Just caught up with the BBC 4 music documentary from last week “The Easybeats to AC/DC : Rise of Aussie Rock”.
I know there is much love around these parts for these BBC 4 documentaries and this one certainly maintained the standard. A fascinating look at how two families – the Albert Family who ran a music business and the Young family (George, Malcolm and Angus) defined the sound of Australian rock music. The talking heads – Angus, Harry Vanda (George Young’s co-writing partner), etc etc, all came across really well and showed that they just really enjoyed what they had done / were doing.
And call me slow (a lot of people do…) but I had no idea that the co-writer of “Friday On My Mind” (Easybeats) and “Love Is In The Air, was the older brother of Malcolm and Angus Young of AC/DC !!
Highly recommended.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0705t5j/the-easybeats-to-acdc-the-story-of-aussie-rock
Johnny Concheroo says
For once we got a TV programme in Australia before it was shown in the UK.
Over here it was a two-parter titled “Blood + Thunder: The Sound of Alberts”.
http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2015/06/airdate-blood-thunder-the-sound-of-alberts.html
Vanda and Young are without doubt the most successful writers/producers ever to come out of Australia. They dominated Aussie music in the 70s and were at the controls for the first seven (count ’em) AC/DC albums (plus a few of the later ones) as well as countless hit records by other Aussie artists.
I found it interesting that Harry Vanda emigrated to Australia in the early 60s, yet still has the strongest Dutch accent.
There is another member of the extensive Young clan who didn’t emigrate to Australia with the rest of the family. That’s Alex Young who stayed in Scotland and (as George Alexander) went on to form the band Grapefruit. Named by John Lennon after Yoko’s book, they were signed to Apple publishing (but not the record label).
Colin H says
Conchmeister, are you saying it was longer than one hour in Oz? That would explain why some of the non core talking heads got one sentence screentime over here (it was a 1 hour programme/edit).
Johnny Concheroo says
Yes Colin, it ran for two hours over two parts here. So you must have got an edited version minus, I suspect, some of the more esoteric Aussie acts like Cheetah, Ted Mulry, Rose Tattoo or, er, William Shakespeare
Colin H says
Yes, it did feel very half-baked in that respect. There was a 10 second clip of the Aztecs doing ‘Sick & Tired’ and a brief clip of one Rose Tattoo song and a couple of comments from Mr Angry. Nobody else got a look-in bar one short comment apiece from Peter Garrett, Warren Morgan and, from mremory, two others ticking the ‘other Aussie musos’ box. That’s why I felt it was a real misrepresentation (given the revised BBC title) – anyone unfamiliar with Aussie rock would go away thinking that there was ONLY the Easybeats and ACDC in 60s/70s Australia.
Johnny Concheroo says
It was presented as the Albert story here, so that’s why AC/DC and Easybeats were so heavily featured.
There was a great story about Ted Albert going round to the Young house circa 1964 to sign George and the Easybeats and he heard then-schoolboys Angus and Malcolm practicing guitar in their bedroom. What a family!
bobness says
Crumbs, Cheetah…
They supported Saxon on a UK tour once, I’m sure. probably 1981?
Johnny Concheroo says
Could be, Cheetah were the impossibly sexy rock chick sisters Chrissie and Lyndsay Hammond. They played Reading in 81/82 supporting Iron Maiden.
Gatz says
Could make them the first ‘proper’ band I ever saw. My first gig was Saxon, and although I can’t remember the name of the support act it definitely had two women.
Colin H says
Bucks Fizz…?
Johnny Concheroo says
Some Cheetah info here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetah_(band)
Excitable Boy says
Enjoyed the program, but thought Harry Vanda was decidedly odd. Was also a bit puzzled by Bon Scott’s dress sense – no shirt and a banana tucked into your shorts anyone ??
Johnny Concheroo says
I think it’s Harry’s Dutch/Aussie accent that’s odd.
Did they show the 70s footage of AC/DC running around Covent Garden with a shirtless Bon in ball-strangling cut-off Levi shorts? Looks stupid now, but it must have fitted with the macho rawk image Bon was trying to project.
niallb says
They did. Rock ‘n roll, eh?
Number Six says
@johnny-concheroo Watched the 1st episode of Molly the other night.
Was 70’s Aussie tv really that bad?
Johnny Concheroo says
Probably. I wasn’t here then, but it was certainty bad enough in the 80s/90s/00s until the internet and Sky arrived.
Molly is a classic case of a big fish in a small pond. His was the only TV showing pop music in Australia so everyone had to meet his approval or suffer. That’s how he got to be such great mates with Elton, Rod, Freddie and the rest.
Trouble was, Molly had absolutely no quality filter. He knew very little about music and seemed to love everything, regardless. I’ll never forget him telling us the Stones “Dirty Work” was as good as “Exile” or “Sticky Fingers”. He probably believed it too. It gained him interviews with Jagger, Keef and Ronnie, anyway.
His was the only show in town for decades, so he held way too much power.
Cookieboy says
Q-Was Aussie TV that bad in the 70’s (and into the future)?
A-Yes
My strongest memory of Molly would be the time he said something like…
“Everyone says I praise everything and never do a bad review, well that’s not true”
He then held up a record by a group called “Two Nice Girls From Cincinnati” and verbally tore shreds off it for two minutes and then slung it over his shoulder in a gesture that said, “That’s the last you’ll ever hear from them”
I thought at the time, “You would never do that to the new Michael Jackson album you prick”
I can only guess why he chose such an obscure band to vent at.
Countdown wasn’t really the only show in town though. There were actually a lot of music/ variety shows.
Junior Wells says
Cookster is right
Donny Sutherlands Sounds was on in the morning and ( I think ) bands played live , often still pissed from thr night before
A lateish night show 10 ish start Nightmoves with Lee sImon live stuff from here and abroad
Radio With Pictures on Ch 2 great show You Tube early Renee Geyer hubba hubba – early Chisels were good too
Hey Hey Its Saturday – morning or evening had live bands
niallb says
If you asked 100 people to name an Australian band, I bet 99 of them would say AC/DC.
It only occurred to me, while watching it, that, with Chris Slade coming back into the fold, the line-up sounds like the start of a classic joke:
“There were 2 Scotsmen, 2 Englishmen and a Welshman, walked into a bar….”
Johnny Concheroo says
Similarly, the undisputed best Australian 60s record Friday On My Mind was made by a Dutchman, two Scots and two Englishmen, produced by an American and recorded in London.
Junior Wells says
Bands were not taken seriously if they recorded in Australia and the sounds was poorer. Normie Rowe had a huge hit It’s Not Easy , recorded it at APple but wasn’t allowed to use gis own band “The Playboys”
Colin H says
Here’s a 60s Oz rock classic (later covered by INXS I believe) that had nothing to do with AC/DC, Easybeats, Alberts.
In fact, let’s make this thread a celebration of vintage Oz rock that has nothing to do with the rewritten-history BBC4 doc…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huvNEk7FZiI
Jackthebiscuit says
“Lets make this thread a celebration of Vintage oz rock that has nothing to do with the rewritten history BBC4 doc.”
Oh, ok the (Not that I need much of a reason to post this)
Midnight Oil – Beds are burning.
Colin H says
And here’s perhaps the very first Oz rock original – Johnny O’Keefe’s self-written ‘Wild One’, from the late 50s – later covered by Iggy et al.
Johnny Concheroo says
First covered in 1958 when it was still current by “Ivan”, who was actually Jerry Allison out of the Crickets. Now worth an arm and a leg on the original UK London label.
I think Jerry heard and liked the song when he was touring Australia with Buddy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjv5cyC-BAg
Johnny Concheroo says
UK Coral label I should have said.
Junior Wells says
Johnny was a speed freak ,real wild child. Was on Ed Sullivan warned about singing/ dancing like a black man. JOK of course ignored them and and that was the end of that.
Johnny Concheroo says
Some Pretty Things-rivalling tough R&B from Brisbane’s Purple Hearts. Featuring Lobby Loyde on guitar. This one from 1966, also worth big money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VnREl-qtpM
Colin H says
Tenuous Lobby Loyde connection coming, Conch…
A fair amount of Oz rock in the 60s involved covers of UK/US tracks, much as many UK artists cxovered US tracks. Here’s a real curveball – the ‘Brisbane’ Coloured Balls covering Jethro Tull’s 1968 ‘Song For Jeffry’.
Your knowledge of this is doubtless better than mine, Conchmeriser, but I believe that Lobby appropriated the name ‘Coloured Balls’ for his post-Wild Cherries early 70s band, based in Melbourne – which had nothing to do with the Brisbane Balls of the late 60s. A bit like Sonny Boys Williamson I and II, then…
Colin H says
And, of course, here’s the Lobster’s Balls a coupla years later with a version of ‘Whole Lotta Shakin” that Jerry Lee might have trouble recognising, but no worse for it…
This alone should be evidence that ACDC didn’t invent the ‘Oz rock sound’.
Johnny Concheroo says
You got me there Colin. I only know Lobby Loyde’s band Coloured Balls, who strangely adopted a skinhead image, despite their prog/heavy rock leanings.
Perhaps @junior-wells can fill us in?
Colin H says
Ladfill heavy rock?
Colin H says
er, LANDFILL heavy rock was what I meant.
Junior Wells says
clears throat
Lobby’s Purple Hearts were really at the forefront. Brisbane home of the Saints too.
Lobby can be credited with creating Billy Thorpe’s heavy sound showcased on the Hoax Is Over featuring a 17 minute version of Steve Miller’s Gangster Of Love. Lobby did a lot of production and originally the Coloured Balls weren’t a skinhead band. They were adopted mid career. They wore the outfits and had their “droog” haircuts but I understand Lobby was embarassed about it and prompted him leave for London for a period.
They played at our high school social and such was the oppressiveness of the sharpies I couldn’t appreciate Lobby’s guitaring.
Search out Obsecration ,reissued on Aztec label – really great stuff.