Australian jazz, funk, rock and soul records

Georgia Lee sings the blues down under

2012-01-27T00:04:00.001+11:00

“Nobody knows the trouble I've seen, nobody knows my sorrow” sings Georgia Lee, and she's probably right. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be an Aboriginal woman growing up in North Queensland in the 30s and 40s, but those first poignant words are burnt into your heart with the wail and whip of this amazing jazz singer. Unknown to most, Dulcie Pitt who assumed the stage name

Random Digs b/w Hello 2012!

2012-01-10T20:14:00.003+11:00

So, for this update I thought I'd throw some shine on a few recent and fairly obscure finds. All of these are from record fairs and op shops around Sydney and were acquired within the last few months. While I'm here, I'd also like to thank those of you who've either checked out or subscribed to my YouTube channel. The other day saw my subscribers reach the 100 mark, which makes me happy that so

Hiroshi & Claudia: The Japanese connection

2011-10-03T18:58:00.000+11:00

Hiroshi and Claudia - Six To Six (1979, Atom) I was reminded again of how good this record is when Chris from Northside Records mentioned this in his recent interview with Jordie Kilby on his RareCollections podcast (see my previous update). I was further reminded of the album when I found another copy this weekend! Composed by fairly well known Japanese guitarist Hiroshi

RareCollections Aussie Funk Podcast

2011-09-16T22:08:00.002+10:00

A little while ago, a fellow record collector and radio presenter with the ABC got in touch with me. His name is Jordie Kilby, and he wrote to tell me about his interview with Norwegian-Australian composer Sven Libaek. Jordie's RareCollections podcast series on ABC radio highlights forgotten musical history with a focus on Australia's lost vinyl treasures. The latest program sees Jordie chat

Theme For A Team!

2011-06-19T17:54:00.000+10:00

From a recent digging trip comes this obscure little privately pressed single. The A-side features a song by Benny & The Jets dedicated to the Newcastle United Football club. It's not very good. But on the B-side is this upbeat big band number that rivals the best Daly-Wilson Big Band material. Annoyingly, or perhaps appropriately, an announcer's voice interrupts the band a third of the way

Col Nolan – Sydney's answer to Jimmy McGriff!

2011-06-05T20:07:00.005+10:00

With the acquisition of one of my personal holy grails, I thought it was high time I paid dues to one of the unsung heroes of the Australian jazz scene, and one of the best Australian Hammond players ever. You'd be hard-pressed to find an Australian musician of any significance that Col Nolan hasn't played with. In his time he has been involved with the best of the best of Australian jazz,

Stepps – the greatest Sydney fusion band you've never heard of

2011-04-23T22:24:00.001+10:00

Stepps – Waltz For Tiger Joe (Private Pressing, 1976) In my quest to seek out all the best music that Australia has to offer, I always hope to stumble across a totally forgotten and yet totally amazing piece of music that I had no idea even existed. This doesn't happen nearly as often as I'd like, but when it does happen, it's always a welcome surprise. So it's with great

Australia Day = Aussie Funk Vol. 1 Revisited!

2011-01-29T02:01:00.000+11:00

Since Australia Day (26 January) was a couple of days ago, The Soul Of Sydney website that promotes all things musically Australian decided to do revisit my Aussie Funk mix from 2006 in order to celebrate the day. Cheers to Sammy for the appreciation and interest in good Australian music. You can check it out here. Plenty of other good stuff on his blog too, including a mix by a mate of mine.

Africa, Sydney-style!

2011-01-15T23:54:00.003+11:00

I first discovered this group a few years back when I stumbled across their lone full-length LP in one of my favourite op-shops in the Sydney region. I was surpised to learn that this group had quite the perfoming career in Sydney spanning almost a decade up until 1980. Despite this, the group has been all but forgotten, and all that remains of their reign are three musical relics in their

Leong Lau - That Rongeng Sound

2010-12-21T23:34:00.000+11:00

On the back cover of the 'third' album by this Indonesian-Australian singer-songwriter, there are pictures of his two previous releases. The first album commands four figures among top psych collectors around the world, and is often talked about as the most sought-after Australian release in the genre. The second album appears to be a rock festival recording, but if it actually exists, no

First Light and Music Farm Studios

2010-11-07T19:57:00.002+11:00

In Australia during the 70s, a number of privately run recording studios gave birth to their own custom record labels. Perhaps this was done to promote their studio, or perhaps the recording artists wanted to make their product seem like it was branded by a reputable company. Whatever the reason, labels like Jam and Earth created their own record labels dedicated to producing artists that hadn't

Youtube Channel

2010-11-01T17:16:00.000+11:00

Hi peoples, Just wanted to give you all a heads up that I've started a channel on Youtube with clips of some classic Aussie Funk cuts. Youtube is an easy way to upload clips for reference together with a picture of the record, and I've found a lot of great soul stuff on Youtube over the past few months. But there's very little up on Youtube in the way of funky Australian music, so I thought I'd

Chinese Australians unite: The Yin Yan Duo

2010-10-05T23:56:00.000+11:00

I first chanced upon a copy of this record several years ago in a second-hand bookshop on the NSW South Coast. Since then I've come across a few copies in op shops, but haven't really seen it talked about on record collector websites or anywhere else on-line for that matter. The cheese-factor of this record should be apparent from the front cover, and if you get a love song ballad vibe from the

Leong Lau

2010-04-20T00:56:00.000+10:00

Leong Lau with East-West Unity Band - Late Night Flyer b/w/ One Dimensional Man (Sunscape, 1977)I've been a fan of Leong Lau since I first heard his 'That Rongeng Sound' LP a good few years ago now. 'City Bleus', drawn from the album in question was featured on my first Aussie Funk mix, and continues to be one of the most asked-about tracks that I played on it.

Wayne Roland Brown

2010-04-17T14:20:00.005+10:00

So... following on from the previous update, I wanted to find some more stuff by this New Zealand-born artist. Apparently, his first album is pretty rare and sought after. The following single, lifted from the album in question, is pretty awesome in my opinion. Side A is a fantastic cover of the Dylan number, with a great mellow intro. Side B is a cover of a classic

Aussie Funk mix available for download

2010-01-20T12:56:00.000+11:00

DJ Kinetic - Aussie Funk Vol. 1 (2006) I put this mix together back in 2006 because i wanted to do something to showcase the time and effort I'd put in to tracking down and discovering some of the best funky music that Australia produced. I was heavily influenced at the time by Creative Vibes' Respect Overdue compilation series which sought to do the same thing. Peter Pascal - a founding member

Skylight - Aussie Funk, Melbourne-style!

2010-01-18T23:36:00.001+11:00

Skylight were a funky soul band based in Melbourne during the mid 70s. Their sole full-length release is pretty well-known amongst collectors of Australian rare-groove, and it even enjoyed a re-issue on LP in Japan. If you want to read more about the band check this site out. Now, since I post on various record-related websites, from time to time upload material for people, especially if it is

1st Update for Twenty-Ten

2010-01-12T17:30:00.014+11:00