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Saturday 4 March 2017

Post 676 - Livingstone Vale - Star Gazer

I was given this LP to fix up for the Blog from Rex and I must say I’d never heard of Livingstone Vale but I’m very impressed by this album. The band was from Sydney and the members were Ted Samuels, Danny Turner and Brian Smith and that’s about all my books tell me. The album was recorded in 1975, but not released until October 1976. They also released an earlier single in February 1975 (recorded 1974), that does not appear on the album, "Moongirl" b/w "Infinity and Beyond" which none of my books mentions the single at all. The LP “Star Gazer’ (VPL1-0126) was produced by Gus McNeil for RCA Records. A great album and well worth a listen my fav track is “Seduced” sounds very much like Bowie’s “Panic In Detroit” Thanks to Matt for the info on the single and the album’s release date. Flac

7 comments:

AussieRock said...

You've got my attention Gary

Thanks mate
Guy

rex norman said...

I wasn't aware of a non album single, i need to track that one down...

Deutros said...

Thanks Garry a real rarity here, never heard of them how do you get to record an album for a major label and have it produced by Gus McNeil and be virtually unknown. Thanks to Rex for sending you the album and for you for weaving the magic.

By the way enjoyed the album.

Cheers Tony (Deutros)

Unknown said...

Thanks for this one brother. I quite liked the idea, and a number of the songs were strong. They probably needed to waeve the zodiac narrative a little more strongly into the songs if they were going to make it a real concept album in my humble opinion.

AussieRock said...

Having now listened to the album, I must agree that this is a terrific album. The tunes are interesting and catchy and their overall sound is amazing considering there are only 3 members in the group.
Highly recommend this to anyone who, like me, know nothing about the band.
Thanks again for the opportunity to hear this album Gary

Unknown said...

Livingstone Vale formed in the early seventies. They advertised for a guitarist, and I responded. I rocked up to the audition and discovered I was without a lead and without a strap. Needless to say, I was pretty bad and didn't get the job!

Unknown said...

This was my father's band (Brian Smith). He is living in Christchurch NZ now and is still playing music (Im moongirl!)