Post 449 - July 14th - Australian Bite LP

This band from Adelaide was put together by Terry Bradford, and the core members were Terry, Rod Ling and Robyn Habel with Tom Cowsill, Andrew Mills, Roy Ezinger and Brett Spilsbury joining at different stages. The name July 14th is made up from the birth date of three of the band members. The group's first single "Me and My Gun" did very well nationally and internationally. The release of the album "Australian Bite" was greatly anticipated and the album is described as an exciting performance record...highlighted the virtuoso talent of guitarist Rod Ling in the rich, crafted songs from the pen of Terry Bradford'. The group was commissioned to provide the tracks for two documentaries, the first for the ABC titled "Searching for Women's History" a 3 part documentary which was broadcast on national television. The second project was a US documentary on the Zanoni shipwreck off of Port Lincoln. Here to download is their first LP that doesn't feature the first single but does have its B side "We Kiss" "Australian Bite" (GPR-114). Released on Greasy Pop Records in 1985 and was produced by Jim Barbour & July 14th.

Post 448 - Pat Carroll - All Kinds Of Everything / In Your World

Pat Carroll was born in 1946 in Melbourne. Carroll began her entertainment career at age eight when she started taking singing and dancing lessons. Appearances on children's TV shows followed by the time she was eleven years old. She continued by appearing in musical comedy shows such as Carnival and Bye Bye Birdie. This led to appearing on national Australian pop TV shows such as Brian Henderson's Bandstand and The Go!! Show when in her mid-teens. Her first 45 single "He's My Guy" was released when she was 18. In the mid 1960s Carroll and her friend Olivia Newton-John, formed a singing duo called Pat and Olivia. Having won a song contest in Melbourne, they travelled to the United Kingdom. They achieved some success there on TV and in the clubs. After a period of performing there, Carroll's visa expired, forcing her to return to Australia where she would eventually marry ex-Strangers member, John Farrar. Newton-John stayed on and launched her own international career. Carroll released a number of singles with W&G Records and Interfusion during the 1960s and early 1970s most of which failed to chart. Her most successful single in Australia was her cover of Dana's "All Kinds of Everything." However Carroll's best known single is "To the Sun" on account of its featuring Cliff Richard on backing vocals. In 1970, Farrar quit the Strangers and with Carroll, returned to London. During 70s and 80s, she often sang backing vocals on Olivia Newton-John's albums. She's currently living in Malibu (USA) with husband John Farrar, Here to download is her 1970 hit "All Kinds Of Everything" b/w "In Your World" (FB-004). The single was produced by John Farrar for Fable records.

Post 447 - Bruce Woodley - ANZ Bank Travelling Man

This single was a promotional advertisement single called "The ANZ Bank Travelling Man", and was given out free to employees of that institution as part of the promotion in 1971. Another interesting fact about this song is that Fredd Bear's Breakfast-A-Go-Go show (which aired on ATV Channel 0 and is now ATV-10) aired Bruce Woodley to promote the single and Fredd Bear did a comedy dance routine to the instrumental B side. This is believed to be the only performance by former Seekers member Bruce Woodley of his advertising jingle for 'The ANZ Bank Travelling Man." Here's the link to that performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpjP2NznN8M

Post 446 - Flinn - Two Cans Of Fosters And A Packet of Potato Chips / The Barman's Reply

London's punk outfit Splodgenessabounds, reached #7 on the UK singles chart in 1980 with "Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please", Upon his return to Australia, Mick Flinn brought the song to Mike Brady's attention. "Two Cans Of Fosters And A Packet of Potato Chips" was Flinn's recycled version of his single "Do What You Wanna Do" existing backing, with the addition of a new vocal track "Australianising" the Splodgenessabounds lyrics. It was released in late December 1980 on Astor/Full Moon Records, and entered the Australian charts on December 22, where it spent a week at #93. Here to download is that single "Two Cans Of Fosters And A Packet of Potato Chips" b/w "The Barman's Reply" (A 7319). It was produced by Mark Stevens & Mick Flinn.

Post 445 - Frank Ifield - Give Him My Regards EP

Francis Edward Ifield was born on the 30th November 1937. He is an early Australian-English easy listening and country music singer. He achieved considerable success in the early 1960s, especially in the UK Singles Chart, where he had four Number 1 hits between 1962 and 1963. Born in Coundon, Coventry, Warwickshire, England, Ifield moved with his Australian parents to Dural, 50 km from Sydney, about 1946. It was a rural district and he listened to country music while milking the cows. At the age of thirteen he recorded "Did You See My Daddy Over There?", and by the age of 19 was the number one recording artist in Australia and New Zealand. He returned to the UK in 1959. His first record in the UK was "Lucky Devil" in 1960 which got to number 22 in the UK charts. His next six records were less successful, but he finally broke through with "I Remember You" which topped the charts for seven weeks in 1962. Known for Ifield's falsetto and a slight yodel, it was the second highest-selling single of that year in the UK and became the seventh million-selling single. Here to download from 1961 is his EP "Give Him My Regards" (SEGO-8495).

Post 444 - Marty Rhone - So You Want To Be A Pop Singer / As The Sun Goes Down

Marty was born Carl Van Rhoon, on 7 May 1948. Of Dutch-Indonesian ancestry, he started singing at an early age and at 17 went straight from school to a professional singing career. He'll be forever remembered for his two seventies hits “Denim And Lace” and “Mean Pair Of Jeans” – but to fans of Australian music of the sixties – he is fondly remembered for a string of classic songs which seem rather advanced for their time. In 1965 Marty and his band The Blue Feelings went to the Channel 9 studios to audition for their television pop show, "Saturday Date". However, it actually turned out to be, on the sly, an audition for a new record company called Spin Records, which was run by Nat Kipner, Nat liked Marty, but not the band, and as a result Marty signed with the label as a solo act. Kipner had seen a band called The Soul Agents performing at a Sydney club and was very impressed with the band, so in January 1966 Marty Rhone and The Soul Agents joined forces and became part of the Spin roster along with Steve & The Board, the Bee Gees, Jeff St. John & The Id, Tony Barber, The Dave Miller Set and Ronnie Burns. In 1967, The Soul Agents took on a full-time residency performing at one of Sydney’s biggest Nightclubs, and Marty moved to Melbourne where he continued to do T.V. and personal appearances and remained there until early 1970 when he was conscripted into the army for a two-year period. Out of his battle greens in 1972, Marty enrolled at the NSW Conservatorium of Music on a government grant for a two-year period and then turned his attention toward acting, where he worked both live theatre "Godspell" and on T.V. with roles in Number 96,and Class of '75. In 1970 he recorded the single here for you to download and my favourite Marty Rhone song "So You Want To Be A Pop Singer" b/w "As The Sun Goes Down" (EK-3637)Both sides of this single were written by Marty and shows his writing talents as well as a great singer. The single was produced by John Farrar for Spin Records in 1970.

Post 443 - Vince Butchelli - Heartbreak Hotel / Boogalie-Ooo

Interesting post this one...We had a nice email from someone asking if we knew a song that his Mother & Father had when he was a child. It was to the tune of Heartbreak Hotel and by what he thought was Sydney or Melbourne DJ Vince someone. I must admit I didn't have a clue, so we put the word out to all my contacts and within a few hours mystery solved.

The single was released by Melbourne radio personality Ric Melbourne and charted in Melbourne in 1976. It was released under the pseudonym of Vince Butchelli who was one of the characters that Melbourne used in his breakfast radio program on 3DB in Melbourne. Vince Butchelli was purported to be an Italian immigrant, and obviously the single was released in far more politically incorrect times. The single charted for 9 weeks in Melbourne in mid-1976, reaching a peak of number 15. It reached as high as number 43 in the Sydney charts late 1976, but didn’t chart anywhere else in Australia. Here to download is that single "Heartbreak Hotel" b/w "Boogalie-Ooo" (CC-283). Released on the Crystol Clear label and produced by K.Kerropoulis. Ric penned the B side.

A BIG! Thank you to all that got back to us with the info on this, you know who you are much appreciated.

Post 442 - Hazel Phillips - Hot Pants / What's A Nice Girl Like Me Doing Working In A Place Likie This

Hazel Julia Phillips OAM was born oi November 1929 is an English-born Australian entertainer. She was born in Battersea, London. At the age of 20, she became engaged to her husband Bill, and they emigrated to Australia as "Ten Pound Poms" in 1950–51, marrying shortly afterwards and having two children, Mark (born 1953) and Scott (born 1955). In 1961, the family was involved in a serious car accident, with Phillips sustaining severe injuries to her chin. Her husband left them some time afterwards, with Phillips suggesting that the surgeries on her chin and an ectopic pregnancy contributed to the break-up of their marriage. At around that time, Phillips made her break into show business with a role on the talk show Beauty and the Beast with Eric Baume. She also began to appear on The Mavis Bramston Show. By 1967, Phillips had left Channel 7 and was hosting the midday talk show, Girl Talk on the fledgling 0–10 Network, for which she won the Gold Logie Award for the most popular female personality on Australian television. Here to download is a single she recorded in 1971 for ATA Records called "Hot Pants" b/w "What's A Nice Girl like Me Doing Working in a Place Likie This" (ATAK-4287). Hazel penned the A side with Norman Martin writing the B side. I'm not sure how many other recordings she did , if any and I think I read somewhere once that Col Joye produced the single. In 2008, her autobiography, "Black River, Bright Star" was published by Zeus Publications.

Post 441 - Tangent - Little Children / Nothing To Hide

Here is another one of those Aussie bands that we can't find much information on. All we can find is this is their one and only single from 1977 recorded on the Festival label at Armstrong Studios in Melbourne and was produced by P.Goodman and Engineered by Tony Cohen. Here to download is that single "Little Children' b/w "Nothing To Hide" (K-6962).

Post 440 - Mike Walsh & The Breen Machine - Knock Knock Who's There / High Hopes

Mike Walsh OBE was born on 5th of March 1938 in Corowa, N.S.W. He was host of The Mike Walsh Show from 1973 until 1985. Walsh is the only entertainer to be awarded the Sammy Award and Gold Logie award in the same year. After a successful media career in television and radio, Walsh began producing theatre shows across Australia and on London's West End. He has been the owner of Her Majesty's Theatre in Melbourne since 2000. Here to download from the Mike Walsh Show era comes this version of of "Knock Knock Who's There" b/w "High Hopes" (6037 057)Produced in 1975 by Dermot Hoy & Laurie Lewis for Philips Records. The song also features some very lame knock knock jokes. Walsh also owns the Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, an art deco, six cinema complex in Cremorne, Sydney.

Post 439 - Nola Francis - Delta Dawn / Bird On The Wire

We couldn't find much about Nola Francis on the net or in books, this seems to be the only single she recorded in 1973 for Fable Records. The single was produced by Peter Jones and Graham Owens recorded at Bill Armstrong Studios in Melbourne. Here to download is that single "Delta Dawn" b/w "Bird On The Wire" (FB-183).