Autumn - 1971 - A Patch Of Autumn

Live Levis/Goblins Gamble/Falling/Lady Anne



Like their contemporaries The Executives, The Affair, New Dream and Zoot, Sydney band Autumn has been unfairly labelled as a lightweight pop band, mainly on the basis of their early recordings. They've also been tagged as 'one-hit wonders', although in fact they had four hits. Fronted by grievously underrated lead vocalist Tony Romeril, Autumn was a superb band with a strong following in their home city of Sydney, and they could tackle pop, country-rock and heavy/progressive rock with equal ease.

Like their close contemporaries The Flying Circus, Autumn formed at a time when rapid and significant changes were taking place in the music scene and the formerly homogeneous "pop" field was diversifying into several distinct genres. The trends that were drawing 'pop' musicians towards progressive music, "heavy rock" and country rock was counterbalanced by the popularity and commercial success of so-called "bubblegum" pop. This created to a situation where, as Glenn A. Baker has observed, "being identified as a pop band "drew automatic derision and critical dismissal".

Autumn's chart success with straight-ahead pop material has obscured the fact that this was a highly competent group, with tastes and abilities which went well beyond the confines of the three-minute formula pop single. Their true talents were not really showcased on record until their last few recordings for the Warner label and, as Glennn Baker notes "... nobody, save those who caught them live, came to realise what a sturdy, musically adept and diverse unit they were."

During the second half of 1971 Autumn released an EP, A Patch Of Autumn, followed by their hugely underrated second album Comes Autumn. Although it is dismissed by Vernon Joyson as "unremarkable", it in fact contains some outstanding material. As Aussie music archivist "MidozTouch" has noted, "Autumn's second album is so strikingly different in style and sound from their first LP that one could be forgiven for thinking they were recorded by two different groups". This included re-recordings of some of their Chart material, including Allan Magsuball's riff-tastic psych-prog nugget "Get It Down" (one of several fine tracks he contributed), a re-recorded version of "Lady Anne", and the country-styled hits "Falling" and "Miracles". 

Graham Bell & His All Stars - 1963 - Hernando's Hideaway FLAC

Hernando's Hideaway/Down By The Riverside/Rag Trade Rag/South



Graeme Emerson Bell, Australian jazz musician (born Sept. 7, 1914, Richmond, near Melbourne, Australia—died June 13, 2012, Sydney, Australia), pioneered a resurgence of traditional jazz as dance music in Australia and parts of Europe as the leader of Australia’s foremost jazz band. Bell, who studied classical piano, got his start in jazz in the 1930s, playing piano in his brother’s band in Melbourne clubs. During World War II he founded the Graeme Bell Jazz Gang, which achieved national popularity through radio broadcasts and record sales. The group, rebranded the Australian Jazz Band after the war, toured Europe (1947–48), where listening to jazz was considered a sedentary activity.


 Graeme Bell in front of a sign advertising The Graeme Bell All Stars tour in Czechoslovakia, 1947

The band’s jaunty front lines dazzled across Dixieland standards, show tunes, and folk songs and set off a revival of dancing to jazz. Back in Australia in 1949, Bell cofounded Swaggie Records. He also resumed touring Australia (and later Europe and Asia) with his original band and then with the Graeme Bell All Stars, which he formed in 1962. During his 70-year career, Bell recorded more than 1,500 tracks. He was made MBE (1978) and an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO; 1990) for his services to music and was inducted (1997) into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame. The annual Australian jazz awards (established in 2003) were known as the Bell Awards in his honour.

Dave Miller & The Byrds - 1966 - Dave Miler & The Byrds @320

Help Me/Ain't Got You/Tough Enough/That'll Be The Day/Let The Four Winds Blow



The Christchurch to Auckland pop highway was already well travelled when Dave Miller and The Byrds arrived in 1965. Ray Columbus and The Invaders, Max Merritt and The Meteors and Dinah Lee had already used the northern city as a stepping stone to successful careers in Australia, a path Dave Miller would also take.

Miller had joined Christchurch group, The Playboys in Auckland in 1963 after the departure of singers Diane Jacobs (aka Dinah Lee) and Phil Garland, following a six-week residency deputising for Max Merritt and The Meteors at The Platterack. 

 That left Dave's drummer-brother Graeme along with guitarist Brian Ringrose (ex-Invaders), Mark Graham (rhythm guitar) and John O’Neill (bass). Kevin O’Neill then replaced Mark Graham. Jacobs and Garland had been vocalists with The Saints rock'n'roll band in Christchurch during the early 1960s before forming The Playboys, who had a successful career around Christchurch performing at the likes of Spencer Street, The Dolphin Lounge. The Caledonian Hall and later at The Laredo.

After a popular residency at Christchurch’s Laredo Room in 1963 and 1964, The Playboys headed north for good, lured by Māori entertainer Howard Morrison for his popular touring show. There were already two successful international groups called The Playboys so they became The Byrds – seemingly unaware of the American outfit –then Dave Miller and The Byrds.

Their first release was a snappy cover of Jimmy Reed’s R&B finger-snapper ‘Bright Lights Big City’, a big local hit for Zodiac Records and the first of three singles and an EP for the label. The EP featured blues standard ‘Help Me’, filmed with Dave Miller only in a rare clip. John O’Neill and Brian Ringrose left soon after, replaced by Al Dunster and Chris Collier.

Success in the clubs and as a backing band pushed them on until 1966 when Miller and guitarist Dunster decided to make the hop to Sydney. Miller would make an initial impact in Sydney as a compere and soloist, before forming The Dave Miller Set and landing a huge hit with the psychedelic mini-epic ‘Mr Guy Fawkes’ in 1969.