Post 746 - Paul Gaffey - The Band Plays Oom Pah Pah - Barley Rye

 Paul Gaffey is an Australian singer-songwriter whose past remains shrouded in mystery. All that is known about Gaffey are his minor Aussie Top 40 hit "And the Band Played Oom Pah Pah " b/w "Barley Rye" (K 5567) and his ambitious prog rock album about the demon "Mephistopheles". The basic story is about a woman reminiscing about the days she spent with her love at the local ballroom before he went to war in 1944. The single A & B side was produced and written by Simon Heath in 1974 for Festival Records. FLAC

Post 745 - Dragon - The Vertigo Singles

 

Dragon formed in Auckland in January 1972 with a line-up that featured Todd Hunter on bass guitar, guitarist Ray Goodwin, drummer Neil Reynolds and singer/pianist Graeme Collins. All had been in various short-lived bands in Auckland, Collins is credited with using I Ching to provide the name Dragon. Their first major gig was an appearance at the Great Ngaruawahia Music Festival in early January 1973. By 1974 several personnel changes had occurred, with Todd Hunter's younger brother, Marc Hunter, joining on vocals and Neil Storey on drums. The band recorded two progressive rock albums in Auckland, "Universal Radio" in June 1974 and "Scented Gardens for the Blind" in February 1975 both on Vertigo Records. Despite being one of Auckland's top live attractions by late 1974, neither albums nor related singles had any local chart success, and they recruited Robert Taylor (ex-Mammal) on guitar as they searched for a raunchier pop sound. By early 1975, manager Graeme Nesbitt (ex-Mammal), who had obtained regular gigs and organised their first New Zealand tours, felt they should tackle the larger Australian market. Nesbitt was unable to travel with them to Australia as he had been arrested for selling drugs.The three Vertigo singles are now very sorted after by collectors and sell for big bucks, here for you to download are those singles "Vermillion Cellars" b/w "Rock 'N' Roll Ponsonby" (6036 908) "Education" b/w "Swell Foot Sue" (6036 909) "Star Kissed" b/w "Crystal Dove" (6036 910). All singles were released in 1975. FLAC

Post 744 - Feather - Girl Trouble - Sweet Melinda

 

The nucleus of Sydney band Feather came together in early 1976 under the name Blackfeather, and lead singer Neale Johns had fronted various incarnations of Blackfeather since 1970. The 1976 Blackfeather line-up was more pop-oriented and featured Johns, Ray Vanderby (keyboards), Lee Brossman and Warwick Fraser, plus Warwick’s 14-year-old brother, Stuart. In November 1976, Johns left to travel to the UK and Vanderby followed him out of the band. The remaining members recruited singer John Swan and guitarist Wayne Smith to become Feather. 

The bands first break came that same month when it supported  Ritchie Blackmore’s Rainbow on an Australian tour. Feather then settled into the local pub rock circuit and issued the single "Girl Trouble" in May 1977 for CBS. The band also recorded an album at that time called "Going Through Changes" which has never surfaced. In April 1978, on the eve of the band’s support spot on TMG‘s three-month ‘Disturbing The Peace’ tour, John Swan left the group. 19-year-old Gary Conlan stepped in as Swan’s replacement. The band contributed two tracks to an Alberts compilation album, "Canned Rock", recorded live at Parramatta jail.  FLAC

Post 743 - Cheek - Collection

 

The mainstays of the Aussie band (Lee Emmett, Felix Maslin and Bud Mangion) first joined forces in 1974 as Jasper. Emmett, Maslin and Mangion formed Punkz with the addition of Robin Jackson (who had been the original lead vocalist with Hush and had played in a schoolboy band in the UK with Peter Frampton) and Randy Hall, who was quickly replaced by Ray Goodwin from the John Paul Young Allstars. Punkz came to the attention of Ol’ 55 manager and rock brain Glenn A Baker, who helped shape the bands 1960’s pop image. Mushroom Records issued the singles Anyway You Want It '76 and Take Me For What I’m Worth '77, neither of which were very successful despite the fact that they were near note-perfect versions of the 60’s originals. Ray Goodwin left soon after and the band changed its name to Cheek to avoid any punk rock connotations. A cover of the Mighty Avengers’ "So Much In Love", backed with The Easybeats‘ "Do You Have A Soul?" was Cheek’s debut single for Mushroom in January 1978. The band then began recording an album, with the addition of Troy Richards on keyboards and guitar.The album was never released, and the final single, "Leave My Heart Alone", was also unsuccessful and the band broke up in August 1978. An EP on Greg Shaw’s Bomp! label appeared in the US. Felix Maslin died as a result of an asthma attack in 1988. Here for you to download are the two singles and E.P. FLAC

Post 742 - Barry Crocker - Neighbours - Neighbours (Instrumental)

 

The Neighbours theme song is the theme tune to the Australian soap opera Neighbours. It was composed by Tony Hatch with the lyrics written by his then wife, Jackie Trent, It was once voted the world's most recognised television theme song. Neighbours was originally recorded by Barry Crocker. After Trent and Hatch relocated to Australia in the 1980s, they were asked to write the theme song for Neighbours. The soap opera was going to be called Ramsay Street, before the couple penned the song. Trent told Jessie Stoelwinder from The West Australian, "We wrote the song as Neighbours because we said Ramsay Street was too close to Coronation Street, which was the major soap in Britain." The theme was written and recorded in a day and Trent said "We called in Barry Crocker at about 10pm to put his voice on it and it was on the producer's desk by 10am the following morning. And they loved it, so the series was then called Neighbours." Since 1985, there have been nine different renditions of the theme broadcast on television. They were sung by the following artists:

1 Barry Crocker 18 March 1985 – 6 July 1989 

2 Barry Crocker7 July 1989 – 15 May 1992

3 Greg Hind 18 May 1992 – 27 November 1998

4 Paul Norton and Wendy Stapleton 18 January 1999 – 14 December 2001

5 Janine Maunder 21 January 2002 – 20 July 2007

6 Sandra de Jong 23 July 2007 – 12 April 2013

7 Stephanie Angelini and Daniel Boys 15 April 2013 – 5 December 2014

8 Garth Ploog 5 January 2015 – 24 March 2020

9 Bonnie Anderson 25 March 2020 – present.

FLAC

Post 741- Scattered Aces - C'Mon Everybody - Waltzing Matilda

 

In August 1983 Peter Wells formed Scattered Aces with Paul De Marco aka Fred Zepplin on drums, Ronnie Peel on bass guitar and lead vocals  and former Buffalo bandmate, Chris Turner, on guitar and vocals. The group issued a six-track extended play, 'Six Pack', on Big Rock Records in April 1984. They followed with a cover version of Eddie Cochran's 1958 song, "C'mon Everybody" b/w "Waltzing Matilda" (BRS-003), as a single but they had broken up by mid-1984. Peter Wells died of prostate cancer in 2006. Ronnie Peel died in 2020. Members were Peter Wells (guitar), Chris Turner (guitar), Ronnie Peel (vocals/bass), Fred Zepplin (drums). FLAC

Post 740 - Sharon O'Neill & Doug Parkinson - Water For The Flowers - Jeremiah's Peabody

 

In 1989, ABC Records put together a series of albums aimed at kids. One of these albums, called "Album 9" contained a new song written and sung by Sharon O'Neill. The song was called "Water For The Flowers" The rest of the album was made up of other artists, including Normie Rowe and Doug Parkinson. A single was released from the album, with Sharon only having one side of the single, with "Water For The Flowers" (876 188-7), and the other side was also from the album, Doug Parkinson's "Jeremiah Peabody". Their was also a CD version of the album released by the ABC as part of a series of songs for children. The CD was called "More ABC For Kids".FLAC

Post 739 - Bruce O'Hara/Charley Boyter E.P.

 

Charley Boyter has been entertaining audiences for almost 45 years. Originally from Windsor NSW Australia, Charley was removed from his Aboriginal family as a youngster along with his brother and three sisters and spent the rest of his childhood growing up in a foster home in Sydney. Charley began playing around with a guitar at the age of fifteen, jamming along with other pickers at a Church of Christ camp at Lake Illawarra. As Charley’s guitar playing improved he started performing for church groups playing and singing traditional Country and Bluegrass Gospel music. Charley started performing with a good friend, Bruce O'hara and soon after, this combo became known as Country Sound.It was during this time that Slim Dusty saw and heard Charley’s guitar playing and offered him a job with his show. Charley joined Slim’s Travellin’ Country Band in 1975 and has toured most of Australia, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Charley has recorded on so many of Slim’s albums, Slim once remarked “Charley has played on more of my albums than any other guitarist”.The partnership with the Slim Dusty Show lasted for about 20 years.Charley is a multi-award winning artist and his unique acoustic guitar sound can be heard on some Aussie Classics such as Walk a Country Mile, Country Revival, Duncan and Leave him in the Longyard.Bruce O'hara who I can find very little about, recorded a live E.P in 1971 Called "Creamsleeves" "The Moter Cycle Song" b/w two of Charley's songs "The Sunset Is Red This Evening" "Don't Let Them Tear That Little Brown Building Down" (TEP-719) for Troubadour Records. Thanks to Tim for sending me this rare one for the Blog.FLAC