'Pop Goes Australia'!

Pop Goes Australia!

I admit to being both a little nostalgic and philosophical for this blog entry. I will be 47 during December this year, and I have to admit like many people today I feel more than a little concerned about the world as it is, and the future. Perhaps as a result of that, increasingly I've been retreating into memories of the past when life was seemingly simpler, easier, more settled and meaningful. A month or so ago on my second hand record hunting adventures I managed to find a copy of an early Australian pop compilation from the very early 1970's featuring a lot of musical material that I had not heard for many a year!

After the usual washing over the laundry basin and drying session, I settled down to listen to it. I'll be quite honest and admit that it was quite an emotional session. I cried as the music brought back so many memories. Even though I was only about eight years old when these songs came out, I remembered them all even if the song titles didn't all 'ring a bell'. I'm not sure why this album affected me so much personally except that the songs were popular on the radio at a time in my childhood when I felt so much wide eyed wonder about the world and perhaps given the problematical world we all now face every day, there was something about that time living life in very rural North Queensland that was slightly magical!

The album features a real 'who's who' of Australia rock/ pop luminaries of the day, a few of whom are still around today and have gained the title of elder statesmen of the industry. People like Brian Cadd who features on a few of the tracks of the album both as a solo performer and as a member of various groups, who had a big hand in many of the goings on in the Australian pop scene of the time both performing and nurturing talent elsewhere in the industry.

Ah 'Alvin Purple'...if you're not a Aussie you probably wouldn't understand who he was (a 'fictional' movie / TV character and the impact he had on adolescents of the time! The Mixtures ...an Aussie good time/ fun loving kind of band. I recall seeing the video clip for 'In the Summertime', that shocked me a little with naughty images of bared female breasts! The wacky lunacy of Frankie Davidson's 'Gimme Dat Ding', Liv Maessen's quaint 'Knock, Knock, Who's There?...a song that apparently she regarded as a 'kids' song and wasn't too keen on recording, so the story goes! Johnny Chester, known more as an Australian country singer but his performance on 'Midnight Bus' was particularly strong and soulful, and with wicked humour on 'Shame and Scandal'.

Songs like Robyn Jolley's 'Marshall's Portable Music Machine', struck me at the time as a song with real substance, meaning and depth in the mind of a young boy! Listening to it now I guess I still do, more or less! Bobby and Laurie covered 'The Carroll County Accident', a slightly cryptic account of a illicit love affair in a small town. The slightly bizarre 'Daddy Cool' by the faceless group Drummond. Crooner and serious balladeer Matt Flinders pops up with two hit songs of the day. My mother was a big fan, in the Engelbert Humperdinck style.

As I recall, Jigsaw had a few hits during the early 1970's. I recall singing slightly irreverent alternative lyrics to 'Yellow River'! That was a very daring thing to do as a young boy at that time! Perhaps the song that made me cry more than any other on the album was Missisippi's, 'Kings Of The World' a song that I literally hadn't heard for at least thirty if not more years. I found that song particularly evocative! The Hawking Brothers have a important place in Australian Country music and 'Catfish John' was one of their many hits and popular song numbers.

All the songs are so reminiscent of that wondrous but slightly surreal time when life really did seem slightly exciting, good and innocent through the eyes of a very naive and trusting little boy! It's nice to smile and remember with fondness those early days. I guess it's true that we can't live in the past and nor should we, but having said that it is wonderful to relive the magic within the grooves! More to come! Felix.