Hobo - Child Of The Earth (1978)

 (Australian 1977-1978)

Hobo’s 'Child of the Earth' is one of the most elusive and rare progressive releases from Australia’s 1970s scene, seemingly unknown to even the most knowledgeable Australian music historians. After appearing in one of Han Pokora’s books, the album has been placed on many wish lists created by record collectors around the world. The record is so phenomenally obscure that the last time it appeared on popsike was over a decade ago for the pricely sum of $800.

This obscurity may be attributed to the fact that the album supposedly sunk without a trace upon release in 1978, due to the small Sydney-based ‘Down Under’ label folding immediately after release. The only notable musician in Hobo is bassist Henry Correy who had been in the Australian Jazz-Rock band, Sun with Renee Geyer, releasing a rare album on RCA Victor in 1973.

Henry Correy

Musically, I would categorise the music as mid-1970s progressive rock. The arrangements are dominated by: densely layered analogue synthesizer colours, melodies and effects by the ARP Omni string synthesizer and Mini-Moog; trebly Chris Squire-esque bass lines that are high in the mix; and good lead guitar playing including occasional Steve Howe-esque volume swells, Richie Blackmore-like ferocity and space-rock guitar theatrics redolent of early UFO.

However, the music is firmly on the simplistic end of the progressive rock spectrum, with the band tending to focus mainly on heavily reverberated and symphonic space-rock textures rather than complex time signatures and unusual chord progressions. Thus there is a proclivity in the compositions towards atmosphere, mood and texture (which they do very well) rather than compositional complexity found in other 70s progressive rock bands such as Gentle Giant and King Crimson. Their dense and simple symphonic style is best represented on the epic 6 minute-long tracks ('Hobo' and 'Every Running Man'), and the 10 minute ode to a troubled friend ('Song for Mitch'), which features a great delay-inflected space-rock guitar solo over a drone.

Hobo (L-R Henry Correy, Michael Pandelis, Mark Riley, Ken Bunguric, John Faddoul)
[Photo thanks to Michael Pandelis]

The band also explore up-tempo riff-based Hard Rock a la Deep Purple with some ferocious guitar leads ('Dizzy Girl'); swinging piano and bass driven Jazz-Rock reminiscent of early Spirit with a Randy California guitar solo and jazz guitar sound ('You Got Women'); and heavy blues / boogie rock with Hammond organ and lightning fast guitar leads ('Drive On'). The latter also possesses an intro that recalls Ariel’s version of Spectrum’s ‘I’ll Be Gone’ - isolated heavy drums with rural harmonica.

Ralph Morrison (Replaced Mark Riley in 1978)

The musicianship on this album is consistently good throughout - especially keyboardist and guitarist - despite unspectacular songwriting skills. Progressive fans I am sure will find something enjoyable across the album. [Review by ursamajor69 at RateyourMusic]
And now a word from Michael Pandelis:

Micahel Pandelis

"Gday, Mick Pandelis here. I played guitar on the album ‘Child of The Earth’ by Hobo. Here's some trivia for you:

The band leaders name was Henry Correy who also had a classic oz jazz rock band in the late sixties early seventies called 'Sun'. This band has had Renee Geyer and I believe Richard Clapton at one stage. Sun appeared on GTK and many other iconic oz music shows.

Hobo appeared on Donnie Sutherland's Sounds on a few occasions. Mark Opitz was our engineer and producer at EMI, we were his first there. When we first met Mark it was in the mastering room, he had just received a master tape of " I Robot" by the Alan Parsons Project, and was getting it set for pressing. Sherbet was in the other studio recording Howzat.

A few years back I bumped into Henry again and did a blues album with him called ‘Prisoner of Desire’. Unfortunately Henry suffered a stroke a couple of years back and hasn't been himself.

Mark Riley was the original drummer in Hobo, but left to join another high profile band before we recorded the album and was replaced by Ralph Morrison. Mark eventually played with the Australian Jazz Rock outfit Crossfire on the Live in Montreux album in 1982. Sadly, Mark was killed in a motor bike accident in 1983.

In Chris Spencer's book 'Who's Who of Australian Rock', he lists Henry Correy as a one-time member of SUN, and also BLUESBERRY JAM from Wollongong as recently as 2000.

I am fairly certain that the label 'Down Under Records' has no affiliation with the short-lived Sydney indie label from the mid 1960s. Perhaps it is their own custom moniker?

None of the songs on this album are currently held in the APRA or ASCAP repertoires.

This post consists of FLACs ripped from Vinyl (Thanks to BrianL at Midoztouch2) and includes full album artwork and label scans. This album is a true Aussie gem, and needs to be listened to multiple times, to be fully appreciated. Although the vocals are not a strong point, the musicianship on this album is equal to any other Aussie Prog Rock bands at that time, like Sebastian Hardie, Airlord and Peak. 

My favourite tracks are "Song For Mitch", "Ever Running Man" and the album closer "Hobo".

Track Listing:

A01. Dizzy Girl  (03:41)
A02. Song for Mitch   (10:10)
A03. You Got Women  (03:58)
A04. Love Torn Katie   (03:50)
B05. Drive On   (03:19)
B06. Ever Running Man   (06:10)
B07. Try    (04:41)
B08. Hobo   (06:13)

Hobo were:
John Faddoul (lead vocal, harmonies)
Henry Correy (bass, vocal, harmonies)
Mick Pandelis (all guitars, mini moog)
Ken Bunguric (piano, oran, strings,

omni synth, harmonies)

Ralph Morrison (drums, percussion)

Recorded at: EMI Sydney; and Atlantic Studios, 

Earlwood, Sydney; under a recording grant 

from the Australia Council Music Board.

Produced by: Hobo and Ray Wight.

Engineers: Mark Opitz (EMI); Godfrey Gamble (Atlantic).

Hobo Link (167Mb)