Gypsy Woman/Looks Like Trouble/Roller Coaster Man/The Dancer
The
Allusions was a Sydney-based quintet that burst out of nowhere in 1966,
scoring a couple of major hits in Sydney. Although they disappeared
into obscurity after their short career ended, this is a band that
deserves much more recognition.
The Allusions formed
in late 1965, its members drawn from several other accomplished Sydney
groups, and boasting four singers. Their leader,
singer-guitarist-composer Mike Morris, had previously played with Dennis
& The Dellawares; Terry Hearne had been the bassist in popular
instrumental group The Dave Bridge Trio, led by ace gutarist and Joy
Boys founder-member Dave Bridge. Terry Chapman and Kevin Hughes had both
been members of the early '60s Sydney surf band The Midnighters.
Within
a short time of forming, The Allusions were signed to Robert Iredale's
Leopold Productions, one of Australia's first independent record
production companies (which had also recently signed Max Merritt &
the Meteors) and their recordings were issued on EMI's Parlophone label.
It's possible that their rapid signing came about because Robert
Iredale was already familiar with Morris' talent -- it's known that The
Dellawares provided backing for The Bee Gees on some of the trio's early
recordings, which Iredale had produced.
The Allusions
shot to prominence in early 1966 with their captivatingly melodic
version of the old Rick Nelson hit "Gypsy Woman", backed with "Fever
(Burns My Brain)", a Mike Morris original. The single proved a
disc-jockey's dream, securing solid airplay on Sydney's 2SM and 2UW,
registering impressive sales and peaking at #12. The Allusions' reading
in turn inspired The Saints to record the song as a single B-side in
1981.
With this hit under their belt, the group was
given the opportunity to record two original songs (both penned by
Morris) for their mesmerising follow-up. "The Dancer" / "Roller Coaster
Man" developed the polished sound and strong harmonies of their debut,
and echoed The Beatles' "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You". The A-side,
the song for which they are best remembered, fared even better than
their debut, making the Sydney Top Ten (#9) and giving great hopes for
this 'mysterious' outfit among punters and pundits alike. However,
because of the parochial nature of radio and the pop scene at the time,
The Allusions' chart success was limited entirely to Sydney, and their
Singles made no impact whatsoever in Melbourne.
Morris'
impressive songwriting ability and the success of the two singles
persuaded Iredale to finance the recording of a full album -- a
comparitively rare occurrence at that time for a new and relatively
unproven group. The original LP is now a sought-after rarity, with
copies changing hands for as much as $50; copies with the older-style
black Parlophone label are particularly sought-after. Happily all the
tracks from this rare gem of mid-Sixties OzPop have been included in the
complete Allusions Anthology, recently released by Canetoad Records
(see below).
The LP contains a variety of material,
mixing originals by Morris with covers such as Smokey Robinson's "Shop
Around". Some commentators have been rather critical of the album,
reserving particular scorn for the song "I Believe", but Chris Spencer
opines that "it's not as bad as some make us believe, and doesn't sound
out of place on this collection".
The late Gary
Aurisch, who wrote the only book about the band (available from Chris
Spencer's Moonlight Publishing) describes the album thus:
"It
remains a versatile work crammed with intelligently crafted pop songs,
most of which are adorned with nifty little guitar solos and carefully
thought-out, unobtrusive harmony".
Terry Chapman quit
the band in July 1966, not long before their third single was recorded,
apparently unhappy with the Beatles-ish direction in which Morris was
taking them. He went on to join one of Australia's first psychedelic
groups, The Knack, which included drummer Craig Collinge, formerly of
The Librettos and later of Procession. Chapman's replacement was Bruce
Davis, who had worked with Morris in The Dellawares.
Their
third single "Looks Like Trouble" (Oct. 1966) didn't chart, although
the follow-up "Roundabout" (another Morris original, released in March
1967) managed to scrape into the bottom of the Top 40. An EP, The
Dancer, followed in April, compiling the A-sides from the first three
Singles, plus "Roller Coaster Man".
According to
Vernon Joyson, some time during 1967 The Allusions also recorded as the
(uncredited) backing band for Digger Revell on his LP To Whom It May
Concern. Another Allusions curiosity from this period is a promotional
single -- which the group recorded under the pseudonym The Telemen --
the A-side of which was a version of the theme from the popular TV
sitcom My Name's McGooley, What's Yours?.
The
Allusions released two more Singles, "Seven Days Of Rain" (July 1967)
and "Mr Love" (February 1968), but neither was successful. Between these
two releases, Mike Morris left the band in late 1967, and he was
replaced by John Spence. The Allusions continued as a four-piece until
October 1968, when Terry Hearne quit to join Digger Revell's backing
band. Mike Morris then rejoined, to raise money for an overseas trip,
but by this time the momentum of their early success had dissipated, and
in the face of changing trends they split for good in early 1969.
Not
much is known about what happened to the members after their brief
spell in the limelight; what little we have gleaned comes from Vernon
Joyson's entry on the band in his book. Mike Morris worked with a number
of local country-rock bands after returning to Australia. Terry Hearne
was reported to be still playing with Digger Revell in the 1990s,
although that was presumably ended by Digger's arrest conviction on
charges of marijuana cultivation and trafficking, and his subsequent
incarceration. Sadly, drummer Kevin Hughes committed suicide in 1975.
The
Allusions left behind a fine batch of records that are highly sought
after by collectors of quality sixties Aussie pop. The evidence we have
is that they could indeed "rock out" -- exemplified by the spirited
cover of The Kinks' "I Gotta Move" on the LP, which arguably rivals the
original -- along with strong similarities to other early beat-boom
merchants like The Zombies and The Searchers. They used "I Feel
Fine"-style guitar feedback too, before it was remotely de rigeur. If
this band will be remembered at all though (and they should be), it
would be for their extremely tight and inventive sound, those complex
vocal harmonies, and their mastery of the three-minute beat-pop single
idiom.
A handful of The Allusions' recordings were
reissued on vinyl, and later on CD, and for these we must (as usual) say
thanks to Glenn A. Baker and the wonderful people at Raven. If you can
get your hands on a copy, there are five Allusions tracks -- "Gypsy
Woman", "Fever Burns My Brain", "I Gotta Move", "Looks Like Trouble" and
"The Dancer" -- included on Raven's excellent 1981 anthology LP Five By
Four.
Prior to 2003, only three tracks had made it
onto CD -- "The Dancer" is on Volume 2 of Raven's Sixties Downunder
series, and "Gypsy Woman" is on Volume 3; "I Gotta Move" is included on
the bootleg compilation Devil's Children, Volume 1, which is a lot
harder to find.
Happily, the entire Allusions oeuvre
is now available on CD at last thanks to David McLean and Canetoad
Records. The original recordings have been remastered for CD and the
21-track disc includes all the single A- and B-sides and all the tracks
from the album, plus the two tracks that they recorded as The Telemen.
Liner notes are by David McLean, with contributions from Terry Hearne.
Original article by Paul Culnane (Milesago)
