Writing letters to nowhere...
Dear fellow caveman / cavewoman,
The purpose of this privately compiled CDR is perhaps an attempt to intrigue your musicwise psychedelia-coloured instincts rather than your primitive ones towards a geographical area's 60's musical output probably not as well-known as that of the US or UK, but fascinating and artistic nonetheless: Australia and New Zealand psychedelia.
I was properly introduced to the highly-rated Australian / New Zealandic sixties music scenes not longer than three years ago, and was stunned by the quality of numerous recordings made downunder. While being much different to each other, with the Australian one being significantly punkier and harder than the more pop-oriented New Zealand scene, both scenes are sounding closer to UK sixties music and especially in terms of psychedelia, filtered through exact those elements that are simply great about British psych. Dreamy and atmospheric, sometimes beautifully child-like, sometimes acidic, sometimes beat- or eastern-influenced and other times clean and haunting, there's a wealth of gems well worth checking out.
Despite my little knowledge about these pretty well documented & compiled scenes, the aforementioned characteristics make the 16 songs included in this disc at least worthwhile a spin to these ears and an opportunity for a further -bootlegged- airing. Always recommended by and to anyone involved even a little bit in sixties music...
TOL-PUDDLE MARTYRS: Social Cell / Time Will Come / Nellie Bligh
Hailed from Bendigo, where they formed in 1966. They had previously been known as Peter and The Silhouettes. Under this new moniker their music became more complex. They frequently traveled to and played around Melbourne backing singers like Frankie Davidson, Lyn Barrett and Ronnie Burns.
Their first 45 ("Time Will Come / Social Cell", 1967) was menacing. Originally released on Spiral it was put out shortly after on Pacific with the same catalogue number. Indeed "Time Will Come" is a superb slice of garage-psych with an unnerving introduction, whilst the flip, "Social Cell" is a catchy number which recalls shades of The Yardbirds.
In 1968, the band represented Bendigo in Hoadley's Battle Of The Sounds, coming fourth in the final bout. This led to a deal with Festival and a second Kinks-ish 45 ("Love Your Life / Nellie Bligh"), which though not as good as their first, includes
the addictive "Nellie Bligh" (or was it a better-than-the-original version of "Sunny Afternoon"?)
GREMLINS: Blast Off 1970
This Auckland group evolved in 1965 out of a band called The Adventurers. An underrated group, The Gremlins were responsible for a series of competent power pop singles they mostly penned themselves (8 singles and 1 EP from 1966 to 1968). Their best moment, "Blast Off 1970" (from '67) is a brilliant mod-psych gem, bound for a star fiery ocean of sound effects, fuzz, organ and high harmonies. A further 45 side "I Can't Say" from '66 is also worth a spin.
HOUSE OF NIMROD: Slightly-Delic / Psychothartic
The House Of Nimrod formed in Auckland in late 1967 and were among NZ's few genuinely psychedelic groups. They did produce 2 singles, "Slightly-Delic / Reflection Of Our Time" in 1967 and "Psychothartic / Ragged Patch" in 1968, with both A-sides being purely and simply EXCELLENT! "Slightly-Delic" in particular (to these ears among the 10 most beautifully crafted psychedelics ever) has a mystical quality to it, giving one's childhood's fairytales a hypnotic, deeply psychedelic treatment, drowned in phasing and fuzz.
JEFF ST JOHN & THE ID: Eastern Dreams
Vocalist Jeff St John is a well respected figure in Australia's music history. Recording-wise active from 1965 and at least until 1976, he was a member of numerous outfits including the ID in 1966-67, a brilliant r'n'b/soul combo. The ID had a residency for most of 1966 at the legendary 'Here' disco in North Sydney. They also toured as a support act to The Yardbirds, Walker Brothers and Roy Orbison. They released 5 singles, 2 EP's and an album in the '66-'67 period, with "Eastern Dream" (B-side to their 3rd 7" from 1966) being one of the finest slices of Australian psychedelia. Another ID song, "Watch Out" from 1967 is also great.
THROB: Black
"The Throb from Sydney are mostly famous for their better-than-the-Stones cover version of Fortune Teller, but to my ears the band’s finest recorded moment came six months later, when they transformed the bittersweet traditional folk song Black into a violent feedback-laden Gothic masterpiece.
Unfortunately Black was not a substantial hit and the band soon disintegrated. Nonetheless, the Throb still had one of the best band names ever, and even better... they looked exactly liked they sounded!"
"Black begins with a mournful crying harmonica before launching headfirst into a powerful 3/4 beat. The vocals are achingly soulful, with every syllable wrung out like a plaintive sob. So intense is the atmosphere of Black that by the time the searing mosquito-like guitar solo appears it is almost something of a relief! Then at the end of the third verse - as if Black had not been dark and tumultuous enough - the band explodes into an ear splitting sonic purge. Feedback-drenched guitars wail like air-raid sirens against reverb-shrouded cries and a demonic rumbling bass. Wow! What a festival of melodrama and angst. And how uncommercial to boot! Alongside the Purple Hearts’ Early In The Morning - Black was the most adventurous pop recording made in Australia during 1966."
Not much more to be added here except that their complete output is 2 fantastic 45's in 1966, with "Believe In Me" (b-side to their 1st) being an equally charming popper.
SMOKE: Never Trust Another Woman / Control Your Love
This Auckland outfit was originally known as Freddy Foo and The Creepers. Their wild guitarist Brett Tauri, who'd spent the early sixties in the States, penned both sides of their debut 45, "Never Trust Another Woman / No More Now" from '67, which is notable for his incisive guitar playing. The brilliant "Never Trust Another Woman", which has a great fuzzy guitar intro and distinctive, sometimes spoken, vocals is just too addictive to be left out. "No More Now" on the other hand was recently featured on the Nuggets II Boxset, sounding better than the Smoke's reissue EP, and therefore not included here.
Early in 1968, they played in Benny Levin's Battle Of The Bands and caused a riot when the crowd stormed the stage, which led to them being disqualified. After one further 45 in 1968, a less adventurous effort including however the great "Control Your Love", they split up in late 1968 and faded back into obscurity.
MUSIC CONVENTION: Footprints On My Mind
Originally from Hamilton, where they were known as The Trends, they moved on to Auckland, signing to RCA and adopting a new moniker as The Music Convention. In addition to five 45s, they also recorded a soundtrack EP for Andy McAlpine's Children Of The Sun surf movie in 1968.
They were one of the few bands in the country to deploy a sitar, which earned them a 'psychedelic' tag - "Footprints On My Mind", is a pleasing pop-psych effort with an Eastern feel, drug related lyrics and suitably sleepy vocals. In fact, they were closer to surf music and provided the soundtrack to what is thought to have been New Zealand's first surfing film 'Children Of The Sun'. It was commissioned in 1964 but took three years to film, so the craze was passe by the time the film emerged in 1967. The Children Of The Sun EP is absolutely mind blowing, an inspired sitar-driven surf instrumental mayhem.
LEW PRYME: Gracious Lady Alice Dee
According to Mike Stax: "Pryme was a household name in New Zealand in the mid-60s, a peroxide pop star with a gentleman's manners and an image beyond reproach. By 1968 his career was on the wane - until he recorded the enchanting "Gracious Lady Alice Dee", written for him by Bryce Peterson of the House of Nimrod. A spooky little melody with lyrics about tripping in the park, the "Alice Dee" name was included as a sly "in joke" and to make the song more topical. The single took off on the radio and was set to become a hit until watchdogs wised up as to who or what Alice Dee might be, after which it was quickly banned.
The press, smelling a scandal, wanted answers, and Peterson advised Pryme to tell them yes, the song was about drugs, and to say that he had personally experimented with LSD while visiting Australia earlier in the year. Pryme, of course, had never touched drugs in his life, but made his acid confession, and the shock horror story kept his name in the headlines for weeks, proving the old adage that any publicity is good publicity, and that the loveliest pop-psych nuggets can come from the unlikeliest of sources."
MASTER'S APPRENTICES: Living In A Child’s Dream
Trying to recover from their devastating "War Or Hands Of Time", my second encounter with this band was this song.
"If The Easybeats were "Australia's Beatles", then there is no doubt that, as Stan Rofe said, The Masters Apprentices were Australia's Rolling Stones".
They were enormously famous downunder, and almost managed to achieve worldwide recognition in their seven-year long career, encompassing all the changes in Australian music from 1965 to 1972; they started out as an instrumental band, rose to prominence during the beat boom, moved through psychedelia and 'bubblegum' pop, finally became one the first progressive hard rock groups of the early Seventies, surviving numerous lineup changes.
Of their recorded output, essential I would consider their '66-'68 recordings: a handful of brilliant singles and an equally fascinating debut LP.
"Living In A Child's Dream", their 3rd 7incher, was voted Australian Song of the Year in 1967 and in milesago.com I read further:
"Whether the band had actually tried acid by then is unclear, and Keays maintains that it wasn't until some time afterwards that they began to experiment with LSD. There was already a strong pointer to this new direction in the striking, raga-like middle section of Buried & Dead, but it really bore fruit on Mick Bower's masterwork, "Living in A Child's Dream" - one of their best songs, and one of the all-time great Australian pop songs. This classic tab of psychedelia is distinguished by great performances all round from the group - notably Rick Morrison's indelible guitar solo. It has all the requisite flower-power lyrical flourishes (candy, clowns and children) without being cutesy or contrived, because it's undercut with a real sense of sadness and nostalgia for lost youth"
VICKY & DICKY: I’m Allergic To Flowers
I wasn't able to find enough info on this NZ duo from 1968 apart from a demeaning description on "Dreams Fantasies & Nightmares".
This band gave the Jefferson Handkerchief's "I'm Allergic To Flowers" classic a hippy/flower power treatment off their sole single in 1968, a fact charged with irony, I have to observe, because of the song's comic lyrics about flower-power clichés. There's another thing worth wondering: How the heck did this song arrive downunder anyway? I think it wasn't even nearly a hit back in the US!
DAVE MILLER SET: Mr Guy Fawkes
Formed in Sydney in 1967, they derived much from the British heavy rock genre but became increasingly experimental to their detriment in the end.
Centred around vocalist and leader Dave Miller and inventive guitarist John Robinson, they attained prominence within the emerging Sydney progressive rock scene, as one of the first Led Zeppelin-style local acts. Their watershed and finest moment was "Mr Guy Fawkes", (originally by Eire Apparent) in 1969, which was an appealing mixture of acoustic guitar, grandiose strings, Miller's soaring vocals and a bulging arrangement.
AVENGERS: Waterpipe
This bunch is from Wellington, where they formed in 1966 and became relatively popular there. Their at times pleasant pop-styled music spans at least 5 45's and 2 studio albums from 1966 to 1969. Their best effort was "Waterpipe", B-side to their 2nd 45 from 1967 which even cracked NZ's Top 10. Quite understated, this song is regarded as a genuine classic in psych circles with its psychedelic lyrics. Mr Joynson called it a "delightful laid back piece of psych pop".
These things said, I couldn't think of a better closer to this dreamtime which should rather unexpectedly soon be up by now...
That would be all, my dear fellow caveman and -woman and hopefully you will enjoy some parts of this homemade odds & ends collection...
Greetings from the romilar dimension, T.
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