I started re-reading a favourite book called The Music Goes Round My Head by David Johnston. It’s about Australian music of the 1960s, especially from 1964 to 1969. I’ve gotten back into it because of that Australian Pop of the Sixties compilation I’ve been listening to. The book is special to me. It has a loose label at the back that says my copy is number 685 of a limited 1000 edition print run with the author’s signature. I love reading through all the many references to artists and songs and then referring to my collection to see which ones I have and which I don’t.
I am still reading The Music Goes Round My Head. I’m up to the chapter on the year 1966. An amusing tidbit was the section on the band The In-Sect. They had an album called In-Sect A-Sides. David Johnston the author describes it as either Imaginative or Cringeworthy. I’d go with Imaginative with a side of Hilarious. He also mentions the Judy Stone song Born a Woman. He says basically the same thing about it that I said last week. Great minds think alike.
(What I said last week) Judy Stone’s Born a Woman is an old family favourite and a classic song and vocal. The only problem with it is most of the song is about how shitty it can be to be a woman: ‘It makes no difference if you’re rich or poor or if you’re smart or dumb. A woman’s place in this old world is under some man’s thumb’. Pretty right-on feminist so far, right? And there’s the fabulous throw down: ‘You’re born to be stepped on, lied to, cheated on and treated like dirt’. Tell it like is, Sista! But then the final verse comes in with its sucky lyrics: ‘And then my man finally comes home, he makes me proud, it happened that way. Coz to be his woman no price was too great to pay.’ Ugh, what a copout! Status quo restored then…
Finished the chapter on the year 1966 of The Music Goes Round My Head. The chapters get progressively larger with each year. The next one on 1967 is twice as long, and so on. I guess this reflects the increasing complexity, participation (and success) of Australian music as the decade progressed. 1966 seems to be notable largely for the burgeoning success of The Easybeats and The Seekers.
Transferred all my Australian Pop of the Sixties albums, plus Downunder Nuggets and a couple of other Oz sixties ‘garage’ albums I have to my phone. The idea is to make a series of playlists to listen to that reflect the content of the Music Goes Round My Head book I’m reading. I’m looking to take a deep dive into this stuff and actually listen to the music I’ve been reading about. I started with a playlist on the chick singers, including Bev Harrell, Judy Stone, Lynne Randell, Dinah Lee, Marcie Jones, Toni McCann, Little Pattie, Maria Dallas and Yvonne Barrett.
Had a listen to the playlist I made of girl singers from Australian Pop of the Sixties albums. Some good tunes there, though some are a bit suss. So far I’m especially impressed with Marcie Jones and her group The Cookies. Some nice soul sounds with some great horns. Cookin’! This is especially satisfying as I actually have Marcie’s autobiography (a signed copy), Runs In the Blood, which I’ve yet to read. Actually my sister Glenys has read it, and the autograph (I bought it second hand) is made out to a Glenys – so some nice synchronicity there. Marcie was married to Australian singer Normie Rowe for a while there too.
I’ve finished the chapter in The Music Goes Round My Head that covers 1967. The Australian bands and artists are starting to catch up to what’s going on around the world. The market’s still dominated by male solo artists like Normie Rowe and the newcomer John Farnham, but bands like Masters’ Apprentices, The Bee Gees (especially) and The Twilights are starting to make inroads. Even as The Seekers and The Easybeats are having their last hurrah.
I finished the chapter on the year 1968 from The Music Goes Round My Head. The Bee Gees’ profile is rising, Masters Apprentices have a difficult year with lots of personnel changes, The Twilights and The Seekers break up and the Zoot get started. Normie Rowe hunkers down in the army and Johnny Farnham takes off with Sadie. It’s clearly a year of transition for the Australian pop industry. We’re finally starting to catch up with the overseas trends.
I’ve nearly finished The Music Goes Round Head book by David Johnston. He’s writing about the end of the Sixties and summing up the careers of various artists. The Easybeats were actually still around in 1969 and released one final album, Friends. After a brief tour of Australia they broke up. Johnston also delves into the post-sixties careers of many of the artists featured in the book. There is also one final look at the songs that ended the decade, a number of which I was not familiar with. Most interesting to me was a group called King Fox and their song Unforgotten Dream. They were a band of teenage musicians, including a young Billy Field, who would have later hits with Bad Habits and You Weren’t In Love With Me. The song is described by Johnston as ‘not unlike something the Moody Blues might have come up with’. Luckily for me the song is on one of the Sixties Australian Pop albums I have, and hearing it, it definitely reminds me of the Moodies. There’s even a Ray Thomas-like flute in the mix. It reminds me a bit of their song A Simple Game, and maybe a couple of other earlier things, especially the Days of Future Past album. Though I don’t think Justin Hayward ever used a fuzz guitar sound like what’s on the song. I love it. So great to hear a new lost song that sounds like the early Moody Blues. Another song that’s mentioned is Mr Guy Fawkes by the Dave Miller Set. I also have this one and it’s a great psychedelic epic that even has a bomb going off in the middle of it. The history of Australian rock has so much great overlooked stuff in it. Who knew? The book is fantastic, one of my favourites.