Ronnie Charles - 1983 - Hands Off FLAC

Layla/High Tide/China Sea/On & On/Hands Off/Something in the Air/Two Can Tell/Love What's Your Face/C Sharp



 Ronnie Charles is one of the very best Australian male rock vocalists of his era, but like so many of his contemporaries he has never really received the recognition he deserves. Ronnie, whose full name is Ronnie Charles Boromeo, began his professional singing career at just 16 when he joined Melbourne's The Jackson Kings (1965-66) followed by a very successful three-year stint in The Groop between 1966 and 1969. Both bands also featured the acclaimed singer-songwriter and keyboard player Brian Cadd.

 

 After several members of the original lineup of The Groop left abruptly in late 1966, remaining members Max Ross and Richard Wright set about rebuilding the band, first recruiting guitarist Don Mudie. When CBS labelmates The Jackson Kingssupported them at the farewell party for departing singer Peter McKeddie, Ross and Wright asked Ronnie Charles to join their band as lead singer. They weren't interested in having a keyboard player but Ronnie insisted that they also hire Brian and they reluctantly agreed. Of course, this turned out to be a great decision -- Brian and Don Mudie became a formidable writing team, supplying many of the band's hit records (as well as writing "elevator Driver" for The Masters Apprentices) and this new "Mark II" lineup of The Groop quickly became one of the most popular acts in the country over the next two years, scoring numerous hit singles and winning first place in the 1967 Hoadley's Battle Of The Sounds.

 As well as his many fine recordings with The Groop, Ronnie also contributed vocals to Pastoral Symphony single "Love Machine" / "Spread A Little Love Around", released in May 1968. Pastoral Symphony was a studio group put together by producer Jimmy Stewart and entrepreneur Geoffrey Edelsten, and the backing for the recording was anonymously performed by The Twilights, Terry Walker (of The Strangers) and the Johnny Hawker Singers.

The surprise breakup of The Groop was announced by Molly Meldrum in Go-Set in May 1969, with Cadd and Mudie walking out of The Groop and straight into Axiom. The formation of this new 'supergroup' was reportedly somewhat controversial, with suggestions that Cadd & Mudie had deliberately engineered the break-up of The Groop to form Axiom. It later emerged that Mudie and Cadd had conducted lengthy (and apparently secret) negotiations to recruit Terry Britten, former lead guitarist and songwriter of the recently defunct Twilights. They were unsuccessful in snaring Britten, but instead recruited of Twilights lead singer Glenn Shorrock, along with drummer Doug Lavery (ex The Valentines) and guitarist Chris Stockley from Cam-Pact.

After The Groop, Ronnie went solo. He cut two excellent singles for Festival which, according to Ian McFarlane, "echoed the big, booming pop sound of Love Machine". The first was "Katy Jane" / "No Face, No Name, No Number" (Dec. 1969), the b-side being a track from Traffic's classic debut LP Mr Fantasy. The second single was "It's Been So Long" / "Natural Man" (March 1970) but regrettably neither of these fine recordings made any impression on the charts.

 Ronnie's next venture, itself a supergroup, was Captain Australia & The Honky Tonk, and its membership classic illustration of the close connections between so many bands of that period. Besides Ronnie, the variously band incuded Brian Holloway (guitar; ex-The Dream, Image, Aesop's Fables), Graham Jones (bass; ex-Iguana), Ronnie's old Groop bandmate Richard Wright (drums) and Steve Yates (keyboards; ex-Rush, Expression). In August 1970, Eric Cairns (Somebody's Image/Image, Heart'n'Soul, Company Caine) replaced Wright, Les Gough (bass; Somebody's Image/Image, Heart'n'Soul) replaced Jones, and Gary Moberley (ex-Aesop's Fables) replaced Yates, who then joined King Harvest. Captain Australia recorded one single, "Excerpts from Muses" / "Everybody I Love You" released on Havoc in early 1971, but just as the single came out, the group headed off for the UK. Like so many other hopeful Aussie groups, Captain Australia made no impression in the cutthroat and radidly changing UK music scene and by 1972, the group had fizzled out. Brian Holloway went on to join the UK-based multinational supergroup Esperanto with Glenn Shorrock, Joy Yates and Janice Slater. Moberley went on to work with English singer/ songwriter John Miles, who had a UK hit single in 1976 with "Music".

Ronnie then formed an exciting new band called Atlas with Terry Gough and two English musicians, Terry Slade (drums; ex-Sunshine) and ace guitarist Glen Turner (guitar), who had been an early (pre-recording) member of leading UK band Wishbone Ash. Ian McFarlane describes Atlas as "a hard rock/boogie outfit, fitting in with contemporary English bands like Wishbone Ash, Free, Status Quo". They signed with Warner-Reprise, who issued their well-regarded debut album and lifted two fine hard rock singles "Rock 'n'Roll Wizards" / "Military Rag" and "They Don't Know" / "The Knowing" before breaking up in 1974.

While still in the UK, Ronnie recorded two more solo singles, "Yesterday's Witness", followed by "Layla, Part 1" / "Layla, Part 2". The latter single was lifted from Ronnie's extraordinary solo album, Prestidigitation, released on the 20th Century label in 1976 and produced by Lou Reizner, who had overseen the landmark 1971 orchestral version of The Who's Tommy. It featured Ronnie and a small rock ensemble, swathed in lavish orchestral-vocal arrangements performed by the London Symphony Orchestra and the English Chamber Choir. Ronnie, at the peak of his vocal prowess, tackled an ambitious and eclectic range of material, including a dazzling rendition of the title track -- penned by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse and featuring renowned pianist-composer Keith Tippett on piano) it arguably equals anything that Scott Walker ever recorded -- and powerful orchestral-rock versions of Free's "Wishing Well", and Derek & The Dominos "Layla"; Unfortunately, the timing of the LP could hardly have been worse -- England was about to be hurled headlong into the punk revolution, while the USA and Australia were still in the midst of the disco craze. The result was that this remarkable LP vanished without trace, becoming one of the great 'lost' recordings of the era.

 Ronnie returned to Australia in the late 1970s. In 1980 he recorded a single backed by Melbourne band The Runners, "Rock and Roll Hoodlum" / "Aim for the Stars", which came out on the Full Moon label. As well as issuing a second solo album, Hands Off, in 1983, Ronnie also performed with White Light Orchestra, Turbo Luv Nuns, Running Scared and Post Mortem during the 1980s. He still lives and performs in Melbourne and currently fronts Ronnie Charles & The Retro Bandits.

B0yz - 1982 - !nside The C@ge WAVE

Inside The Cage/When The Storm Breaks/My Heart Strays (Just A Little)/Don't Say No/Angels Of Mercy/Lonely Dreamers/Hiding In The Wings/Chances Are/I Wait To Find You Gone/Sorry




 Boys originally formed by guitar playing siblings, Lino and Camillo Del Roio, whilst still at high school as the Rockhouse Corporation in 1977 and started out as a cover band playing mostly top 40 rock but then progressed into playing original songs. "When You’re Lonely" was the first single released in August 1980, with the single going to No. 1 on the local charts and reaching No. 52 on the national singles charts. In September 1980 the band appeared on Countdown. The Boys released two further singles, "Hurt Me Babe" in March 1981 and "Weoh Weoh Weoh" in September 1981, which reached No. 57 and No. 76 on the national charts. The band released their self-titled debut in November 1981. In September 1982 they released, "Don't Say No", which was followed by their second album, Inside the Cage, in December 1982,. The band's original singer for the first album, Brent Lucanus, was replaced by Wayne Green (Wayne Green and the Phantoms) on their second album. A further single, "Lonely Dreamers", was released in March 1983, The original band went through several line-up changes but brothers Camillo Del Roio and Lino Del Roio were constant members throughout. The band split in 1983 but reformed in 1987 with Camillo and Lino on guitar, Eddie Parise on bass, drummer Frank Celenza, Tony Celiberti as keyboardist, and singer, Troy Newman (Extremists). A year later the band changed their name to Boyschool but split soon after.

 Following the band's break up guitar playing brothers Camillo and Lino formed D.D and the Rockmen with Celenza and the DeMarchi sisters Suze and Denise. The band's drummer and bassist, Celenza and Parise, went on to form Bamboo Curtain, before joining Baby Animals. Troy Newman moved to Sydney following the band's break up and found moderate success as a solo performer, scoring a Billboard hit with the single "Love Gets Rough" and the album Gypsy Moon in 1991, released through Atlantic imprint East West Records and by Warner Music in Australia. He released a second album, It's Like This, in 1996. Newman died in March 1997.

Lino Del Roio was appointed sales manager for Kosmic Sound (a music equipment supply company), in the late 1980s, which the two brothers subsequently bought, acquiring a number of other dealerships of leading brands of the time including exclusive dealerships for Steinberger and Ken Smith basses. They both played guitar for Western Australian hard rock outfit The Jets in the early 1990s. Tony Celeberti is an arranger for sheet music transcriptions who has worked on material by Guy Sebastian and Powderfinger, amongst others, for Australian publisher Music Sales. Brent Lucanus went on to play in a few bands around Perth, notably Change Alley with Gary Dunn.

Australian Crawl - 1980 - The Boys Light Up FLAC

My Coffee's Gone Cold/Man Crazy/Way I've Been/Chinese Eyes/Downhearted/Beautiful People/Indisposed/Walk My Way/The Boys Light Up/Boot Hill/Red Guitar/Hoochie Gucci Fiorucci Mama



Australian Crawl (often called Aussie Crawl or The Crawl by fans) were an Australian rock band founded by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano), Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar), Paul Williams (bass), Simon Binks (lead guitar) and David Reyne (drums) in 1978. David Reyne soon left and was replaced by Bill McDonough (drums, percussion). They were later joined by his brother Guy McDonough (vocals, rhythm guitar). The band was named after the front crawl swimming style also known as the Australian crawl.

Australian Crawl were associated with surf music and sponsored a surfing competition in 1984. However, they also handled broader social issues such as shallow materialism, alcoholism, car accidents, and cautionary tales of romance.

After their 1980 debut album, The Boys Light Up reached No. 4, Australian Crawl had two No. 1 albums; 1981's Sirocco and 1982's Sons of Beaches. Their early singles reached the top 25 but none broke into the Top Ten;[1] their best performing single was No. 1 hit "Reckless" which showed a more mature approach than earlier hits, and came from their 1983 Semantics EP.


The Boys Light Up is the debut album from Australian pub rock band Australian Crawl which was released in 1980 and contains the title track, "The Boys Light Up", "Indisposed", "Downhearted" and their previously released debut single "Beautiful People". The album reached #4 on the Australian album charts and remained in the charts for an unbroken 101 weeks, eventually selling over 280 000 copies (five times platinum).

The title track was written by James Reyne. It contains the invented word "dorseted": "People aren't used to hearing 'dorseted', and it's not actually a word - it's from the Dorset Gardens - I'm trying to be as suburban as possible, and it rhymed with 'corseted'." - James Reyne, 2003

Various band members were involved in songwriting, often with relatives or former bandmates. Rhythm guitarist Brad Robinson's father James Robinson was a Federal Arbitration Court Justice and co-wrote two songs for this album. Reyne's bandmate from Spiff Rouch, Mark Hudson co-wrote their first single, "Beautiful People" (1979). "Downhearted" was written by Bill McDonough and his bandmates from The Flatheads, Guy McDonough (his brother, who later joined the Crawl) and Sean Higgins. Producer, David Briggs (Little River Band guitarist), co-wrote "Hoochie Gucci Fiorucci Mama" with Reyne.

The album was re-released in 1992 in CD format (see cover right below), and as a 2-CD set with follow-up album Sirocco in 1996. In October 2010, Boys Light Up was listed in the top 50 in the book, 100 Best Australian Albums.

Clouds - 1991 - Loot [12 inch EP] FLAC RE-POST

Souleater / Heartless / Sweetest Thing / 4 P.M.



Clouds is a Sydney band which was formed in December 1989 by Jodi Phillis (guitar, vocals), Trish Young (bass, vocals), David Easton (guitar) and Stuart Eadie (drums).


"Loot" is their second EP and was released by Red Eye Records in April 1991.

Laughing Clowns - 1982 - Everything That Flies FLAC

Everything That Flies (Is Not A Bird)/The Year Of The Bloated Goat/Nothing That Harms/Every Dog Has Its Day



 Ed Kuepper's Laughing Clowns were a bit more off the beaten path than the Saints, the infamous Australian punk band Kuepper played guitar for during the '70s. Integrating jazz influences into their unique take on post-punk, the Laughing Clowns released several records between 1980 and 1985, before Kuepper began his solo career. They made their debut in 1980 with a self-titled, six-song EP on Aussie independent Missing Link. At the time of its recording, the band was Kuepper on vocals and guitar, Ben Wallace-Crabbe on bass, Dan Wallace-Crabbe on piano, Jeffrey Wegener on drums, and Bob Farrell on saxophone.

 In 1982, after the release of a clutch of singles and a compilation of old material, called Reign of Terror/Throne of Blood, the group relocated to London and underwent some major lineup shuffling. Only Kuepper and Wegener remained on board, with bassist Leslie Millar, saxophonist Louise Elliot, and trumpet player Peter Doyle filling out the lineup. After another single, they released their 1982 debut LP, Mr. Uddich Schmuddich Goes to Town, on the Prince Melon label. Confusingly, another self-titled release was in Australian record shop bins by the end of the year, which extended the reach of Reign of Terror. An album of new material, Everything That Flies, was also issued by the end of 1982, but it only received distribution in Germany through Rough Trade (in another perplexing move, a truncated version of the record was later released in the U.K. under the title Laughter Around the Table). 

The Law of Nature studio LP was released in 1984 through Australia's Hot label, followed closely by History of Rock N' Roll, Vol. 1, a best-of package. The band's final studio LP, Ghosts of an Ideal Wife, was released in 1985. After breaking up, Kuepper flew solo and also formed the Aints. In 1995, the repackaged/recycle-happy Hot label released Golden Days: When Giants Walked the Earth, a -- you guessed it -- highlights compilation of Laughing Clowns favorites.

Thanks to Sunshine for this one.

Cybotron - 1977 - Colossus FLAC

Colossus/Colossus/Medusa/Raga/Colossus (Short Mix)/Ride



 Cybotron were formed in 1975 in Melbourne as an electronic, experimental music band by Steve Maxwell Von Braund on synthesiser, electronic percussion, and alto saxophone; and Geoff Green on keyboard, organ, and synthesiser. In 1975 Braund had issued his debut solo album, Monster Planet, with contributions from Green, Gil Matthews on drums (ex-Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs), Henry Vyhnal on electric violin and Jim Keays on lead vocals (ex-The Masters Apprentices). Australian musicologist, Ian McFarlane, described Cybotron as "a bona fide experimental outfit".

Cybotron released a self-titled album in 1976 on the Clear Light of Jupiter label which contained mainly synthesisers and saxophone. It was recorded at Armstrong Studios with Braund and Green producing, they used the same personnel as for Braund's solo album. McFarlane noted that Cybotron "featured a mix of heavy synthesiser kinetics, organ drones and pulsating electronic beats". The group were influenced by Ash Ra Tempel, Hawkwind and Tangerine Dream. They created minimalist, repetitive electronica similar to Kraftwerk's Autobahn (November 1974). Cybotron were pioneers of Australian electronic music with their version of Kraut rock while the local music scene was dominated by pub rock.

 Clear Light of Jupiter was owned by Jeremy Fiebiger (also owner of a record store, Pipe Imports) and two business partners, Daniel and Charlie O'Halloran. Fiebiger also managed Cybotron. Australian music journalist, Andrew Feyne, described the group as "Absolutely brilliant, keyboard dominated, late progressive band with a massive symphonic sound". A live album, Saturday Night Live, appeared in 1977 from a radio appearance on 3ZZ in Melbourne. It was followed in 1978 by their second studio album, Colossus, with Colin Butcher joining to provide drums, percussion, and synthesiser. McFarlane felt it had a "more progressive edge backed by a massive symphonic sound". Allmusic's Richard Foss noted they had "hit a peak with Colossus, which benefited from the presence of drummer and synth player Colin Butcher. This album sold better in Europe and the U.S.A. as an import than it did in Australia, and for a few milliseconds it looked like the band might break internationally".

By 1980 Braund and Green had split, with Braund recording Cybotron's third studio album, Implosion, which was issued on Cleopatra Records that year and included Mark Jones on bass guitar, guitar, and keyboards; and Matthews returning on drums and keyboards. McFarlane described it as having "followed the symphonic route, but with a pop tinge to a couple of tracks". "Eureka", from Implosion, was played on United States college radio stations. By 1981 Cybotron had disbanded.

From September 2002 Mark Woods remastered their albums for CD. Also that year Green announced that Cybotron was in the process of recording new material. As of January 2009, this material was not released. In January 2006 Cybotron's Implosion was re-released by Aztec Music in an expanded CD version with five of its bonus tracks from an incomplete and unreleased fourth studio album, Abbey Moor, planned for 1981.

B#n Cr@ven - 2011 - Gre@t @nd Terr!ble P0ti0ns FLAC

Diabolique/Nobody Dies Forever Part 1/Aquamarine/Ready To Lose/The Conjurer/No Specific Harm/Solace/Nobody Dies Forever Part 2/Great & Terrible Potions/ Ready To Lose (Single Edit)/Nobody Dies Forever (Single Edit)/No Specific Harm (Single Edit)


   Great & Terrible Potions is the latest album of the Australian composer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Craven. He made his first steps in the music scene back in 2005, when he released his first solo effort Two False Idols. This debut as a solo artist was the result of being tired of the band-project approach and the only way to do everything on his own. However, at first he didn't use his own name, but worked under the moniker of Tunisia. In 2007 Craven recorded the EP Under Deconstruction as a free download, which was more or less a kind of protest against the music industry.

Great & Terrible Potions, released in August 2011, was the first full-length album under his own name. I discovered the album because of the excellent art work created by the legendary Roger Dean. However, a great work of art on the cover isn't always a guarantee for getting the same high quality on the disc inside. Anyway, I soon found out that the disc contained nine top-notch modern progressive rock tracks. Ben Craven's admirable skills as a musician and a songwriter are shown up well on these tracks. He played all instruments by himself without being helped by other musicians. He sang all of the vocal lines, played the keyboards, guitars, the bass and anything else he could lay his hands on. In addition he was also responsible for the production.

Great & Terrible Potions is above all a homage to the wonderful music of Pink Floyd. The link with this band is evident and the track The Conjurer is even dedicated to the late Richard Wright. However, the music of Ben Craven sounds more modern than at the time Pink Floyd released their albums. Sure, not everything sounds like Floyd; Ben Craven has also been influenced by bands as Yes and Spock's Beard. The album ends with three additional tracks mentioned as single edits. Maybe progressive rock songs get the chance to hit the charts in Australia, but not in Europe otherwise he wouldn't have included Ready To Lose, Nobody Dies Forever and No Specific Harm in slightly different versions.

Julie Anthony - 1999 - Never Stop Believing FLAC

Fly/Truth In Your Eyes/Move On Up/Never Stop Believing/Coming Around Again/When I Need You/Keep Coming Back To You/Love Is A Gift/Goin' Back/Heaven Will Be Near Me/I'll Never Let You Fall/It Will Always Be You/Welcome



Julie Moncrief Anthony (née Lush) AM OBE (born 24 August 1949 in Lameroo, South Australia), better known as Julie Anthony, is an Australian soprano and entertainer. She sang the Australian National Anthem at the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics with Human Nature.

She has also sung with The Seekers, first taking the place of Judith Durham as the lead vocalist in the song "The Carnival Is Over" for the Closing Ceremony of Expo '88. Later, Anthony became a member of the group with Bruce Woodley, Athol Guy and Keith Potger. They released an album Live On in March 1989, which peaked at number 26.

Anthony starred in both the Australian and West End productions of Irene in the mid-1970s.

At midnight between 31 December 1987 and 1 January 1988, in celebration of the start of Australia's Bicentennial year, Anthony sang the Australian National Anthem "Advance Australia Fair" on the national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, which continued to show the recording of her performance at the close of broadcasting for many years afterwards, until the broadcaster introduced 24-hour broadcasting.
Honours
Anthony is among the most awarded of Australian entertainers. She was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) (1980) and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) (1989) and has been voted by her peers as "Entertainer of the Year" three times and "Best Female vocalist" 11 times. She also appeared in commercials for St.George Bank from 1974 until 1999.

Vitabeats - 1984 - Spot The Spanner FLAC

Boom Box/Difficult Ideas/Red Brick House/Savages/Build It Right/Jungle Rodeo/Audrey/Disposable Love/Hold Me Up/Meteorite/Duty To Dance/Maximum Dag Unrule


 Andrew and Lissa Barnum met producer Mark Moffat who got them signed to the Hot Music Co. through Festival / EMI records as an independent act called Vitabeats. Vitabeats created their national independent dance hits “Boom Box” and “Audrey Hepburn” which led to the release of the album “Spot the Spanner” in the mid 80s. Andrew wrote all the songs on the album. Throughout his music career, art and design has always been an important ingredient, together with Lissa creating covers and designs for Inxs, Eurogliders, Vitabeats, Mark Callaghan, Mary Jo Starr, Jenny Morris (QED), Anne Kirkpatrick, Audio Murphy, Fully Functional (funk compilation), Loudspeaker, Red Rivers, Mark Lucas and Bloomers One. The single had not been on an official C.D. but in 2004 a modern dance remix was issued. The Vita Beats received lots of air play on JJJ for their single "Boom Box" , I'm pretty sure it was also used to promote Beatbox, a Saturday morning music video show on ABC tv.

Pageant Theatre - 1973 - Here We Go Round The Prickly Pear FLAC

Prickly Pear/Four Foxes/Nautical Yarn/Annnabel Lee/Biby/Woor Woman/Discretion/Spring And Fall/Finnegans Wake/Ballad Of Red Fox/Unknown Citizen/Take Me Down The Harbour /Time Is Running Out



The Pageant Theatre Company was the first theatre-in-education company in Australia. NIDA graduate Jaceb Beaton started it in 1967 as a way of entertaining children while teaching them classic texts. By 1971 the company was doing more than 2500 performances per year, including Glass Menagerie, Under Milkwood and its own pop and poetry festival, Here We Go Round The Prickly Pear. Featuring poems from T.S. Eliot, Roger McGough, Kath Walker and Gerard Manley Hopkins, Prickly Pear toured schools and even did a season in the snowfields over winter before some of the most popular pieces were committed to vinyl. The poems were set to music by Michael Caufield and the album was co-produced by David Woodley-Page who is also credited as "Chief Enthusiast". Unknown Citizen was originally a W.H. Auden poem and the track features some incredible female vocals from either Ros Spiers or Isobelle Gidley.


Gus McLean - piano, electric guitar, clarinet, vocals
Ros Spiers - vocals
Isobelle Gidley - vocals, piano
Michael Caulfield - bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals, composer, arranger, producer
Danny Adcock - bass guitar, electric guitar, vocals
Jaceb Beaton - director
David Woodley-Page - producer

Jenny Morris - 1995 - Salvation Jane FLAC

Rhythm and Flow/Cry and Cry/What do I do now/In too deep/Walking into walls/Frida/Hope (Now I know)/Price I pay/Only we can hear/Digger/Angels/Pain in your shadow/Salvation Jane


Jennifer "Jenny" Patricia Morris (born 29 September 1956 in Tokoroa) OAM is a New Zealand-born Australian pop, rock singer-songwriter. Her first success came with New Zealand band The Crocodiles, who had a top 20 hit single with "Tears". Re-locating to Sydney, Australia in February 1981, she was a backing vocalist for various groups and formed a trio, QED, in 1983.

Morris provided backing vocals for INXS on their 1983 album, The Swing. She then recorded a duet with lead singer, Michael Hutchence, on a cover of Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood's hit "Jackson"; it was included as a bonus track on the April 1984 (cassette only) INXS EP, Dekadance, which reached number two on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart. Morris worked on their 1985–1986 Listen Like Thieves World Tour.

Her solo career includes top five Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Albums with Shiver in 1989 and Honeychild in 1991, and her top five ARIA Singles are "She Has to Be Loved" and "Break in the Weather". These albums and singles also peaked in the top ten on the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) charts.

Morris has won two ARIA Music Awards for 'Best Female Artist' in 1987 and 1988 and was nominated for the same award in 1992. In 2003, on Australia Day (26 January), Morris became an Australian citizen and in 2010 she received the Medal of the Order of Australia. 

 Salvation Jane is the fourth studio album by New Zealand singer Jenny Morris. It was released in July 1995 on the rooArt label, after a four-year gap from her last album. The album was produced Andrew Farriss and Mark Moffatt, together with Electric Hippies' duo Steve Balbi and Justin Stanley. The album featured songs from a songwriting retreat held at Miles Copeland's castle, Chateau de Marouatte, in Bordeaux, France. Here, Morris co-wrote a number of songs with other international songwriters, including Jud Friedman, Rich Wayland, Mark Cawley and Dennis Greaves.

The album peaked at #70 upon its debut on the Australian ARIA album charts on the week ending 23 July 1995, and spent two weeks in the top 100.

"Salvation Jane" is one of several names by which the flowering plant Echium plantagineum is known in Australia.

Thanks to Beegut.

Skunkhour - 1997 - Chin Chin FLAC

Breathing Through My Eyes/Chew/Morning Rolls/Tommorrow's Too Soon/Foam/Unison/Opportunist/Another Childish Man/Old Shoe Horn/Weightlessness/Nature Stripped/Pulse





Skunkhour are an Australian funk rock band that were formed in Sydney in 1991. They released four studio albums, Skunkhour (July 1993), Feed (April 1995), Chin Chin (July 1997) and The Go (May 2001) before disbanding in November 2001. Feed peaked at No. 21 on the ARIA Albums Chart while Chin Chin reached No. 34. Four of the groups songs, "Up to Our Necks in It" (1995), "Weightlessness" (1997), "Home" (1999), and "Kick in the Door" (2000) were listed in the annual Triple J Hottest 100. The group has reformed periodically since 2009 for occasional concerts and festival appearances.

Skunkhour began as an urban funk band with the Sutherland brothers Dean on bass guitar and Michael on drums and Warwick Scott on lead guitar. They relocated to Sydney by 1992 and were joined by the Larkin brothers Aya on lead vocals and Del as a rapper both of whom had a background in ska bands. Del's departure in late 1996 marked a stylistic shift from funk and rap to more melodic funk-based rock.Chin Chin is the third album by Australian band Skunkhour. It was released in 1997 and peaked at No.34 on the Australian album charts in August. The album was the second on the Sony/Epic label and was produced by Magoo, whose credits included Regurgitator and Powderfinger.

Three singles were taken from the album—"Breathing Through My Eyes" (May 1997), "Weightlessness" (August) and "Morning Rolls" (November).
 

 The album was the band's first after the departure of founding vocalist/rapper Del Larkin, who quit to pursue a career in Walt Disney Animation Studios. Bassist Dean Sutherland told the Herald Sun the lineup change forced a reshaping of the band's sound from funk-influenced hip hop to robust electronic soul. "It's the exit of the rap and the entrance of melody," he said. "I love hip hop, but with Del leaving, we weren't going to try and fill his shoes by getting another rapper, so we just continued without him."

The band conceived and developed many of the tracks while touring in Europe in early 1997 and said the sound bore some European influences. "We get a lot of our musical ideas from sound checks," guitarist Warwick Scott told The Age. "We just jammed and a lot of the new material came from those sound checks all over Europe."

Kate Ceberano - 1996 - Blue Box FLAC

Change/Blue Box/Love And Affection/The Rules/Living With Lies/Looking At You/All That I Want Is You/One Small Request/Something That You Really Need/Around This Time Of Day/Mantra/Save Your Love For Me/Brilliant Lies (From The Motion Picture)



Catherine "Kate" Ceberano AM (born 17 November 1966) is an Australian singer. She achieved success in the soul, jazz and pop genres, as well as in her brief forays into musicals—with Jesus Christ Superstar—and film. She has also achieved success as a songwriter, with the hit "Pash" receiving a gold sales certification in 1998.

Blue Box is a 1996 album released by recording artist Kate Ceberano. The album's second single, "Change" was nominated for two ARIA Awards in 1996.  

Following the success of the 1992 Australian leg of Jesus Christ Superstar, Ceberano was inundated with interest from various record labels. She elected to go with Elektra Records and moved to New York to record an album with producer Fred Maher. On the eve of delivering the album to the label, Elekra records named Sylvia Rhone as its chairman and CEO. Rhone sacked seventy-eight artists (including Ceberano) as she wanted to turn the Elektra into a hip hop label and Ceberano's album was scrapped.  Some of these songs appeared on Blue Box.

Ceberano returned to Australia where she filmed the TV show and recorded the album Kate Ceberano and Friends, which was released in January 1994. Ceberano hired Richard East as her manager and they signed with Mushroom Records to record a new album. Ceberano and East travelled to London to write and record and whilst East was stayed in London to work on the musical Mamma Mia!, Ceberano travelled to Los Angeles and worked with Mark Goldenberg on a number of songs. Mushroom Records eventually released the album in 1996, which consisted of songs from all of these recording sessions. In her 2014 autobiography, Ceberano said "I'm not sure how the [new] material sat with the Globe songs. After all the arguing, with myself and with other people, over what kind of singer I was, whether I was a jazz singer or a pop singer, Blue Box gave me the confidence to think of myself simply as a singer".

Kings Of The Sun - 1990 - Full Frontal Attack FLAC

Crazy/Lock Me Up/Drop The Gun/There Is Danger/Hooked On It/Vampire/Rescue Me/Full Frontal Attack/Howling Wind/I Get Lonely/Haunt You Baby/Overdrive



 Kings of the Sun (also abbreviated K.O.T.S.) is an Australian hard rock band formed by Jeffrey Hoad and Clifford Hoad in Sydney in 1986.


In 1986 the band was signed to Mushroom Records, where they recorded their first single. During this time both Tommy Poulter and John McKinnon left the band and Anthony Ragg was brought in to take McKinnon's place. Their debut single, "Bottom of My Heart", was released in 1986 with "Bad Love" as its B-side. After its release "Bottom of My Heart" charted in the ARIA Singles chart at #47. Both songs would later be re-recorded for their 1988 debut album, Kings of the Sun.

The band was signed to RCA Records after the RCA executive Simon Lowe saw them perform in Sydney and the band traveled to New York City to work on their first album. Bandmate Ron Thiessen did not accompany them, as he left prior to the band being signed, and he was replaced by Anthony Ragg.  In 1988 the band released their self-titled debut album Kings of the Sun, which was produced by Eddie Kramer and mixed by Dave Thoener.

 A single from the album, "Serpentine", placed on the 19th position of the U.S. Mainstream Rock Songs chart `and in Australia, made it to position 48.  The album's second single, "Black Leather", made the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at 98th position. After the album released Glenn Morris joined the band to play lead guitar and the group toured the United States and Europe.  They returned to Australia in 1988 to open for Guns N' Roses, but were kicked out of the tour after Clifford Hoad "dropped his pants in front of the audience and bad-mouthed Guns N' Roses publicly".  There had also been tension due to a remark Hoad made in an interview for the Australian On the Street magazine, where he claimed that Guns N' Roses took much of their image from Rose Tattoo.  Years later Hoad responded to this by stating "When I said those things, I meant them. It wasn’t necessarily aimed at Guns N’Roses. It was aimed at the Australian press and public. ‘OK, make a fuss over Guns N’Roses but at least know that Rose Tattoo exists.”

More lineup changes occurred in 1986 after Morris left the band to join The Screaming Tribesmen, although he rejoined KOTS before the band released their second album, Full Frontal Attack in 1990.


Full Frontal Attack was released in August 1990 and was produced by William Wittman. Dave Thoener returned to mix the album.  The album's first single, "Drop the Gun", received a positive reception and reached the 30th position in the Billboards Mainstream Rock Songs chart. Other singles released include "Haunt You Baby" and "I Get Lonely". After the album's release Kings of the Sun toured with The Screaming Jets in 1991. Full Frontal Attack was the last album the band released through RCA Records and Morris and Ragg left the band in 1992. 

The band's third album Resurrection was released in 1993 through Mushroom Records.  It was recorded at A&M Studios and Paramount Studios and was mastered at Precision Mastering.  Phil Soussan and Brad Spurr both contributed to the record and Spurr joined the band after its release.

Kings Of The Sun self-produced the album except for two tracks by mixer Mark Dearnley, "First Thing About Rock'n'Roll (I Remember)" and "Fuzz".  Two singles were released from the album, "Trapped Inside Your Heart" and "Road to Nowhere", and the band supported Jimmy Barnes on his Australian tour during 1993. 

 Spurr left the band around 1995 and was replaced by Dean Turner on bass.  The single Bombs Away was independently released in 1995.


The band recorded their album Daddy Was A Hobo Man!! in 1997 and was not released until 2011, when it was made available as an independent release.  Of the album, Clifford Hoad stated that they did not want to release an album similar to their prior releases and that "This album, we wanted to record with no commercial pressure what so ever, also, at the time we wanted to record as a 3 piece and live in the studio, this is what you’re hearing."

In 1998 the band supported Sammy Hagar's Australian tour. Kings of the Sun officially disbanded in 2001.

GANGgajang - 1996 - The Essential FLAC

 Sounds Of Then (This Is Australia/Gimme Some Lovin'/Hundreds Of Languages/Ordinary World/Giver Of Life/Distraction/Talk To Me/The Bigger They Are/Initiation/Maybe I/American Money/The Shadow Of Your Love/The Luck Of The Irish/Ambulance Men/Tree Of Love/House Of Cards/To The North/Initiation (Mad Wax Mix)Sounds Of Then (Mad Wax Mix)



 GANGgajang was formed in 1984 after several songwriting sessions for the ABC TV program Sweet & Sour. Some of the songs were used in the show but Mark "Cal" Callaghan from The Riptides, former members of The Angels drummer Graham "Buzz" Bidstrup and bassist Chris Bailey, together with Kayellen Bee and Marilyn Delaney, decided a brand new band would best showcase their songs.

After adding former Aliens guitarist and keyboard player Geoffrey Stapleton and Adelaide born guitarist Robert James, "GANGgajang" became their self titled debut album. With sales in excess of 120,000, it spawned the hit singles Gimme Some Lovin, House of Cards, Giver of Life, The Bigger They Are and the now unofficial Australian national anthem, Sounds of Then (This is Australia).

In 1987, GANGgajang's music was featured exclusively in the Quiksilver surf movie Mad Wax. The film became a cult surf classic and introduced the band to a worldwide audience. GANGgajang was named "World's Best Band" two years in a row by the World Pro Surfers' Association.

A second album, gangAGAIN in 1987, completed the first phase of the band as everyone took some time to pursue individual projects. Over the next few years Cal released a solo album, Buzz played sessions, produced albums and movie soundtracks, Chris worked with artists as diverse as Jimmy Barnes, Alannah Miles and Nathan Cavaleri, Geoff formed The Dukes with Sean Kelly and Rob wrote a book, "The Second Best Book of Disunderstandabilism" and recorded his songs with Wendy Matthews. In 1991, the band reformed (without Kayellen and Marilyn, who had gone on to successful careers in the film industry), and took to the road for one brief tour. The audience response was so overwhelming it encouraged the band to record the 3rd album, Lingo which was released in 1994 on Rooart and chalked up another three hit singles, Hundreds of Languages, Talk To Me, and Ordinary World. Lingo is now available on BMG records. In 1995, the first two albums were repackaged into The Essential GANGgajang, which has now sold over 30,000 on the Shock label.

  The GANG also toured Brazil for the first time, playing to over 60,000 rapturous fans in ten concerts through nine cities and in 1996 the Nine TV Network adopted Sounds of Then (This is Australia) for its 1996 year promotion, sparking a revived interest in the band's live dates around Australia. The GANG continue to perform across Australia and beyond and in February 2001 they completed their third tour of Brazil, performing to enormous crowds . When not performing or recording together as GANGgajang each member is otherwise occupied. Singer Mark Callaghan is General Manager of Shock Music Publishing, drummer Buzz Bidstrup has managed Australian music legend Jimmy Little since the release of his 1999 ARIA award winning CD "The Messenger", while guitarist Robert James released his first solo album Suzannah Suite and is now recording a second in between touring Australia in solo mode and with Australian icons Yothu Yindi.

Keyboard player and resident artist Geoffrey Stapleton is now living in Adelaide and preparing his next exhibition of paintings to be called "Oceans and Deserts" while maintaining and developing www.GANGgajang.com. Chris Bailey is working in a wide variety of music cultures in Sydney and has produced an album for singer/songwriter Dave Debs. Chris also plays in Jimmy Little's live band. The steady requests for GANGgajang live appearances at events across Australia gives them the valued opportunity to continue doing what they do so well. The band has played together for over twenty years and every live performance is as special as their last. They love what they do and so does the audience. The GANG played the Sydney Opera House and Darling Harbour as part of the Corroboree 2000 celebrations and during the Olympics the band was in demand for concert appearances around Sydney as part of the Olympic Arts Festival

October 2002 saw the release of the long awaited fourth album, "Oceans and Deserts" to critical acclaim and extensive airplay across Australia on ABC radio. A live concert featuring a selection of new songs and some of the classics was filmed for the ABC's "Live At The Basement" series for screening on 25th May 2004.

Linda George - 1974 - Linda FLAC

Hard To Be Friends/Indian Summer/The Singer/Mama's Little Girl/You And Me Against The World/How Many Days/Give It Love/Memphis Nights/Love Me/Between Her Goodbye And My Hello


Linda George was born in 1951 in the United Kingdom and emigrated with her family to Australia in 1964 where they settled in Adelaide, South Australia in the Satellite migrant town of Elizabeth. By 1968, George had already worked professionally as a duo and moved to Melbourne to find more musical experiences. George had joined her first band Nova Express, a jazz fusion group similar in repertoire to United States acts Chicago and Blood Sweat and Tears in 1973.

Linda George signed with independent label, Image Records, and released her first solo single "Let's Fly Away" in May In March 1973, she took the role of Acid Queen in the Australian stage production of The Who's rock opera Tommy. Her fellow cast included Daryl Braithwaite, Colleen Hewett, Billy Thorpe, Ross Wilson, Jim Keays, Doug Parkinson, Broderick Smith, Wendy Saddington, Bobby Bright and The Who's own Keith Moon (as Uncle Ernie for the Melbourne show only). It was later televised by the Seven Network and received a TV award for the year's most outstanding creative effort. For the Sydney show, Australian music commentator Ian "Molly" Meldrum replaced Moon. George won the TV Week King of Pop award for "Best New Female Artist" (1973).

The raised exposure helped promote her second single in July, her cover version of the Gladys Knight & the Pips US hit "Neither One of Us", arranged by the Australian music writer and pianist Peter Jones, which peaked at No. 12 on Go-Set's National Top 40 singles chart. George's follow up single, a remake of Ruby and the Romantics 1963 hit "Our Day Will Come" with a co-production between Peter Jones music arranger and Image records., reached the Top 40 in February 1974.

Her debut LP album, Linda, appeared in August on Image Records. Session musicians were used and US record producer Jack Richardson (Alice Cooper, The Guess Who, Poco and Bob Seger) was brought to Australia by label boss, John McDonald, The first single from Linda was her biggest hit and became her signature song, "Mama's Little Girl" (previously by Dusty Springfield), which went to No. 8 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart. The second single, "Give It Love", did not reach the top 40. Linda peaked at No. 32 on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart and stayed in the top 100 for five months. George won awards for "Best Female Vocalist" and "Best Female Single".

 She appeared both in the 1973 and at the 1975 Sunbury Pop Festival in January. Richardson also produced her second album, Step by Step, which was released in December. It featured a tougher rock sound compared to the previous album's soul and pop sound. After the first album Linda she parted ways with her management company. To promote it she formed the Linda George Band which performed throughout 1976 to positive reviews. The album's first single "Shoo Be Doo Be Doo Dah Day" charted reasonably well in former hometown Adelaide, but public reaction in the rest of Australia was lukewarm. The album peaked in the Top 40. A third single, the title track, was released in May 1976 but failed to make the charts. George then released a non-album single "Sitting in Limbo" in November 1978, a cover of the Jimmy Cliff song, it also did not chart. George left Image to continue working as a session singer and raise her children. Throughout this time George continued to be in demand for live television performances throughout Australia, and occasional solo performance shows. Peter Faiman produced an iconic segment with George in the "Paul Hogan" show and she featured regularly on the 'Naked Vicar show', and Don Lane and Bert Newton shows.

Stevie Wright - 1974 - Hard Road CD FLAC

 Hard Road/Life Gets Better/The Other Side/ I Got You Good/Dancing in the Limelight/Didn't I Take You Higher/Evie (Parts 1, 2 & 3)/Movin' On Up/Command Line



Stephen Carlton "Stevie" Wright (20 December 1947 – 27 December 2015), formerly billed as Little Stevie, was an English-born musician and songwriter who has been called Australia's first international pop star. During 1964–69 he was lead singer of Sydney-based rock and roll band the Easybeats, widely regarded as the greatest Australian pop band of the 1960s.

 Hard Road is the debut solo album from Australian singer Stevie Wright. The album's first single "Evie (Part 1)" was hugely successful and the title track was later covered on Rod Stewart's 1974 album Smiler. The album itself reach #2 on the Australian albums charts in 1974 was the 16th highest selling album in Australia that year. The compact disc is currently out-of-print and has become quite rare. A digital edition was available on iTunes as of June, 2014. 

In 1973, Harry Vanda and George Young returned to Australia after a period working in London paying off debts incurred while working as the Easybeats. They renewed their partnership with Albert Productions and as in-house producers began assembling a roster of artists for the label, among them their former Easybeats bandmate Stevie Wright.

Work soon commenced on an album with Wright, with Vanda and Young assembling a backing group that included themselves, pianist Warren Morgan of The Aztecs, and Malcolm Young, George's younger brother and the rhythm guitarist for AC/DC, on guitar.  Wright wrote six songs for the album, while Vanda and Young wrote the remainder, including the title track and the three part "Evie".


There are four different album covers for the album: The original Australian release, the Polydor release, the Atco release and the Australian compact disc reissue cover (which also serves as the artwork for the digital edition). Hard Road was scheduled to be re-released worldwide on high quality, 180 mg vinyl for maximum dynamic and authenticity, April 19, 2014 through Albert Productions (Alberts). Renowned mastering expert Don Bartley converted the original analogue tapes to new vinyl masters, on vintage and retooled analogue gear.

M@tt Finish - 1984 - Word 0f Mouth FLAC Cassette

Out On Those Moments/Tai Ming Money/Come On Over/Light Up My Days/Always Another/Died In Love/Does It Feel/Words And War/Still Roads (I Need It)/Blind And Running


 Formed in 1978 by vocalist/guitarist Matt Moffitt and drummer John Prior, the sound owed much to Matt’s impassioned voice and lyrical songwriting and John’s dynamic musical arrangements, complete with Jeff Clayton’s melodic, economical guitar parts and Rick Grossman’s muscular bass.
from the Matt Finish website

 After two years of performing eight shows a week on the Australian pub circuit, Matt Finish was signed to Peter Dawkins’ The Giant Recording Company. At the finish of 1980, the band released their debut double-A-side single, “Matt Finish Plays Africa” with the songs “C.I.A.” and “Mancini Shuffle”

The following year, 1981, saw the release of the band’s first album Short Note, followed by the live EP Fade Away. Finally, as a result of Moffitt’s declining health, the band split up at the end of the year.
A year passed before Moffitt, Prior and Clayton reformed in 1983, joined later in the year by Bertie Dorset. The new line-up recommenced touring and, in November, released Matt Finish. This EP was followed in 1984 by the album Word of Mouth.

The band again broke up in 1985 when Moffitt decided to start a solo recording career.

In 1990 Matt Finish reformed with original members Moffitt and Prior joined by Jennifer Barrett (guitar), former Eurogliders members Guy Le Claire (guitar) and Lindsay Jehan (bass). In 1991 the band split.

 Moffitt released a limited edition solo acoustic CD EP, “Euroka”, in April 1992.

In June 1992, Matt Finish released “One Day at a Time”, the first Matt Finish single produced in eight years.

 The line-up changed once again, and in 1993 the band, comprising Moffitt, Paul Dawkins (keyboards), Rohan Cannon (guitar), Bobby Christian (bass) and Adrian Cannon (drums) recorded Matt Finish’s third album, By Heart, and released the EP Earthbound. The following year the band released the singles “Blue” and “Will I Ever Know?” recorded with Eliot Reynolds and Justin Leaf. Moffitt, Reynolds and Dawkins co-wrote many new tracks but the band split yet again. Dawkins and Moffitt continued to work together for a couple of years after, including the recording and mixing of an (at the time of writing) unreleased album that contained ten songs

In 2001, Matt Moffitt and Rick Grossman formed the band Fire Hand Ember, with Joseph Calderazzo (guitar/bv) and Wayne Gretch (drums). FHE performed about 20 times, sometimes under the names “Matt Finish” and “Matt Moffitt”, including at the launch of Just a Short Note (The Best Of) in December.

    On 13 August 2003, Matt Moffitt died in Sydney in his sleep from a stroke at the age of 46.