Snakes Alive - Selftitled (1975) FLACs

(Australian 1973-1975)

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

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

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

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

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

Snakes Alive

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

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

Aragorn, 1973

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

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

Snakes Alive

Album Review:

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

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

LP Gatefold

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

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

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

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

The Band Members were:

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

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

Michael Vidale

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

- Boris Peric (guitar) currently lives in Cains

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

- Colin Campbell (trumpet)

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

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

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

Track Listing:

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

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

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

Snakes Alive Link (459Mb)