Current Traffic

Wednesday 8 April 2009

Post 88 - Rick Springfield - Streaking the Australian Way

This is one of Rick's singles that was brought to my attention by a friend. He asked me if I had it…..and as you see I do. "Streaking The Australian Way" would have to be one of his lesser known singles and never was a big hit. To tell you the truth I never recall ever hearing it on radio. The first time I heard the song was on the 1974 Best Of Rick Springfield LP released by Summit. The song was backed with "You'd Better Think Twice" which came from the LP Mission Magic. During this same period, Rick was offered the opportunity to star in animated form in the short-lived American Saturday morning cartoon series. Each episode featured a new song written and performed by Rick. A soundtrack album was released in Australia, though not in the United States. The backing tracks featured some of the cream of the L.A. session scene including drummers Russ Kuknel and Jim Keltner and bassists Leland Sklar and Carol Kaye. Also included were top Aussie session players Ray Arnott, Barry Morgan and Barry "Big Goose" Sullivan. In America another single was released, "Streaking Across the USA" / "Music to streak by" (Columbia USA). It came out at the same time. I've never heard it, but I'm sure it would be the same song with of course the Aussie cities being replaced with American cities. I'm pretty sure neither of these two singles ever made it to CD, but for you to download out of 1974 on Wizard is "Streaking the Australian Way” (SRA295.047).

No comments: