The Afterword

Musings on the byways of popular culture

Menu

Navigation

You are here: Home / Forum / It’s Billy Thorpe: let’s rock

Comments

  2. Glad to see you, Junior – I thought no one wanted to rock!

    I thought that performance, above, of ‘Rock Me Baby’ was a great late-period effort. I’ve often posted the classic 1971 GTK live-in-the-studio 10 minute ‘Mama’ but I’ve just noticed this 19 minute version from the same series. Despite the video title blurb (‘Melbourne Town Hall 1971’) it must be late 1972 – Bill refers to the ‘Live At Sunbury’ album, which was released in August 1972. He also refers in the intro to the version of ‘Mama’ recorded/filmed at the Melbourne Town Hall in June 1971. I guess this must be a return to the same venue a year and a bit later…

  3. Ive got to be honest, never really warmed to Billy. I think the 2 songs I know him best for – the ‘Driving me Carazzzzy’ one and his horrific take on ‘Over the Rainbow’ have put me off – as they would anyone – for life.

  4. Got that album live at Melbourne Town Hall.

    He was a rotten guitarist ,volume covered up a multitude of sins but a really really strong voice. Much better when he left the guitaring to Lobby Lloyde.

    It wasn’t sophisticated stuff nod the head pub rock with a stubble in your hand but when he has a crowd of many many thousands in the palm of his hand it was quite and experience.

    Mama and Gangster of Love were the 2 best songs for me.

    • Well… I hear what you say: amazing vocalist, lesser guitarist. But that said, I do like his guitaring – a limited series of blustery blues licks, but very effective within the context of his best work in the Oz pub rock vein.

      It seems to me that most of the Aztecs best songs were Thorpe/morgan co-writes. Listening to the pair’s duo album from the early 70s Aztecs era (‘Downunda’) it’s clear that Warren Morgan had a much wider palette writing-wise. There’s a couple of things on that LP which wouldn’t be out of place on a Paul Macca album.

      ‘Captain Straightman’, the single from the LP, isn’t perhaps the clearest example of the Macca influence but I think you can get a gklimpse of it – it’s not a million miles away from a mid 70s Wings rocker (or the pastiche rock’n’roll of Hey Bulldog or Back In The USSR) …

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOlr4ZUrhi0

Leave a Reply