Choirboys - "Struggle Town"

I've featured this revolutionary Aussie band before and the passing of time certainly doesn't dim my love for them - they were brilliant when they first appeared on the scene and they never lost that sheen for me (and I'm sure for many other Aussies). Mark Gable had (has) the most brilliant voice for good solid rock music and it's time to revisit that spark here today.

"Struggle Town" appeared on their 1987 album, "Big Bad Noise," which I think is one of the best Aussie albums that I've ever owned and "Place With No Love," has been taken from their 1991 album, "Midnight Sun,"which was another rip snorter. Although the second album didn't achieve the dizzy heights of the first, and who knows why, it was a be-auty!!!

The boys first got together in 1979 and they're still performing today, albeit without the hits that have followed them through their career. That's more than thirty years for those who aren't so good with their maths! Very impressive.

Choirboys on WWW
Choirboys on MySpace

Here they are - one of the best Aussie rock bands ever .....

Fools For Rowan - "I'm Alright"

I was recently trolling the internet looking for anything new in the music industry and while flicking through YouTube clips, I stumbled across a band called Fools For Rowan" and their clip, "Dead". Then I started looking a little deeper into the band and to my amazement, I found that their current publicist was LaFamos, who have introduced me to many fine artists over the last year or two. I contacted the wonderful Amanda over at LF and asked her for some info on the band and she sent me a damn fine album to listen to and so, thanks to Amanda, you'll get to hear them as well.

I'd categorize the band as an alternative pop/rock band and the group members are Erin Mullins (vocals), Jordan Cullen (drums), Aaron Elliott (bass), Ryan Nanney (guitar) and Rachel Brandsness (guitar). The songs that I've included here today have been taken from their 2009 album, "Twisted. Tied Up. Tangled." The band hails from Nashville and they've now been playing together for about four years now and they have a sort of Paramore feel about them and that's gotta be good. Right? From what I've read about the band, they are one hell of an energetic group and they have been touring and playing some pretty large gigs.

One of the things that I really liked, while listening to the album, was the way Erin so easily glided between belting out the rockiest of numbers and the more subtle sweeter tracks. She's got the perfect voice for the music that the band produces and I'm really looking forward to what they come up with next. There are also some really nice harmonies to be heard on every track. Although the musical formula is pretty cut and dried for the entire album, there are enough subtle changes to give each of the songs that little piece of individuality that makes them interesting.

When it came to picking the two songs that I was going to play today, I found it to be an interesting challenge. There were plenty of reasons for including every single one of them, but in the end, I thought I'd go for "It's Alright," just because I liked the tempo of the track and I think that, commercially, it'd be a great single. Then I chose their second single, "Dead," just because it was the first song I heard from the band. It also provides you with a change of tempo and highlights just what Erin Mullins can do with that special voice of hers.

I've included a few of the band's links so that you can go and check out more of their music if you're interested (see below).

Fools For Rowan on Facebook
Fools For Rowan on MySpace
Fools For Rowan Web Page

Axiom - "Fool's Gold"

Here's a band that was considered by many to be Australia's first supergroup, mainly due to the fact that so many of the band members had already carved their names into music history. That may well have been the case, but they came and went like a summer cold. They released a few singles and decided to try their luck in England and within a very short space of time, the band members moved on to other projects.

The two main members of Axiom were their vocalists, Glenn Shorrock (Twilights and Little River Band) and Brian Cadd (The Groop & many other early Aussie bands). Other members were Don Mudie, Chris Stockley and Don Lebler (who was part of The Avengers whom I featured on Tuesday).

The band is best remembered for it's massive hit, "Arkansas Grass," and rightfully so - it was an absolute ripper of a track and it flew to the top of the Australian charts in November 1969. It was very quickly followed by another excellent song, "A Little Ray Of Sunshine" and finally a track which I've previously featured on the blog, "My Baby's Gone," which sounds just like "Honky Tonk Women" when it first starts.

A few days ago, I was over at another interesting blog that I regularly visit, Zolland's very informative A Bit Like You And Me, and I found a little song that I'd never previously heard by Rupert's People, titled "Reflections Of Charles Brown," and when I heard it, I couldn't believe how similar it was to an Axiom song that I had always liked. That Axiom song is today's second track, "Fool's Gold," and if you listen to both songs, you'll see what I'm talking about. Very similar in so many ways. It also prompted me that I'd never written a post on Axiom, even though I had mentioned them in a Brian Cadd post. "Fool's Gold" was the very last song to be released as an Axiom single (1971) and it went nowhere, but I think that both Zolland and I thought that the song appeared to be heavily influenced by Rupert's People. Then there's today's lead off song, "Fool's Gold." It appeared as the B-Side  of "A Little Ray Of Sunshine," and sounded to me as though the band were attempting to continue their "Arkansas Grass" formula, which had been so successful for them. I've always admired the song and thought it should have been an A-Side, but it was still damn good value to pick up such a good track when it was simply filling up space on a previously blank piece of vinyl.

So there you go - there's nothing more to say other than sit back and listen to a couple of tracks from our first Aussie supergroup.

And here's where it all started for the band, their massive hit, "Arkansas Grass."

The Lone Crows - "Lone Crow"

I was contacted by the manager for a new, up and coming American band (howdy there Andre) who complimented me on my blog (always appreciated) and then told me that he managed a band that he thought I might like. I get a few of these emails from time to time and usually the music just doesn't sit well enough with me for me to write a post on it. But this time it was different. I dug the music from the moment it started playing.

Let's start with the band .....

The band consists of the following bunch of musicians, whom I can see sitting around in someone's garage and jamming away in the good old fashioned way for hours on end. The man who writes the tunes and also provides the vocals, as well as providing guitar, is Tim Barbeau. He's joined by another guitarist in Julian Manzara,  Andy Battcher on bass, and Joe Goff on drums. They were formerly known as "Heart Of Bristol," and although I never heard them in their previous guise, I'm informed that they were a thrash metal outfit, but surely not. The music they now play is a long way from thrash metal, and I'm absolutely certain that you'll agree with me after you've heard today's tracks.

I've listened to the entire album a couple of times now and it sounds to me like a bunch of fellows sitting around in a dimly lit room, glasses of wine on the table, smoke drifting through the air, while they jam along playing the blues. Well - in a rock sort of way. The music is full of excellent guitar work with a real earthy feel to it and at the end of the post, I'll provide a link where you can listen to the entire album if you desire.

The album - my favourite track is one which I haven't played here today, and it's the third track on the album, and is titled, "Heard You Call." When it kicks off, it reminds me quite a bit of Santana's "Black Magic Woman" and it's a belter. The lead off song on the album is also today's lead track and "Lone Crow" demonstrates that jamming feel that I mentioned earlier and is indicative of the sort of guitar work that you'll hear on the entire album - nice bluesy music and some good rock vocals. Today's second song is the band's first single to be released from the album and is a little slower paced and probably the closest the album comes to having a ballad. It showcases some more great guitar work and I think that's what I really like about the album. Hey - I'm a sucker for great guitar playing and these boys do it so well. The percussion work is pretty damn good too and really suits the tempo of the music.

Well - I could go into each and every track, but since the band has them all up on bandcamp for you to listen to, I'll leave it to each individual to check it out and make up his/her own mind. The album is also for sale at bandcamp and I reckon it's a pretty good deal when you can pick up something this good for the wee price of US$7. That's a bargain! You can also purchase it over at Amazon for a little more if you have an Amazon account. 

As you listen to the tracks, although you'll be listening to a brand new band, there is also a reminder of some great music from the past. What I'm talking about here are tracks such as "The Crawl," which contains guitar riffs that remind me of David Bowie's "Jean Genie," in the way the riffs emphasize the music around them and then there's "When I Move On," which has a real Led Zeppelin type of feel about it. Yep - this is good stuff indeed.

Enjoy!!!

The Lone Crows on Facebook.

Oh yeah ....... how good is that!!!

Here are the boys performing "Lone Crow" live .....

The Avengers - "Tweedle-e-Dee"

Way back in the sixties, when the music was made up of delightful little songs which were usually no more than about two and a half minutes in length, there was a band in my home town known as The Avengers. They weren't around for very long and to my knowledge, they released only four singles before heading to splitsville and calling it a day.

During their hit period, The Avengers consisted of Julian Jones on lead vocals, Roger Hicks on guitar, Keith Kerwin also on guitar, Andy Tait on bass and bringing up the drums was Don Lebler. Even though the band was extremely popular and even managed to win the premier music competition at the time, Hoadley's Battle Of The Sounds, they went their separate ways before the band again emerged, with a completely different lineup and a new name, The New Avengers. However, the new metamorphosis went nowhere fast.

On to today's music - the first song, which was always known as "Tweedle-e-Dee," back then, has also been released as "Twiddle-e-Dee," and copies of both spellings can be found on old singles. I've gone with the spelling that I had on my single and which was also the spelling that was always written in the Top 40 charts back then. Most people seem to remember the band for this particular song which was their second charting song here in Brisbane. The song made the top twenty on the charts in case you're interested.

Today's second song was the B-Side of their first charting single in Brisbane, a song called "Just One More Chance." I was actually going to feature the A-Side, but to my dismay, I found I didn't have it anymore and I couldn't find it anywhere on the WWW either. Bugger! From memory, the song actually ended up being a double A-Side because the B-Side was quite popular, so I guess it doesn't really matter that it's the song I bring you today. Incidentally, the track was written by Emitt Rhodes, of "Fresh As A Daisy" fame.

While I'm on "Listen Listen," I'd like to thank a regular reader of the blog, fitzall, who tracked down and sent me a copy of the song which he'd found on some obscure site. He's currently travelling through Africa with his wife and really ought to consider starting his own blog one of these days - he seems to have so much obscure music that it's just not funny.

If you're still reading this and can help me out with any more of The Avengers' music, I'd love to hear from you. Other tracks (which I'm looking for) were "What Price Love," backed by "Only One In A Lifetime," "Maid Of Iron," "Just One More Chance," and "Caroline Court."

Keane - "Sovereign Light Cafe"

Here's English band Keane and a couple of songs from their 2012 album, "Strangeland," a collection of very, very good songs indeed.

The band consists of Tom Chaplin (vocals), Richard Hughes, Jesse Quinn and Tim Rice-Oxley and they were formed back in 1997 by Dominic Scott, who left the band a few years later.

Both of today's tracks have been taken from Keane's latest album and I find it a little hard to categorise their music. Their albums seem to float between pop and rock, perhaps even alternative rock, with a wonderful touch of Indie about them. They remind me quite a bit of bands such as Snow Patrol, but whatever it is, I certainly can't stop my feet from tapping to their tunes - it's infectious!

The latest album certainly follows the musical formula of their previous album, "Perfect Symmetry," which had been released about four years previously, where they stepped up from a much slower paced, "Under The Iron Sea," a short time before that. You can really hear the changes and the band's improvement as you listen to their albums in order of release.

Keane's official WWW site
Keane's MySpace site (more music to hear)

Here they are .....

Crystal Shawanda - "You Can't Take It Back"

Here's a young native American woman who possesses a really easy voice to listen to. She's just released her latest album, "Just Like You," which I have yet to purchase, but I do have her first album and it's time to introduce her to you with a couple of offerings from it. The album is titled, "Dawn Of A New Day," and it's a really nice mixture of country meets pop. This comes only a couple of days after another country post, so apologies to those who aren't that way inclined, but I'm up for posting just about anything that takes my fancy and anything that I think may just have some sort of appeal to others.

Crystal has released quite a number of singles during her short career and she's had a fair degree of success throughout America and Canada and has toured with quite a number of notables. In 2009, she was even named the Canadian Country Music Association's "Female Artist of the Year." Not a bad effort for a relative newcomer. For a girl who wrote her first song at the tender age of nine, I guess we shouldn't be surprised.

On to the music and to a girl who says that she was born to sing!

Crystal's WWW page

Crystal's MySpace page where you can hear more of her music.

And as a bonus, here's Crystal singing her first single, "You Can Let Go."