The Allusions
were an Australian band that never made any impression outside of their
homeland but left behind some great Merseybeat-style records. The
quintet was formed out of the memberships of two previously existing
groups, the Leemen and the Delawares. Guitarist Terry Hearne, already a
five-year veteran of the music business at age 20, and an ex-member of
the surf instrumental groups the Dave Bridge Quartet and Dave Bridge
Trio, joined the Leemen in 1964 and began to move away from leader Lonnie Lee's Bakersfield sound country repertory. With rhythm guitarist Michael Morris, who had previously played in an outfit called Dennis Williams & the Delawares, he split off from the Leemen. Hearne's ex-Dave Bridge bandmate Terry Chapman came in on bass, and Kevin Hughes of the Delawares took the drummer spot, with John Shaw,
who also doubled in a very limited way on organ, taking the lead vocals
on the ballads. The new group's influences and models came from the Beatles but also the early Zombies and the Fortunes, Gerry & the Pacemakers, and other lighter, pop-oriented rock & roll outfits being heard at the time in England.
When they made their debut at the end of 1965, they
were a pure cover band, performing nothing but established British acts'
songs. They moved into creating original material when they realized
that it was the only way that they would ever get to record. Morris
became their in-house mainstay in that regard, not because he was
particularly good at it but because, in Hearne's view, he was better
than the other four. "We couldn't write a shopping list," he remarked to
David McLean in a 1994 article. They developed a modified Merseybeat sound, almost reminiscent of Gerry & the Pacemakers but with the harmonic subtleties of the Beatles and the Searchers,
and got a contract late in 1965 with EMI's Parlophone Records imprint,
by way of their production deal with Leopold Productions, for whom their
producer, Robert Iredale, worked.
From the beginning, they sounded more Merseybeat
than the actual surviving Merseybeat bands of 1966 did, in some ways
paralleling the early Australian work of the Easybeats
-- both had what was, essentially, a delightful throwback sound to the
slightly more innocent years of 1964-1965. Their debut release of "Gypsy
Woman" was a nationally charting Australian single that reached the
island nation's Top Ten in a nine-week chart run. They sounded so
English that it was a surprise when they discovered that the Allusions
were from Australia. By that time, Chapman, a co-founder, had quit and
was replaced by Bruce Davis,
former lead guitarist of the Delawares. Their second single, "The
Dancer," did even better than its predecessor, peaking at number eight
on the charts. The sky seemed the limit at that point -- with the
exception of the Easybeats,
no Australian band was doing anything like the Allusions' business, and
they found themselves something of cultural heroes to anyone under the
age of 21; they even rated a spot on the support bill to the Easybeats'
final Australian concert before the latter group set out for London. It
was at that point that their initial success fizzled out along with
their third single, "Looks Like Trouble." The latter was a bit
derivative of "I Feel Fine" in its opening and perhaps less than
inspired in its beat and lyric, except for a catchy chorus with an
interesting modulation, and a cool garage punk guitar break. The
single's failure, coupled with behind-the-scenes political maneuvers
that kept them out of the best venues in Sydney, also cost them some
momentum.
Their fourth single, "Roundabout," made the Top 30
in early 1967, rescuing the group from immediate decline -- that single
has been compared to Paul McCartney's better ballad work, though it's closer to a really, really good Monkees song (and one worthy of Micky Dolenz's vocal talents). Davis's
"I'll Be Home" is actually more interesting, with some offbeat
modulations and a curious mix of downbeat mood and catchy tune, all of
it recalling Ringo Starr's vocal performance on "Act Naturally," which fit doubly since Hughes,
the drummer, sang it. At this point, the group also cut a self-titled
album of covers, ranging from pleasant but unexceptional renditions of
American soul ("Shop Around") to a killer version of the Kinks' "I Gotta Move."
Time was working against the group by then, however.
Morris' songwriting output was never fully adequate to keep them
competitive in the singles marketplace, and their inability to break
through to the best clubs in Sydney, or to get the best bookings
elsewhere in Australia, coupled with the bare trickle of money that they
ever saw from their records (the revenues from which went first to the
production company), all wore on the members. Attempts to crack
Melbourne and Brisbane never paid off, and then the sales of their
records fell off and the group gave up along with the record label. By
the end of 1968, the Allusions were history, albeit a history very much
worth seeking out and discovering, based on the quality of most of their
records.
Fans of the early- and mid-'60s Merseybeat sound (the Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Searchers, etc.) will probably love this 21-song compilation, which assembles the Allusions'
complete recorded output over a four-year period. At their best, as on
"Gypsy Woman," they had a fresh, original sound somewhere midway between
the romanticism of the Beatles, the dynamism of the Kinks, and the Who's
early ballads, with a unique vocal sound and good attack on their
instruments. "Fever (Burns My Brain)" is a strange, yet workable, mix of
two seemingly conflicting themes, a harsh, smooth farewell main lyric
bridged by an achingly beautiful chorus reminiscent of Gerry & the Pacemakers vocally and the Zombies instrumentally. "The Dancer" is one of those odd low visibility numbers, like "I'll Remember the Night" by the Roulettes
(whom these guys also resemble) that are such smooth and catchy
examples of the Merseybeat sound that they belong on any anthology of
the era and the music. "Roller Coaster Man" sounds like a Searchers outtake or a Gerry & the Pacemakers
reject, with a guitar part that resembles "You Can't Do That." "Looks
Like Trouble" owes a bit to "I Feel Fine" in its intro, although it also
includes a thoroughly American garage-band style guitar break. Some of
the later numbers, such as "Roundabout," are less interesting as songs,
although even this wimpy ballad offers a catchy chorus and, overall,
resembles nothing less than a decent Micky Dolenz-sung Monkees song. And "I'll Be Home" is the kind of song with which Ringo Starr could have done wonders, especially with the Beatlesque
harmonies at the end of each line. The album's later songs are an
interesting mix of subdued, moody ballads and high-energy rockers, such
as "I Gotta Move," which may be the most Kinks-like cover of a Kinks track that you will ever hear. This disc's sound quality is excellent and the annotation extremely thorough.(allmusic.com)
The disc's sound is really amazing and the selection is great. Here are so much songs that are great. ''Mr. Love'' in example but there are so much more. I highly recommend this anthology. The Allusions were a lot better than some of their contemporaries from the UK or the US.
You will have fun
SB1
Link 1 You need both tracks!
Link 2
