Australian Normie Rowe - Shakin All Over - 30 Of The Best 1965 - 1973 (1999 Raven Records) Flac & mp3@320

Normie Rowe is one of those perennially popular figures on the Australia music scene--given that his career has carried him from covering rock 'n roll standards like "Shakin' All Over" to playing Valjean in the Australian cast of Les Miserables, he might be most easily compared to Tommy Steele or Joe Brown in England, except that his music has crossed several rock genres, even brushing up against psychedelia during the late 1960's.
Rowe was a part-time singer who never intended to become a full-time entertainer until he was fired from his day job because of the length of his hair. A white soul-style singer in the manner of Fred Heath, aka Johnny Kidd of Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, emerged as a popular figure in Australia fronting a band called the Thunderbirds, who managed to compete effectively with the English bands that dominated the island-nation's charts during the mid-1960's. He became popular on local television in the mid-1960's, and in 1965, with his group the Playboys, he hit the charts for the first time with a version of "It Ain't Necessarily So." Later that year, Normie Rowe and the Playboys were responsible for the biggest Australian rock 'n roll hit of 1965, a version of "Que Sera Sera" done in the style of "Louie, Louie" and the manner of "Hang On Sloopy." The whole record was knocked off on the fly, in a quick session that even resulted in a whistled cue ending up on the finished track, but it outsold every other homegrown piece of rock 'n roll released that year.

In the wake of the success of "Que Sera Sera," he left Australia for England. The Playboys, known in England as the Australian Playboys and featuring Kevin Peacock in their line-up with Rowe, released an extraordinary 45 r.p.m. single in 1967 on the Immediate label--"Black Sheep RIP" b/w "Sad" was a classic and bold piece of psychedelic pop featuring some memorable guitar behind Rowe's singing, but like most Immediate singles it never sold, and is a seriously collectable record. Rowe later toured Canada and America before returning home, where he was drafted and served in Vietnam. Rowe's career never regained the prominence and momentum that he'd had in the mid-1960's. Like a lot of other early '60s rockers, he moved to the cabaret circuit and gradually regained some of his popularity. He later emerged as an all-around entertainer and singer, most notably taking the part of Jean Valjean in the Ausatralian cast of Les Miserables. In recent years, he has also taken up an anti-drug crusade, partly because of his daughter's life-threatening experiences with heroin. Rowe remains a fondly remembered icon from early Australian rock 'n roll, and a much-loved musical figure.(allmusic.com)

Normie Rowe is certainly one of the most underrated Australian artists in Europe and the United States. His songs always had a convincing urgency in his kind of performance. And he was certainly not the worst singer either. On the contrary, as his musical works prove. Raven has put together a really good compilation and Normie Rowe should not be missing in any good collection of  Australian pop music.
 Have fun
                   Frank

New Flac Link 

New mp3 link

Four Track Single: The Shotgun Express - I Could Feel The Whole World Turn Around (1966 Columbia EMI) mp3@256

Here is the four track single by The Shotgun Express with members Rod Stewart, Beryl Marsden, Peter Green, Peter Bardens and Mick Fleetwood.

New mp3@256 link

Sixties Pop By Beryl Marsden - The Story Of Beryl Marsden (2012 RPM Records) Flac & mp3@320

Hello friends and folks,
First of all, I would like to thank you again for your kind comments about my return to Blogger land.
At first i want to post Beryl Marsden today. For me, Beryl Marsden is and was actually the woman of the British 1960s women's pop scene, who deserved a career similar to that of Cilla Black.
Okay, I hope you have just as much fun with this really fine compilation. For those who are interested i will post the Shotgun Express single also later but i have it only in mp3. Below you can read a review from allmusic.com about the album. It's a little different to my opinion about Beryl Marsdens skills, haha.

Have fun and enjoy
                                 Frank

And to stay in comparison with Cilla Black for a while; in my opinion Beryl had the better songs, the better performance and the better vocal expression. Which I don't mean that Cilla Black doesn't deserve to be in the limelight like that. But in my opinion, Beryl Marsden was not only Black's toughest competitor, she was the real number 1 in the then popular girls' pop scene. ''Gonna Make Him My Baby'','' Who You Gonna Hurt'' show only two sides of an artist who was extremely versatile in her musical expression.

New Flac Link                     new mp3 part1    new mp3 part 2

Beryl Marsden is one of those names that diligent British Invasion scholars are likely to be aware of, but unlikely to actually have heard much or at all. She has footnotes in some history books as being one of the most popular woman vocalists in Liverpool in the early to mid-'60s, as well as for singing on a 1966 single by the early quasi-supergroup the Shotgun Express (who also included Rod Stewart and Peter Green). This has all dozen of the tracks she issued on Decca and Columbia from 1963-1966, as well as, less interestingly, three 1979-1981 recordings, and eight done just a few years prior to this 2012 compilation. It's one of those anthologies that doesn't really live up to the reputation of the artist, frankly, as Marsden was an OK singer, but not superb. Her '60s singles (there's also a live track from the At the Cavern LP) had serviceable covers of American soul and girl group-type songs that didn't match the originals, as well as some more Merseybeat-influenced pop tunes (including "Love Is Going to Happen to Me," co-written by a young Lesley Duncan with her brother).

The orchestrated pop of the Shotgun Express single "I Could Feel the Whole World Turn Around," though not typical of her style, is actually the best song (a previously unreleased alternate take of the subsequent Shotgun Express track "Funny 'Cos Neither Could I" including her voice is also here, though the issued 45 did not include her vocals). The recordings of a more modern vintage are way too synth pop-heavy (even on the '60s soul/girl group covers) to be of much if any interest to those who are curious about her British Invasion-era recordings,

though her voice remained in good shape. The compilation's for a specialized audience even by British Invasion collector standards, but the packaging's excellent, the lengthy liner notes including many recollections by Marsden herself.(Richie Unterberger, allmusic)

At Request! Shane - Saint Paul - The Very Best of Shane (1969-1973) (2001 EMI Music NZ Ltd.) Flac & mp3@320

Hey Folks,
i'm back from vacation with my family and I think now I have to come back to earth, lol. We are already a few days back and I also used it to

Various Artists - Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls 1962 - 1970 (2016 Ace Records) Flac & mp3@320

Once the British pop boom took hold in the wake of the Beatles in 1962, Decca compensated for their Fab fumble by signing a lot of acts, including a bunch of female singers. Ace's 2016 compilation Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls 1962-1970 chronicles a lot of these signings, including such stars as Lulu, Marianne Faithfull, and Twinkle (the latter's "Golden Lights," later covered by the Smiths, is featured here), but the fun of the collection is how it rounds up singers who didn't enter the history books even if they happened to have hits at the time. There are some sonic constants -- big beats, blasts of brass, swirls of strings, tambourines out of Tamla, fuzz guitars, a transatlantic dilution of the Wall of Sound that remains potent -- so this holds together, but what's fun is digging out particular favorites. Beverley's "Where the Good Times Are" contains an insistent blissed-out R&B rush, the Orchids bring the Ronettes to Britain for "Love Hit Me," the Vernons Girls' "Dat's Love" is a bizarre sendup, and Sandra Barry & the Boys' "Really Gonna Shake" is an absolute raver, a single that's worth the price of admission. Other songs provide a similar kind of buzz, and the reason why Love Hit Me! is worth a listen is how the whole package provides a vivid flashback anchored by enduring pop 45s.(allmusic.com)

24 songs from the sixties presented by exclusively female artists, including Marianne Faithfull, Billie Davis, The Satin Bells with a strong song, Beryl Marsden, Twinkle, Sandra Barry and a lot more. Ace presents once again a really great compilation of British female pop music from the sixties.

Have fun
                     Frank                 Flac part 1  &  Flac part 2         mp3@320

Classic Debut: Moby Grape - Moby Grape 1967 (2007 Sundazed Remaster) Flac & mp3@320

Moby Grape's career was a long, sad series of minor disasters, in which nearly anything that could have gone wrong did (poor handling by their record company, a variety of legal problems, a truly regrettable deal with their manager, creative and personal differences among the bandmembers, and the tragic breakdown of guitarist and songwriter Skip Spence), but their self-titled debut album was their one moment of unqualified triumph. Moby Grape is one of the finest (perhaps the finest) album to come out of the San Francisco psychedelic scene, brimming with great songs and fresh ideas while blessedly avoiding the pitfalls that pockmarked the work of their contemporaries -- no long, unfocused jams, no self-indulgent philosophy, and no attempts to sonically re-create the sound of an acid trip.

Instead, Moby Grape built their sound around the brilliantly interwoven guitar work of Jerry Miller, Peter Lewis, and Skip Spence, and the clear, bright harmonies of all five members (drummer Don Stevenson and bassist Bob Mosely sang just as well as they held down the backbeat). As songwriters, Moby Grape blended straight-ahead rock & roll, smart pop, blues, country, and folk accents into a flavorful brew that was all their own, with a clever melodic sense that reflected the lysergic energy surrounding them without drowning in it. And producer David Rubinson got it all on tape in a manner that captured the band's infectious energy and soaring melodies with uncluttered clarity, while subtly exploring the possibilities of the stereo mixing process.

"Omaha," "Fall on You," "Hey Grandma," and "8:05" sound like obvious hits (and might have been if Columbia hadn't released them as singles all at once), but the truth is there isn't a dud track to be found here, and time has been extremely kind to this record. Moby Grape is as refreshing today as it was upon first release, and if fate prevented the group from making a follow-up that was as consistently strong, for one brief shining moment Moby Grape proved to the world they were one of America's great bands. While history remembers the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane as being more important, the truth is neither group ever made an album quite this good.(allmusic.com)

It certainly corresponds to the audible facts that neither GD nor JA ever made a better album, that's because the Dead were never an album band but clearly a live band. Jefferson Airplane offered good songs in my opinion, but they didn't manage to do a consistently strong album on this level as Moby Grape did here. In my opinion a classic of American pop music of the sixties. Highly recommended!

Have fun
                    Frank                     Flac part 1  &  Flac part 2        mp3@320

Garage Rock Of The Sixties: The Skeptics - The Complete Early Years 1965-1969 (2012 Gear Fab Records) Flac & mp3@320

Finally, on compact disc and in digipak format, the great and legendary garage band from Bartlesville, Oklahoma were released in 2012. Featuring all their 45s, alternate takes, and a rare unreleased bonus track. Many collectors and enthusiasts of this period consider them to be the forerunners of the American Garage Sound of the 1960s!! These are the complete recordings featuring their lead singer Jerry Waugh.(unknown source)

While vocal harmony was not an integral component of the Skeptics’ overall mission statement (although they did demonstrate considerable acumen in that respect in Certain Kind Of Girl), the band nonetheless amassed an impressive repertoire in short order by focusing primarily on diverse and well constructed original material. Their capabilities in that respect were in evidence at the onset with the early 1965 release of It’s A New Thing To Me (Thrush 1001), for which author and front man Waugh received top billing. A contemporary of Dino, Desi & Billy’s like minded I’m A Fool (Reprise 0367), It’s A New Thing To Me also sports a trace of the savoir-faire that frequently graced the work of such duly inspired bands as the Quests and the New Colony Six. The Skeptics further asserted their commitment to originality with the Maynard Helmuth-penned Not Another Cloudy Day on the B-side, in which guest vocalist Nedra Price (who had worked with the Moonglows on their 1964 cover of Wanda Jackson’s Let’s Have A Party on Ponca 101) paints a curious and haunting tale of colliding Honda motorcycles and 1956 Chevrolets with a nonetheless happy ending, over a template that is best described as a customized reinterpretation of the Sonny James / Tab Hunter monster classic, Young Love.

From there, the Skeptics (with Waugh again receiving top billing) wrapped up their affiliation with the Thrush label with the release of two Waugh originals, For My Own / I Told Her Goodbye (Thrush 1002). Both sides find the band maturing remarkably in terms of interpretive skills, with Waugh’s capabilities as a first rate composer of high drama garage rock becoming increasingly evident. The B-side also suggests traces of the inspiration of Herbie Mann’s definitive rendition of Comin’ Home Baby, which speaks well for the band’s commitment to musical diversity.
A move to Kampus Records (which inadvertently reaffirmed the allegiance of both band and label to the basic tenets of rock and roll, given the latter’s striking similarity in layout and design to that of the vaunted Dore label) found the Skeptics taking sole billing, with the resultant Ride Child / Apple Candy single (Kampus K-814) demonstrating the continued camaraderie between Waugh as principal songwriter and the band as articulate statesmen in true garage / blues rock fashion (complete with a somewhat cavalier cold ending on the B-side not unlike that mastered in 1966 by the aforementioned New Colony Six in A Heart Is Made Of Many Things).
With the release of Stripes / Certain Kind Of Girl (Kampus K-815), the Skeptics had at last refined their own focus to perfection. Not only do both sides (again from the pen of Waugh) rank among the best of first generation garage rock overall, the A-side successfully ventures into that rare territory of chronicling the lowest depths of the human condition from a third person perspective with first person conviction. To their considerable credit, the band reaffirmed their commitment to the foundations of rock and roll with the Jimmy McCracklin / Little Walter Jacobs-inspired Certain Kind Of Girl (which in turn is reflected in the work of the Chicago Loop with their similarly inclined 1966 cover of the Coasters’ She Comes To Me on DynoVoice 226).

That most engaging of B-sides comes complete with the aforementioned tight vocal interplay that is equal parts Barbershop and Everly Brothers, and is rounded out by sympathetic and majestic keyboard work from Gary Shivel and a brief, Steppin’ Out-inspired rave up fade. Interestingly enough, the Kampus label followed suit with a basic color change from teal blue to dark red, which in turn suggested solidarity with the legendary Ribbon label (recording home of the Fireflies, the Scott Brothers, Frank Gari and others).
Upon switching their affiliations to the Scratch label, the increasingly self-assured Skeptics enlisted the services of legendary songwriter and Denver, Colorado native Wayne Carson Thompson, whose numerous writing credits include such venerable classics as Eddy Arnold’s Somebody Like Me (RCA Victor 47-8965), the Box Tops’ The Letter (Mala 565) and Neon Rainbow (Mala 580), and the late, great Donald Eugene “Johnny Paycheck” Lytle’s Slide Off Of Your Satin Sheets (Epic 8-50334). Thompson brought to the Skeptics the wry Bit O’ Honey (Scratch S-7823), which enabled the band to celebrate the unique (and yet familiar) metaphor based upon the popular candy bar of the same name, with a musical persona that embraced the increasingly ambitious side of first generation garage rock before it imploded in the onslaught of the self-indulgent bands that were championed by the FM contingent in the increasingly hostile AM/FM wars. Thankfully, the Skeptics were well prepared to weather the storm, evidenced by their solid interpretation of Thompson’s Box Tops/Joe South-flavored tale of woe, East Side Tennemant House (sic erat scriptum) on the flip side.
To their considerable credit, the Skeptics maintained their artistic integrity in that hostile environment with She’s A Gas / Turn It On (Sho-Boat 106). Thompson was again commissioned as composer for both sides, each of which finds the band reasserting their commitment to garage rock. They do so in Turn It On with a sublimely smug proclamation of self-assurance from Waugh, with the band once again rising to the occasion handsomely. That they were not averse to revisiting the relentless optimism of their 1965 Thrush label debut in She’s A Gas also speaks well for their unwavering commitment to their principles.

But by 1969, the aforementioned hostile forces were in full swing, with the surviving protagonists of basic rock frequently put on the defensive as a result. For some, the answer was compromise, while for others, the only feasible option was a reluctant sabbatical in anticipation of the tide once again turning in their favor with the advent of the so-called punk/new wave movement in the mid-1970s. The Skeptics bravely chose to meet the challenge head on with the aptly titled group composition, Down To The Bone, which firmly embraces the horn-driven rock concurrently embraced by such fellow garage rock survivors as Mandala, the Paupers, the New Colony Six, the Rugbys, and the I’des Of March. True to form, the Skeptics delivered with their usual intensity and rounded out that phase of their career with their scruples intact.
The Complete Early Years 1965-1969 is not only one of the highlights of the vaunted Gear Fab catalog to date, it is also certain to be one of the definitive reissues of the genre overall. Don’t miss it.(Excerpts by Gear Fab Records)

The Skeptics were really an outstanding band of the Sixties Garage Rock. I hope you like it.

Enjoy
         Frank    Flac   &   mp3@320

The Fantastic Baggys - Anywhere The Girls Are! 1964-66 (2000 Sundazed) Flac &mp3@320

Along with the entire Tell 'Em I'm Surfin' LP, this CD adds a heap o' extras: the 1964 non-LP single "Debbie Be True"/"Anywhere the Girls Are," a couple of songs that showed up on a 1966 South African LP, the 1965 non-LP single "It Was I," and nine alternate/instrumental/vocal overdub/variations versions, most of them previously unreleased. "Debbie Be True," complete with "Don't Worry Baby"-type guitar chording, would have been pretty fair Beach Boys album filler; "It Was I" is a not-bad update of the old Skip & Flip hit rockaballad; and "(Goes to Show) Just How Wrong You Can Be," which would be re-recorded by P.F. Sloan in the mid-'60s as a solo artist, shows Sloan and Steve Barri's growth into more serious directions. To be honest, though, most of those extras are nothing more than very modest variations from the official tracks. But what the heck, if you're bothering to hunt down a Fantastic Baggys compilation in the first place, you might as well have everything you can, right? In addition there are lengthy liner notes, even including first-hand quotes from Sloan and Barri. It remains about the best Jan & Dean album you could track down that is not, in fact, Jan & Dean.(Richie Unterberger, allmusic.com)

As the preview already says, this is clearly going in the direction of Jan And Dean. The band is really good, the arrangements are cleverly done, just like you need it in this kind of music. Most of the songs are written by Sloan and Barri, who were real hit guarantees at that time. The songs are well done and imho this is a recommendable fun. If you like Jan & Dean and similar artists you will like this, too.

Enjoy
        Frank                 Flac part 1  &  Flac part 2   &  Flac part 3       -   mp3@320

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kingsmen - On Campus 1965 (1994 Sundazed) Flac & mp3@320

The third album by the Kingsmen (if you don't count the soundtrack to How to Stuff a Wild Bikini). There are 12 tracks on the Wand vinyl release and three bonus cuts on the Sundazed CD version. The minor hit written by Lynn Easton, "Annie Fanny," starts off the album with a suitably Animal House-style vocal, but that annoying crowd noise which permeated some of the Wand releases is a definite distraction here. For a band that could have reigned as garage rock rulers, this album holds almost no revelations and is not as exciting or original as early discs by the Seeds, the Blues Magoos, or the Electric Prunes. When Big Brother & the Holding Company proceeded without Janis Joplin, they at least had their original cosmic sound and a little help from their friends.

With both Don Gallucci and Jack Ely gone, renditions of "Shotgun," the Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night," "Stand By Me," "I Like It Like That," and Henry Mancini's "Peter Gunn" do nothing for the group, or for those classic copyrights. Another Lynn Easton composition, "The Climb," sounds like a rewrite of "Twist & Shout" by the Isley Brothers, and with their eventual Top Five hit "Jolly Green Giant"(not on this album) and its borrowing from the Olympics, it is obvious the band loved classic R&B. Too bad they couldn't inject it into their performances on record. Despite the lack of passion, "The Climb" ranks with "Annie Fanny" as the best two tracks to be found in the grooves of The Kingsmen on Campus. The five preppies in different colored sweaters on the front cover put things into perspective; this is the Grass Roots without Rob Grill or Warren Entner, and the record has little heart and less soul.

But the album cover is a bizarre prediction of the success their biggest hit would have in the film Animal House and the frat rock label fits them perfectly. It isn't that "A Hard Day's Night" is the worst Beatles cover ever, it's just plain boring, as uninviting as a performance by some generic wedding band with Lynn Easton's sax going back and forth with the organ on the melody. The band had the potential to bang out some memorable garage sounds, but rather than give us jangly guitars and Jack Ely-style vocals, everything sounds so...pedestrian. For the real thing, pick up the Barbarians' first record.(allmusic,com)

In the case of the Kingsmen it's hard enough to find an album without Louie Louie on it, lol. I think it's different to listen to the record in 1965 or lets say 2017. If you listen to a record the first time in these days but you have often read about it i believe you will rate the album different as if you have heard it in 1965, the year of it's release. What i try to say is this album is way better as its reputation. Surely it's no groundbeaking album but it has its moments.

Have fun
               Frank                        Flac part 1  &  Flac part 2           mp3@320

At Request! Folk Pop, Sunshine Pop, Easy Listening; The Goldebriars - Walkin' Down The Line- The Best Of...1963 - 1965 (2014 Now Sounds) Flac & mp3@320

If a rock or pop musician rose to fame in the mid- to late '60s, chances are excellent that his or her closet housed a cheerful but earnest skeleton in the form of a fling with folk music. Curt Boettcher was no exception; he became a hero to sunshine pop fans for his production work with the Association, and his remarkable pop-psych studio projects Sagittarius and the Millennium, but from 1963 to 1965 Boettcher made his first impressions in the music business as the founder and leader of the Goldebriars, a pop-influenced folk act from Minneapolis, Minnesota.

While the Goldebriars' repertoire for the most part was frustratingly typical for the day (a handful of popular folk standards and originals like "MacDougal Street," which sounds like a Midwestern teenager's fantasy of life as a beatnik, or "No More Bomb," a calypso-influenced antiwar song that could double as a nursery rhyme), the vocals were honestly something special, and the striking harmonies of Boettcher and sisters Dotti Holmberg and Sheri Holmberg gave the group a truly unique sound. The Goldebriars' cleverly blended vocals and the canny use of multi-tracking to give them a richer and brighter sound suggest this was where Boettcher first began to understand the possibilities of the recording studio (though Bob Morgan was the credited producer on their recordings).

The Goldebriars released two albums and a fistful of singles for Epic Records during their brief history, and Walkin' Down the Line: The Best of the Goldebriars collects 25 songs from their tenure with Epic, as well as five demos (including four unreleased tracks that won them their record deal). Most of these tracks sound spare and uncluttered, with Boettcher and the Holmberg sisters joined by multi-instrumentalist Ron Neilson, while latter-period recordings include a rhythm section and additional studio players who add the slightest touch of a rock & roll mood, suggesting that with the addition of an electric 12-string, Boettcher could have had a decent folk-rock combo on his hands.

As it is, the Goldebriars often sound a bit too naive and treacly for their own good (which isn't all that surprising, given than they were all still in their teens when they cut their first album), but the vocal harmonies and the group's engaging way with a melody set them apart from the dozens of Kingston Trio wannabes that were dominating the folk music scene at the time, and Walkin' Down the Line is well worth investigating for folks with a taste for the poppier end of early-'60s folk, and for Curt Boettcher fans curious about his juvenilia. The remastering for this set is splendid, and the booklet includes fine and informative liner notes from Dawn Eden (allmusic.com)

This album was truly ahead of his time with this kind of ...(is it at all ''Folk''?) Folk. Of course is the sound build on Folk music. ''Sea Of Tears'' is a kind of a ''Folk Lounge Easy Listening'' song. Or listen to the kind of western country square style ''Jump Down'' with its really ''far out'' vocal arrangement that drive up the song. And it's going on at this really high level of musicianship. Sure i am one of the greatest fans in this world of Curt Boettcher. But what he have done on this album is in parts truly brilliant and some of this work he have done here, he later not reached everytime. And his best times came a while later first. I highly recommend this album. Hope you have fun.

Enjoy
         Frank      


      New mp3@320 link part 1  &  New mp3@320 link part 2         New Flac link

Pop Rock/ Soft Rock: Chilliwack - Dreams, Dreams, Dreams 1977 (2013 Mushroom Records) Flac &mp3@320

This is an ambitious record by Chilliwack. For most listeners, this album contained two tracks that both AM and FM radio played in heavy rotation and they will recall. Those two songs Fly At Night and Something Better are great songs, especially Fly At Night, which is the song most listeners will know the band by. The album as a whole revolves around the concept of a travelling rock and roll band trying to make it in America. Masterfully produced with plenty of rich space between instruments and wonderfully sung in a strong falsetto by Bill Henderson, the album flows together seamlessly, almost as a suite. Baby Blue, Roll On, California Girl and Rockin Girl are equally stand out tracks as well. This release stands the test of time and should garner more respect, at least a review and album picture in AllMusic. Enjoy it.(James Stolte, reader review, allmusic)

One of the most underrated albums of soft rock.Just listen to it and you'll take it on your desert island.almost all tracks are worth listening and the rcording is fabulous.I advise you to put it on your best records list.(Gerrard Comment, reader review, allmusic)

I just can second that. Why allmusic don't write a review is an enigma of allmusic. It's a shame for an american online music dictionary. And this is one case. Anyway, here is the history of the band:

The band originated in Vancouver, British Columbia. The members of the C-FUN Classics changed the band's name to The Collectors when Bill Henderson joined in 1966. Their psychedelic self-titled debut album yielded the minor hit "Lydia Purple". Their second album was based on the musical score written by the band for a stage play by Canadian playwright George Ryga, Grass and Wild Strawberries.
Vocalist Howie Vickers left the Collectors in 1969; the remaining members formed the band Chilliwack in 1970, Chilliwack being a Salish term meaning "valley of many streams" and the name of a city east of Vancouver in the Fraser River valley.

Lead guitarist Bill Henderson led the remaining former Collectors members: Glenn Miller (bass, guitar, backing vocals), Ross Turney (drums) and Claire Lawrence (flute, saxophone, keyboards, backing vocals); while he provided most of the vocals and did most of the composing. During 1970, Miller briefly left the band, who were joined on the road by Robbie King (keyboards, bass) and played at Expo '70 in Japan and other gigs across Canada.
In 1971 bassist Rick Kilburn played live with Chilliwack for a short time before Miller returned later that same year when Lawrence departed. New member Howard Froese (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals) joined in 1973.
The band released several records that were moderately successful. Hit singles in Canada included "Lonesome Mary", which entered Cashbox January 22, 1972 (and was their first US charting single, peaking at #75 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1972), "Crazy Talk" (#98 in the US in January 1975) and "Fly at Night" (#75 in the US in May 1977). The album track "Rain-o", a blues-based composition that appeared in different versions on their debut album, Chilliwack (June 1970) and the later Dreams, Dreams, Dreams (January 1977), was a well-known concert favourite.
Chilliwack's debut was followed by two more albums: Chilliwack in September 1971 and All Over You in December 1972.

In April 1974 their album Riding High on Goldfish Records (Terry Jacks' Label) contained one of their biggest hits, the aforementioned "Crazy Talk", which was produced by Jacks. This album was not released in the US until early 1975 (on the Sire Records label), where it was retitled Chilliwack (their third U.S. release to bear that title).
However, Chilliwack had a difficult time sustaining any success because of their constant changes of label. The two Collectors albums were on Warner Brothers and Chilliwack's first five albums were on four different labels in Canada: Parrot, A&M, Goldfish and Casino Records.
Rockerbox, their fifth album, was released in December 1975 on Sire Records in the US and (with a different cover) on the little known, aforementioned Casino Records label in Canada. It was Chilliwack's least successful album in Canada.
The band was then signed to Vancouver's Mushroom Records, with distribution throughout North America. After completing one album for the label, Dreams, Dreams, Dreams, Chilliwack began work on their seventh album, to be titled Lights from the Valley. The first attempt at recording proved unsatisfactory, leading to discord among the band members.

Veteran guitarist Froese was replaced by Brian MacLeod, who contributed guitar, drums, keyboards, and backing vocals. The album was re-recorded; with some of Froese's vocal and guitar work, as well as percussion from session drummer Eddie Tuduri, included in the final mix. By the time of the record's release, bassist Glenn Miller and long term drummer Ross Turney had left the group. Mushroom was also having financial problems which hampered the promotion of the album after its release in June 1978.
Drummer Skip Layton and former Prism bassist Ab Bryant were recruited to perform with Henderson, Jamie Bowers (guitar, keyboards) and MacLeod in Chilliwack's 1978 live gigs. Henderson, MacLeod and Bryant then began working on Chilliwack's eighth album in 1979, joined by John Roles (guitar, keyboards, backing vocals) and drummer Bucky Berger. The Mushroom label went bankrupt abruptly shortly after the album, Breakdown in Paradise, was released in December 1979. Berger was replaced by Rick Taylor shortly thereafter, and the lineup of Henderson, MacLeod, Bryant, Roles and Taylor toured into 1980.

Chilliwack then signed with Solid Gold Records in Canada and Millennium Records in the U.S. in 1981 as a trio (Henderson/MacLeod/Bryant) and enjoyed its greatest success with this lineup, releasing the albums Wanna Be a Star (September 1981) and Opus X (October 1982). The singles "My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)" (Their first US Top 40 hit, peaking at #22 in December 1981), "I Believe" (US #33 in March 1982), and "Whatcha Gonna Do (When I'm Gone)" (US #41 in December 1982) were popular both in Canada and in the U.S. Rolling Stone wrote:

"At their best, Chilliwack was the finest Canadian rock band, outrocking BTO and outwriting Burton Cummings. But a lack of consistency kept it from international success."

The trio of Henderson, MacLeod and Bryant were joined by drummer Paul Delaney in early 1982 for US promotional appearances on TV shows, like Solid Gold and The Merv Griffin Show, before heading out on the road later in the year with an expanded lineup of Henderson, MacLeod, Bryant, Joey Franco (drums), Glenn Grayson (keyboards, backing vocals) and Dennis Grayson (keyboards, backing vocals).

Henderson and MacLeod received a Best Producer Juno Award for Opus X. However, echoing the Mushroom problems, Millennium Records then collapsed. MacLeod and Bryant left the band soon after, in early 1983, to devote more time to their other project, the Headpins, and Chilliwack's last new studio recording, Look In Look Out, was released in July 1984 with Henderson as the only continuing member, joined by session players Ashley Mulford (guitar, backing vocals, from the band Sad Café), Richard Gibbs (keyboards, from the group Oingo Boingo), Mo Foster (bass), Simon Phillips (drums) and Tom Keenlyside (saxophone), with additional vocals provided by Mark LaFrance, Saffron & Camille Henderson, Dustin Keller and Bob Rock.
By 1985 the band was without a record deal and Henderson cobbled together a touring only lineup made up of former member Claire Lawrence (sax, backing vocals), Jerry Adolphe (drums), Brian Newcombe (bass), Robbie Gray (keyboards, backing vocals) and Dave Pickell (keyboards). Pickell was replaced almost immediately by another former member John Roles (guitar, keyboards) and this grouping played mostly in Canadian clubs and smaller venues until Henderson disbanded the group in December 1988.

On October 6, 1991 Henderson joined fellow rockers Loverboy, Bryan Adams, Colin James and Chrissy Steele at a benefit show at Vancouver's 86 Street Music Hall to raise over $50,000 for Henderson's former Chilliwack bandmate, Brian MacLeod, who was fighting cancer and undergoing treatment at a Houston medical clinic. MacLeod died on April 25, 1992, aged 39.
In 1989 Henderson went on to form the folk-rock supergroup UHF and decided to launch a new Chilliwack lineup in 1997, made up of himself, Adolphe (drums), Doug Edwards (bass, backing vocals) and Roy 'Bim' Forbes (guitar, backing vocals, from UHF). Forbes was succeeded on guitar in 1998 by Bill's brother, Ed, and Chilliwack released a new live album, There and Back - Live, in 2003.
Chilliwack performed at 2005's Voyageur Days Festival in Mattawa, Ontario where they appeared that July with other Canadian bands Moxy, Toronto, Trooper, Goddo, Killer Dwarfs and Ray Lyell for the thirtieth anniversary for release of the debut album by Moxy.
On May 24, 2010 the current members of Chilliwack (Bill Henderson, Ed Henderson, Doug Edwards and Jerry Adolphe) were joined by former members Roy 'Bim' Forbes, Ab Bryant and Claire Lawrence plus Howard Froese's son Tyson on acoustic guitar (standing in for his father, who had cancer and died in the mid-1990s) and Collectors singer Howie Vickers for a Chilliwack 40th Anniversary show at River Rock Show Theatre in Richmond, British Columbia.
Since that time, Bill Henderson has continued Chilliwack but also does duo shows with Claire Lawrence from time to time.

Chilliwack's original bassist, Glenn Miller, died on March 4, 2011 in Toronto after suffering from Muscular Dystrophy.
In 2015 music fans were treated to a new music video by Chilliwack for the song “Take Back This Land”. The song became a rallying call during the Canadian federal election 2015. "The song wasn’t just about the election", said Bill Henderson. "Whether it is logging or fracking or whatever else, there is still a lot more work to do in Canada."
Chilliwack continues to play, mostly in the spring, summer and early fall, at outdoor gatherings and festivals.
Sadly, Doug Edwards died at his home in Vancouver at the age of 70 on November 11, 2016 after a long illness. Doug has been succeeded in Chilliwack by Gord Maxwell (formerly with Ian Tyson).
Bass player Ab Bryant's son, Matt Bryant, is the singer/songwriter and founding member of Canadian roots/folk band Headwater.(wiki)

Have fun
               Frank                      Flac part 1 & Flac part 2               mp3@320

At Request: Alexander Spence (of Moby Grape fame) - Oar 1969 (1999 Sundazed Remaster) Flac & mp3@320

No one except psychedelic Renaissance man Alexander "Skip" Spence could have created an album such as Oar. Alternately heralded as a "soundtrack to schizophrenia" and a "visionary solo effort," Oar became delegated to cut out and bargain bins shortly after its release in the spring of 1969. However those who did hear it were instantly