REPOST: Haze - Hazecolor-Dia (1971)

(German 1971)
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I bought this album from an import shop sale bin in Geelong many, many years ago (attracted by the multi-coloured cellophane cover) Not sure what happened to it but I most likely traded it - apparently it is now a very hard to find collectors item!
Historically undocumented, there's not a lot I can tell you about Haze. However, Bacillus Records must have deemed them as important, in that they presented their debut LP in a unique cover - an LP size transparency slide (known as a "dia" in Germany) in the style used by Agfa!
Hazecolor-Dia was a Hauke & Dierks production, recorded during April 1971 at the Clerks Studio. The gimmick sleeve was created by designer Walter Seyffer, who also created the cover of the Nine Days Wonder debut album and was their singer, too.
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Haze were amongst the first to present the uniquely German "hard-rock" sound, into which they mixed a complex variety of progressive elements, featuring guitars to the fore and quite a bizarre vocalist. They were also typical of the Bacillus Records sound, if more song based than most, venturing on to psychedelic and blues realms.

Recorded in 1971, this German album is a complex progressive rock effort with plenty of excellent guitar playing and some nice psychedelic touches (as one would expect by its psychedelic cover)
Haze play interesting hard-rock that reminds me of early Nektar or Message. All five tracks were written by Dietmar Low. Slow, cleverly-arranged heavy progressive rock numbers, psychedelically fueled with a faint blues tinge, featuring humorous lyrics: "A Way To Find Paradise" tells about a hippy's struggle to get his hashish to smoke! Scherler really had a strange and wild voice (he usually screamed as loudly as he could), adding much to their gutsy freak rock style. Several tracks also featured flute (the flute player is not identified on the cover)
Haze, in part, seem to draw inspiration from The Edgar Broughton Band, Arthur Brown, and Captain Beefheart. This, their only album is recommended for all freak rock fans!
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This new rip was taken from a CD remaster in FLAC format and includes full album artwork for both vinyl and CD. Enjoy!

             NEW IMPROVED RIP !
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Track Listing

01 - Peaceful Nonsense (7.18)
02 - Fast Career (8.35)
03 - Be Yourself (6.26)
04 - A Way To Find the Paradise (6.58)
05 - Decision (10.14)
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Band Members:
Christian Scherler (vocals)
Heinz Schwab (lead guitar)
Hans-Jürg Frei (guitar, organ)
Dietmar Löw (bass)
Kurt Frei (drums)
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Haze link (276Mb) New Link 18/06/2025

Brian Wilson - Selftitled (1988)

(U.S 1961 - 2025)

A founding member of the Beach Boys, Brian Wilson is widely considered one of the most gifted singers, songwriters, and producers in the history of American pop music. The Beach Boys topped the charts and achieved global acclaim, expressing the spirit of summertime escapism with hits like "Surfin’ U.S.A.," "I Get Around," and "Good Vibrations." (In truth, Wilson was not much of a surfer)

The band embodied the popular image of Southern California as a lush paradise on Earth, but it also produced wistful, introspective tracks such as "In My Room." Wilson’s brothers were part of the founding lineup: Carl played lead guitar, and Dennis sat behind the drums. Wilson's cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine rounded out the original group.

In the middle of the '60s, inspired by the ambition of the Beatles and guided by his own psychedelic visions, Wilson created the landmark concept album "Pet Sounds," an idiosyncratic and symphonic fusion of pop, jazz, and avant-garde genres that reached for sonic perfection and helped cement his legacy.

'Pet Sounds' was not originally a commercial success. Still, it dazzled rock critics and wowed many of the recording industry's leading lights — including the members of the Beatles, who credited it with stirring them to make 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.'

Wilson's life was often tumultuous, earning him a reputation in music circles as a tortured genius. He struggled with mental health issues and substance abuse, sometimes channelling his inner turmoil into melancholy lyrics and moody soundscapes.

He spent years under the yoke of the celebrity psychologist Dr. Eugene Landy, who attempted to control nearly every aspect of the singer’s life. (Landy was eventually barred from any contact with Wilson and died in 2006.)

Wislon and Landy - 1987

In recent decades, Wilson was less publicly visible as he battled personal demons. However, he continued recording music, releasing various solo albums and sometimes taking the stage. He also loomed large over the modern music landscape, inspiring acts ranging from R.E.M. and Radiohead to Daft Punk and Wilco.

Recent photo of Brian

He was honored with two Grammy Awards, inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame and recognition from the Kennedy Center Honors committee in 2007.

Sadly, Brian Wilson died just days ago, on the 11th June, aged 82.  

RIP Brian Wilson  Thank you for all your wonderful music.

Brian's First Solo Album

 Brian Wilson’s first solo album was released in 1988, after years of speculation and unsubstantiated rumours about his mental health and musical capacity.

There were random articles and news items regarding his condition, and the therapy that Eugene Landy was providing - that it was too controlling, or very beneficial.

Reports about Brian would range from “he’s doing great” to “still very fragile”.

It seemed that the promise of Brian Wilson ever writing and recording music again was a secondary concern, when it was uncertain how he was, as just a functioning human being.

That was the context in which “Love and Mercy” was released.

Music fans were pleasantly surprised that it has some moments, relieved that it wasn’t a disappointing disaster, but also the constant thoughts of “it’s good, considering...”, “it’s not great, however...”...

There were suspicions that Landy was too involved in the creative process, so criticisms of the music was pointed in his direction.

After all, some sources claimed he made all the decisions for Wilson.

Because of the great music Brian had created before, there were high hopes for more, but were also thankful that the album passes the general middling level of expectations we had, and not a complete embarrassing failure as some feared.

Wikipedia states: 

“Brian's solo album was released in July 1988 to favorable reviews, and reached number 54 on American record charts. Its completion came as a shock to many. Biographer Peter Ames Carlin would later note that, upon release, "[the album] succeeded at giving Brian Wilson the forward-looking perspective of a legitimate comeback. Brian had finally delivered on his oft-given promise to 'really stretch out and blow some minds' with his sheer ambition. When the needle finally lifted at the end of side two, it was easy to imagine that he really might be back on his journey to the distant frontier."

In contemporary reviews:

Stereo Review said the album would likely appease those whose expectations were "Pet Sounds II", writing "Yes, it's true. Brian Wilson's back ... [and he's] clearly at work again with talent intact". David Fricke wrote for Rolling Stone: "Brian Wilson is a stunning reminder of what pop's been missing all these years. It is also the best Beach Boys long player since 1970's Sunflower, although Wilson is the only Beach Boy on it. The songs are full of sunshine choirboy harmonies and sing-along hooks, while the rich, expansive arrangements echo the orchestral radiance of Wilson's spiritual mentor, Phil Spector." 

Brian Wilson at Tower Records store, Los Angeles
 signing copies of his first solo album. 1988

Sun-Sentinel reviewed: "Wilson's clever, mostly upbeat ideas flow magnificently throughout the record, easily transcending his emotional madness. His introspective poems and barbershop harmoniesare framed in a series of bouncy melodies that never take a trite or simple path. ... Just when you think you know where one of his songs may lead, he dips into another spacey progression, and the tune is launched again on a separate plane. In particular, the closing six-part piece, 'Rio Grande', is the kind of immensely fulfilling progressive pop with which art-rock bands such as Yes and Genesis formerly toyed, but rarely brought to satisfying completion.”

Album Cover Promo Advert

Rateyourmusic.com (by Vince Clortho) reviewed: The first and most striking element of Brian Wilson's 1988 solo album (his first, believe it or not) is how Brian's voice, aged 46 years here, sounds the best it has since at least '71.  The fact that he made the album virtually sound like an '80s version of his mid-'60s work is even better.  For me, this sits nicely next to, say, 'Love You', the last Beach Boys album that Brian had full control over and an album that showed off Brian's unique genius and idiosyncrasies in all their glory. 

At least a third of the album stands with the best material Wilson has ever written, particularly the melifluous "Melt Away" and the towering, off-kilter "Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long," while the hymnal "Love and Mercy" has become Wilson's signature solo piece. We even have nods to the Beach Boys' then-long-abandoned SMILE project in the eight minute "Rio Grande" suite. If you're a Wilson fan and don't harbor an irrational hatred of late '80s synths, sequencers and drum machines, this fine album should be an absolute home run.

This post (a tribute to Brian) consists of FLACs ripped from my pristine vinyl, sourced from a garage sale some years ago, and includes full album artwork and label scans. The original owner of this LP was a die-hard Beach Boys fan who couldn't stop talking about how much she was in love with Brian. So why was she selling the album?  Well - No turntable to play it on, but she still had the album on CD.  Lucky me !

Although I don't have the same passion as she did for this album, I still enjoy listening to it and hope this post does justice to it.  Favourite tracks are "Melt Away", the beautiful Acapella "One For The Boys" and of course "Love And Mercy". 

Track Listing

01 Love And Mercy 2:52

02 Walkin' The Line 2:37

03 Melt Away 2:58

04 Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long 3:15

05 Little Children 1:48

06 One For The Boys 1:47

07 There's So Many 2:46

08 Night Time 3:34

09 Let It Shine 3:57

10 Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight 3:05

11 Rio Grande 8:00

Brian Wilson Link (200Mb)

  

Shane Howard - Back To The Track (1988)

(Australian 1975 - Present)

Shane Howard is a multiple ARIA award-winning musician. He is recognised as one of Australia's best songwriters and is widely known in Australia and overseas. In 1982, Shane's anthem "Solid Rock" from the album "Spirit of Place", (recorded with his legendary band "Goanna"), reverberated across the airwaves and it still does today. It was one of the first songs of its idiom to broach the subject of Aboriginal rights in Australia and impacted powerfully on a whole new generation of writers and musicians that followed. The album was released in 35 territories worldwide.

Shane was awarded a Fellowship by the Music Fund of the Australia Council (2002) in acknowledgement of his contribution to Australian musical life. A prolific songwriter, Shane and his songs champion the cause of the underdog and provide meaningful insights into the human spirit. The songs interpret the Australian landscape in a way that has helped to build a bridge between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples. Shane's songs also pay homage to the culture of his Irish ancestors . Shane has been a great contributor to various social justice causes, and in environmental issues such as the campaign to preserve the Franklin River. He combines a deep understanding of poetic and musical folk traditions and captures something essential of the spirit of Australia in words and music [extract from Emmanuel College Alumni]

Tracks Of My Years

Story by Vincent Maskell
(Published in Juke. 10 December 1988)

Postscript: In an interview in The Age on October 9, Shane Howard said: “The collapse of Goanna was accompanied by the collapse of my marriage and just about everything else. The world fell apart and I was left with a crippling debt and probably PTSD. Corporate shenanigans played a big part in Goanna’s demise…”

Far North Queensland. Down a rough, steep gravel road and up the driveway marked by a small and yellow painting of the big red rock, Uluru. Shane Howard stands up after inspecting his little vegie patch, looks out to the range and says slowly, "It's a long way from the urban principle, hey?"

As the conversation unfolds, 'the urban principle'reveals itself to include corrupt politicians, foul air, high-rise commission flats, continuous noise, heart-breaking burglaries and parts of the music industry that are, to put it mildly, less than attractive, in short, the metropolitan jungle.

Shane Howard's vegetable garden is borne from tough, hard clay. If he lived just over the range, where the rainforest is, the vegies would go beserk. As it is, he's come up with a pretty healthy crop that includes broccolli, cabage, celery, carrots, capsicums and his current favourite, Roma tomatoes.

In a way, Howard's career in music has been a bit like his gardening. He's had to work hard and long in a tough climate, with the odds - and the musical trends - stacked against him.

Goanna 1983 - Shane Howard Centre

When his band, Goanna, finally broke through - in the magic and manic summer of 1982/83 - everything just grew. And grew, and grew.

And became so big that Goanna eventually collapsed in a terrible mess, leaving Howard just short of a nervous breakdown.

Success was one of the main factors that strangled the Goanna band. Success, like the wrist-thick vines in the rainforest that curl and curl and choke the strongest trees. It's a jungle out there, over the range.

"Gotta get back/To the track/You came on/Where the road/Reaches into the sun/Heading back down the track/Back down the track/You came on"

Shane has just released his first solo recording. It's as independant a project as you'll get. The acoustic songwriter penned eight of the nine tunes on the 'Back To The Track' cassette. He produced the songs, designed the cover and did the packaging, right down to the cutting, folding and stapling together the pocket-sized lyric booklets. Lately he's been door-knocking the Cairns record shops. The initial pressing was 500 copies and that's a long way from 'the urban principle' that saw Goanna's first album, 'Spirit Of Place' clock up sales around the 200,000 mark.

Howard swaps Ray Charles for Robbie Robertson in the tape player and then feeds kindling into the fire-place of the his small, ramshackle home. "I approached several record companies," he explains, "But they were hung up on either the Goanna history or the fact that I don't have a manager. I wanted to get the songs out quickly and figured I may as well do it myself. It's been a learning process, hey?" he says, concluding with that characteristic ending to his sentences.

'Back To The Track' was recorded in piece-meal fashion, with Howard making trips to Melbourne to play gigs to get money to buy recording time [at the Sing Sing Studios, Melbourne]. The cassette doesn't have the lint-free crispness of Oceania, Goanna's largely-forgotten second album, but it does have an earthy friendliness to it. "Mainly, I wanted to create a nice atmosphere: the sort of thing that you can have a listen to, but also the sort of albnum you can just have on in the background. And I think it's got that warm feel to it."

Cassette Release

Players on the album include drummer Dave Stewart, vocalists Marcia Howard anmd Rose Bygrave (herself currently working on a solo effort). Much of the mood of the songs comes from the harmonica-blowing of Steve Gilbert, a North-Queensland musician who plays with the Barron River Drifters. Guitarist Simon Curphy also chips in with some nice touches.

The songs range from the brooding tone of "Mother Earth" (reminiscent of Van Morrison's low-pulse pastoral pieces) to the jaunty rhythms of the title track. Perhaps the album's best song is "Come On Make Me", a sensitive, understated glimpse of a woman about to leave her man.

Aboriginal issues come up on "One Eye Johnny", the tale of a happy-go-lucky character, and on "Long Way Away From My Country", written by Broome songwriter, Jimmy Chi.

Bart Willoughby, of No Fixed Address, shares songwriting credits with Howard on the album opener, the pretty "Just A Feeling".

"They were standing on the shore one day/Saw the while sails in the sun/Wasn't long before they felt the sting/White man, white law, white gun"

"Solid Rock" was virtually a hard-rock land rights anthem from a band with an acoustic background. The song had a didjeridoo intro, whalloping beat and a cutting, angry lyric that proceded by several years, Midnight Oil's bicentennial theme song, "Beds Are Burning".

Shane Howard thought this song "might go to about number 37 on the Melbourne charts". It went number 1 nationwide, as did the 'Spirit Of Place' album.

Goanna was hurled into success and, with it, turmoil. The band had always been a crowded house, with a few core members as the foundations. When the success came, even the foundations started to shake.

"Before everything started to happen", recalls Howard, stretching his memory back six years, "the biggest decision we had to make was whether a certain chord fitted into a certain song. And even that was hard enough, hey. But suddenly we're getting calls from the American record company and they're asking questions like, 'What kind of legal and monetary infrastructure have you got for a Statewide promotion? It was just too much."

(Not the least of the band's problems at the time was their manager. He had a machine-gun mouth that could rattle off a million words to the minute. At times his behaviour was somewhat at odds to that of a band that supported various social and environmental issues. On one occasion he threatened to break the arms and legs of this writer. Another time he abused a small Sunday night audience for not bringing the roof down with thunderous applause).

'Oceania' did not come out until early '85, by which time the band, seemingly, had been forgotten by the masses. Howard claims, though, that it sold 40,000 copies. It was an attractive collection of songs, mirroring Howard's travels overseas. He believes it is a far superior album to 'Spirit Of Place'.

However, music industry politics and personal conflicts continued to mount up. Howard headed towards a breakdown and Goanna headed towards oblivion.

For all intents and purposes Goanna appeared to have 'publicly vanished', as Howard puts it. "But we were still touring, mainly through regioonal and country areas." The last gig under the Goanna banner was at Tamworth, in January '87 and it's possible that Goanna will play again. Sometime, somewhere, away from the city.

Since Goanna's Tamworth show, Shane Howard has been trusting his songs to just his voice and his acoustic guitar. ("I lost all my electric equipment in a burglary and took it as an omen that I should stay an acoustic performer"). He found his first effort doing gigs in Kings Cross, which was "pretty grueling" but had a better time of it playing at a restaurant at Airey's Inlet, on The Great Ocean Road, Victoria. ("I'd just go through about every song I'd ever written. It was good practice and not a bad way to try out new, or unfinished material.") He's also busked in Darwin, where a guy nicked his money, only to return later and share a flagon of wine. he also fronted Shane Howard And The Big Heart Band for a little while.

"Down on your good luck/Pack up the old truck/Head for the great Wowhere/And Hope/And pray help'll come in time"

This post consists of MP3 (320kps) ripped from CD and includes full album artwork for Vinyl, CD and Cassette, along with a copy of the JUKE article transcribed above.   It was my intention to provide FLACs for this post, however my cassette copy has not survived the test of time, and background fluttering noises were present in the captured music.  So I can only offer these MP3 files that I acquired many moons ago, most likely from one of the music forums that I have visited, and thank the original uploader. 

It should be noted that my cassette cover scans include full lyrics for all tracks on the album (not supplied on Vinyl and CD releases)

This solo release by Howard (his first) is one of his finest in my opinion, along with the follow up album River, and the opening track "Just A Feeling" my personal favourite. I hope you enjoy this album as much as I do.

Track Listing:

01 Just A Feeling  5:21

02 Big City Blue  3:16

03 Mother Earth  3:22

04 One Eye Johnny 4:10

05 Long Way Away From My 

       Country *  3:34

06 Back To The Track  3:02

07 Brothers & Sisters  5:16

08 Make No Mistake  3:48

09 Come On Make Me  4:45

All songs written by Shane Howard except * written by – Jimmy Chi

Vocals/Acoustic Guitar: Shane Howard, 

Bass:Pasquale Monea, Bass: Spiro Phillipas, 

Bass Guitar: Jo Imbrol, Bodhrán: Simon O'Dwyer, 

Didgeridoo [Didj]: Shane Howard, 

Drums: Dave Stewart, 

Electric Guitar: Phil Butson, 

Electric Guitar: Simon Curphy, 

Piano/Strings: Marcia Howard, 

Harmonica [Mouth Harp): Steve Gilbert, 

Harmony Vocals: Marcia Howard, Rose Bygrave, Simon Curphy, 

Keyboards [Additional]: Rose Bygrave

Shane Howard Link (81Mb)

REPOST: Stylus - Where In The World (1975) plus Bonus Tracks

(Australian 1975-1979, 1992, 2002-2010)
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Stylus was a popular Melbourne funk/soul band of distinguished membership that released four albums and a number of singles 1975-1979. The band was fronted by Peter Cupples who went on to form the Peter Cupples Band (see earlier post).

Stylus grew out of the ashes of Melbourne band Mason's Cure, formed by keyboardist Ian Mason (ex-Kush). Mason's Cure issued one single on Astor in early 1975, "Let Me Love You Right"/"Back to Reality", before Mason left the group. He joined The Bootleg Band, and went on to issue a solo single, "Gotta Lotta Love"/"Keep It Up" (August 1978), and album, 'Nobody Takes Me Seriously' (Oz/EMI, 1978). Singer Peter Cupples had been the focal point of Mason's Cure, so with Mason's departure, the band recruited Sam McNally on keyboards and became Stylus. The band toured as support to Focus, Ike and Tina Turner and Sherbet, scored a deal with WEA (Atlantic) and issued the single Seals and Crofts' "Summer Breeze"/"Feelin' Blue" (July 1975). The single reached #31 in Melbourne during August. The band's second single, "World of Make Believe"/"Just Began" (October) reached #27.
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In November 1975, WEA issued the Stylus debut album 'Where in the World' (#19 in Melbourne during December). The album produced a third single, "I'm Going Home"/"Where in the World" (April 1976), but by that stage Stylus had left WEA. The band issued one single, "So Much Love"/"We All Need One Another" (#30 in August 1976), on Crystal Clear, before signing a new deal with Ross Wilson and Glenn Wheatley's Oz label (through EMI). The album For the Love of Music produced the singles "I Just Don't Wanna Fall in Love Right Now"/"Funky Fig" (October 1976) and "Kissin"/"For the Love of Music" (June 1977). By that stage, Peter Lee had been replaced by Trevor Courtney (ex-Vibrants, Skylight) initially, and then by Joe Tattersalls (ex-Ayers Rock) by the end of the year.

Courtney played on the band's third album, 'The Best Kept Secret ' (April 1978), which produced the singles "Work Out Fine"/"Natural Feeling" (March), "Look at Me"/"You Can't Get It Out of Your Head" (July) and "Got to Say Goodbye"/"Discover Your Life" (November). The prestigious American label Motown distributed the album in the USA (under the title Stylus) via the Prodigal imprint. In late 1978, Peter Roberts (ex-Ride Band) joined Stylus as co-lead vocalist. Not long after that, Mark Meyer (ex-Sailor) replaced Tattersalls on drums, and the band supported visiting American jazz guitarist George Benson on his Australian tour. The band's fourth album, 'Part of It All' (August 1979), and its single, "If You Believe in Me"/"Byron Bay" (August), were not successful and the members of Stylus parted.
A Stylus reunion tour in 2002 yielded the album 'Still Alive'.
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Interview with Stylus (RAM # 44, November 5th, 1976)
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'We Flunked Business College' admit Stylus
It's been a while. Sam McNally was telling me since Stylus last appeared in these hallowed pages. McNally is Stylus' keyboard player and he has a point: RAM No. 21 was, I think, the last time that the group scored themselves an article. In fact I think both he and vocalist Peter Cupples are slightly peeved by the fact. We three are gathered around the small kitchen table of Cupples' Elsternwick (Vic.) home getting down to a bit of interviewing, you see, and the question of Stylus long silence has popped up.
Maybe you'd noticed. Stylus have maintained a fairly low-key existence over the last six-or-so months Which is pretty unusual, because their brand of funky good-time music got them off onto a highly promising start. The singles Summer Breeze and Make Believe both did a fair share of chart climbing and the album 'Where In The World' didn't exactly sink without trace (it is now almost gold). The only real sign of activity lately, however, has been the single So Much Love, which inexplicably did very link-chart-wise. Why the silence?
Well, after about ten minutes of talking it becomes clear Stylus think they have the answer. Bv that time the conversation had shifted to a discussion of the group s old record company - W.E.A, whom they split from in January. Although Where In The World came out as well as,if not better than they had expected they have few compliments for W.E.A records.
"There was no communication with W.E.A at all," explains McNally. "They just weren't interested in us.
Well, how did you first get signed up?
"We weren't signed up with them technically".
Uh?
"It was all done through our manager", continues Cupples, ruefully munching an apple. "We didn't know much about it. We didn't know much about anything at this stage. We were sort of rookies in the business". He grins.

"lt was terribly, terribly confusing", says McNally. "because there was us, then our management, then the record company, and it was mainly between management and record company. We felt we were left in the dark".
All in all. Stylus stress, they were Not Happy.
A question about management was met with silence, then a burst of laughter, then a request from McNally to keep quiet about it. Management, they assured me, was "going to be cool, but they preferred not to talk about it.
Neither McNally nor Cupples are very specific, but they stress the musical side of the band had been disrupted over the past six months and that a lot of their time had been spent sorting out managerial and related matters.

"The most important thing we're aiming for", says McNally. "is ownership of our own music, instead of being signed up to a company that has the right to do whatever they like with what they call our Product. We want the right to say where and when we want Product X released, which is very important".
"We want to keep it together, keep it nice and honest" continues Cupples "In this business you don t need a certificate to become a manager. Any whack can become a manager, it (the business) has got to become more professional and the bands — the music — has got to be respected more. The music is the seed, everything branches out from that.
"Now we're taking a very careful look at what we are doing on a business level as well as a musical level. You've got to, otherwise (pause) you could end up really badly in the shit".

Sure enough, a week after the interview the band split their ties with the past and signed to Glenn Wheatley's Oz label
Whatever happens next, let's hope both band ,and new record company keep smiling warmly at each other. Certainly Stylus haven't done very well in the world of Big Business so far.
But less of these downers and more of the happy, musical expansiveness that Stylus are renowned for Musically, things have never been better, as Peter Cupples will tell you "Musically'.' Yeah, it feels great."
For audiences it feels great too. Stylus are a rare example of the sort of band who don't use sticks of dynamite and guitar-in-the-crotch poses as springboards for their musical prowess. They are, if you like funky, but they are definitely not the usual, banal, disco rhythm-ace hook-up that word is often applied to.
They're funky in the sweetly melodic, wordly-aware sense the best examples of Philadelphian soul music always demonstrate. A melody line is never a repetition, it's always a winding path with undulating movements that suggest the gradual unfolding of A Direction. Their choruses are a celestial blending of voices that sometimes suggest the Beach Boys singing church hymns. The music, more often than not is adventurously arranged with a subtlety and feeling fulness that demonstrates a compatibility which allows each musician to respond to his fellow members.
If there's one criticism of the group that's endured, it's that their internal harmony and unity is often mistaken for blandness. And their propensity for delving into gentle themes of Brotherly Togetherness and the Quest For Inner Peace And An Organic Gardening Plot (all members are vegetarians)" sometimes attracts the unwelcome tag of the Macrobiotic Wimps.
Still, only those who really listen can hope to know what is really going down.

The band is incredibly together as a unit," says McNally. "We feel that in the next week or so we're going to be on the verge of our-biggest breakthrough ever
This statement has more than a little to do with the fact that, by the time you are reading this, their new album For The Love Of Music will probably have been released. It's been over a year since the first album and both members become animated when talking about the newie.
"With the first album." says Cupples, "we had a lot of early stuff I'd written and it was in a Philadelphian funky vein I feel. The first one was sort of "let's have a go and see what happens" type of thing. We had no really set ideas and it came together a lot in the studio.
"Whereas the new one ... it's a lot further advanced. We're more carefully chosen the material and put the album together a hell of a lot better. This time I've gone in with a concept on about 70 % of the production things and it s been put together as more of a concept of what we're about. The playing has also improved incredibly ..
This album, as with the first, has been produced by Cupples and Trevor Courtenay and all the tracks were written by Cupples, except two which were co-written with Courtenay. The tracks are For The Love Of Music. We All Need One Another, Gettin' In The Groove, Nature Is Giving So Much Love, Sweetness, What's Right For You, Love Is All We Have, Musical Man and Moving on Home. The latter two Cupples describes as External Road songs, ones that he wrote while the group were on an interstate Sherbet tour last year. So Much Love was also written on that tour, as he explains.

"That was one of the things that inspired me to write the song for Ashley, because I sat down, took a look at the band in concert format and started thinking how we could utilise what we had within the band to make the show look better. And I thought "well it would be nice if Ashley were to come out the front". because he's got a really beautiful voice but he hadn't really sat down and sung anything. Anyway, he dug the idea and it really blew a hell of a lot of people out when he began to do it.
Indeed. I'm yet to find a person with an unkind thing to say about So Much Love and yet . . and yet . it's somehow failed to do really big business. Cupples says that he, too, thought it would do more than it did and maybe business problems are again mainly to blame: the song was recorded in December but not released until June because of the many hassles the band were experiencing.
Still, the milk is spilt and the band are now looking towards a new song. At the time of interviewing the songs were still in need of mixing. Once that's completed, a single will he selected. There is also a mystery song not yet recorded. (The following sentence, from Cupples, constitutes my only scoop of the afternoon ! (Ah- gee Rich —only one measly scoop in a whole afternoon !! — ed.)
'Yes, we have a big surprise. We have this single in the can at the moment which I'll tell you about. It's a song written by Ashley and it's really incredible.

"It's a very simple, fairly slow ballad" continues McNally and they proceed to give me an exclusive (exclusive mind you) listen to a rough mix. The song not only sounded as sweet 'n' funky as anything they've done before, it was also given a visual aspect by Cupples young son, who performed a series of guitar hero poses roughly to the beat, on a four string ukelele. The song could succeed where 'So Much Love' failed. It is also the first time another member of the band has had one of their songs recorded. The writing of McNally and guitarist Ron Peers is also developing. Cuppies informs me and hopefully this will further broaden the band's scope.

Ultimately, however, they are looking to America and possibly Europe and Japan, as their next step forward. Even though they are based in Melbourne, McNally says they rarely play here at the moment. Other states, particularly Adelaide, seem to give them a better reception but overall "it's very hard to sell this type of music in this country. Whether we have a better chance over there is hard to say — we'll just have to go over and find out"
"There s nothing definite yet" says Cupples. "Just some good things up in the air that need bringing down to the ground and sorting out. We have a few contacts in L A. and on the East Coast, so we wanna get over there and get a few things tied up. Most definitely it will be hard. But if you're in the environment where you're playing to an audience that really get off on the music, well, you really want to work for them - go home, get new things down, better things. But here you get no reaction at all from the crowds, y'know. You just wanna go home and sleep for six months. [reported by Richard Guilliair in RAM #55 Nov 5th 1976. p19].

A-World Of Make Believe / B-Just Begun

This post consists of FLACs ripped from CD (thanks to Smackster) and includes full album artwork, along with scans of an insert sheet containing B&W photos and lyrics. The CD release also contains 3 bonus tracks (all B-Side singles released between 1975-1978). I am also including a live rendition of "Summer Breeze", recorded on the Steve Vizard Show in 1992 and a scan of the RAM magazine article from which the above interview was transcribed.
Although funky R&B is not my favourite genre of music, I still enjoy Stylus's early material - in particular this, their debut album.

' New Improved Rip With Additional Bonus Tracks '
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Track Listing

01 - World Of Make Believe
02 - All In The Game
03 - Will This Continue
04 - Just Begun
05 - Summer Breeze
06 - Paradise
07 - I'm So In Love With You
08 - Where In The World
09 - I'm Going Home
10 - Can't Get It Out Of Your Head (Bonus B-Side Single, 1978)
11 - Funky Fig (Bonus B-Side Single, 1976)
12 - Feeling Blue (Bonus B-Side Single, 1975)
13 - Summer Breeze (Bonus Live 1992)

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Band Members:
Peter Cupples (Guitar, Vocals, Congas & Percussion)
Ashley Henderson (Bass, Vocals)
Ron Peer's (Lead Guitar, Vocals)
Sam McNally (Keyboards)
Peter Lee (Drums & Percussion)
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Stylus Link (377Mb)

Genesis - Genesis Live (1973)

 (U.K 1967 - Present)

Genesis Live is the first live album released by rock group Genesis in 1973. It was the band's first top 10 hit in the UK, reaching No.9 and remaining on the charts for 10 weeks.

In early 1973, Genesis allowed the taping of a couple of live shows for broadcast in America as part of the King Biscuit Flower Hour syndicated radio show -- most of their current set, drawn from their albums up through 1972's Foxtrot, was represented. A few months later, Tony Stratton-Smith, the head of Charisma Records, to which the group was signed, approached them about allowing him to fill the extended gap between Foxtrot and their next album, Selling England by the Pound, by releasing a live album from this same taped performance. The bandmembers, who now say they were somewhat distracted at the time by their work on the new album, agreed to it.

L-R: Tony Banks, Peter Gabriel, Mike Rutherford, Steve Hackett, Phil Collins

And the result was Live, which was originally the only official document of the group in performance with Peter Gabriel in the lineup. And it's not just the singer, but everyone who shines here -- it's doubtful that anyone ever got a richer sound out of a Mellotron on-stage than Tony Banks does on this album, and Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins' playing is all quite amazing as a whole unit, holding together some very complex music in a live setting. And on that basis alone, this album was an essential acquisition for fans of the group, as well as a key link in solidifying their growing popularity -- the intensity of the performances on "Watcher of the Skies," "Get 'Em Out by Friday," "Return of the Giant Hogweed," "The Knife, and, especially, "The Musical Box," easily transcend the work (superb though it was) on the studio originals, and is an in-your-face presentation of the theatrical intensity that Gabriel and company brought to their work on-stage.

Genesis 1973

What's more, the very fact that the band could pull some of what they do on-stage -- and this was in an era where other prog rock bands, such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer, were running up against a brick wall in terms of re-creating their complex studio sounds in concert -- is mighty impressive.

Additionally, in the case of "The Musical Box" and "The Return of the Giant Hogweed," both songs originally recorded on Nursery Cryme, the versions here documented this lineup's true approach to these pieces -- at the time when Nursery Cryme was recorded, guitarist Steve Hackett had barely joined the group (and fragments of music composed by his predecessor, Anthony Phillips, still exist on the album), and most of the guitar parts there were actually the work of bassist Mike Rutherford (who did, in fact, take over most of the group's guitar chores after Hackett's departure in the late '70s).

Foxtrot Tour Stage Costumes

Peter Gabriel is probably at his peak as a singer, and his vocal performances sound remarkably bold and confident. He was known for wearing elaborate costumes during their concerts and making it seem like they were in woodland fairy plays. If that were me in his shoes, I would have felt like a complete idiot, but all that nonsense seemed to empower Peter Gabriel! It's easy to fall in love with his vocal performance in “Get 'Em Out By Friday,” where he does the same amount of play acting as he did in the studio version and perhaps with even more gusto. Gabriel was having so much fun at the time that he even cracked a joke at the beginning of “The Musical Box.” That is amazing since I didn't figure that Gabriel was the sort of person who usually cracks jokes.

Foxtrot Tour Program

So what we hear on this album, which has now been upgraded on CD at least twice, once in the '90s and again in 2009 as part of the Genesis Live 1973-2007 box set, are the definitive interpretations of these pieces by this version of the band, more so than the studio originals. And one also gets to hear the classic version of the band tackle the oldest part of their repertory, "The Knife," which went back to their first Charisma album -- and it's a killer compared to the original. And one could say that about the whole album, as well as being the best representation of this version of the band at this point in their history, but for one glaring flaw -- the original King Biscuit broadcast included the epic "Supper's Ready" from Foxtrot, which Stratton-Smith was compelled to leave off of the album, rather than face the economic challenge of issuing a three-sided double-LP. That flaw aside, this is about the best single-LP representation of what this band could do on-stage, and to the surprise of a lot of people, it actually won them lots of new fans ahead of the release of Selling England by the Pound.

Genesis were persuaded by their label, Charisma Records, to release Genesis Live as a budget-priced title to mark time while the band recorded Selling England by the Pound in mid-1973. (Contractual obligations to Charisma's North American distributor, Buddah Records, may also have been a factor, as Charisma would move its distribution to Atlantic Records shortly before Selling England's release.)

The tracks on the album were recorded at De Montfort Hall, Leicester, England by the Pye Mobile Recording Unit, engineer Alan Perkins, on 25 February 1973 except for "Return of the Giant Hogweed", which was recorded at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England on the previous day, when the band was touring in support of Foxtrot. These recordings were originally made for the US radio show King Biscuit Flower Hour, although they were never broadcast.

A handful of early radio promotional double-LP test pressings by Philips/ Phonogram Int. B.V. (actually PolyGram at the time) were created which included a 23-minute version of "Supper's Ready" from the Leicester show. This pressing's running order was "Watcher of the Skies - "The Musical Box" - "Get 'Em Out by Friday" - "Supper's Ready" - "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" - "The Knife", and included between-song patter by Gabriel.

'Whether this test pressing was intended to be released as the actual album is unknown. In any event, "Supper's Ready" was not included, even though the front cover photograph was taken during a live performance of "Supper's Ready" (with Gabriel donning the "Magog" mask). Excellent digital copies of the double-LP test pressing are readily available. (A live recording of "Supper's Ready" from the following year's tour was released on 1998's 4-CD boxed set, Genesis Archive 1967-75. However, Gabriel re-recorded some of his vocals before allowing release.)

Rolling Stone gave the album a brief but positive review, commenting that "this album goes a long way toward capturing the gripping power and mysticism that has many fans acclaiming Genesis as 'the greatest live band ever.'"

Peter Gabriel features in his Magog Mask

A retrospective review by Allmusic was also resoundingly positive. They remarked "it's doubtful that anyone ever got a richer sound out of a Mellotron on-stage than Tony Banks does on this album, and Steve Hackett, Mike Rutherford, and Phil Collins' playing is all quite amazing as a whole unit, holding together some very complex music in a live setting." They judged all the recordings to be far superior to their studio originals.

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my prized vinyl, puchased back in the mid 70's from K-Mart in Geelong. I had not heard of Genesis at the time, however I chose to purchase the album for 2 reasons - firstly, its eye catching cover and secondly the budget price it was being sold for. No details on the back to indicate the artist names but I was able to ascertain they were a British band based on the recording details. And so my life long association with this brilliant band had started.

 Full album artwork (for both CD and vinyl) is included, along with label scans and all photos featured in this post.  

As a BONUS, I am also including a rip of the original King Biscuit Flower Hour (KBFH) broadcast that contains the missing "Supper's Ready" recording. The only downfall is that the recording is in MP3 (160) format and consists of a single file (no song separation), but beggars can't be choosey I guess. So folks, Supper's Ready. Enjoy !

Track Listing

01. "Watcher of the Skies" 8:34
02. "Get 'Em Out by Friday" 9:14
03. "The Return of the Giant Hogweed" 8:14
04. "The Musical Box" 10:56
05. "The Knife" (Banks, Gabriel, Anthony Phillips, Rutherford) 9:47

Personnel:
Tony Banks – Hammond organ, Mellotron, Hohner pianet, 12-string guitar, backing vocals
Phil Collins – drums, backing vocals
Peter Gabriel – lead vocals, flute, tambourine
Steve Hackett – lead guitar

Mike Rutherford – bass, bass pedals, 

12-string guitar, backing vocal

Genesis Live Link FLACs(256Mb)

KBFH Broadcast MP3 (55Mb)