Elvis Costello - Unlicensed [KBFH Live at the The Spectrum, Philadelphia, 11 August 1984] (1994) Bootleg

(U.K 1970 - Present)

In 1984, Elvis Costello and the Attractions released their album 'Goodbye Cruel World' and toured to support it. The album was their last with the original lineup of the Attractions, and it was recorded during a period of tension and disagreement, resulting in a commercially-oriented pop album. The tour included new arrangements of older songs, the single "The Only Flame in Town," and additions like Gary Barnacle on saxophone.

This post features a combined King Biscuit Flower Hour / Grizzly Growl broadcast of a concert with Elvis Costello And The Attractions at the The Spectrum, Philadelphia, 11 August 1984.
Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit (which also featured Paul Carrack and Martin Belmont) opened the show.

This particular concert, in various forms, has been the source of a number of different bootlegs over the years. Unfortunately, none of them are complete. Although 28 songs were played, the known bootlegs contain anywhere from 11 to 23 songs. This particular release only contains 11 tracks, however if you want to hear a 23 track rendition of the concert, then I suggest you pop over to Wolfgang's website which features the legendary archives of concert promoter Bill Graham (born Wolfgang Grajonca).

Recorded on the tour promoting his 'Goodbye Cruel World' LP, this classic King Biscuit Flower Hour performance shows the musical transition Elvis Costello was going through during the mid-80s. His band, the Attractions, had received a facelift with the addition of Gary Barnacle on sax that brightened up many of the new songs in the show, and Costello himself somehow juggles his trademark new-wave sound with the more sophisticated and complex songs he had begun writing and recording at the time.

The classic Attractions line-up consisted of Steve Nieve on keyboards (who, on this tour only, called himself Maurice Worm for some unknown reason), Pete Thomas on drums and Bruce Thomas on bass. Costello and the Attractions had been popular for nearly seven years when this tour was launched, but he had already written and recorded ten albums of mostly short songs. Needless to say, there was a wealth of material to choose from on this tour and some of his greatest songs are featured here. At the time, Costello was enjoying one of the last chart hit singles he would have in his career with "The Only Flame In Town." (see pictured above)

Specific highlights include "Watching The Detectives", "Girls Talk" and "Allison", and of course the always energetic "Pump It Up."

Review (Taken from the Elvis Costello Wiki)

Another Grizzly Growl / KBFH broadcast (why on earth tape two consecutive nights from an artist known for varying his sets considerably during the course of a tour?) and so we get a similar performance and sound which is obviously very clear and professional but just a little too familiar. The band launch into “Let Them All Talk” along with Gary Barnacle’s sax squeals and the pace seems a little modest for an opening track.

A powerful “The Greatest Thing” follows by a frolicking “Mystery Dance” (missing here) though the teasing of the audience with prolonged pauses isn’t yet developed here. The song immediately segues into “Shabby Doll” but the original masters of this recording fail to completely remove the song “Shabby Doll” so we just get a couple of seconds of Bruce’s bass note before the edit takes us into “Girls Talk”. The next two following tracks could not be more marked in terms of verve and musical frission with memories of 1977 and 1978 recalled with “Lipstick Vogue” neatly seguing into “Watching The Detectives”.

Concert Ticket Stubb

I actually bought a transcription L.P. of the KBFH recording of this concert in the late eighties for an absolute fortune - probably pre-1986 (before I got married!) and I’ve just played it for the first time in decades and I’m impressed by the quality of the vinyl at that time. 

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my 'Unlicensed' CD Bootleg, featuring 11 tracks from this KBFH FM broadcast, and uncludes full album artwork. This bootleg has been released under various titles, and some of their respective covers are shown below.

Track List

01 Let Them All Talk 2:56

02 Greatest Thing 3:08

03 Girls Talk 4:01

04 Lipstick Vogue 4:22

05 Watching The Detectives 6:04

06 Club Land 5:52

07 Everyday I Write The Book 4:23

08 The Flame In Town 3:37

09 Getting Mighty Crowded 3:31

10 Allison 4:10

11 Pump It Up / Ain't That A Lot Of Love

/Tears, Tears And More Tears   8:12

Elvis Costello & The Attractions:

Elvis Costello - vocals, guitar; 

Steve Nieve - organ; 

Bruce Thomas - bass; 

Pete Thomas - drums;

Gary Barnacle - sax, flute.

Elvis Costello Link (296Mb)

REPOST: Rose Tattoo - Live at Hordern Pavillion (1978) Bootleg

(Australian 1976-1985)
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Rose Tattoo's performance at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion for Live-to-air broadcast on the soon-to-be national broadcaster, 2JJ. The performance is some time in 1978, and clearly well before the release of their first album in November of that year, given the amount of covers (including a most obscene version of Willie Dixon's "Hoochie Coochie Man"!) they play. This often circulates as being from 1976. An excellent, and I think unique, early Tatts soundboard show, there are a few pops and flashes of static, and the sound is not crystal clear, but it's a very good recording overall. A second of static/silence in track 3 has been eliminated by substituting the same notes from elsewhere in the song.

There seems to be an awful lot of good rock and roll that comes from Australia. Maybe a lot of it gets overlooked in the US because Australia is so far away and we just don’t hear about the bands that work for years but don’t get the big breaks like AC/DC or Silverchair.

Rose Tattoo is one of those bands that never really got that big break in America. They came out of Sydney, Australia, following in AC/DC’s footsteps. The Tatts officially got together in 1976, three years after AC/DC, and released their debut album in 1978, again, three years after AC/DC had led the way with their debut.

I mention the AC/DC connection for a couple of reasons: The bands’ histories are somewhat tied together in that AC/DC drummer Phil Rudd had played briefly in a band called Buster Brown with Rose Tattoo’s singer “Angry” Anderson. The Tatts also made their first public appearance at the rock club Chequers, where several years earlier AC/DC had kicked off their own career. As Rose Tattoo were getting started, they received a fair amount of support from their “older brothers” in AC/DC. Harry Vanda and George Young, who had also produced AC/DC, produced Rose Tattoo’s first four albums. And George Young is, of course, older brother to Malcolm and Angus Young.  

The following is  an extract from 'Angry: Scarred For Life' by Karen Dewey, Iron bark Publ, 1994 
In 1978, ACDC were huge in Australia and were just beginning to take off overseas. They were being handled by Alberts of Sydney, so with all the common gigs, it didn't take long for the Alberts producers to take an interest in Rose Tattoo. They came along to a gig one night, and within a week, Rose Tattoo had an offer to join the Alberts stable.
Angry was totally committed. He loved the lifestyle. He loved Rose Tattoo. He loved the boys club. As he says, it was a special time in the music industry. "In those days there was a real brothers in arms mentality. There was a real camaraderie. You know, members of Sherbert used to come and watch the Tatts. So did members of Ted Mulray Gang, John Paul Youngs band at the time, and other bands who seemingly had nothing in common with us. And vice versa. I've always loved Sherbert, but the reason I so publicly put shit on them in those days was because Angry Anderson, the frontman for Rose Tattoo, would not be expected to love Sherbert, where in truth, I loved pop music. Also, I liked Sherbert because I thought they were better than a lot of the other bands around at the time."Rose Tattoo cut their first single with "Bad Boy (for love)" on the A side, and "Snow Queen" on the B side. Almost as soon as the single was finished, lan Rilen decided to quit the band. That made an opening for Geordie, who'd been hanging around on and off since the band had first started. With Geordie, the boys recorded their first album...it was released under the name of "Rose Tattoo" in Australia, but overseas it had a more punchy title. The importers called it "Rock n' Roll Outlaws".
As soon as the album was out, Rose Tattoo hit the road. They spent the next year living literally out of a suitcase, touring the length and breadth of Australia. They played at just about every pub and club in every small town. They were a small-time band, so they still had to rough it with most things. "First we travelled in a kombi, then in a series of cars...later on when the band got more of a profile we hired cars and vans. I can remember, like so many other people in this country, doing trips to Melbourne where you'd pack the van or the truck so that there was three feet between the top of the stack and the roof where you could put mattresses and the band could sleep. 
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In the early days we only had one roadie, and Geordie and I used to do the rest. We enjoyed it because it was such physical work."They were very much a boys' drinking band. They were seen as brute macho, so they were recognised as blokes' territory. In all the early photographs, it's hard to spot a female face in the first few rows of the audience. There's just rows of men, reaching out to Angry, faces twisted with the noise, and the heat and the push from the crowd behind.

They started making big news. Towns geared up for their arrival weeks in advance. In many places having Rose Tattoo arrive in the main street was something like playing host to a freak show. Angry and the boys looked out of place enough in the city, but in some of the country towns, they stood out so severely they looked more like they came from another planet. Loyal fans turned up everywhere, and word travelled quickly about the sensation they were causing at live gigs.
The band went through good times and bad times. "We broke up and reformed all the time...we were irrational, taking lots of drugs, doing lots of booze, living on the road. We shuffled members, and we'd have a disagreement and walk out saying 'That's it', but two weeks later we'd be crying on each other's shoulder and looking forward to the next tour."  (p97-98)
Just as the first album was climbing slowly up the charts, Rose Tattoo got a new manager. His name was Robbie Williams. He was a committed rock promoter, who had tremendous faith in the band. He believed wholeheartedly they could make it to number one worldwide. He had absolute confidence in Angry as a dynamic frontman, and he believed he had the talent and charisma to be the next big name in rock.
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Once with the band, Robbie decided he was there for the long haul. Rose Tattoo weren't an easy band to manage. They were unreliable, irrational, and usually drunk, but he believed in the band, so he ended up staying until the very last gig years later.
The band's profile grew, and as they got bigger, Angry's stage antics got wilder. He became as extravagant and as outrageous as the crowd wanted him to be. They'd yell for blood, sweat and tears, and Angry would deliver. He was the tragic, drunken outlaw, the bad boy of rock and roll at his worst. No one knew what to make of him. He was dangerous, radical, and stupid. He had one trick on stage that shocked even the hardest fans. "When we wrote the album there's this song on it called 'Suicide City'. It's about Canberra because Mick told me that there was this article talking about how Canberra has the highest suicide rate of any Australian city. 

So we wrote a song about it. We used to do this as the last song in the set. So what I used to do...I'd sometimes put a plastic bag over my head till I passed out. All the audience can see is the eye sockets, and the plastic bag pumping in and out over the mouth. The crew would all rush over after I'd passed out, and thump my chest."
He had another trick too, which was just as obscene. "At the end of 'Suicide City' it gets into a really crazy thing. It's supposed to be insanity, and I'd strangle myself with the microphone cord until I passed out."
This was the dark side, the madman. It was the side that frightened everyone, even Angry himself. Pete used to talk about it, saying there was something magic in the drama of rock and roll. He used to say, "You know you've made it as a rock performer when the crowd comes just to see whether or not you die." As Angry says now, there's no doubt that's why some of the fans were there. If it ever happened, they wanted to play their ghoulish part in history. And, the fact was, if there was an Australian rock star likely to go to those extremes on stage, Angry Anderson would surely have taken honours on top of the list. (p102-104)
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This bootleg post contains FLACs sourced from the web many moons ago (thanks to the original uploader) along with full album artwork and all photos displayed above. This is truly a rare early recording of the Tatts when they were just starting out, and thanks to blog follower jrgardy the date for this gig has been identified as Jan 1st, 1978 (see Setlist), a gig not to be missed.

      New Improved Rip !
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Track Listing
01. Astra Wally
02. Bad Boy For Love
03. Hoochie Coochie Man
04. You Really Got Me
05. Sweet Love

Only a 26 minute show but very rare radio broadcast at the time when founding member, bass player Ian Rilen was around
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Rose Tattoo Link (174Mb)
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Southern Lightning - Down The Road (1986) + Bonus Single

(Australian 1978 - 1988, 2014-2020)

Southern Lightning were a heavy blues band from Melbourne comprising of Dave Hogan (vocals, harmonica), Nik Guselev (bass), Louie Black (drums) & Manny Seddon (guitar). This album was produced by Trevor Courtney & John French. Southern Lightning had a very similar sound to George Thorogood & The Destroyers, and Dave Hogan's vocals could be easily mistaken for Thorogood's anyday.

Southern Lightning were formed in November 1978, when drummer Louie Black put an ad in Rolling Stone looking for a harmonica player and guitarist. It read: “Please, please if you do not know blues do not waste our time.” Adding Nik Guselev on bass, Dave Hogan on vocals and harmonica and Manny Seddon on guitar, Southern Lightning quickly made an impact on the club and festival scenes becoming Melbourne's premier blues rock band on the pub based live music circuit. Southern Lightning opened on tours for B.B. King, Canned Heat, Roy Buchanan, John Mayall and Long John Baldry. During this period they recorded two albums: 'Down The Road' in 1986 and 'Southern Lightning' in 1987.

Southern Lightning

In 2020 a compilation 'Muddy Waters Blues' was released comprising their first two albums remastered from the original vinyl, together with bonus live tracks from a 2014 Reunion (with John Stax on bass), and a laidback 2019 revisiting of "Muddy Waters Blues" by Dave Hogan and Manny Seddon, cut at Manny's home studio. [Info thanks to Kimbo at History Of Australian Music]

Stop Press: There was a lead up article published by Beat in 2014, regarding the proposed release of the compilation by the reformed band, and is worth a read

Band Members

During their time together they only released 2 singles and 2 studio albums, as detailed below:

SINGLES
''Down The Road / Stones In My Passway'' 1986 Cleopatra
''Moonlight Street / Don't Call Me Mister'' 1987 Cleopatra

ALBUMS
'Down The Road' 1986 Cleopatra
'Southern Lightning' 1987 Missing Link
Compilation 'Muddy Waters Blues' 2020 Implant Media

Southern Lightning On Stage

This post consists of Mp3's (320) ripped from vinyl (thanks to BrianL at Midoztouch2) and includes artwork and label scans. As a bonus, I am also including their single which was taken from their LP - "Down The Road"/"Stones In My Passway" - however the 2 tracks have been ripped to FLAC (thanks to Tygerhead at Heavy Metal Rarities). 

My favourite tracks are "Muddy Waters Blues" and "Blues For Breakfast" which feature some great vocals, harp, guitar work, and the wonderful Robert Johnson blues standard "I Believe" which closes the album.  The only disappointment is the low resenance of the recording, requiring a higher than normal volume setting to really enjoy this album.  Perhaps the remastered released in 2020 might have a better sound, but regrettably, I have yet to source a copy. 

Track Listing:

01 I Ain't Superstitious

02 Down The Road

03 Muddy Waters Blues

04 Shame Shame Shame

05 Stones In My Passway

06 Love Shock

07 Blues For Breakfast

08 I Believe

Band Members:

Dave Hogan (Vocals, harp)

Manny Seddon (guitar)

Nick Guselev (bass)

Louie Black (drums)

Southern Lightning Link (154Mb)

REPOST: Peter Cupples - Fear Of Thunder (1982) + Bonus Tracks

(Australian 1981 - 1984, 1995 - Present)

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Peter Cupples has been delighting Australian audiences for three decades. Originally with ‘Stylus’ in the late 70’s, then through the 80’s with the Peter Cupples Band featuring the likes of ‘David Hirshfelder’, ‘Virgil Donati’, ‘Ross Ingles’ and ‘Rob Little’.
Cupples is known by most singers as ‘the singers singer’ and is widely respected by his peers.
Some of his biggest fans come from far and wide ‘Bill Schnee’ producer of ‘Boz Scaggs’ Amy Grant’and ‘Huey Lewis and the News’, ‘legendary horn arranger ‘Gerry Hay ’ and ‘Harvey Mason’ to name a few.

He was the first white singer to sing on the Motown label with ‘Stylus’ and has always maintained a deep respect for soul music. Over the last few years Cupples has released two albums, a standards album entitled ‘About Time’ and another home grown album called ‘The Golden Miles’ where Cupples does his own arrangements of Aussie classics. My favourite is Goanna's Solid Rock - have a look at this video below.

So how did the Peter Cupples Band form? [extract from his now defunct website]
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As Stylus slowly broke up I started working on some new musical projects. A small band evolved and we took up a residency at The Hatters Castle in Melbourne. There was myself, Sam McNally, Mark Myer and Joe Creighton. I was happy to be off the road back at home and playing regular local shows. The touring had really worn me out, and this was where I wanted to be at this time in my life. Mark and Sam moved to Sydney and were replaced by two superb musicians, David Jones and David Hirschfelder. They had been playing in the critically acclaimed jazz outfit Pyramid with Bob Vinier on horns.

We hooked up with Mike Clarke on Bass, Linda Cable and Bill Harrower and started playing at the Grainstore Tavern. This band was musically superb. We played a number of my songs and often just belted out an extended blow session of sounds. We were creative and instinctive and this was a great time for me musically. The two Davids and Bob, along with Mike's work, formed an amazing outfit. This band pushed me to write some different music. I moved away from the soul genre and I wanted to explore new frontiers with my writing. This was the time that "Fear Of Thunder" was born. The song itself was really out there. It was exciting and different. It was me expressing the new direction that I had discovered around this time. It didn't fit into any specific musical category and, hence it was when recorded, a difficult record to pitch commercially. It was rock, pop, soul, reggae…. A publishers dream and a record companies nightmare!!
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I was, and still am, very proud of the 'Fear of Thunder' album. or as I like to call it FOT. It was a vehicle for all of the musical influences of my career to date, and it was a new direction for me going forward. I had written these songs over a period of about 2 years, and was waiting for the opportunity to put them down in the studio.
The players on the album, read like a Who's Who of Australian music at the time. Besides David Hirschfelder, Ross Inglis, Rob Little and Virgil Donati, the album featured Tommy Emmanuel, David Jones and many other world class players.
The styles were abundant. There was rock, pop, ballads, reggae, soul and funk. Yet it flowed from song to song, and despite its diversity of sounds and moods,it was all very much a cohesive set of contemporary tunes.
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.From the rock of the title track and "Our Evolution" to the ballad "I Remember". The sweet soul Stylus sound of "Sweet Summer Nights", with Ashley and Sam providing a familiar feel, and the boppy "Blame It On the Weather", a song also released by John Farnham around this time. "Here We Are" was a magic studio track that sounded just right from the start in much the same way that "Make Believe" had some 7 years earlier.
It was a kaleidoscope of sounds and images that had flowed out of me during this musically exciting period of my life. People still come up to me, 20 years later, and tell me that 'Fear Of Thunder' is their favourite Cupples album of all time.
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The band played the Melbourne pub band circuit in the early 80's when pub rock was big business around town. We loved what we were doing, and we felt that we were forging ahead and defining new trends in music. We had a decent publicity machine behind us, and generated a good amount of interest in Australia and overseas. We supported some top overseas artists and received critical acclaim. The album and singles sold well, particularly in Melbourne, but we never received the commercial success that we needed to take the band to the next level.

We never managed to put together the sound that was needed for a big Aussie hit. Maybe we were a bit too different, maybe the timing wasn't right.. - it's hard to say - but we were playing the music we loved playing, and our loyal fans followed us around the circuit as we continued in our pursuit of success.

We started working towards the second album "Half The Effort Twice The Effect". The songs had already become part of our set, and the fans had received them well. We had enough material to put down a follow up to F.O.T. It was just a matter of working out with the record company which direction the album would take.
However, for the second time in my career I had reached a stage where the constant drain and grind of touring had worn me down. Similar to the end of the Stylus years, this period in the Peter Cupples Band signaled to me that it was time for a new direction in life.
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Peter was still gigging back when I first posted this album on the blog back in 2011, doing mostly solo stuff but also tied up with the legendary Jon English to form "Uncorked". They embarked on producing a lifestyle type program based around our music, wine, food and travel, all rolled in together. They played together at a number of vineyards, and filmed a pilot special in Tasmania earlier that year. They were hoping to expand the show, to cover the other parts of Australia, if they secured a network deal 
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The post is a vinyl rip in FLAC format taken from my pristine copy of the album. I have included full album artwork for vinyl only, along with a selection of photos. Also included are a couple of singles, his big hit "Believe In Love" and a non-album B-Side track "Dryin' Time (thanks to Sunshine).
Although the album was released on CD back in 2005, it is no longer available from Cupples website which now appears to be defunct.
Nevertheless, there are more recent titles available, so have a look at his Facebook Page
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                      New Improved Rip !

Track Listing

01. Fear Of Thunder
02. Here We Are
03. You Never Know
04. Later Tonight
05. Our Evolution
06. Blame It On The Weather
07. I'm On Fire
08. I Remember
09. Sweet Summer Nights
10. I'm Into You
Bonus Tracks
11. Believe In Love (A-Side Single)
12. Dryin' Time (B-Side Single)
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Band Members:

Vocals – Peter Cupples
Keyboards – David Hirschfelder
Bass – Mike (Kelly) Clarke, Robert Little, Roger McLaughlin
Drums – Trevor Courtney, Virgil Donati
Guitar – Peter Cupples, Ross Inglis, Tommy Emmanuel

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Peter Cupples Link (390MB) 

New Link 11/11/2025

REPOST: Wlliam Shakespeare - Can't Stop Myself From Loving You (1974) with Bonus Tracks

(Australian 1974-76, 1979)
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In a classic case of pop reincarnation, Johnny Caves (born in 1950) became Johnny Cabe, then William Shakespeare. He then scored two Australian #1 hit singles and was never heard from ever again.
Behind the scenes were ace production/songwriting guru's Vanda & Young (ex-The Easybeats) who wrote Shakespeare's hits "Can't Stop Myself From Loving You" and "My Little Angel", as well as engineering his carefully contrived image (Australia's answer to Gary Glitter).
Johnny Caves initially sang with beat band The Amazons. By the early 70s he was working the Sydney clubs as Johnny Cabe.
At the beginning of 1974 he came into contact with Vanda and Young, who had just recorded the backing track for "Can't Stop Myself From Loving You" for another singer who was unable to handle the high notes.
The song seemed tailor-made for Cabe's falsetto voice, and he was promptly signed for the Alberts label.

Vanda and Young decided to create a new image for Cabe. They renamed him William Shakespeare and kitted him out in glam rock gear, replete with puffed Shakespearian sleeves and gaudy fake jewels. To top it all off, Shakespeare sported an immaculately coiffured, plum-coloured hairdo.
His first single release "Can't Stop Myself From Loving You" came out in July 1974 and immediately hit Number 1 on the national Australian charts. With the help of regular appearances on Countdown, his second single, the Christmas-flavoured "My Little Angel", also reached Number 1.
Two more Vanda and Young singles followed: "Just The Way You Are" (April 1975) and "Last Night" (March 1976), plus the album Can't Stop Myself From Loving You, but none charted. While his career was in decline Shakespeare was charged with carnal knowledge and received two years' probation.
He left Alberts in 1977 and by the middle of 1979 was back working Sydney clubs, this time as Billy Shake. His career was temporarily revived in 1990 when listeners of Melbourne radio station 3MMM voted My Little Angel as the "daggiest song of its generation". Shakespeare began headlining "Dag Nights" on the nostalgia circuit and wore his 'Top Dag' appellation as a badge of honour. [extract from nostalgiacentral.com]

Singles: Can't Help Myself / My Little Angel

Sadly, John Cave passed away on 5th October, 2010 at the age of 61,as a result of alcohol abuse.
The following is an article from the Sydney Morning Herald, August 24, 2009 entitled 'Countdown Star's Topple from Grace' (editorial by Brendan Shanahan)
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Pop star William Shakespeare's ascent to No.1 was as fast as John Cave's descent into hell.
."I got a royalty cheque the other day,” says John Cave, better known as 1970s glam star William Shakespeare, “for 13 bucks.” There is a rare moment of ironic humour in his voice as he gestures at the letter on the table.
At the age of 60, John Cave has seen better days. Then again, he's seen a lot worse. Almost since he had his first hit, Can't Stop Myself from Loving You, in 1974, quickly followed by another No. 1, My Little Angel, Cave has been on a downward trajectory. At the height of his career, his alter ego was a Countdown regular and, for a brief period, the most famous man in Australian pop.
But, fairly or otherwise, William Shakespeare (also billed as Billy Shake) was not to be remembered for his musical contribution so much as a symbol of the excesses of the glam-rock era and the transience of fame.
These days, Cave lives alone in a government flat in Riverwood, cared for by his neighbour, Rhyse, an extraordinarily energetic 83-year-old great-great-grandmother and self-described “hyperactive geriatric”. “I'm his carer, his friend, his surrogate mother,” she says, busying herself with tea in the kitchen.

Cave's story began in Sydney's inner west, where his parents ran a fruit-and-vegetable shop. Cave's father died when he was 14; his mother when he was 21. “She never even got to see me sing,” he says.
After singing for various pub bands, Cave was one day confronted with a fateful decision. “I got the offer to be the lead singer of AC/DC, although they didn't really have a name then. I took the story back to my manager and he said, 'Well, do you want to sing in a bloody pub band all your life or do you want to be a star?' I thought, 'I want to be a star.' So that's the road I chose and I became William Shakespeare.”
It was, needless to say, poor advice and soon a perfect storm of scandal, changing fashion and incipient alcoholism conspired to destroy William Shakespeare almost as quickly as he was made.
In 1975, only a year after his debut, Cave was convicted of carnal knowledge with the 15-year-old president of his Melbourne fan club. It's an incident he refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for, dismissing it as a “set-up” and an extortion attempt. Whatever the truth, Cave was rapidly heading for a crash from which he would never recover, professionally or emotionally.

Depression has been a constant companion for Cave. Uncomfortable in the company of strangers, panic attacks have been a regular feature of his life. Even in his heyday, he says, he would get nervous for days before appearing on stage. Tragically, these problems would eventually bring him into the orbit of notorious psychiatrist Dr Harry Bailey, the man at the centre of the Chelmsford Hospital scandal in which many patients died during, or committed suicide after, Bailey's unregulated experimental techniques.
“I started seeing Harry Bailey at my wife's recommendation. I was having these pains in my legs and Dr Bailey gave me injections in my back and the pain was just gone.”
Eventually, Cave wound up at Chelmsford where, like his friend Stevie Wright, the former lead singer of the Easybeats and a long-term drug addict, he was subjected to so-called “deep sleep” and electroshock therapy.
“They handed me a paper cup full of pills,” he says, holding out a shaking hand, “and said, 'Here, swallow these.' I woke up two weeks later and didn't know . . . what had happened.”

Cave blames Chelmsford for much of his physical and mental decline over the next few years. In the 1980s his alcoholism and mental illness accelerated until he found himself sleeping in the toilets opposite the St George Leagues Club in Kogarah.
“If it wasn't for the people at the club, I wouldn't be here. They looked after me, gave me breakfast and kept an eye on me. I'd be dead if it wasn't for their kindness.”
Cave found friends in other places, too. Upon hearing his story, the former drummer for the Go-Betweens, Lindy Morrison, eventually rescued the fallen idol. In 2001 she arranged accommodation and financial assistance through the charity Support Act, which helps members of the music industry who've fallen on hard times. Cave still relies on assistance from Support Act. His mental health, however, is a constant burden.
“I will admit it,” he says, giving his walker a resentful shove. “I have thought about suicide on several occasions. But I've never really had the intestinal fortitude to go through with it. I've had friends who have gone that way, but I can't.”

Perhaps surprisingly, Cave doesn't seem to feel much bitterness for the music industry. Indeed, his recollections seem to be the only moments when the fog of depression lifts; with excitement he relates a story about his old mate Bon Scott shoving an ice-cream into the face of a man behind the wheel of a Mercedes; legendary songwriters Vanda and Young, he says, “did their very best for me”; and nothing gives him pleasure like singing. The convenient narrative of the fallen star, chewed up and spat out by an unfeeling industry, is too simplistic; Cave's problems run deeper: “It wouldn't have mattered what I'd done,” he says when asked whether an alternative career might have helped him avoid his current problems. “I was always like this. My whole life I've been a nervous person.”

Cave has regrets. He wishes he had "worked harder". His estrangement from his only daughter, too, causes him some distress: “I would love to see her again. Maybe she can read this and something will come of it.”
Lately his health has been touch-and-go. Although he's now down to a single beer a night, he was admitted to hospital earlier this year, close to death. But despite this and complaints of loneliness, Cave still has a love of music. When asked what he wants his legacy to be, he stares intensely: “I just want people to know that William Shakespeare isn't dead. That he's alive, that he can still sing and he's living in Riverwood. I love every person who . . . bought one of my records. I just want people to remember me as someone who brought a lot of happiness into people's lives.”
Suddenly, emotion overwhelms him. Rhyse grips his shoulder. “You're a strong bloke, John,” she says. “A fighter. And I love ya.”

Albert Record Labels

This post consists of FLACs ripped from CD. Full album artwork for both vinyl and CD are included, along with choice photos. I have also added several bonus tracks - firstly, a rare live recording of his hit single "Can't Stop Myself From Loving You" performed at the 1975 benefit concert held for Darwin, in the aftermath of Cyclone Tracey. His final single "Last Night" is also included (thanks to OzzieMusic Man for this single). I have also included the alternative front cover for the CBS Vinyl release of this album (as shown below), however my vinyl copy features the Alberts label (as shown above).
It is interesting to note that each side of this album is labeled Act I and Act II , and tracks are labelled as Scene 1, Scene 2 etc respectively rather than the usual Side 1/2, or Side A/B. Anything for a gimmick hey !

     New Improved Rip !

Track Listing
01 - Can't Stop Myself From Loving You
02 - Can't Wait For September
03 - Woman
04 - My Little Angel
05 - Can't Live Without You
06 - On Saturday Night
07 - Love Is Like A Cloudy Day
08 - Goodbye Tomorrow Hello Today
09 - Lean A Little Bit On Me
10 - Just The Way You Are
11 - Time
12 - Feelin' Alright
[Bonus Tracks]
13 - Can't Help Myself From Lovin' You (Live Concert For Darwin 1975)
14 - Last Night (A-Side Single 1976)
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William Shakespeare Link (267Mb)

Jane - Age Of Madness (1978)

(German 1970 - Present)

Jane were formed in October of 1970 in Hanover out of the remains of the band Justice Of Peace. Klaus Hess (g), Peter Panka (dr) and Werner Nadolny (org) were looking for a new challenge and got together with Charly Maucher (b). In the Spring of 1971, they were joined by Bernd Pulst, a singer with a powerful voice. Shortly after that, the quintet signed a long-term record contract. After almost one year of work, Jane's debut album 'Together' was released in the spring of 1972. The German rock world reacted positively to the technically well-versed newcomers and their "unvarnished style of making music".

For the second LP, Wolfgang Krantz had to fill in for Maucher, who was sick, and Panka took the place of Bernd Pulst as lead singer. The initial success and their convincing live performances made Jane an attraction on the national touring scene. The band constantly commuted back and forth between stage and studio and absorbed numerous changes in the line-up effortlessly and without any quality loss.

Jane

In 1974, Nadolny left to form his own band, Lady, and Maucher returned to Jane. But his second stay with the band lasted for a little less than a year. He decided to form another band, Harlis, and was replaced in May 1974 by Martin Hesse, while Krantz left to be replaced by Gottfried Janko (keyboards, vocals).

Jane went through a maturing process and perfected their style, which had a certain tendency to mysticism and was by now well in demand all over Europe. For the 1975 album, 'Fire, Water, Earth & Air', the band (Nadolny had returned to take over Janko's place) experimented with the dummy head recording technique. Established music magazines like Record World compared their complicated song structures to those of bands like Pink Floyd. The national music press found it harder to warm up to the ambitious band from Lower Saxony and overlooked the impressive echo from the music press abroad, very good sales figures and filled concert venues.

When Jane set out on a sixty-concert tour through Germany in March 1976, Manfred Wieczorke from Eloy stood in for Nadolny and played the keyboards. The four musicians documented this phase of their career with a double album called 'Live'. In the first weeks after its release, 'Live' sold more than 100,000 copies, making them the best-selling German rock act of their time after Udo Lindenberg and Kraftwerk.

Jane 1976

Threatening musical images and "guitar riffs played Black Sabbath-style" (Musik Express) dominated the 1977 album 'Between Heaven and Hell'. By that time, Jane no longer needed to fear comparisons with the international competition. In Switzerland, they even outsold Pink Floyd for a while and reactions from the US were positive as well.

In the fall of 1977, Jane received the "Golden Brain Label" from their record company, recognizing 300,000 albums sold in Germany. A year later, in the summer of 1978, that number had already reached 500,000. This made Jane the third-best-selling German band in the country, behind Udo Lindenberg and Kraftwerk.

1978 saw the release of 'Age of Madness' following a new, better paid record deal, a sellout tour through twenty cities plus a number of appearances on TV. Jane stayed true to their ponderous, romantic rock. The eighth album was the first to be recorded in the band's own 24-track studio situated in an idyllic half-timbered house in the village of Sarstedt, 30 kilometres south of Hanover. Jane's top-form performance seemed to stem from their new independence and new-found motivation and inspiration.

'Age of Madness' rocked it out a little harder maintaining emotional spacey timbres and was released internationally, being presented in clear and red vinyl formats on the now defunct Canadian label Bomb Records. A successful European tour ensued but Weiczorke departed in early 1979, leaving just a trio to tackle their followup LP "Sign No.9" which was nothing short of a disaster.

Album Review

Age of Madness was the end of their space rock phase, and what they demonstrated on 'Between Heaven & Hell', you'd think they were able to continue on the greatness of that album. Unfortunately that's not quite the case. The instrumental title track is actually quite good, has more than a hint of Eloy in it, which is really no surprise when you know that Manfred Wieczorke is responsible for the keyboard playing (he left Eloy after the fiasco of Power and the Passion - itself a great album - for a more financially stable band, in this case, Jane).

That burst of classic Hammond organ grunge kicking off the album was a conscious throwback to an earlier, heavier Jane: the musical equivalent of slipping into an old pair of sneakers after a formal night on the town. The song itself was still uncomfortably in debt to Pink Floyd, but with a welcome economy of style compared to the bloated, faceless wall Roger Waters was erecting at the time.

The title of the next song is fully in accordance with its content. "Memory Symphony" is a very nice and tranquil instrumental song. A good balance with very expressive keys and of course a sublime guitar play (but this is a "Jane" TM). In my opinion, this is one of the highlights on the album. So much so, that I attemped to learn how to play this on my hammond synth, when I was in garage band back in the late 70's, but the other band members weren't really into Krautrock, and so it never got off the ground.

The next track Auroville is a great instrumental and could have featured on Floyd's 'Obscured By Clouds' and no one would have been none the wiser. These first three tracks are not complicated compositions, Jane has never been know for extravagant arrangements, but the athmosphere is very nice as always with wonderful keyboards and tasty guitar playing.

Jane 1978

The marriage of Jane's trademark psychedelia with country and western motifs in "Love Song" shows a willingness to break new ground; even if this may have been commercially motivated, it doesn't seem like compromise. For a heavier repeating loop, try "Bad Game" - again, Jane takes a riff where it has gone before, again and again, and does it better than anyone, thanks to Hess and Wieczorke, amply backed by the rhythm section.

Martin Hesse & Klaus Hess

"With Your Smile" is another highlight, kicking off mid-song and highlighted by some of Hess' best work and a near danceable beat. It is the ultimate expression of Jane's paradoxical blend of professionalism and amateurism.

The album is occasionally lit by incandescent flashes of energy, typically sparked by guitarist Klaus Hess, and the next track "Get this Power" sounds like a psychedelic jam with harmonica, guitar and a driving rhythm section lead by Panka on drums. This is definately the album's wake up call, in case the listener has dozed off earlier! 

                                            JANE ⚡ Get This Power ⚡ Live 1978, Germany 

Finally we come back to progressive rock with the last 2 tracks, the wonderful dreamy instrumental "Meadow", a very delicate piece of music showcasing Wierczorke at his most sensitive (and another highlight of the album), followed by an encore "Age Of Madness Part II" which closes the album in a good symphonic way.

Overall, this is an enjoyable album to listen to and a personal favourite of mine. However, others may not agree - based on reviews that I have read at progarchives.com and alike. To be honest, I have a soft spot for this album as listening to it takes me back to the time when I nearly had a chance to perform "Memory Symphony" with my band some 45 years ago. Hmm...now that I think about it, it's a bit ironical that it's called "Memory Symphony" !

Left: My Cover [With incorrect track order] 
Right: Other Releases [With correct track order]

This post consists of FLACs ripped from my vinyl copy (an import featuring Brain's orange label) and includes full album artwork for both vinyl and CD, along with label scans.  One interesting anommily with my pressing is the incorrect track listing (order) on the back cover. Discogs lists this German release and appears to be the only release with this annomily. The track order and label listings are correct nevertheless (See scans of these covers above).

Tracklist

A1 - Age Of Madness 5:45

A2 - Memory Symphony 4:25

A3 - Auroville 3:40

A4 - Love Song 3:53

B1 - Bad Game 5:14

B2 - Get This Power 2:40

B3 - With Her Smile 4:20

B4 - Meadow 3:27

B5 - Age Of Madness (Part II)  2:39

Jane were:

- Klaus Hess - guitars, vocals

- Martin Hesse - bass, vocals

- Peter Panka - drums, percussion, vocals

- Manfred Wieczorke  - keyboards, vocals

Age Of Madness Link (202Mb)