Australian Music Archives

The 1st part of the second quarter of 1964 is led off by Johnny O'Keefe and perhaps his best-remembered ballad, She Wears My Ring. The highest charting hit is Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs' first big one; Poison Ivy, backed with Broken Things. We'll hear the last chart entries from the now-distant Summer of Surf, including The Delltones' Out The Back. And the final of 12 tracks is the lowest-charting; the much under-recorded Del Juliana with You're Driving Me Crazy, a video mashup of which can be found here.

Perhaps the term "uber-diverse" best captures the spirit of this episode. We'll hear songs written by Barry Gibb, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Georges Bizet, Joe Halford & Jay Justin, Artie Wayne & Ben Raleigh and many more! Featured artists include Rob E.G., Jimmy Little, Judy Stone, Little Pattie and, The Cicadas  and again, many more. Three of my favourites in this episode; Billy Thorpe & The (Original) Aztecs' first 45, Blue Day; The Atlantics epic, light years ahead of its time, War of The Worlds, and the wonderful Judy Stone with 4 003 221 Tears From Now. Enjoy the Music!

Another split quarter to open 1964 because of the volume of Australian Music released. Sadly though, not many will reach the higher rungs of the charts as The Beatles' dominance starts to bite. The quarter opens with a rare instrumental track from The Hawking Brothers, Mexicali Rose, my copy of which is in less than pristine condition; "Sound" apologies! It's mostly the 'usual suspects' in Part 1A, with the addition of Digger Revell & The Denvermen's 'classic', My Little Rocker's Turned Surfie and the group which backed Little Pattie on her early recordings, The Statesmen with Beachcomber. Remember when it was Rockers -v- Surfies, then Rockers -v- Mods? And yet again it will be Frank Ifield with the highest charting hit. Enjoy the start of 1964!

In part two of unpacking the 1975 compilation LP, So You Wanna' Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star Vol. 1, we go national with Blues Rags & Hollers from Adelaide, The Five from Brisbane and Glen Ingram & The Hi-Five from Perth. There's even a NZ band that (sort of) became an Australian band; The Librettos! We delve into the mystery of Melbourne band, The Mystrys. We will also hear great raw Australian garage rock from; Steve & The Board, The Blue Beats, The Pogs, The Morloch and The Showmen. There's also some great stories (sadly, of short-lived success) in this collection of bands. Enjoy!

A bit late with last week's episode but: A different approach this week, with ten tracks from the 1975 compilation LP, released on Festival; "So You Wanna' Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star Vol. 1". These ten tracks come from the period 1964-6. Groups featured, playing some absolute garage, beat-boom gems include; The Amazons, Chris Hall & The Torquays, The A Sound (Doug Parkinson's 1st band), The Vince Maloney (Melouney) Sect, The Black Diamonds and five more. In collector's terms, most of these tracks are "very rare", only a couple actually made the charts! I'll feature another ten in the next episode.

A Surfin' end to 1963 as Australian artists ride the Surf Music boom. Little Pattie's much celebrated double-sided debut 45 highlights the last few weeks of 1963. There's Surf Music from around Australia with chart hits not only coming from Sydney but also from Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane bands. The Atlantics hit with The Crusher, the followup to Bombora whilst in Brisbane, a band named The Pacifics hit with a double-sider. The 'old guard', Johnny O'Keefe and Dig Richards, re-enters the charts whilst we hear a debut 45 from the much-underrated Taylor Sisters. Ride the wild surf as 1963 closes out!

So much Australian content for the last quarter of 1963 that I've split it into two parts. Part A will take us through to mid-November, as the 'Summer of Surf' cranks up. The Delltones, The Denvermen, The Joy Boys & Johnny Devlin provide the surfin' action. Some old favourites chime in with new music, including Jimmy Little and his best-remembered song, Royal Telephone. Johnny O'Keefe has yet another double-sided hit with Shake Baby Shake/Good Luck Charm. And, almost from left field, The Seekers' career is launched with their first 45, a version of Waltzing Matilda, with Bruce Woodley taking the lead. Enjoy Part A and I'll get Part B up next week.

A fill-in of sorts for this week's episode; the first in the Australian EPs series. This episode features two very early Australian EPs; Johnny O'Keefe & The Dee Jays with Whole Lotta' Shakin', their first EP, 1957, and The Crescents with their first EP, Rock Time, 1960. The two EPs are connected through Johnny O'Keefe because in his alias as "Johnny Cash Jnr.", he arranged and produced the Rock Time EP for The Crescents. The two EPs also share an unusual trait in that none of the tracks were released on an original 45 in Australia. The EP had a chequered lifespan in Australia, actually first appearing in 1954. At times, the EP became a cash-in, recycling songs that first appeared on a 45. These two EPs are not of that type!

I hope to have the next episode in the Charts Series ready for next week. I'm missing one song but the 45 is in the mail. Fingers crossed!

Recording-wise, this is a relatively short episode because Yvonne Barrett was woefully under-recorded for an artist of her talent. Most would be aware of the circumstances of her tragic passing; murdered in a Birchgrove, Sydney apartment in 1985. In some ways, this is a story of a child-star moving into an adult world; Yvonne's stage career started at the age of 10. In 1964, just before she burst onto the pop scene, Yvonne told Teenagers' Weekly that her dream was to move into musical theatre; to play the lead in the musical, Gypsy, to be exact. So there's an element of unfulfilled ambition in this story. There's also many gaps in the story; not the least of which is why there was a ten-month gap between her 1st and 2nd GO!! label 45 releases. Finally, there's the question of how, the Vietnamese refugee, Hoang Van Truong, jailed for life for Yvonne's murder, managed to get unconditional parole in 1995 and then apparently vanish from sight. I do have some comments to make on this situation that may bring some finality to the mystery. It is a case of; enjoy the musical talents of Yvonne Barrett, and hopefully learn a little about how a life, so full of promise, could end so tragically.

The Winter/Early Spring of 1963 is dominated by one sound; Bombora! The Atlantics' mega-hit dominates this quarter and indeed the rest of the year, it lasted a massive 26 weeks in the charts. Sadly as I publish this episode, I relate the sad news of the passing of Atlantics' drummer, Peter Hood on 22 September 2021. When you listen to Bombora, you can't miss the pounding drum beat that underpins the epic sound. Vale Peter Hood. There's a good deal of other instrumental magic in this episode, including Rob E.G.'s, 55 Days at Peking and The Denvermen's Avalon Stomp. The Bee Gees' 2nd 45, Timber, makes the chart as does The De Kroo Brothers' biggest hit, (And Her Name Is) Scarlet. And Frank Ifield's chart run continues with Waltzing Matilda! Frank's version really swings! Enjoy!