Post 304 - Piero Von Armin - Exclusively Yours / Local Boy

Piero Von Armin worked in theatre, film and TV. His only known TV credits was Alvin Purple (the series). Piero is probably best remembered by 1970s viewers for his featured part in the successful advertising campaign for “Uncle Sam's Miracle Herbal Hair Shampoo” and "Uncle Sam Deodorant". He also was in the Australian stage version of the Rocky Horror Show '74-'75. He did release one single for Festival Records in 1974 and here for you to download is "Exclusively Yours" b/w "Local Boy" (K-5651). It was produced by Martin Erdman at Festival's Studio 24 in Sydney. The A side was written by Ben Raleigh and Donald Wolf with the B side penned by Piero. For those of you who want to relive the Uncle Sam commercial here are the links:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNJP4mn6SD8&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfbGzL8IWRI&feature=related

Thanks to Peter for this gem.

Post 303 - Burton & Cunico - Strive, Seek, Find

This LP was voted "The Album Release of the Month" on the U.S FM Radio Report in 1974. We couldn't find a lot of info on this album so we emailed Ray and this is what he had to say......

Hi Garry, thanks for the HUGE compliment mate. I recorded the "Strive

Seek Find" album at Record Plant West in LA with Gino Cunico about

1000 years ago. . . ha ha.

All of the songs on this album were written by yours truly :-)

You may or may not know that Gino and I were previously both members

of "The Executives" from Australia.

Burton & Cunico, being primarily an acoustic duo, were around a long

before "unplugged" etc. was "in vogue".

We toured around the USA in a huge Winnebago Motor Home and played

live at all of the Universities, Colleges and local radio stations on

the West Coast and then a couple of months after that, we did the same

thing all over again on the East Coast of the USA.

If I remember rightly we toured through about 40 or so US states and

Probably drove 25,000+ miles {40,000 K's} through Big Town and Small

Town America. There were no digital cameras then so I took around 6000

slides of the trip. Sheesh, it's all so long ago and very hazy Gaz. My

mind boggles at all the places I have been 'n' seen in this ol' world,

especially the USA, Canada and Mexico. That's where the "Strive Seek

Find" concept comes from my friend. . . and . . . I'm still lookin'

for that perfect song . . . ha ha ha

Ray Burton

Here to download is the LP "Strive, Seek, Find" (PAS 6013) on Family Productions and produced by Artie Ripp and Bob Hughes.

Post 302 - James Freud - Step Into The Heat LP

Sadly it was reported that James Freud (Colin Joseph McGlinchey), the singer with Models, has taken his life in his Melbourne home this morning 4/11/10. Freud was noticeably absent when his band Models were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame last week. Sean Kelly commented that James “had fallen off the bike”. Freud was born Colin Joseph McGlinchey in June 29th, 1959. In his autobiography, Freud described his life as “not without a few old-fashioned rock’n’roll excesses”. He had a long-term battle with alcoholism. Freud was 16 when he started his first band "Sabre" with Models guitarist Sean Kelly. In 1977, he formed Teenage Radio Stars and had a hit with "Modern Girl" in 1979. After Mark Ferrie left Models in 1982, James joined his old mate Sean’s band. In 1985, Models, with Freud, had their greatest commercial breakthrough with the Freud penned "Out of Mind, Out of Sight" and "Barbados". He was with the band until the break-up in 1988. His next project was Beatfish with Mental As Anything’s Martin Plaza. In 2008, he released his solo album "See You In Hell". James had been sober since 2004 but Kelly’s comments that the ARIA Hall of Fame last week suggested that he had gone back to alcohol. Freud was 51. As a tribute to this great Aussie talent, here to download is James’s 1989 album for Mushroom "Step Into The Heat" (TVD 93302). It was produced by Bernard Edwards and James peened all the tracks. He is survived by wife Sally and sons Harrison and Jackson from the band Attack Of The Mannequins. R.I.P. James Freud 29/6/1959 - 4/11/10.