Friday, October 24, 2025

Southern Cross - Selftitled LP (1976) plus bonus Rehearsal Tracks

(Australian 1975-1978)

Sydney-based hard rock band Southern Cross had its roots in heavy progressive rock pioneers Buffalo. John Baxter had been sacked from Buffalo at the end of 1974. Baxter's savage guitar work had virtually defined the Buffalo sound and approach; his departure robbed the band of its most distinctive feature and boldest asset. 

The band's spirit simply faded thereafter. Original line-up was: Alan Milano (vocals; ex-Buffalo), John Baxter (lead guitar; ex-Head, Buffalo), Michel Brouet (bass, vocals), Jeff Beacham (drums).

Southern Cross
Initially Baxter formed Boy Racer before teaming up with original Buffalo singer Alan Milano in Southern Cross. Milano was co-vocalist on Buffalo's debut LP 'Dead Forever'.

Baxter wrote much of the band's early live set, although he left six months after its formation. Seventeen-year-old Bruce Cumming replaced Baxter on guitar.    Alongside the likes of Finch, The Angels, Kevin Borich Express, Rose Tattoo and Chariot, Southern Cross swiftly became one of the most popular hard rock bands on the Sydney scene. Southern Cross signed to the independent Living Sound/Laser label and issued its debut single, `Stormy Lady'/`Queen of Rock'n'Roll', at the end of 1976.

The funky, bluesy and heavy `Stormy Lady' was a good indication of the band's over-the-top style. The band's selftitled debut album (1976) featured melodic, raunchy hard rock in the vein of Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs and UK band Bad Company. It mixed flat-out, riff-rockers (`You Need It', `Money Maker', `Stormy Lady') with moody rock ballads (`Jesse', `Story Teller' and `Games').

The album scored only minimal sales, despite its strong points. By 1978, Southern Cross had broken up and Cumming and Brouet moved on to 'The Press', another Sydney based band with a punk edged heavy metal sound. Steve Kot (vocals) and Rick Doolan (drums) completed the line-up.

Southern Cross
This post consists of FLACs ripped from a 2011 CD release of this highly sought after and rare Aussie rock album. (copies selling for $400+
Full artwork for both CD and Vinyl media is included, with the exception of a Side 2 LP label scan. If any blog followers have a copy of this LP, I would love to get hold of this missing label scan. Likewise, if anyone has their only single, I would love to get hold of a rip of the B-Side "Queen Of Rock 'n' Roll".

As a bonus, I'm also including a 'Southern Cross' rehearsal tape from June 1976, which includes album tracks - "Money Maker"and "You Need It"; and a non-album (Bad Company cover)  "Movin' On", all featuring John Baxter on guitar. 


The following is a transcript that was written by Bruce Cumming, describing the moment when he first auditioned to play with the band:

I walked into a teenage dream.......I guess…when I attended an audition for guitarist in this cramped room out the back of some shops in Bronte, an eastern suburb of Sydney in 1975.

John Baxter
The next guy to walk in the door was a local rock star, guitarist John Baxter, who had recently left Buffalo, one of Sydney’s biggest live acts…and it was he and former Buffalo singer Alan Milano who were putting the new band together.

I was 17 and I passed the audition!  Even though Baxter didn’t stick with us for long, we all remained friends and you can hear him talking here as he passes constructive criticism on my guitar solos and jokes in a serious way about the overall sound.

We rehearsed in a dilapidated shell of a house that we rented in Harris St, Ultimo, an inner – Sydney City suburb…the walls were lined with egg–cartons, we set up a little PA in there and pretty much blew the roof off whenever we wanted to.

This stuff here was recorded in mono onto cassette…over 30 years later you can hear the tape scrunching over the oxide on the pad. The ‘quality’ is terrible, of course, but if you turn It UP, I don’t think you could possibly hear the energy in what we were doing long, long ago.

Tracks listing:
01. Money Maker  (4:31)
02. You Need It  (5:10)
03. Jessie  (5:12)
04. What Am I Waiting For?  (5:12)
05. Harris Street  (4:42)
06. Story Teller   (5:12)
07. Games  (8:58)
08. Stormy Lady  (4:51)
Bonus Rehearsal Tracks
09. Money Maker  (8:08)
10. Movin' On   (3:24)
11.  You Need It  (7:29)

Southern Cross were:
Alan Milano - vocals
Bruce Cumming - guitars
Jeff Beacham - drums
Michel Brouet - bass, vocals


Southern Cross Link (405Mb)

Saturday, October 18, 2025

REPOST: Sherbet - Slipstream (1974)

(Australian 1969 - 84)
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Sherbet was Australia's top pop group in the 1970s, with a fan base largely made up of teenage girls. They were the first band to reach AUS $1M in record sales in Australia; pioneered the concept of massive regional tours; and turned its merchandising into a huge industry.
Sherbet were formed in Sydney in 1969 by guitarist Clive Shakespeare with members of his former band Downtown Roll Band. Initially they started out as a soul band doing Motown material. They released their first single "Crimson Ships" the following year. In 1971 they won Australia's prestigious national rock band contest Hoadley's Battle of the Sounds. In the same year they had their first hit with the Ted Mulry song "You're All Woman" and from then on they had a string of hits. They became the darlings of Australia's teenyboppers and did regular appearances on the top TV pop show Countdown.
During the seventies no act was more popular on Countdown than Australia’s premier pop band, Sherbet. Sherbet made more appearances on Countdown than any other band in the program’s 13 year history.

Sherbet had a clean-cut boys-next door image; a big contrast to the bad boy persona favoured by their peers. There were often scenes of screaming, shirt-ripping and general girl-fan mayhem on the Countdown set when the band appeared. Sherbet’s first Countdown appearances coincided with their 'Slipstream album', which earned them five gold records. 'Slipstream' reached Number 5 in October 1974 in the Australian Charts and went on to sell over 100,000 copies. 'Life is for Living' and a greatest hits album soon followed [extract from www.countdown.com.au]

For the better part of the Seventies, Sherbet were the Kings of Pop in Australia. By mid-decade they were undisputed rulers of the Australian charts and stages, and only with the appearance of the mighty Skyhooks was Sherbet confronted with its first serious rival.
Michael Gudinski (Skyhook's Manager) is quoted as saying "Like the Beatles and the Stones, despite the public rivalry, privately, the bands were good mates". He recalls - "Funnily enough, we got on really well with Sherbet. Roger Davies (Sherbet's Manager) and I were already friends and we stayed good friends. Both bands used the rivalry thing to their advantage. People used to think 'Oh, they hate each other' and the fans would be fighting. Yet Sherbet actually helped us out. The first gig Skyhooks ever did in Sydney was at the Opera House with them, and we did quite a few shows together. But there'd be radio polls where listeners would vote for their favourite, either Skyhooks or Sherbet. It was an exciting time, a great era for Australian music" (Taken from Ego Is Not A Dirty Word: The Skyhooks Story by Jeff Jenkins, 1994, p 60)

Davies, vigorously marketed Sherbet as a teen-oriented singles band, producing some polished, highly commercial pop/R&B. In terms of teen adulation (especially with girls), they were the true successors to The Easybeats, with lead singer Daryl Braithwaite unquestionably the most popular male performer of the period. Their popularity reached Beatle-esque heights, with regular riots, mobbings and scenes of crowd hysteria. Exposure to a national television audience on Countdown vastly increased their popularity across the country. Sherbet avoided some of the excesses of glam, such as heavy make-up, but were partial to satin, velvet and custom-made bomber jackets.

.Although sometimes criticised (at the time) as lightweight, they were a classic pop band whose success was solidly founded on great musical ability and sheer hard work, not just marketing hype. Sherbet remains one of the best-selling and most successful bands in Australian music. They produced some great original material and enjoyed a record-breaking string of hits, with an amazing run of sixteen consecutive Top 40 singles between 1971 and 1977. They also hold the unique honour of being our first band to score an overseas hit with a song written, recorded and produced entirely in Australia - "Howzat".
In concert, Sherbet were outstanding. As their live recordings attest, they were tight, disciplined, consistent and highly professional. They were also one of the hardest working bands in the business. They kept up a punishing touring schedule throughout their career and visited almost every part of the country at one time or another, completing around 20 national tours. In an industry well-known for tantrums and "no shows", Sherbet missed only one gig in fifteen years of touring, according to Sandow! Sherbet was also the first Australian band to be able to maintain a large-scale, permanent touring operation which included "specially-designed stage clothes, 3 1/2 tonnes of stage equipment, a 2000-watt amplification system, and an integrated light show which included ... pyrotechnic effects." [extract from Milesago.com.au]
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[Thanks to Debbie Krugger for the 'Live Photos' above]
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Sherbet had the best tour books of any group around in those days, local or international. The "On Tour" book, written about the band's "Around Australia in 80 Days" tour, sold at newsagents and apparently was the biggest selling book on a pop group in its day.
In 1977 Sherbet went back overseas and – other than a quick trip home over Christmas/New Year to see family and do free concerts for 2SM and 3XY — stayed away for a year. When they returned, Daryl had a beard, Tony had tamed the afro, and the music sounded all grown up. The "Another Night on the Road" tour was in smaller venues than previous tours, and more musically satisfying, although the guys seemed frustrated that the fans still wanted to scream and hold up signs saying "DARYL U SPUNK" rather than listening to the lyrics of songs that they had sweated over in Canada and California. [extract from DebbieKruger.com]

From 1978, the band spent several years attempting (without success) to make an impact in the United States. The last studio album from 1978 'Sherbet' was issued in the United States under the name Highway and titled 'Highway 1'. After making little headway in the US market the band broke up for a short period before reconvening with new wave sound as The Sherbs and releasing 'The Skill' which made the US Top 100, 'Defying Gravity' and the mini-album 'Shaping Up'. Harvey James left towards the end of 1982 to be replaced by Tony Leigh. They decided to call it a day in 1984, reverting back to the Sherbet moniker for a farewell tour and final single "Tonight Will Last Forever".
Following the group's break-up, lead singer Daryl Braithwaite went on to a successful solo career in Australia, and Garth Porter became a successful record producer.

The improved rip provided here was taken from CD in FLAC and includes full album artwork (thanks to Brett from Midoztouch for the artwork).
Some choice photos of the band in the 70's are also included. As a bonus, I have also added a videoclip of Sherbet performing 'Slipstream' on the Paul Hogan Show in 1974.

The one track that first attracted me to this album when it first came out was "Wild Love", a real funky, hard base line 12 bar blues - but I would never have admitted this in front of my mates at the time! The title track "Slipstream" and "Freedom" (not the same track that Hendrix did by the way) were also personal favourites, but as a whole the album is probably one of their best releases. Something to watch out for (and it only took me 35 years to notice) is the teeny bopper track 'Handy Mandy' which contains some rather interesting lyrics!

              NEW IMPROVED RIP !

Track Listing
01 - Slipstream
02 - Endless Place
03 - Wild Love

04 - Another Hustler

05 - What's It All About

06 - Freedom

07 - Silvery Moon

08 - Handy Mandy

09 - When the Sunshine Turns to Grey

10 - Earthquake in My Head

11 - So Glad You're Mine

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Band Members:
Daryl Braithwaite (Vocals)

Clive Shakespeare (Guitar, Vocals)

Tony Mitchell (Bass)

Garth Porter (Keyboards, Vocals)

Alan Sandow (Drums)

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Sherbet Link (275Mb) 
New Link 18/10/2025
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Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Various Aussie Artists - Seventies Downunder Volume 1, Raven Records (1991)

(Various Australian Artists 1970-75)

A continuation of Raven’s overview of the formative years of one of the world’s most highly acclaimed musical forces – Oz Rock. This volume, dealing with the first half of the 1970s, brings together 19 exceptional performances – not novelty chart hits but bands and records of credibility and consequence – Chain, Healing Force, Daddy Cool, Jeff St John & Copperwine, Spectrum, Country Radio, Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, Axiom, Blackfeather, La De Das, Carson, Skyhooks, AC/DC and others. With an extensively annotated colour booklet, this is one of Raven’s most impressive and essential releases.

Liner Notes (by Glenn A Baker)

The infectious insanity which began with The Beatles just couldn't last. lt wasn't allowed to. The established order of the music industry had been bowled-for-six in 1964, and for three years, rock music galloped unfettered, unashamedly innocent, naive and enjoyable. But by 1967 the 'moguls' of showbiz raised their ugly heads and the adrenalin ride was over. The clumsy but sympathetic rock TV shows were castrated, radio banished the last traces of raw R&B rock from the airwaves and, in a final blow, record companies, managers and promoters bought sufficient consolidated pressure to bear on groups to make them follow a new version of the established order.

The screaming died because the fun died, music took upon itself a dreaded element of seriousness. Records were no longer made for fun, those few groups not dumped by their record companies saw recording as a 'new art'. The age of psychedelic and progressive music was upon us and under those labels was created some of the most intelligently complex and, alternatively, appallingly self-indulgent music imaginable.
The entire fabric of 'fandom' had undergone drastic change as well. Fans were split into two camps: teenyboppers and 'heads'. The boppers supported The New Dream, Zoot and bubblegum, while the heads (prodominatly male) got off on a level of musical snobbery, which decreed that the universe revolved around a stoned, hirsute guitarist gazing at his sandalled feet during a twenty minute solo. The newly emerged drug culture can be held responsible for the latter group ('mind expansion' failed because of the poor quality of raw material it had to work upon).


The change in Australian music and society between 1967 and 1970 was drastic and severe. Music moved out of Melbourne's (the new pop capital) steamy discos into Sydney's thriving dances and finalty on to open acreage. We intently watched Monterey and Woodstock and then (following a fine tradition of aping the rest of the world) tried rock festivals ourselves. Off we trooped to Ourimbah, covering ourselves with flowers and professing undying love for fellow man. A few years later we tired of sitting in muddy fields dodging beer cans and gave the whole thing up as a bad joke.
Protest went down much the same path, as the fine and just cause of anti-war activity became little more
than a trendy 'be-in'. We didn't change the world much, as hard as we tried.

The music made in this country after the end of the 60s certainly reflected the indulgence and the uncertainty but some of it also, as the selections herein doth attest, began to display a startling innovation born of both isolation and the distillation of myriad influences. This collection picks up the story of Oz Rock from 1970 and takes us through its final half-decade in the international wilderness.
From 1975 on, thanks to Little River Band, Rick Springfield, AC/DC, John Paul Young and others (and to a change in focus from England to America), it was no longer a one-off or fluke to have Australian music on the charts of the world.

Assembled here is a breathtaking array of styles - soul, blues, country-rock, heavy metal, rock'n'roll, progressive hippy rock, unashamedly commercial pop and more. If you listen carefully enough you can discern a thread running through it all - a thread that inevitably led up to Men At Work, Split Enz, Cold Chisel and INXS. After this period though, Oz Rock was a little more calculated, a little less starry-eyed.

Now, for those interested in details.....


Max Merritt & The Meteors
Beloved soul/r&b masters Max Merritt & the Meteors had been in Australia (from NZ) for five years before scoring their first national hit, with a storming version of The Impressions' U.S. charter, "Western Union Man", from their self-titled top ten album. By this stage, Max was the only Kiwi still on board, the other slots being filled by rotund drummer Stewie Spears, bassist Yuk Harrison and saxophonist Bob Bertles. By the mid 70s, Max was recording in England for Arista and had scored a number one hit in Australia with "Slipping Away".

Jeff St. John & Copperwine
The soaring, soulful voice of Jeff St John had first been heard in 1967 when The Id made top ten with "Big Time Operator". By the end of that year he was recording with the unsuccessful Yama and, in 1969, returned to the airwaves as leader of Copperwine, a sturdy outfit comprising of Harry Brus, Barry Kelly, Peter Figures, Ross East and fellow vocalist Wendy Saddington. This cover of the Rotary
Connection's "Teach Me How To Fly" reached top twenty in Sydney in January 1971, by which time Saddington had split. A year later, Jeff did the same thing and Copperwine recorded under their own steam.




Axiom
With Glenn Shorrock from the Twilights, Brian Cadd and Don Mudie from the Groop, Chris Stockleigh from Cam-pact and Don Lebler from the Avengers, Axiom was fairly hailed as Australia's first 'Supergroup'. After cracking the top ten first out in late 1969 with "Arkansas Grass", the unit made top five in April 1970 with Cadd's hymn to his newborn daughter, "A Litte Ray Of Sunshine". 


Although they turned out a superlative album with 'Fools Gold' and then left to work in Britain, the momentum (to say nothing of the artistry) evaporated and disbandment occurred in March 1971. A few years later, Shorrock was leading the Little River Band.

Daddy Cool
Like Shorrock, Ross Wilson is an incredible survivor, his chart career beginning in 1965 with the Pink Finks and continuing to this day with Mondo Rock and solo ventures. Daddy Cool, the merging of the Party Machine and the Rondells, took shape in the first half of 1970 as a rollicking, good- time band amid a sea of hairy heavyweights. Mixing covers of obscure, vintage r&r and r&b with clever appealing originals, Daddy Cool offered a joyous celebration of rock'n'roll which took them to number one for eight weeks with their debut single, "Eagle Rock".


Carson
Carson, formed in 1970 as Carson County, deftly cashed in on the Canned Heat boogie climate to become rock festival staples. By 1972, when "Boogie" became a top thirty hit, the lineup included vocalist Broderick Smith, guitarist Greg Lawrie, Healing Force pianist Mal Logan and Chain bassist Barry Sullivan. After a chart album with 'Blown', Carson dissolved, early in 1973.


Spectrum
Some months before Ross Wilson got his new band to number one, his Party Machine partner Mike Rudd had already done just that with the bluesy, shuffling, "l'll Be Gone". Spectrum did not enjoy any further singles success but did make a series of albums which are amongst the most adventurous 'art rock' works to come out of Australia, Rudd later led Ariel and the Heaters.


Healing Force
The airy, seductive "Golden Miles" was the only hit for the band which formed in Adelaide late in 1970 (at the hands of Twilights drummer Laurie Pryor) and always seemed a shadowy, semi- permanent entity. Signed to the same label as Daddy Cool (Sparmac), Healing Force recorded no albums and had a sole hit. Vocalist Charlie Tumahai turned up in England in 1975 as a member of Be Bop Deluxe.


Blackfeather
Like Golden Miles, "Seasons of Change" was an intriguing, compelling piece, though in this case the inspiration seemed to be the gothic/medieval oveltones favoured by the British progressive/heavy metal bands of the day. Written by Blackfeathers's resident guitar wizard, John Robinson, for Bon Scott's Adelaide band Fraternity, it proved to be a far bigger hit for its originators.
The highlight cut from the 1971 album 'Mountains of Madness', it was sung with great power and distinction by Neale Johns.


Masters' Apprentices
"Because I Love You" was the peak of the writing and conceptual prowess of Masters' Apprentices guitarist Doug Ford and vocalist Jim Keays, who, with bassist Glenn Wheatley and drummer Colin Burgess, had given yet another dimension to one of the most venerable names in Oz Rock history. Recorded at Abbey Road Studio 2 in London (at the same time John Lennon was recording Working Class Hero in Studio 1), this splendid, shifting piece, with predominating acoustic guitar, became a hit all over again at the end of the 80s when it was rerecorded and reissued after being used in a television commercial.


The Zoot
Like many bubblegum bands trapped by a profitable image, Thc Zoot had a heavyweight heart just begging to be exposed. Their crashing, thunderous treatment of the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby" was as impressive as it was unexpected and gave them their only top five hit, at the beginning of 1971 .
This unit proved to be a useful stepping stone - guitarist Rick Springfield was in the U.S. charts as a sole heartthrob a year later, bassist Beeb Birtles followed him there in 1976 as a member of Little River Band, vocalist Daryl Cotton recorded Stateside with Cotton, Lloyd & Christian, and drummer Rick Brewer was at number one on the Austalian charts in 1977 as a member of the Ferrets.


Chain
A tad heavier and immeasurably more credible was the grunting, grinding Chain and their 1971 Melbourne number one, "Black And Blue". Formed in 1967 and originally featuring the mighty Wendy Saddington, Chain hit its commercial stride in 1970 with the compact lineup of vocalist Matt Taylor, guitarist Phil Manning, drummer Barry Harvey and bassist Barry Sullivan. There seems to have been, on and off, in some format or another, a version of Chain in operation ever since, rendering the name synonymous with quality rock blues.


La De Das
The La De Das had as many musical lives as the Masters Apprentices. Beginning life in New Zealand as a down-down-under Blues Magoos in the mid 60s, they ended up as a high-powered Sydney-based hard rock quartet (then trio) in the early 70s, led by guitar hero Kevin Borich. A major concert and festival drawcard, they enjoyed only occasional radio support; the strongest being for the elastic, athletic "Gonna See My Baby Tonight", which made top ten in November 1971.




Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs
By 1972, rock chameleon Billy Thorpe probably thought that his popchart topping days were over. By then he was a wild rock warrior - pony tail flying, vocal chords quavering, decibels mounting. There was a new Aztecs and a new attitude but Thorpie could never suppress his inherent commerciality. Even a humorous piece of self-deprecation like "Most People I Know (Think That I'm Crazy)" was able to strike a responsive chord with the crowds.



Country Radio
Greg Quill was a writer for Go-Set magazine who happened to possess as much talent as most of the people he wrote about. A quality folk/country singer-songwriter, he recorded an album for EMI ('Fleetwood Plain') before signing up with Festival as Country Radio. 


Although members came and went with peak hour railway frequency, the band managed to score a substantial hit in August 1972with its second single, "Gypsy Queen", written by Greg and guitarist KerrynTolhurst. A 'live' studio album fared reasonably well but by the end of 1973 it was all over. Greg cut an impressive solo album, 'The Outlaw's Reply', before moving to Toronto, Canada, where a full circle turned and he became a leading rock journalist.


The Dingoes
Canada also proved to be a receptive market for the band Broderick Smith formed after Carson. The Dingoes, featuring Chris Stockleigh from Axiom and Kerryn Tolhurst from Country Radio, played a meaty version of country-rock overlaid with a blues sensibility. After a top thirty 1974 hit with the evocative "Way Out West", they headed way up north and spent most of the next five years flogging themselves across North America seeking a big break that sadly never came.

Matt Taylor
Uncompromising white bluesman MattTaylor recorded three solo albums for Mushroom Records between 1973 and 1975, one of which ('Straight As A Die'), sold almost as well as his Chain album. Originally not on his LP (but later added to CD reissues as a bonus track) the sprightly and disarmingly honest "I Remember When I Was Young", gave him a top thirty Melbourne hit.


Stevie Wright
When Vanda & Young returned from Britain in 1973, their first project was to restore the chart prominence of their Easybeats comrade Stevie Wright, a vocalist who had been asked to front Mott The Hoople. In 1974, they appeared live with him at the Sydney Opera House and wrote/produced the extraordinary epic "Evie", the only 11 minute plus single to go to number one anywhere in the world.
This renewed association lasted for three hits and two fine albums.


Skyhooks
Australian rock has given us few finer experiences than Skyhooks, an underground-cult politico Carlton rabble which tore the country apart with a glam rock parody built upon pithy, smart-arse lyrics that provided a long overdue observation of the contemporary Australian experience. No kangaroos or elderly emus but dreary Melbourne suburbs and unrestrained adolescent lust. "Living ln The Seventies", the title track to the band's debut album (which instantly became the biggest domestic selling Australian album in history) is as close to an anthem as we had in that era.

ACDC
And talking about anthems.....Like the resuscitation of Stevie Wright, the rise of hard rock powerhouse AC/DC was the work of Vanda & Young, who shaped the raw energy of the young band to fill an international vacuum they were convinced existed. The double-punch of Bon Scott's leering, lascivious and decidedly tongue-in-cheek vocal assault and Angus Young's brash, exuberantand bluesy guitar work proved irresistible in a country where no-frills working-class rock'n'roll had ahrvays been warmly embraced. "It's A Long Way To The Top" was AC/DCs third hit, reaching the top five at the end of 1975.


This post consists of FLACs ripped from CD and includes full album artwork.  In my opinion, this is one of the best Aussie Rock compilations from the Seventies.  It should also be noted that Raven's follow up release was titled "Do Y'self A Favour! The Countdown Years 1975-79 (Seventies Downunder Vol. 2) which was released in 1993.  

Track Listing:
1. WESTERN UNION MAN – Max Merritt & the Meteors
2. TEACH ME HOW TO FLY – Jeff St John & Copperwine
3. A LITTLE RAY OF SUNSHINE – Axiom
4. EAGLE ROCK – Daddy Cool
5. BOOGIE PART I – Carson
6. I’LL BE GONE – Spectrum
7. GOLDEN MILES – Healing Force
8. SEASONS OF CHANGE – Blackfeather
9. BECAUSE I LOVE YOU – The Master’s Apprentices
10. ELEANOR RIGBY – The Zoot
11. BLACK AND BLUE – Chain
12. GONNA SEE MY BABY TONIGHT – La De Das
13. MOST PEOPLE I KNOW, THINK THAT I'M CRAZY - Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs
14. GYPSY QUEEN – Country Radio
15. WAY OUT WEST – The Dingoes
16. I REMEMBER WHEN I WAS YOUNG – Matt Taylor
17. EVIE PART 2 – Stevie Wright
18. LIVING IN THE 70’s – Skyhooks
19. IT’S A LONG WAY TO THE TOP – AC/DC


Thursday, October 9, 2025

Richard Wagner - Selftitled (1978)

(U.S 1964 - 2014)

Chances are that you’re familiar with guitarist and songwriter Richard 'Dick' Wagner’s talents even if you don’t recognize his name. As frontman for the mid-to-late 1960s Motor City hard rock outfit 'Frost', Wagner was a contemporary of such legends as the MC5, the Stooges, Bob Seger, and Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes. After Frost had run its course, Wagner formed the power trio Ursa Major (with former Amboy Dukes bassist Greg Arama). That band’s lone Bob Ezrin-produced their 1972 magnum opus, a magnificent beast of shimmering, buzzing guitarwork, explosive rhythms, and Wagner’s wordy, Dylan like lyrics; but went absolutely nowhere on the charts.

Although Ursa Major’s self-titled LP flopped and the band broke-up, Wagner developed a friendship with their young producer and Ezrin – fresh off a hit with Alice Cooper’s 'School’s Out' album. Ezrin would eventually use Wagner as his secret weapon in the studio. The guitarist would record and tour with Cooper throughout his initial solo years and well into the 1980s, writing hits like “Only Women Bleed” and “I Never Cry.”


Ezrin then partnered Wagner and fellow Detroit guitarist Steve Hunter with Lou Reed, the pair bringing lightning to Reed's 'Berlin' and thunder to the live 'Rock N’ Roll Animal'albums. Wagner would later play on sessions (and hits) by Etta James, Peter Gabriel, Hall & Oates, and Kiss (playing acoustic guitar on “Beth”). It was the dueling guitars of Wagner and Hunter that set fire to Aerosmith’s “Train Kept A-Rollin’,” from the band’s 'Get Your Wings'.


Solo Debut Album

Given their friendship and strong working relationship, it was therefore only natural that Ezrin would produce Wagner’s 1978 solo debut album. Both men pulled names from their extensive artist connections, lining up a talented studio band for the project that included guitarists Steve Hunter and Domenic Trioano (from the James Gang); bassists Prakash John (Parliament/Funkadelic) and Bob Babbitt; and drummers Whitey Glan and Allan Schwartzberg. Considering Wagner’s hard rock credentials, his solo debut comes across – at first spin – as a relatively lightweight affair; kind of like a boxer dropping pounds to punch down in a lower weight class. That doesn’t make it a bad album, just an unexpected cruiserweight effort, with a greater reliance on melody and songcraft than previous, which would serve Wagner’s songwriting efforts well in the future.

Dick Wagner (Alice Cooper Tour)
The album opens with a cover of Andy Pratt’s elegant “Some Things Go On Forever,” a piano-driven ballad that manages to channel a bit of the old Ursa Major magic nonetheless with intertwined guitars and beefy rhythms. “Don’t Stop The Music” is a similar construct, albeit a Wagner original, and it treads awfully close to Gary Wright's “Dreamweaver” turf with a chiffon arrangement, ethereal instrumentation, floating vocals, and Ernie Watt’s wired jazz-funk sax solo playing off of Wagner’s soulful fretwork. The song itself is an ode to rock ‘n’ roll and the DJs playing it on the radio, lyrically concealing a deceptive romantic undercurrent.

Don't forget ya guitar Richard
“Nightwork” echoes Wagner’s late-career return to the blues, the song a hard-luck tale turned smooth R&B romp with sultry backing vocals and subtle horn flourishes. It’s Wagner’s fluid guitarplay that stands out, though, driving the performance into a more soulful corner, the guitarist mixing scraps of Ernie Isley, George Benson, and Sly Stone in creating his own bluesy, funky contemporary edge. By contrast, “Heartlands” comes across as a country-flavored symphony with acoustic string plucking and a folkish lyrical slant with Wagner’s plaintive vocals up front and high in the mix, wearing his sentiment on his sleeve before the entire band kicks in and swerves the entire affair into the melancholy-tinged “Oceans.”


With a little louder guitars and a tougher arrangement, I could easily see “Oceans” as an Ursa Major jam. It’s more nuanced here, though, with swelling, lush instrumentation; obligatory whale cries in the background (it was the late 1970s, after all…); and some prog-rock styled playing that wouldn’t sound out-of-place on a Pink Floyd album. “Go Down Together” is the album’s foot-stomper, Wagner’s opening solo knocking down anything Ted Nugent tried to do during the decade. An up-tempo six-string rocker with honky-tonk piano, strident rhythms, and sizzling fretwork, it’s one of Wagner’s finest rock ‘n’ roll moments with a great storyline and an overall vibe that could have made it a big hit if FM radio hadn’t gone all wussy and corporate by ’78.

Swerving the listener once again, “Small Town Boy” is nifty slice of pop-rock fluff with island rhythms similar to those of Pablo Cruise and is probably the most radio-friendly tune on the album. Wagner takes his cue from Nashville with the country-rock tune “Hand Me Down Heartaches,” a lovely melody surrounding finely-crafted lyrics and backed by the slightest of twangy instrumentation that works mostly because of Wagner’s earnest, emotionally-charged vocals.

Wagner closes his solo debut with the grandiloquent “Motor City Showdown,” a street-savvy medium-tempo soft-rocker just a step away from Jim Steinman with its swells of orchestration surrounding and coddling Wagner’s oblique ‘Sharks vs. Jets’ story-song lyrics. It’s a strange but effective song to end the album with, veering dangerously close to the prog-rock edge in its ambition but with an undeniable singer/songwriter veneer lying close to the surface. It’s a gorgeous performance, and the musicians imbue it with a sort of majesty and grandeur that’s out-of-sync with contemporary rock sounds (circa 1978). Appropriately, Wagner’s searing guitar solo on his trusty Mockingbird guitar is threaded through the outro, ending the album with a quiet dignity.

CD Reissue cover with name change
Unfortunately, the album sold poorly in spite of the guitarist’s reputation – probably due to Atlantic Records’ enormous blunder of naming the disc Richard Wagner (rather than Dick Wagner, the name by which he performed), which allegedly confused record stores into stocking it in the classical music section with Richard Wagner, the German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor, best known for his operas. With the albums reissue on CD in 2014, Real Gone Music has corrected this mistake and re-titled the album 'Dick Wagner'.

Decidedly less blustery than much of Wagner’s earlier band work, his never less than stellar guitar playing provides the steely muscle rippling beneath the surface of many of the album’s songs. Dick Wagner is definitely an album of its time, and yet also curiously out-of-step with late ‘70s trends in rock music, which just further spotlights Wagner’s unique vision and talents. If you’re not expecting the second coming of Frost or a sequel to Rock N Roll Animal, you’ll find a lot to like among the lofty pop-rock tunes to be found on Dick Wagner. [extract from The Reverend's Rock 'n' Roll Archives]

This post consists of FLACs freshly ripped from my near mint vinyl (purchased from Reading Records in Carlton, Melbourne back in the late 70's) and includes full album artwork for both CD and vinyl, and label scans.  Although I enjoy listening to this album, I have always compared it to Dick's co-guitarist Steve Hunter's solo album 'Swept Away', released the year before (see my post), which I actually enjoy listening to more. Interestingly enough Hunter plays rhythm guitar on Wagner's album however Wagner didn't play on Hunter's album, although Bob Ezrin did, playing keyboards. Go figure.

Track Listing:
A1 Some Things Go On Forever*   3:37
A2 Don't Stop The Music 5:44
A3 Nightwork 4:34
A4 Heartlands 1:38
A5 Oceans 5:30
B1 Go Down Together 4:07
B2 Small Town Boy 4:21
B3 Hand Me Down Heartaches 5:11
B4 Motor City Showdown 6:19

All tracks written by Richard Wagner except *Andy Pratt

Band Credits:
Backing Vocals – Brooks Hunnicutt, Laurel Massé, Lisa Roberts, 
Bass – Bob Babbitt, Prakash John
Drums – Allan Schwartzberg, Whitey Glan
Guitar – Domenic Troiano, Steve Hunter
Keyboards – Bob Ezrin, Dave Tyson*, Fred Mandel, Paul Griffin, Phil Aaberg*
Lead Vocals, Guitar, Soloist [All Guitar Solos], Backing Vocals – Richard Wagner*
Percussion – Jim Maelen*
Modern Folk Quartet*, Tony Kosinec
Saxophone [solo] – Ernie Watts (tracks: A2)
Producer, Engineer, Mixed By [Remix] – Bob Ezrin & Brian Christian
Orchestrations – Allan Macmillan, Bob Ezrin


Saturday, October 4, 2025

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

(U.K 1973-Present)
.
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 Cassette in FLAC format (thanks to Draftervoi at Voodoo Wagon) and includes customised artwork, along with artwork from alternate bootleg releases (see below)

New Improved Rip and 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 Lady Love
12 Into The Flame

Band Members:
Robin Trower - Guitar
Davey Pattison - Vocals
Dave Bronze - Bass
Pete Thompson - Drums


New Link 04/10/2025