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Tony Buggy was born in Corowa NSW and was earning his keep as
a musician by the age of 15. His first band was formed with his brother Michael
Mallee. The boys played at pubs, clubs and parties and always had to get
special permission from the local police as they were well under age. The same
band featured Ross Davis who went on to form Bandicoot with Gary Young, the
drummer from Daddy Cool. After completing his HSC, Tony went to the Riverina
College of Advanced Education in Wagga Wagga. Tony immediately started working
in bands in Wagga and eventually started his own band Tode in 1974. In 1975 he
moved to Sydney to teach and eventually become a full time musician. In the
next few years Tony changed from guitar to keyboards and bought his first Moog
synthesiser. He formed his first Sydney band Windchime with Vince Martin. His
love of keyboards led him to form his first recording band - The Razz. The Razz
was made up of Tony Romeril, Richard Graham and Con Westerberg who had all been
with Autumn. Romeril and Autumn went on
to London where Tony left the band to pursue a solo career, recording in Italy
under the name of Andy Foxx (who can be found on Post 488), and touring Europe
with Paul McCartney and Wings. Tony
returned to Australia and played opposite Marcia Hines and Jon English as Saint
Peter in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, before starting his own band (Baton Rouge)
with Jeremy Paul (Air Supply) and Christine Amphlett. Tony left that band to
become the lead singer of The Razz, leaving Chrissy and Jeremy to form The
Divinyls. The Razz went on to become Australia’s busiest corporate bands with
clients including The Royal Family and Elton John. They travelled the length
and breadth of Australia performing everywhere from the re-opening of Hayman
Island to the Launch of Flora Margarine in Perth. Here to download are the only
two singles released by The Razz “It Don’t Mean A Thing” b/w “Chattanoonga
Choo-Choo” (103883) from 1981 and “Orchestra Waltz” b/w “Days Of Black &
White” (103940) from 1982. Both singles were released on Luxury Records. Both
were produced by Rick Turk.Flac
The Quincy Conserve was formed in Wellington New Zealand in
late 1967 by Malcolm Hayman. Malcolm was an extremely talented musician who had
already been on the music scene for twelve years by that stage. Hayman was only
15 years old when he arrived in Wellington in 1955 as a member of the Maori Hi
Fives show band. The following year the singer-guitarist formed the Trademarks,
long-time residents at the Mexicali, a popular nightspot owned by American
expatriate Harry Booth. The Trademarks were very popular, and after four years
of constant playing, queues formed to see them every time they played. Over the
years, 30-odd musicians passed through the ranks of the Trademarks, before
Malcolm disbanded the group in 1961. The Trademarks owed more than a little to
the Maori show band tradition, where Hayman had learnt his licks, but the group
gave Wellingtonians their first taste of rock'n'roll. One member of the
Trademarks was Rodney "Dody" Potter, who was later a member of the
Keil Isles and Dallas Four. Releasing on the HMV label, their first single
"I'm So Proud"/"I've Been Loving You Baby" came out in June
1968. This was followed in 1969 with "Hallelujah" and "Lovin'
Look". These records got very good revues, but that wasn't reflected in
the sales. Unless you were from Wellington, no-one really knew anything about
the group. This was rectified slightly when in December 1968; the group backed
Allison Durbin on a national tour. This was the first time they had played outside
their Downtown Club residency. Kevin Furey, who had previously played with Top
Shelf, joined the group on both guitar and trumpet in 1970. Two months after
Kevin joined, Raice McLeod left and he was replaced by Bruno Lawrence, who had
been playing drums in Sydney with Electric Heap. The true story of Bruno's
introduction to Quincy Conserve was explained to me by Raice McLeod himself.
Raice had put a couple of feelers out to some friends in Australia to see if
there was a gig available over there. While he really enjoyed playing with
Malcolm and the guys, he was intrigued at the opportunity to travel. He had
also mentioned this to some of the musos in Auckland, and it was a bass player
from Auckland, John Coker, who called one night from Sydney. He had just
accepted a gig with Ricky May to play a residency at a hotel in Surfers
Paradise, and they needed a drummer.
Ricky, who Raice had never met, wanted a Kiwi if possible. Within a day
or two, Bruno called and said that Ricky had offered him the job, but he wanted
to get back to NZ, and did Raice think Bruno could have the Quincy Conserve gig
if he took the Ricky job. It sounded like an "OK" arrangement to
Raice, but when he laid this all out to Malcolm, he was not happy. He never
wanted to hold Raice back from new opportunities, considering that Raice was
fairly new to the music industry, but he felt that Quincy Conserve was good the way it was, and
he knew that Bruno, though brilliant, could be trouble. Raice always got on
very well with Malcolm and didn’t want to do anything that might damage the
group, so they agreed that Bruno would have to audition. If everybody,
including Roy Young, who owned the Downtown Club and thus controlled the band's
residency, was happy with the way Bruno played the audition, the deal could go
down. Bruno had an immediate impact on the group. He wrote a song that was
included on the group's first album, and the song became their biggest hit. The
album released in 1970 was "Listen To The Band" and the single was
"Ride The Rain". The single was also released in Australia. Bruno's
"Ride The Rain" became a finalist in the 1970 Loxene Golden Disc
Awards. The second single from the album was "Everybody Has Their
Way". A second album "Epitaph" (SREG 30152) released on Regal
Records was released in 1971. It contained a number of excellent songs and from
it came three singles, "Aire Of Good Feeling", "Alright In The City”
and "Going Back To The Garden". Thanks to Tony with the help on this postFlac
Harry Slee began his career in music as a piano tuner then
turned to running music stores in the southern suburbs of Sydney in the late
Sixties. In the Seventies he was the singer for Sydney band Soul Generation,
followed by a stint in Maple Lace (the band originally formed to capitalise on
the success of the 1970 novelty single Gimme Dat Ding). Harry's best-known gig
was fronting nationally-known covers blues band “Stormy Monday”. The band was
formed in 1981 and between ’81 – ’90 had around 18 members go through their
stables. The LP here for you to download “All Of Us and Five Dollars A Night”
recorded on Accent Records in 1981 featured Sharon Sims, Bruce Fischer, Craig Robertson,
John Crabbe, Gary McGuire, Peter Leonard, John Renton and Harry Slee. This LP
has some great covers from CCS, Paul McCartney, Elton John, and a great 10 minute
Joe Cocker Medley. Sharon evens covers one of her old hits with her band Flake
with a version of “Wheels On Fire”. The album was recorded at Accent Studios
Kogarah in September ’81 and was produced by Ross McGregor & Harry Slee. Besides
this album the only other known recording by the band was a single in 1987
called “Sooner Or Later” on Beat E Records.
I asked Sharon Sims about the single but she didn’t know anything about
it she said it must have been after she left the band. Sadly in September 2002 we lost
Harry who died of liver failure, due to years of alcohol abuse." Thanks
also to Henry for touching up the art work. Flac
Any Eels fan that has been to Parramatta Stadium will be
familiar with the famous theme song, which goes something like this: "When
the Eels are flying, they're electrifying. “Jon English recorded the ditty in
1986, the same year the stadium was opened and Parramatta won their most recent
premiership. Now, in what could prove an omen for the blue and gold army, Jon English
re-recorded the anthem in 2011 with help from former wing great Eric Grothe Snr, and
their respective sons, Jon Jr. and Eric Jr. The song was played for the first
time when the Eels meet their fierce rivals, Penrith. Here to download is the 2011 version released:
02 December 2011 as well as the 1986 version. Flac
Some inspirational instrumental music designed to get our
Olympians pumped for their events. This band were a number of interesting names
in Australian music history including John Valllins who was involved with bands
like "TinTin" in the 70's, Mario Millo of Sebastian Hardie and
"Windchase" fame and Christo Curtis who later worked on the Sydney
Olympic Soundtrack.Here to download is
Rock Assembly 1984 single for RCA Records "The Athlete" b/w "The
Athlete II" (104276), produced by Christo Curtis and Mario Millo.Flac
Ray Brown spent most of 1971 in the USA, returning in late
1971 to unveil the 11-piece One Ton Gypsy an excellent country-influenced rock
band. One Ton Gypsy regrettably made no studio recordings, and lasted only
until 1973, eventually folding due to the cost of keeping such a large outfit
on the road. The only extant tracks by this remarkable all-star band are the
two songs they performed at the closing of the Garrison venue in Melbourne in
mid-1973, which were recorded by Mushroom and later released as the LP's Garrison: The Final Blow. Whether any other songs from One Ton Gypsy were
recorded at this event, and if such recordings have survived, is unknown After
this band broke up, Ray recorded a solo single "Steel Guitar" b/w
"Covered Wagon" (K-5272) for the newly-launched Mushroom label in
November 1973. Both sides of this single was penned by Danny O’Keefe and it was
produced by Ray Evans and Ray Brown and engineered by John French at T.C.S. Melbourne
in September 1973. Ray continued to perform solo, and also revived the Whispers
(with new line-ups, including Wilbur Wilde) for concert appearances into the
80s. An interesting fact I have notice that the times of the songs on the lable were printed on the wrong side. Thanks again to Paul for sending me this single for the Blog. Flac
Campbell Vincent, Charles Conlan and Laurie Arter began
their career whilst studying at the Melbourne University. Campbell did all the
arrangements for this EP as well as played a large range of instruments
including guitar, piano and 5 string banjo to name a few. Charles did lead
vocals while Laurie provided the vocal bass and guitar. The EP “Outback – with The
Southern Folk Three” (WG-Q-1851) recorded for W&G Records in 1964 was engineered
by Russ Thompson. This EP was known as a 6 track 33 compact LP played at 33
1/3. Thanks again to Paul for digging this gem from his collection.Flac
Dragon’s 1986 album "Dreams Of Ordinary Men",
recorded in New York under producer Todd Rundgren, was released in August and
made it to 18 on the album charts. Three singles were released from it,
"Dreams Of Ordinary Men", "Western Girls" and "Nothing
To Lose". In 1987 they toured Europe as support to Tina Turner. So as to
not sound like a heavy metal band, their name was changed to “Hunter” for the
tour. The "Dreams Of Ordinary Men" CD was released in Europe and the
US under the name Hunter, with a different cover. "Rain" was added to
the track list, and all of the songs, except "Midnight Sun" and
"Start It Up" were remixed in the US. They all sound different to the
originals. Here to download is the extended version 12” single of “Dreams Of
Ordinary Men” b/w “Start It Up” (885 655-1) on Polydor Records. Out of all
their 12” extended singles this by far was the hardest one to track down. The
only one believe it or not I could find was in Finland. Lucky for me I have a
very good friend that lives in Finland and also loves Aussie music so she got
hold of it and sent it out to me, Thank you Marina for your help. Flac
The Nocturnes were a Sydney instrumental band which later
became The Whispers when fronted by Ray Brown in 1964. The had the residency at
Sydney’s Beach House and Surf City gigs once Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs
started touring interstate. Sounding very much like The Shadows and Atlantics they played around the Kogarah Bay area and released two singles under this
name before changing it after teaming up with Ray Brown. Here to download is
their first single “Riptide” b/w “Prairie” (LK-482) released on Leedon Records
in 1963. Thanks to Paul for sending me this gem and a heap of other singles to post on the Blog. Flac
Little Willy was a Koala and the official mascot for the
Australian team. Adman Peter Best wrote it and proceeds from the sale of the
disc went towards sending athletes to the L.A. Best went on to work on film
soundtracks like Muriel's Wedding, Crocodile Dundee and Bliss. “Where there’s A
Will There’s A Way” b/w “Let’s Help Little Willy To Win” (FB 1003) released in
1983 on Fable Records. Best penned both sides of the single. Flac
Red McKelvie is a New Zealand
singer-songwriter-instrumentalist and session musician who has been described
as "Australasia's greatest pop guitarist" He has appeared on albums
by Richard Clapton and The Flying Circus in Australia and Hello Sailor, Dave
Dobbyn's DD Smash, Al Hunter and Glen Moffatt in New Zealand. McKelvie's early
forays in the music scene were as lead guitarist for such Auckland, New
Zealand, bands as The Chelsea Beats, The Dark Ages and The Avengers, but it was
upon his arrival in Sydney, Australia, in 1967 that he became a much in-demand
sideman and session player. Sydney bands in which McKelvie featured included The
Starving Wild Dogs, alongside future Blackfeather pianist Paul Wyld, and Quill
before he joined The Flying Circus and greatly influenced their flirtation with
country music. Despite the first single from The Flying Circus's “Prepared in
Peace” LP being McKelvie's "Israel", McKelvie was sacked from the
band for "confusing the band's direction". McKelvie released singles
as a solo artist and as leader of The Third Union Band and was lead guitarist
on the first two Richard Clapton albums, including playing all the multilayered
electric guitar on the Australian number two hit "Girls on the
Avenue". He returned to New Zealand in 1975 where he became a highly
sought after session musician, performed on Television New Zealand's primetime
That's Country show and produced recordings for the country's queen of country
music Patsy Riggir. Bands McKelvie played with in Auckland, New Zealand, in the
1970s to the 1990s included Cruise Lane, with New Zealand's jingles king Murray
Grindlay and Dragon songwriter Paul Hewson, the Al Hunter Band, the Glen
Moffatt Band and his own Cajun combo Mumbo Gumbo. Red recorded two singles for Infinity
Records, his first in 1971 here for you to download “She’s So Fine” b/w “Papa
Joe” (INK-4401). The single was produced by Richard Batchens. McKelvie returned
to his home town of Christchurch in 1997, and in 2007 finally released his
debut solo album, “Ridin' On Trains – Songs of New Zealand and Australia”.Flac
Maureen Elkner started her professional career in the late
1960s with female vocal trio The Chiffons, with Sue Brady and Judy Condon. They
sang back-up for John Farnham, and toured Vietnam around 1969 with The Gallery,
entertaining the Australian troops stationed there. Also in 1969, Maureen
contributed to a landmark Australian single that is probably the other
recording she is best-known for, alongside former Wild Cherries vocalist Danny
Robinson, Maureen provided backing vocals for the Russell Morris classic
"The Real Thing", and her voice can be heard prominently throughout
the song, especially the wailing high notes in the closing bars of the song,
just before the final explosion. In the early Seventies Maureen branched out
into acting and musical theater. She appeared in Australian production of the
then-notorious musical Oh! Calcutta, which was closed by police halfway through
the second performance and banned. One of her first TV credits was a small role
in the famous soapie “Number 96”. In 1972 and she was a cast member of the
original Australian production of “Jesus Christ Superstar” and in 1974 she
played the featured role of "Columbia" in the original Sydney
production of “The Rocky Horror Show” with Reg Livermore. She appears on the
original Australian cast soundtrack LP's of both these shows. In 1975 she signed
to M7 Records (which was also Bob Hudson's label) and she recorded five singles
for them including "Rak Off Normie” which was the 'answer song' to
"The Newcastle Song", written and performed by folk singer and
broadcaster Bob Hudson. She also wrote many of the tracks that appeared on her
two sought after albums, sang backup for some famous Australian performers and
brought Dusty Springfield's songs back to life for the many fans who still
longed to hear them. This download is the Dusty Springfield tribute album
“Going Back” (SSP-OO1) the album was produced by Russell Grigg. I’m not sure
what year it was released. Fortunately, unlike like many performers who have
been typecast after having a huge novelty hit, she was able to break the mold
by displaying prowess as an actress in major stage productions as well as
prominent TV soaps. Flac
Back on Post # 601 I featured John’s LP from 1976 “Comic
Strip Cowboy” that has never made it to CD and this post from 1978 is another
of his LP’s that hasn’t yet seen the light of CD. “Road To Town” (6357 057)
released in 1978 for Mercury Records was John’s 3rd LP. He was backed on this album by Tommy
Emmanuel, Wayne Findlay, Doug Gallagher, Dave Ellis, Kenny Kitching, Ian
Bloxsom and Doug Ashdown on backing vocal. Thanks to Tim for digging this one
out. Flac
This popular duo, also on occasions referred to as
Australia, comprises identical twins Tom (the eldest by 30 minutes) and Ted
Legarde (b. 15 March 1931, Mackay, Queensland, Australia), the youngest members
of a family of nine. They were raised on the family farm, both becoming expert
horsemen. At the age of 15, clutching an old guitar and influenced by cowboy
films and the recordings of Wilf Carter, they left home. They worked on
Queensland’s largest cattle ranch, took part in cattle drives and rode in rodeos,
and they began singing at a Victoria rodeo, when they failed to win any prize
money but needed to eat. They joined Buddy Williams’ touring rodeo and circus
and, at the age of 17, became Australia’s youngest professional rodeo riders.
They soon found singing to be less painful than rodeo work and concentrated on
it. In 1950, they made their first recordings for Rodeo, but between 1952 and
1957, they had several single releases on Regal Zonophone Records. In 1954,
they toured Australia with their boyhood idol Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd),
but in 1957, they decided to seek success in America. They first played shows
in Canada but later hosted their own television series in Los Angeles. Between
1958 and 1963, they relocated to Nashville, where they recorded singles for Dot
Records and Liberty Records and made appearances on the Grand Ole Opry,
debuting with their own song, ‘Cooee Call’. They returned to Australia, where
they briefly ran a country show from a Paddington, Sydney theater, recorded
albums for Columbia Records and compered two local country shows. In 1965, they
returned to the USA where, under ‘Colonel’ Tom Parker’s management, they worked
in Las Vegas and even appeared in television’s Star Trek. They recorded for
numerous labels and in 1978, as the Le Gardes, they achieved a minor hit with
‘True Love’ (a cover of the 1956 Bing Crosby /Grace Kelly pop hit) on Raindrop.
A further minor hit came in 1978, with ‘I Can Almost Touch The Feeling’ on 4
Star. In 1980, as the LeGarde Twins, they achieved a minor hit, ‘Daddy’s Making
Records In Nashville’, for Invitation 101. In 1987, they were awarded Hall Of
Fame status at Australia’s prestigious Tamworth Country Festival and during the
80s, they launched their own Boomerang label and made several appearances in
the UK, including at the Wembley Festival. Their last US country chart entry
reached number 92, ‘Crocodile Man From Walk-About-Creek’, in 1988. During the
90s, they have operated their own theater near Nashville’s Music Row. Here from
1979 as far as I can see is their only single for Fable Records “Matilda The
Boxing Kangaroo” b/w “Coo-EE Call” (FB-323). Flac
