Although I lived close to the surf coast I didn't actually surf myself (no balance I'm afraid), but my older brother did, and during my early teenage years I would often tag along with him when he would go surfing at Torquay (WinkyPop), Bells Beach, 13th Beach and Anglesea. I was happy to sit back and simply watch the surfing action, while listening to music on my portable cassette player, soaking up the sun and mesmorising atmosphere of our beautiful beaches.
So when my brother asked me if I wanted to go and see a new surf movie at the Pix Theatre in West Geelong, called MORNING OF THE EARTH, I jumped at the opportunity and remember being in total awe of the amazing surf footage that appeared on the big screen, while listening to some of the best music I'd ever heard. The only artist that I recognised at that time was the distinct voice of Brian Cadd (from the Bootleg Family), but the remaining music was all new to me.
Of course, I promptly hunted down the Soundtrack from Brash Suttons Music Store in Geelong, and still have the treasured vinyl in my record collection. Of course, I have also acquired most of the later CD releases, most featuring the full soundtrack. However, I have chosen to only share the vinyl release as these CD releases are still available.
Now, for those of you who are not familar with this iconic surf soundtrack, I suggest you read on:
With MORNING OF THE EARTH, filmmaker Albert Falzon shook the foundations of surfing film making. With one feature, he made a statement, and he demonstrated what could be done given the right combinations of resources, good waves, good surfers, good music and above all else, a grand design.
Albert Falzon began his film making career at the tender age of 15. Living at The Enhance (on the Central Coast of New South Wales, north of Sydney) he filmed local surfers with his 8mm camera and then showed the footage (usually in his backyard) unedited. Occasionally he would even venture out into the water with his camera to get close ups. This naturally gave him a better feeling for what he was doing; something that planted a seed that would blossom years later into MORNING OF THE EARTH.
Albert Falzon began his film making career at the tender age of 15. Living at The Enhance (on the Central Coast of New South Wales, north of Sydney) he filmed local surfers with his 8mm camera and then showed the footage (usually in his backyard) unedited. Occasionally he would even venture out into the water with his camera to get close ups. This naturally gave him a better feeling for what he was doing; something that planted a seed that would blossom years later into MORNING OF THE EARTH.
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| Albert Falzon - Filming For Surfing World |
Falzon's 8mm antics eventually gave way to a full time job with Bob Evans' surfing magazine The Surfing World (and later shortened to plain old Surfing World) as a staff photographer. The quality of his work eventually led to him being enlisted to help film the annual Bob Evans' surfing feature. It was during this time that the thought of making his own surfing film germinated. Falzon's idea was different to the sports or travelogue orientation of many of the surfing film makers - including Evans - and perhaps more aligned with that of Paul Witzig; Falzon saw surfing as much more a way of life than just an activity and that is what he wanted to capture on film.
With David Elfick and John Witzig (brother of Paul), Falzon founded Tracks Magazine in 1970, his new position allowing him the freedom to begin shooting footage for his film. Trips to Bali and Hawaii soon followed. So sure was Falzon of what he had, bookings for the film were already made for ealy 1972. To fulfill these self-imposed obligations, Falzon spent the end of 1971 locked away in his Whale Beach studio shaping his dream into a celluloid reality. The film had the working title IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY, but this was soon superseded by the more ambitious MORNING OF THE EARTH. The film debuted as scheduled in February 1972 to rave reviews and quickly became the largest grossing home grown surfing film of the time.
Musically, the soundtrack to MORNING OF THE EARTH was a mixture of various styles with one common thread; they were all statements in one form or another. Taking Paul Witzig's lead, Falzon opted for no commentary and instead left the soundtrack to speak for itself. Promotional material of the period exclaimed, 'They are songs of the sun and the moon and the sky and the sea. They are songs of places and people and ideas. They are songs of freedom and peace and waves.'
Chosen to 'produce' the soundtrack was New Zealand born G. Wayne Thomas, a producer and recording artist whose first single "Take lt Easy" had been a Top 40 hit in '71 for the newly formed Australian Warner Brothers label. Those offered the opportunity of contributing to the soundtrack were individuals Greg Quill, John J. Francis, Brian Cadd, Terry Hannagan (listed as Hannigan on the record label), Newport surfer and boat painter (and former member of the band Seed) Peter Howe, and the groups Tamam Shud and Ticket. Thomas himself also stepped to the fore as a solo artist and contributed a handful of songs, including the title tune.
Although reputedly promised the entire soundtrack project, Tamam Shud's contribution to the MORNING OF THE EARTH soundtrack was cut to only three songs; two by Bjerre (Sea The Swells and Bali Waters) and one by Tim Gaze (First Things First). In the end though, the Shud's material was given frequent airings throughout the film soundtrack with the instrumental Bali Waters being heard three times; Sea The Swells twice and First Things First once. Bali Waters which also showcased Richard Lockwood on flute, was also issued as the title track to the group's one and only EP release. Most of the recorded material for the film eventually found its way onto the soundtrack longplayer issued by Warner.
As a film experience, MORNING OF THE EARTH was immensely popular around Australia, grossing over $200,000 on the local market during its first two years on the circuit. The soundtrack album was equally as successful, given considerable promotion by Warner Bros. and pushed to breaking point by G. Wayne Thomas. Tracks magazine was also a significant factor in both the success of the film and the soundtrack, the latter quickly achieving Gold Record status. The added Top 20 success of Thomas' "Open Up Your Heart" was icing on the cake. In various permutations, the soundtrack of MORNING OF THE EARTH has remained commercially available since it was first released on vinyl in 1972, then on CD in 1992 and expanded editions in 2002 and 2012. [Extract from Liner Notes 'A Life In The Sun']
G.Wayne Thomas Recalls....
In 1972, two guys walked into my office at Warner Bros one afternoon, introduced themselves as Albie and David, and asked if they could use the record player. I think the song they played was "You're not Alone", and then asked who had produced it. G.Wayne Thomas, the same guy who wrote and sang it I replied, and said "You just found him". They told me they were making a movie and after we chatted for a while, they asked me to produce, write and maybe sing some of the songs for the soundtrack of the film, to be directed by Albie Falzon and called MORNING OF THE EARTH.
I had never scored or produced a film soundtrack before, and this was Albie's first film, so over the next few days and weeks we formulated a rough plan, based on pure optimism and a 'we can wing it' ethic, because even Albie wasn't sure what exactly was going to be in the final cut. As it turned out, some of these decisions were still being made as the first reel was running in the theatre on the opening night at Manly Silver Screen. Albie and I were driving hell for leather from the dubbing suite somewhere in Wahroonga with the second reel of the movie, while everyone at the theatre was supplied with free white wine, and no doubt all wondering why there was such a long interval.
One smart thing I did do was to ring John French, the sound engineer and boss at TCS, a recording studio situated at the back of Channel 9 in Melbourne that had recently installed 16 track recording. Back in 1972, there was no 16 track recorders in Sydney. I also rang Brian Cadd who I admired as a musician, writer and singer, but at that point had never met. Without John and Brian, and also Peter Jones, just starting on a career as an arranger after being a piano player and who did the brass and string arrangements for MORNING OF THE EARTH, I don't think we could have pulled it off.
One comment on the vagaries of success in the music business concerns the song "Open Up Your Heart". When in Melbourne recording we had completed all the material that I had planned to use for the soundtrack, but there was a concern expressed by various people of what would we do if there was not enough material.
I was adamant that I had worked it out pretty methodically with Albie and was confident that we had it covered, and also we were all exhausted after about three weeks of continuous recording, over-dubbing and mixing. But to keep the voices of doubt happy, I agreed to write one more song just in case. I had basically had the idea for "Open Up Your Heart" for some time and so went into the studio next door and finished it in about twenty minutes while Caddy called th band back into the studio. We put down only a rhythm / backing track and a rough vocal, thendid a rough mix and tacked it onto the end of the master tape.
The film and the sountrack went together pretty much as Albie and I had imagined, and we subsequently did not require the extra track. The No.1 radio station at the time was 2SM and as a part of the promotion of the film they wanted to select the single (from the score). So a copy of the master was sent over to John Brennan, now legendary in Australian radio, and at the time the musical director of the station. He called back a few days later, after the film had opened, and said he thought the single should be the last track on the tape, "Open Up Your Heart"
I had to tell him it wasn't in the film, and had only been done as an afterthought, just in case. Brennan insisted, so I had to go back to Melbourne and finish the song and we placed it over the end titles, the only place we could find to put it. It turned out that Brenno was right, and the song went #1 in about two weeks and followed suit in every state in Australia except Victoria, where the record wasn't even played due to the efforts of a petulant programmer, but that's another story.
I never thought I would be writing about these experiences so many years later, but the film and music has taken on it's own life and developed it's own legend, and seems to be affectionately installed in just about everyone who has ever surfed, and recalls when surfing wasn't about contests, but rather natural pleasure and a free spirit.
Many of the bands, writers, musicians and singers who contributed so stronly to the soundtrack were, or were about to be, Australian music legends. Many were to go on to, and in some cases, still influence the course of Australian music. [G.Wayne Tomas, 2002 Liner Notes]
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| Tracks - Feb, 1972 |
Musically, the soundtrack to MORNING OF THE EARTH was a mixture of various styles with one common thread; they were all statements in one form or another. Taking Paul Witzig's lead, Falzon opted for no commentary and instead left the soundtrack to speak for itself. Promotional material of the period exclaimed, 'They are songs of the sun and the moon and the sky and the sea. They are songs of places and people and ideas. They are songs of freedom and peace and waves.'
Chosen to 'produce' the soundtrack was New Zealand born G. Wayne Thomas, a producer and recording artist whose first single "Take lt Easy" had been a Top 40 hit in '71 for the newly formed Australian Warner Brothers label. Those offered the opportunity of contributing to the soundtrack were individuals Greg Quill, John J. Francis, Brian Cadd, Terry Hannagan (listed as Hannigan on the record label), Newport surfer and boat painter (and former member of the band Seed) Peter Howe, and the groups Tamam Shud and Ticket. Thomas himself also stepped to the fore as a solo artist and contributed a handful of songs, including the title tune.
As a film experience, MORNING OF THE EARTH was immensely popular around Australia, grossing over $200,000 on the local market during its first two years on the circuit. The soundtrack album was equally as successful, given considerable promotion by Warner Bros. and pushed to breaking point by G. Wayne Thomas. Tracks magazine was also a significant factor in both the success of the film and the soundtrack, the latter quickly achieving Gold Record status. The added Top 20 success of Thomas' "Open Up Your Heart" was icing on the cake. In various permutations, the soundtrack of MORNING OF THE EARTH has remained commercially available since it was first released on vinyl in 1972, then on CD in 1992 and expanded editions in 2002 and 2012. [Extract from Liner Notes 'A Life In The Sun']
G.Wayne Thomas Recalls....
In 1972, two guys walked into my office at Warner Bros one afternoon, introduced themselves as Albie and David, and asked if they could use the record player. I think the song they played was "You're not Alone", and then asked who had produced it. G.Wayne Thomas, the same guy who wrote and sang it I replied, and said "You just found him". They told me they were making a movie and after we chatted for a while, they asked me to produce, write and maybe sing some of the songs for the soundtrack of the film, to be directed by Albie Falzon and called MORNING OF THE EARTH.
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| G.Wayne Thomas 1972 |
One smart thing I did do was to ring John French, the sound engineer and boss at TCS, a recording studio situated at the back of Channel 9 in Melbourne that had recently installed 16 track recording. Back in 1972, there was no 16 track recorders in Sydney. I also rang Brian Cadd who I admired as a musician, writer and singer, but at that point had never met. Without John and Brian, and also Peter Jones, just starting on a career as an arranger after being a piano player and who did the brass and string arrangements for MORNING OF THE EARTH, I don't think we could have pulled it off.
I was adamant that I had worked it out pretty methodically with Albie and was confident that we had it covered, and also we were all exhausted after about three weeks of continuous recording, over-dubbing and mixing. But to keep the voices of doubt happy, I agreed to write one more song just in case. I had basically had the idea for "Open Up Your Heart" for some time and so went into the studio next door and finished it in about twenty minutes while Caddy called th band back into the studio. We put down only a rhythm / backing track and a rough vocal, thendid a rough mix and tacked it onto the end of the master tape.
The film and the sountrack went together pretty much as Albie and I had imagined, and we subsequently did not require the extra track. The No.1 radio station at the time was 2SM and as a part of the promotion of the film they wanted to select the single (from the score). So a copy of the master was sent over to John Brennan, now legendary in Australian radio, and at the time the musical director of the station. He called back a few days later, after the film had opened, and said he thought the single should be the last track on the tape, "Open Up Your Heart"
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| One of the film's surfer - Michael Peterson |
I never thought I would be writing about these experiences so many years later, but the film and music has taken on it's own life and developed it's own legend, and seems to be affectionately installed in just about everyone who has ever surfed, and recalls when surfing wasn't about contests, but rather natural pleasure and a free spirit.
Many of the bands, writers, musicians and singers who contributed so stronly to the soundtrack were, or were about to be, Australian music legends. Many were to go on to, and in some cases, still influence the course of Australian music. [G.Wayne Tomas, 2002 Liner Notes]
MORNING OF THE EARTH brought together the message of the 70's surfing era, without the use of spoken dialogue, and I look at the film now and remember the time of my life when I was discovering myself and the ocean, and breaking away with my own thoughts and ideas. The aesthetic of the ocean it created came back to me very powerfully. Through watching the images of the film I noticed the way people surfed and the way they used and built their equipment, and it became really significant. It's an incredible documentary of the time.
Looking now at surfing in the 70's, the rebellion of young people, the Vietname era and the post war period, surfing was an escape, an outlet for the young to express themselves, and was riding along with other alternative movements. At the time I didn't really know what I was looking at, but now when I look back I see we were being inspired by the self discovery and adventure.
It was that image of walking out on the reef at Uluwatu, this distant and mystical image of Bali that (director) Albie Falzon put together, it ingrained such an image in my mind of where I wanted to go in my life. It looked so huge and crazy and wild, and these guys were just walking out over the reef, and I had no idea that the reef was so sharp, and there they were out there with no one around and these incredible left handers, and I was a natural goofy footer!* I loved the idea of surfing in remote and challenging conditions like that.
The images with the music were just as powerful as the actual surfers. The film has a lot of these back lit scenes of water running off the surf board. The way the water moved around the board and back up into the wave and the curl, especially when it was done in slow motion. I'd just sit there and be mesmerised by that.
The images with the music were just as powerful as the actual surfers. The film has a lot of these back lit scenes of water running off the surf board. The way the water moved around the board and back up into the wave and the curl, especially when it was done in slow motion. I'd just sit there and be mesmerised by that.
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| Tom Carroll |
The inspiration of MORNING OF THE EARTH and the style of surfing the film gave me has lasted forever, and it's still going, still inside me. I will always keep moving with that. [Tom Carroll**, 2002 Liner Notes]
* A goofy foot surfer rides with their right foot forward, representing about 30% of surfers. The term originated from a 1937 Disney cartoon where Goofy surfed with this stance. It is not considered inferior to "regular" (left-foot forward) stance, merely a preference often determined by which foot instinctively steps forward.
** Thomas Victor Carroll (born 26 November 1961, Newport, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian former professional surfer from Sydney. He won the Australian Junior Title in 1978, the Pro Juniors in 1977 and 1980, the 1983 and 1984 ASP World Tour, and the 1987, 1990 and 1991 Pipe Masters. He became the first surfing millionaire after signing a contract with Quiksilver in 1989.
This post consists of FLACs ripped from CD (same track listing as Vinyl) and includes full album artwork for both CD and Vinyl. As my vinyl has been played to death, I decided to provide the crystal clear music from my 1992 CD release, for your listening pleasure.
Track Listing;
A2 Terry Hannagan – I'll Be Alright 4:05
A3 Tamam Shud – First Things First 4:09
A4 Brian Cadd – Sure Feels Good 3:44
A5 G. Wayne Thomas – Open Up Your Heart 3:41
A6 John J. Francis – Simple Ben 7:41
B1 Tamam Shud – Bali Waters 6:13
B2 Brian Cadd – Making It On Your Own 6:00
B3 G. Wayne Thomas - Day Comes 2:55
B4 Tamam Shud – Sea The Swells 6:13
B5 Peter Howe – I'm Alive 3:41
B6 Brian Cadd – Come With Me 4:56
Morning Of The Earth Link (370Mb)
