaced by Lance Dixon, who was a keyboard player as well as a saxophonist. With his keyboards and Gourd's slide guitar, the new sound emanating from the Meteors was a long way removed from the sounds they were best remembered for in Australia. The soul had gone and they were far less jazz orientated.

In May 1975 Clive Davis, head of Arista Records arrived in London to establish a British branch of the US-based company. Following a recommendation to check out the Meteors on their pub circuit, he liked what he saw and contracted them as his first 'British' signing. A single was recorded and released in July called "A Little Easier"/"Long Time Gone". The single was ignored by most people, but Arista pressed on releasing an album also called "A Little Easier" in September.

Released at the same time was another single from the album called "Slippin' Away"/"I Keep Forgetting". "Slippin' Away" caught the attention of radio program directors in both Australia and New Zealand and with constant playing over the summer of 1975/76 it climbed to number 2 on the Australian national charts becoming their biggest Australian hit ever. The song was also well received in New Zealand where it climbed to number 5 and stayed on the charts for 6 months. The song should have been an international hit, but Arista were still in their set-up stages in England and that made distribution difficult. As a result interested people couldn't get a copy so sales soon tapered off. Meanwhile the album, buoyed by the success of the single in Australia, peaked at number 4 on the Australian charts, but interestingly failed to chart in New Zealand.

The Meteors returned to Australia in June 1976 for a triumphant tour, coinciding with the release of their second Arista album "Out Of The Blue". From it came a re-recorded version of "Let It Slide" and this followed "Slippin' Away" into the charts in Australia. The single was released with "Whisper In My Ear" and "Coming Back" on the B-side, while in New Zealand it had "Gotta Have Your Love" as the flip-side.

Their tour over three weeks was once again performed at only larger theatres and was seen by more than 30,000 people. The first concerts at Melbourne's Dallas Brooks Hall were recorded and later released as an album in 1977 as "Back Home Live", their third and final Arista album. A final single for Arista also came in 1976 called "Blame It On The Reggae". Once again differing B-sides, "Whisper In My Ear" in New Zealand and "Take Part Of Me" in Australia.

If was hard for Max, because he was once again receiving superstar status in Australia, but in England, where he wanted to be, it was still tough going, trying to make it on the pub scene. But it wasn't Max's inability that failed him there, it was the onslaught of punk music that killed the pub rock scene in Britain.

At the end of 1976, Max Merritt and the Meteors broke up as a working band. In 1977, Max relocated to America and signed a solo deal with Polydor Records, releasing two solo albums and several singles over the next 10 years. However, he never reached the same status as his previous albums with the Meteors, and eventually moved into retirement. [extract from sergent.com]

This post consists of FLACs ripped from vinyl (thanks to Sunshine) and full album artwork for vinyl, cassette and CD releases.  This live recording contains his hits from the 70's along with the bonus live track "Respect".  Label scans and all photos are also included.

Track Listing

01  A Little Easier  5:09

02  Wrong Turn  5:14

03  Coming Back  4:07

04  Ain't You Glad You Came  2:34

05  Try a Little Tenderness  4:28

06  Slipping Away  3:15

07  Find a Home  4:49

08  Long Time Gone  4:03

09  Let It Slide  4:03

10  Fannie Mae  4:08

11  Respect (Bonus Track) 2:13

Recorded live at The Dallas Brooks Hall, Melbourne (June 15 & 16, 1976)

Max Merritt - Lead Vocals, Guitar

Stewart Speer - Drums

Lance Dixon - Keyboards, soprano & tenor saxophone, backing vocals

John Gourd - Guitar, bass guitar, backing vocals

Howard 'Fuzz' Deniz - Bass guitar, acoustic guitar, backing vocals

Max Merritt Live (280Mb)