REPOST: Stylus - For The Love Of Music (1976) with Bonus Track

(Australian 1975-1979, 1992, 2002-2010)
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Stylus was a 1970's Australian soul-pop group. The band is notable for being the only Australian act ever released by Motown Records in the USA. Stylus toured with George Benson, Average White Band, Ike & Tina Turner, and Australia's "Little River Band". Japan's Toshiba-EMI re-issued 3 Stylus CDs (For The Love Of Music, Best Kept Secret & Part Of It All) in 1998/99.
Stylus was formed out of the ashes of a group called “Mason Cure” (led by  Ian Mason), featuring four of the members of  Stylus, but once Ian Mason left in 1974, they formed “Stylus”, with Sam McNally taking on the keyboards role and Jeff Joseph the manager. The band was Peter Cupples vocals/ rhythm guitar, Peter Lee drums, Sam McNally keyboards, Ron Peers guitar/vocals and Ashley Henderson bass guitar/vocals.
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Summer Breeze_45

Peter Cupples wrote & produced the groups music. Their music is smooth and funky, widely regarded as Australia’s premier soul group in the 70's, supporting groups like the Average White Band, Tina Turner and George Benson when they were touring Australia. Stylus was also regular on the ABC television show 'Countdown'.
The band eventually scored a deal with WEA (Atlantic) and issued the single Seals and Crofts' "Summer Breeze"/"Feelin' Blue"  in July, 1975. The single reached #31 in Melbourne during August.
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If you're after hard funk then their albums won’t hit the spot but if you dig groups like Average White Band, The Eagles and other 70's groups that have a undercurrent of out funkiness running through their Rock then you may want to take a listen to Stylus.
This line-up recorded the first two albums 'Where In The World' and 'For The Love Of Music'.
For the third album 'Best Kept Secret' Trevor Courtney filled the drum position. Several drummers were used from this time till the fourth album 'Part Of It All' was released including Joe Tattersall's and Mark Meyer who played on 'Part Of It All'. Singer Peter Roberts joined the band from the middle of 1978.
'Best Kept Secret' was released in the USA by Motown on their Prodigal label. The album and singles received favourable reviews in Music Industry magazines such as Cashbox and Billboard.
'Part Of It All' was to be the second US release but due to a re-shuffle of key management in the record company this was shelved.

Album Review 1
This album showed heaps of potential, but the pressure to produce a new album on the back of the success of their first, made it hard. We never took time off to rehearse or even record. We kept on giging all the way through, as we had families to support. We rehearsed at sound checks, and in our hotel rooms while on tour.
Songs like "Getting in the Groove" "Moving on Home" and "Nature is giving" were great grooves to play live. I think this album produced three great ballads, "So much love", which introduces Ashley Henderson to the front mike. People got to hear what a fantastic and unique voice he has. 'So much love' was a good single for us, picking up airplay all around the country. (It even made it on to one of those 'explosive hits' records). The other two ballads were "Musical Man" & "Love is all we need". I believe those three songs would sound great, recorded with the sounds and technology we have today, (food for thought)...
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Peter Cupples goes on to say.....'For the Love of Music' was our second album. I think that potentially it should have been our best record. We had discovered, at this stage, that we had a wonderful and unique vocal talent in our band - our bass player Ashley Henderson. I set out to write some ballads to match his beautiful voice. This added another dimension to our music. The trouble was, with the pace that things had moved, and with the weight of the constant touring, we didn't have enough time to sit back and let it develop at its own rate. I had the ideas for the songs, and we were rushed into getting it out to follow up on our debut success. The record, whilst it was a nice recording, was probably a bit of a let-down. We changed managers at this stage and we also seemed to lose a bit of momentum. So we continued to tour and slog it out on the road. [extracts from Peter Cupples website, now defunct]
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Stylus On Stage 1976

Album Review 2
As an Australian record collector, you usually hear about the legend of Stylus from Japanese record collectors before hearing about it from locals, and this group does still seem to be a sought-after item over there. Having started out as a break-collector, I was more than a little disappointed by this album when I first heard it. The sound, which would now be best described as modern soul, is a lot smoother than it is funky. Fronted by Peter Cupples (known for his work with Stylus as well as his two solo albums), it’s surprising that nothing by the group was compiled until last year (Respect Overdue Vol. 3). The good tracks on here have a really upbeat, choppy funk groove, but be warned – the vocals may not be what you are expecting, or hoping for. "Gettin' in the Groove", "For the Love of Music" and "What’s Right for You" fall right into this category. They have three other albums in the same vein. I don’t listen to them very often and seem to recall this one being the best of them. Feel free to tell me otherwise! [from aussiefunk.blogspot.com]
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This post consists of FLACs taken from my pristine vinyl copy. Not a pop or crackle to be heard - something you wouldn't expect from a Stylus ! LOL
Also included is full album artwork, lyrics sheet and label scans. As a bonus, I have also included a B-side single that was not included on the album called "Funky Fig" (the flip side to their single "I Just Don't Wanna Fall in Love Right Now"). This rare single was sourced  from DJ Kinetic with thanks, from his AussieFunk blog - and is well worth visiting.

           New Improved RIP  !
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Track Listing 
01. For the Love of Music
02. Musical Man
03. Movin' On Home
04. So Much Love
05. Gettin' in the Groove
06. Nature is Giving
07. I Just Don't Wanna Fall in Love Right Now
08. We All Need One Another
09. What's Right For You
10. Love is all We Need
11. Funky Fig (Bonus B-Side Single)

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Band Members:
Bass – Ashley Henderson
Drums – Peter Lee
Guitar – Ron Peers
Keyboards – Sam McNall
Producer, Vocals, Guitar – Peter Cupples
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Stylus Link (346Mb) New Link 25/01/26

REPOST: Stiletto - Licence To Rage (1978) plus Bonus Tracks

(Australian 1976-1978)
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Stiletto formed in the Autumn of 1976 and quickly gained a reputation of being a strong feminist band. At that point, their line-up included singer / songwriter Janie Conway on guitar and vocals and Marney Sheehan on bass. Shortly after Chris Worrall joined the band", Janie left. She did some demo tapes, produced by Mike Rudd for EMI, played as a duo with another singer/songwriter, Marney Sheehan (ex-bass player in the original Stiletto line-up) and, finally, in late '78, formed her own rock band, Janie Conway's Scarlet.
Stiletto first appeared on vinyl in July 1977 when they provided the B-side, 'Nights In Parlour', to Red Symon's single "Only A Flipside'. Later in the year, they gained prominence with the release of the Oz Records compilation album, Debutantes, to which they contributed three songs.
Their first wholly Stiletto single, 'Bluebirds', written by Andrew, was followed in August '78 by their debut album, 'Licence to Rage' — unfortunately to become their only LP. Two tracks from the album, 'Goodbye Johnny' and 'Woman In A Man's World' were released as a single (Oz label) in the same month.
In November it was announced that one of their songs, 'Women In Trouble', was to be used on a film soundtrack (other tracks by the band had been used previously on movies). This news was accompanied by some not so good tidings — they were dropped by their record company, EMI. Regrettably, this seemed to precipitate their dissolution.
Chris Worrall left to join Paul Kelly and the Dots. He was replaced by Chris Dyson (ex-High Rise Bombers) and briefly the band seemed to rejuvenate, and even appeared as special guests on Elvis Costello's Melbourne show; but early in 1979 the final decision to split was made.
Jane, Andrew and Celeste appeared in a rock musical,Mickey's Moomba, at the Pram Factory in February-March '79. (Andrew and Celeste in the backing band and Jane in a singing-acting role. Andrew also wrote some of the show's music.) Chris and Eddie were to join a reformation of the Melbourne new wave band, News, but in early '79 were playing with the Romantics [extract from Noel McGrath's Australian Encyclopedia of Rock (1978-79) Yearbook, p94-95]
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Pub Bands - An Ocassional Guide
(Article by Jenny Brown, 'Bottom Line' Newspaper - March / April 1978, p12)
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Half man, half woman! C'est Stiletto, one of Melbourne's few truly underground bands, burrowing upwards toward the light of widerr recgnition.
Stiletto, whilst pretending to a certain cool, are closet flamboyants. Lots of colorand imagery, scrambled genders, and a sort of shivering toughness which has definite appeal.
Constant revolving in the club 'n' pub circuit has polished this sharp little gem of a band until crikey they can really rock. There's been the odd line-up casuality, but always the replacements have been well selected, eventually beefing up the band.

The line-up (at this time) is now Jane Clifton (vocals), Celeste Howden (bass), Chris Worrell(guitar), Andrew Bell (guitar) and Ed Van Roosendale (drums).
Stiletto's repetoire contains some very incentive originals, with a dyed-in-the-wool Melbournian 70's feel. Their interest in women's blues has labelled them a feminist band, but those who think the female members dominate the group may be surprised to know the guitarist Andrew Bell penned the tragicomic "Women In Trouble" (about the long distance adoration and eventual spurning "I wouldn't fuck you with a dog's dick" etc. of an impervious female passer-by building site workers). Also notable are "Premenstrual Blues", "Cream" and many more.

By no means are Stiletto going to set the world alight, but they have earned their tracks on the 'Debutantes' album released by Oz Records this November. They also have the flip-side of Red Symons "It's Only a Flip Side", the single from the album, with 'Nights in the Parlour'.
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Interview with Jane Clifton (circa Music Makers, June 1979,    The Toorak Times)

When Jane Clifton talks about Stiletto, you can’t help but get the feeling that she looks back on her days in a rock’n’roll band not so much with regret as with a wisdom and a knowledge that she didn’t have when the band started.

Comfortably settled into a circuit of activities that includes acting, swingtime/jazz singing, and a late night spot at the Last laugh Theatre Restaurant, she can probably afford to feel that way. But the Stiletto sag, starting off with so much enjoyment and ending in so much disappointment, still looms large in her mind.
“One of the great failings of Stiletto,” says Jane matter-of-factly, “was there was no single central figure to say this is the way ahead, this is the music we’ll play, these are the ideas we’ll have.”

“I firmly believe now that the most successful – in the commercial sense – rock and roll ventures have a typical structure, where there is a central person with an idea around whom other people cluster .“
She pauses a moment, then settles back into her armchair. It’s obviously a long story, and no longer worth telling in too much detail.
“ Like, in the beginning of Stiletto, we just fell into the band. It may have been that the five of us who ended up being together actually chosen people, we might not have chosen each other, for a lot of reasons.”

‘But,” adds Jane with a wry smile, “Stiletto was the band where I finally got to do the whole rock and roll trip, working four or five nights a week, touring…and getting exploited.”
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Jane Clifton’s current relationship with rock’n’roll is what you might call a trial separation. “Right now I don’t think I’ll ever do that trip again,” she says.

“I don’t think I’ll ever give myself totally to rock’n’roll.”
The question of talent versus timing-and-luck comes up. To Jane,the latter is the crucial ingredient, one with which Stiletto was not blessed.
“We were always out of phase.”
“We released ‘Bluebirds’ at the height of when punk was in vogue, so we were stuffed on that one. ‘Bluebirds’ was the pinkest thing we could possibly have put out!”
She laughs it off. Time heals all wounds.

Jane Clifton (vocals), Celeste Howden (bass)

“Then we released ‘Goodbye Johnny’, but by then the wave was over.”

“Our lyrics were out of phase too.”
But Jane, I always thought that was the one thing about Stiletto that was IN phase!
“They were to start with,” answers Jane, ‘and we were singing about interesting stuff that would never be popular within mainstream commercial rock.”

Stiletto never did quite achieve what they wanted i.e.general acceptance. Compounded by an album, as Jane admits, never quite lived up to the promise the band had shown, the band, the concept, and the hopes folded.So how does she come to be performing with a jazz band doing Cole Porter material and the like?
The answer is simple.

She’d always enjoyed slipping into a torch song; even with Stiletto (‘Second Home’ and ‘Nights in Parlour’ were amongst their best songs).

When management of The Flying Trapeze Theatre Restaurant convinced her to take part in their fifth birthday celebrations, her spot was so successful that offers of work began coming in virtually of their own accord.

“Everybody kept saying ‘keep doing it’, and I kept getting offered gigs…it was exactly the same way Stiletto started, totally by accident and seeming like a nice idea.”

“I intend keeping it that way,” continues a worldly wise Jane. “With Stiletto we pushed the idea too far, kept it going too long. With this, as soon as the idea runs out or I get sick of it – I’m going to finish it.”

The obvious question is, do you feel more at home performing this style of music than you were in the rock band?

“Well, they’re both parts of what I wanted to do, Like, I don’t totally think of having left rock behind, but I’d never do it as part of a band.”

‘At the moment I’m getting another part of me out of my system, and learning a whole lot about jazz. Which, for me, is just great.”.  The smile on her face confirms that.
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This post consists of FLACs ripped from my vinyl wuth full album artwork and label scans.  I have also chosen to include 3 bonus tracks, taken from the Aussie compilation album 'Debutantes' (produced by Red Symons) to sweeten the deal. Oh, and keep your ears out for the track "Cream" which has a distinct 'Skyhooks' sound about it, with Jane sounding a lot like Shirley Strauchan.

As an extra bonus for this REPOST, I am also including 2 demo tracks that Stilleto made for their record company in 1977, which never made it on their LP. Thanks to Sunshine for these demos.

Stiletto were certainly an under rated band who deserved greater success and better treatment from their record company. So grab a copy of this rare Aussie album while you can and know that with it comes a License To Rage !

New Improved RIP! with extra bonus tracks

Track Listing

01 - Public Enemy No.1
02 - Licence To Rage
03 - Woman In A Man's World
04 - Bluebirds
05 - Not Too Young For Joy
06 - Goodbye Johnny
07 - Middle Of The Bed
08 - 2nd Home
09 - Rozalyn
10 - The Man (Bonus Track) *
11 - Cream (Bonus Track) *
12 - Nights In Parlour (Bonus Track) *

13 - Dollar Go (Bonus Demo Track) +

14 - Housewife's Son (Bonus Demo Track) +

* Bonus tracks taken from the 1977 compilation 'Debutantes

+ Bonus Demo Tracks 1977 [Thanks to Sunshine at AusRock]
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Band Line-up:
Andrew Bell (Guitar)
Jane Clifton (Vocals)
Celeste Howden (Bass, vocals)
Eddie Van Rosendall (Drums, vocals)
Chris Worrall (Guitar, vocals)
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Stiletto Link (314Mb)

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Snakes Alive - Selftitled (1975) FLACs

(Australian 1973-1975)

Thought I was AWOL hey?  Well, I'm finally back from holidaying in Surfers Paradise and I'm ready to get back into the blogin'. Hope you enjoy this one:

Some time ago, I stumbled upon a "masterpiece" of progressive jazz / rock on the web, in MP3 format. The band / album is called "Snakes Alive", formed in 1973, but there was very little information given about the band, except that they were Australian and the album was recorded in 1974. I’m sure some of you have also stumbled upon this album at some stage while searching blogs.

Now as the old expression goes, curiosity killed the cat (and I must say that my pet cat has been looking very restless recently) - I wanted to know where this band had come from and whether they had released any other material.

So, I started to search the web looking for clues.

Well, to cut a long story short, there wasn't much info out there at the time, but I finally managed to track down one of the band members (Michael Vidale - bass player) and have had some very interesting dialog with him via email.

Snakes Alive

Firstly, the album has never been officially released and was secretly recorded in late 1974 at the EMI recording studios (B) at 301 Castlereagh Street, Haymarket (Sydney) while Michael was working as a junior engineer. Rehearsed at Peter Nykyruj’s (Nickeroy) house in Randwick, Sydney; Snakes Alive was never a band that performed live. Michael tells me that the album took almost a whole year to record, making it the most expensive album ever produced in Oz at that time!

50 vinyl pressings were made for private consumption, but the album was never officially released.
Somehow, elicit releases have been made by 2 record companies over the years - Poor Boy Records in Japan and Blue Wave Records in the United States.

Aragorn, 1973

Michael tells me that he was also involved with two earlier projects before Snakes Alive, one called "Bedtime Story" recorded in 1973 (somewhat ragged and rough around the edges) and another under the name of Aragorn ..."The Suite" and "The People and The Night" ..basically an album of material devoted to The Lord Of The Rings (45mins) .. recorded at Clover Studios , Surry Hills September 1973. He believes the Aragorn material is as good if not better than Snakes alive! Alex Ditrich, Michael Vidale and Ralph Cooper went on to form the Jazz-Rock/Fusion band Stepps

Sadly, none of their material was played publicly, as they never played gigs! What a waste I say. But Michael still has the Master Tapes for all of these bands.

Snakes Alive

Album Review:

The music is absolutely brilliant, and the title track is so damn catchy I can't believe the band didn't consider releasing it there and then. Their sound is so unique it is hard to compare them with other bands, but their rich sounds and diverse musical instruments make it a pleasure to listen to this album, time and time again.

This is progressive smelling hard rock seventies stuff with some similarities to Krautrock but is also excellent jazz-rock in the use of instruments such as trumpet, saxophone, flute and sometimes the keyboards sound psychedelic (organ sounds, piano similar to Supertramp).

LP Gatefold

Long compositions, complicated in structure and well executed, here are ornate guitar solos and sophisticated brass sections - trumpet, saxophone and flute.

Splendid organs on top of a solid rhythm part form the core of the sound, and the solos of the two wind instruments demonstrate a strong presence throughout the record. The songs are dramatic and detailed – reminiscent of King Crimson – and their ability to create a variety of musical expressions makes one incredulous of their obscurity.

The final track “Fruit Pie” finishes with a powerful rolling drum performance. The album is almost entirely instrumental, and the vocals that do appear help to strengthen their sound.

L-R: Alex Ditrich, Michael Vidale, Colin Campbell, Boris Peric, Jonas Saywell, Peter Nykyruj

The Band Members were:

- Michael Vidale (bass/producer) has played for The Bushwackers, Slim Dusty, The Whitlams, Anne Kirkpatric, The Toe-sucking Cowgirls, Jimmy And The Boys, The Feral Swing Cats, Reg Lindsay, Peter Wells and Don Walker

- Peter Nykyruj (drums) who apparently played with Kush back in 73'. Michael considered him to be one of the best double-kick drummers in the business. Peter eventually went to London to play straight Jazz with Mike Osbourne. His son Nat, now plays drums for the band ‘Friends of Ron. Sadly, Peter passed away in 2003

Michael Vidale

- Alex ‘Al’ Ditrich (keyboards) was the main writer and now lives in the Gold Coast. Micahel still stays in regular contact with Alex

- Boris Peric (guitar) currently lives in Cains

- Jonas Saywell/Thomas (sax, flute, vocals)

- Colin Campbell (trumpet)

- Ralph Cooper (tamborine/mixing) played with Air Supply, Ralph helped Michael mix the album. The album was originally much longer and was edited down to fit onto a single vinyl copy.

Now that I have shared this story with you, I would like to say how grateful I am to Michael Vidale for revealing the story behind Snakes Alive. I have suggested that he should contact Gil Matthews at Aztec records to investigate the release of this masterpiece (and perhaps some of the other material he has stashed away). I guess we can only wait and see if anything transpires from my suggestion.

This post consists of FLACs ripped from a CD release (see left), including full album artwork and label scans (rare LP test pressings) plus several bonus tracks.  Firstly, an unedited recording of the title track Snakes Alive (original extended version) and a rare recording of the Bedtime (early Snakes Alive) track "Charred Ducks".

Track Listing:

01 – Dear Suzy (11:28)
02 – Abbreviations (8:56)
03 – Theme For Myra (7:20)
04 – Snakes Alive (6:00)
05 – Fruit Pie (6:19)
Bonus Tracks
06 - Snakes Alive (Original Extended Version) (14:13)
07 – Charred Duck [Bedtime Story] (10:01)

Snakes Alive were:
-Alex Ditrich (keyboards, claviers)
-Michael Vidale (bass)

-Boris Peric (guitar)
-Peter Nykyruj (drums)
-Jonas Saywell [Thomasich] (saxophone, flute, vocals)
-Colin Campbell (trumpet)
-Ralph Cooper & Michael Vidale (production)

Snakes Alive Link (459Mb)

Redhouse - Live at the Southside Six Hotel, Moorabbin 31-5-1975 (Bootleg)

(Australian 1972 - 1978)

The very well-known, well-travelled and heavily rocking 'Red House Roll Band' were Geelong’s most successful outfit in the early 70s. Formed in 1972, they provided a very theatrical stage show (along the lines of Alice Cooper) with band members dressing up in skeleton suits or Superman outfits.

Original band members were: 

John Ferguson – Lead Guitar/Lead Vocals, Malcolm Donnelly – Lead Guitar/Vocals, Jack Green – Bass/Vocals and Monty Osewald/Claude Ragone – Drums

Red-House-Roll-Band 1972-73

Fully professional for most of that period they appeared locally at the Barwon Heads, Torquay, Sundowner and Golf View Hotels. In Melbourne they appeared at the Croxton Park, Waltzing Matilda, Southside Six and Whitehorse Hotels as well as the weekly dances at Powerhouse and suburban Town Halls.

They toured country Victoria and nationally to Perth, Sydney and Newcastle. A big highlight was a Melbourne Town Hall gig with Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs. This powerhouse band re-formed to play at the 2019 Geelong Musos’ Reunion with Alan Williams on bass/vocals.

They supported most of the major artists of the time and also appeared at the famous Sunbury Music Festival.

In 1973, the band signed a record deal with Atlantic, which resulted in the single "O Lucky Man" (B-Side was Movin' On). Taken from the British feature film of the same name, the band's version of Alan Price's song became a regional hit. But the band went into hibernation and re-emerged in late 1975 under the shorter name 'Redhouse', with a completely revised line-up comprising Jack Green, John Dallimore, Jacques De Jongh and Gary Crothall. 

Redhouse 1975

Here's some tracks (ripped to MP3) from Redhouse recorded live at the Southside Six Hotel, Moorabbin, Victoria on a drunken Saturday afternoon (or night, can't remember) 31-5-1975. 

Taped on a cheap cassette player, the taper must have been sitting next to John Dallimore's amp 'cause you can hear mainly guitar and not much else. Therefore the recording isn't great, but it is what it is and captures the band during the early stages of their development before they hit the lime light under the shortened name 'Redhouse', releasing their hit album "One More Squeeze" in 1976. [See earlier post]

Track List:

01 - China Grove
02 - Zubulu
03 - BHP
04 - Upsetter
05 - Love is Strange
06 - Boogie 1
07 - Hotfeet
08 - Endless Lady
09 - Got Away
10 - Lovely Lady
11 - Aint Gonna See You Babe
12 - Boogie 2
13 - Demons Eye
14 - Let it Rock

* Thanks to Keith at Midoztouch for RIP

Redhouse Were:
John Ferguson (lead vocals, guitar),
John Dallimore (lead guitar, vocals),
Jacques De Jongh (rhythm guitar, vocals),
Gary Crothall (drums),
Jack Green (bass)

Bonus Single (1973)  FLACs

01 O Lucky Man - Redhouse Roll Band

02 Movin' On - Redhouse Roll Band

Redhouse Link (185Mb)

Redhouse Videos

1. Redhouse Roll Band - Live in Geelong (featuring 17 yr old John Dallimore)

2. Red House Roll Band audio from Blind Date TV show with some cool stills of the band .

Red House Roll Band live in 1974 playing “China Grove” on Melbourne’s channel 7 - Blind Date program. The audio was recorded straight from the TV set to a cassette tape recorder at the time the program was aired. And, the pics are some that I had on a small strip of washed out coloured proofs that I had archived. From left to right in the first pic: (top row) John Ferguson vocals & guitar, John Dallimore guitar (and below) Peter Quince drums, and Jack Green bass - hope a few people might enjoy this piece of history that dates back almost 50 years [Thanks to John Ferguson for posting this video on his facebook]

3. This video clip was taken at the Sundowner Hotel in Geelong on super 8 movie film by Peter Nell - the sound track is one of several original songs that were recorded in 1974 (at Greg Bee’s studio) in Geelong on a 4 track tape recording unit and was supplied by Rodney Kenyon who had hung on to the original tapes. The song is called, “Scarborough Beach Song”. John Ferguson wrote the song in Perth W/A while on tour with the band, in admiration of the beautiful sunsets that he saw on the WA ocean skylines. The lineup in the poster below (from L to R back) Peter Quince, Jack Green (from L to R front) John Dallimore, and John Ferguson