Tim Badrick`s LOST TREASURES REVIEW

CHECK OUT THE HUNTSMEN WHEN THEY PLAY A PUB NEAR YOU OR LISTEN TO VALLEY FM 95.9 TOOGOOLAWAH

2012-01-31T05:56:00.000-08:00

I can thank my mum to be honest for knowing of a relative-
ly obscure band based in my home town of Toogoolawah in
Queensland by the name of THE HUNTSMEN. From what
i can gather, the trio of indigenous australians decided
to call Toogoolawah home because of its 'centrality' to
a number of other townships within 100 kilometres of
Toogoolawah. Not that it appears that Toogoolawah
is exactly a goldmine for the band, you might well
think that a town with three diffrent hotels would
provide the band a gig every night of the week if
they wanted one but apparently for whatever reas-
on no publican in town wants to give them a fair
go and at the same time provide some fantastic
entertainment to their patrons. I am quite sure
The Huntsmen would happily put on a gig at any
one of the Toogoolawah pubs for very little or
no payment at all. But regardless of the reas-
ons for the Toogoolawah snub against them,
the Huntsmen have a fairly healthy following
in other towns around south-east Queensland,
as well as in Brisbane on the live pub circuit.
Made up of two male and one female siblings,
Glen Lee, Glen and Allanah Hunt, which does
obviously explain why the band called itself
what it is, this freewheeling and eclectic
indigenous trio fuse pop and rock sounds
together effortlessly and add their impro-
vising style to all the songs they perform
live, be they covers or their own originals.
It always gets on my nerves when i know
that bands are getting rejected because
they do not fit the music industry cliche
sterotype, The Huntsmen will never hit
the superstardom jackpot while they're
based in Toogoolawah, even if doing so
is permitting them to make a living do-
ing the live pub circuit in other regional
towns. Look them up on facebook, they
have a page on there & also check them
out at http://www.reverbnation.com/
huntsmen. If you have got a mighty
big aerial you may hear the Huntmen
getting airplay on VALLEY FM 95.9
based in the town of Toogoolawah.

PRESENTING THE GREATEST MOMENTS EVER IN CRICKET CLASSIC CATCHES TO BASEBALL MAD AMERICANS

2012-01-28T05:46:00.000-08:00

Cricket may have become too professional for its own good
over the past decade but it still remains one of my favour-
ite sports, definitely spectator wise. I like playing golf but
i avoid watching it, even an unfunny comedy is more en-
tertaining. Back in the early days of one day internation-
al cricket, it was only a novelty and an exhibition sport,
and the players didn't treat the result so seriously like
they are these days on million dollar contracts. Back
in the Dennis Lillee and Rodney Marsh days, most of
the cricketers were lucky to get contracts worth ten
thousand dollars from the Australian Cricket Board,
and there were no Nike or KFC endorsements on the
side for cricketers as well. Regardless of how clinical
the game of cricket has become and is being played
by most first grade players nowadays, except maybe
in the 20/20 format which is now the most exciting
form of cricket, occasionally magic moments have
occured on the cricket ground in the form of the
greatest catches of all time, and the video clips
accompanying this article features some of the
very best of the bunch. There are a few notable
omissions which i am surprised didn't make the
cut of this INSIDE SPORT best of collection, the
best catch in the history of cricket to me is in
fact the blinder which Alan Border caught from
second slip in a test match to dismiss a New
Zealander named John Reid, even consider-
ing that Reid's errant shot made it a more
possible for the catch to be there for the
taking. I certainly had my american read-
ers in mind to write this & sample some
classic catches, cricket to americans re-
mains a quirky fringe sport that nobody
in the US barely knows about or how in
fact it is played, baseball continues to
rule the roost there as far as summer
sport goes. Maybe after they see this
they will think cricket is pretty cool.

BURSTING THE BUBBLE OF THE WIGGLES AND TALENTLESS REALITY TV STARS IN THE NAME OF REAL MUSIC

2012-01-27T03:55:00.000-08:00

I wouldn't have a darn clue who the members of The Wiggles
are, other than the one who just got squeezed out of the
band to make way for the return of one original member
who returned after a lengthy hiatus for health reasons.
His name is Sam Moran and to be totally honest i have
no desire to bother finding out who the other members
of the band are and what their names are. As a grown
adult with no kids, i think to myself who would really
care. The Wiggles for anyone who possibly might be
reading my blog from overseas are an overrated &
hyped up kids band from Australia who incredibly
are monumentally popular and have made an ab-
solute killing in dollar terms by singing the likes
of DOROTHY THE DINOSAUR to masses of deli-
rious kids who soak up every single thing the
band does. That is understandable for kids i
guess, but give me a break hey, why are all
the adults in the media giving this concoc-
ted corporate bunch of sing-a-longs all the
attention they are at every oppurtunity?

Put it to this way, i think The Wiggles is really bad
news for genuine and legit musical artistry, i think
they are worse in that way than reality TV talent
quests like Australian Idol. I wont place the likes
of Young Talent Time in that bracket because at
least with that show it is young kids performing
and having innocent fun and not wannabe grown
adults with insecurities attempting to contrive a
sense of purpose & exagerrated fame by trying
to seek fame even though the majority of them
haven't got a songwriter`s arsehole and oughta
be old enough to accept their karma regardless
of how boring it is and get on with life. If you
were to take the likes of Wes Carr & Damien
Leith and a few talented female vocalists out
of the entire Australian Idol mix in Australia i
really do not believe you are left with any real
genuine talent, and even most of them cannot
even really write songs. This is the cynical way
in which i view The Wiggles - concocted hype!

I believe the adult population's fixation and addiction
to reality TV and creating make believe heros is what
feeds the momentum for the industrialisation of the
music scene in general, and elevating the mediocre
to star status. The Wiggles also epitomise political
correctness perfectly, like they're a utopian bunch
of squeeky clean good samaritans off the street
who just turn up out of nowhere like the Easter
Bunny, a perfect escpaulation of what we might
call wrapping our children up in cotton wool in a
nanny state where they are not permitted to lis-
ten to good (and bad) old fashioned music which
is not sung by The Wiggles or a reality TV star.

I am sorry, but i am just puked off the whole reality
TV thing, and The Wiggles are only just a derivative
of the whole pretentious create a hero that doesn't
exist trend that's been going on in the record indus-
try and the media since the early 90`s. As a very
young kid, i was listening to the Grease sound-
track, i was listening to Cold Chisel and ABBA,
occasionally i was naughty and i snuck a listen
of AC/DC or some other 70`s hard rock, did it
hurt me listening to some adult orientated mu-
sic out of young curiosity - NO. In fact it made
me adventurous and experimental from a very
early age despite my conservative upgringing
and principles, which describes exactly who
i still am today at the age of 37. Word of
advise for parents out there, even though
i am not a parent, The Wiggles are plain
dumb, there is no substance or artistic
talent on display with this band, much
sooner have your kids listen to music
which falls well outside the reality TV
and Wiggles category. If Sam Moran
ends up the lead singer of Van Halen
then i will have to swallow my words.

MARILLION AND MADE AGAIN ALWAYS MAKES FOR A MAGICAL MOMENT LIVE ON STAGE

2012-01-24T06:32:00.000-08:00

This song is a bit cumbersome and what i call clumpy. Very
english as well, quite the opposite of slick 80`s pop rock
from america that's forsure. Marillion remains popular
in the niche market of western europe to this day, the
band's brand of progressive rock, progressive pop &
in cases like MADE AGAIN, progressive folk, has al-
ways hit the spot in places like France and the Neth-
erlands where foreigners flock like seagulls to see
english bands playing live in small venues and con-
cert halls. Marillion has never had the following to
fill stadiums so the band has learnt in a masterful
fashion over the years how to play small venues
and make full use of the better acoustics that
they offer in comparison to open air stadiums.
MADE AGAIN is a unique,quirky piece of prog
folk which is hard to categorise beyond that
ambiguous description, i believe the song is
a cover tune and not a Marillion original but
the band have made it their own since it ap-
peared on the live album bearing exactly the
same name back in the mid 90`s. I think the
version off that recording is slightly better
than this one off the Selina Scott Show,
which is much more recent, a bit more
in terms of pananche and liveliness,
but this version still sounds lovely
and the message conveyed in it is
enough to make you feel good from
the moment you wake up each day.

TESLA LIVE IN CONCERT - ONE OF THE BEST FROM THE FIVE MAN ACOUSTICAL JAM ALBUM

2012-01-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

I said i would and i am not about to desert all the fans of
Tesla, the hard rocking blues/metal band from the US who
have been around since the 80`s and hale from the city of
Sacremento. I said i was going to feature quite a number
of blogs on this band going back a few weeks ago and al-
ready i have written two about them. It was a real toss
up which song i should opt for this time round, i adore
their more heavier songs but the first two were based
on two such songs so this time i thought i`d go for a
much more laid back tune. The perfect candidate was
a song of TESLA's off their 1990 recording FIVE MAN
ACOUSTICAL JAM. A no frills title for a very no frills
recording, some of the songs are originals & some
are covers, but they are all breezy and feature flu-
ent guitar playing and some biting vocals from the
mouth of lead singer Jeff Keith, whom unlike pre-
vious heavier studio albums was not so drowned
out by his band members and a metallic rhythm
section. The neat cover of THE FIVE MAN ELEC-
TRICAL BAND song SIGNS from 1971, bit hard
not to notice a similarity between that name
and the name of this recording, is certainly
a catchy tune with more than a good dose of
satire and humour thrown in too. There's a F
word somewhere sung in the song, which to
my knowledge was TESLA's ad-lib and was
not featured in the original version, so to
all the kiddies out there, dont listen to the
video clip above okay if swearing offends.

WITH A BIT OF LUCK YOU MIGHT HEAR THE CLASSIC TUNES OF THE PRETENDERS ON GOLDEN OLDIE RADIO

2012-01-24T03:42:00.000-08:00

Effectively a black version of The Everly Brothers, one of
the most influential and seminal bands to emerge from
the R and R era was The Platters, although a constantly
changing line-up has only served to corrupt the legacy
of the first two line-ups of the band, the ones which
most certainly recorded the definitive output. Maybe
it's drawing a long bow to make the comparison with
the Everly's, but lyrically they were most definitely
cut from the same cloth, the Platters were a bit
more genuinely Tin Pan Alley orientated. Now if
i was going to write a blog covering all the diff-
rent line-ups of the group as well as every sin-
gle franchise wannabe band in the world who's
still trading under the name of The Platters, i
would be writing a 100000 word blog for you.

Of course i dont want to be boring writing anything,
and most of the ad-hoc post 50`s Platters stuff is
crap, at best a mere imitation of their classic 50`s
material and at worst the kind of throwaway soul /
pop that doesn't even make the grade for all the
biddies down at the local bingo hall, no offence
to our older citizens. The mark 2 line-up of The
Platters to me was the best one, the one where
Tony Williams become the lead singer. I dont
often do it, because i like to write indepen-
dently, but i have to admit that i am using
Wikipedia as a reference to write this, be-
cause The Platters had so many personnel
changes they even made Deep Purple look
stable by comparison. Yeah i am joking!

By 1959, whoever was in the band by that stage
was completely up to their necks in controversy,
and legal trouble, especially the arrest of the
four males in the band for being in posses-
sion of weed in 1959 in Cincinatti forever
tarnished the legacy & reputation of the
band and there is no doubt at all from a
musical perspective it was downhill from
there. Legal wrangles in the 1960`s, and
a myriad amount of franchise bands that
call themselves The Platters have perma-
nently make a mockery of the Williams
era Platters in every sense of the word.
Best songs are popular but totally for-
gotten on FM radio - ONLY YOU, THE
GREAT PRETENDER & SMOKE IN YOUR
EYES. If you want to hear these songs
your best bet would be to find out if
your favourite AM radio station has
a golden oldies hour for old farts.

'TOUCH THE HAND' A SATIRICALLY SHITSTIRRING WAY FOR BRYAN ADAMS TO RATTLE SOME FEMINAZI CAGES

2012-01-21T05:58:00.000-08:00

Bryan Adams was all over the radio back in mid 1991 after
the release of his 6th album WAKING UP THE NEIGHBOURS
and the ensuing world tour which took Adams and his band
to every corner of the globe. After setting the internation-
al stage on fire following the release of the brilliant album
RECKLESS in 1985, which proved to be more workmanlike
and less flashy than WAKING UP, by the time 1991 rolled
around, he really did require a career boost, in recog-
nition of the commercial failure of his disappointing
album from 1987, INTO THE FIRE, a patchy album
panned by many music critics that scored only one
hit, HEAT OF THE NIGHT. Music critics are often
real idiots, the album has got a few high points
as well as a few lower ones. WAKING proved to
be vindication for Adams to go with renowned
music producer Robert John 'Mutt' Lange, who
is renowned for not only being Shania Twain's
old bed mate but one of the most precise and
fastidious music producers in the history of
recorded music, in place of Jim Vallance his
producer and co-song writer for the earlier
albums. The album produced a pile of ma-
jor hits for BA and crew, you probaly al-
ready know the real big ones, ones like
EVERYTHING I DO and CANT STOP THIS
THING WE STARTED, and without men-
tioning a few of the other not so major
hits, one that seemed to go off the ra-
dar before it was given any chance of
getting on the radio is the anti-hairy
armpits, anti-feminazi chant TOUCH
THE HAND, which sees Adams having
a real genuine and passionate dig at
all the women who want equality but
want it all their own way as well. The
best example of hard rocking satire
ever recorded, it brings to life the
thoughts of most normal and well
adjusted men in the world, any-
one who cant see the humour in
it, including any feminazi who
just hates men fullstop, needs
to discover where their happy
bone is or become an alchoholic.

DIGGING UP A LOST RECORDING OF LEIGH-CHANTELLE KOCH, THE SEDUCTIVE VEGAN DIVA OF LOGAN CITY, AUSTRALIA

2012-01-21T04:03:00.000-08:00

If i didn't think this girl was completely wasting her talent as
a singer and was not a damn good singer to begin with then
i wouldn't be too bothered to write this, because she seems
to be quite happy now living a diffrent life away from mu-
sic. Leigh-Chantelle Koch, who is now better known around
australia as being a passionate leader of the vegan move-
ment who dedicates all her time to spreading the gospel
of animal liberation and her opposition to the farming
of animals for human consumption on behalf of the ve-
gan movement at large, is definitely a better singer
than most of them who get on Australian Idol and
a better singer than even she believes she is, if
her exit from the music scene before her career
ever even began is any indication. Through the
grapevine, i did know Leigh-Chantelle before i
ever knew about her involvement in the ve-
gan movement, she worked down at JB Hi-Fi
where i use to buy my CD's and coincidently
we did get to know each other personally a
little bit. When i offered to help out Leigh-
Chantelle with leaflets a couple of years
ago for her Green Earth Day advertising,
she gave me a mini CD she had recorded
with the guitarist named Doug De Jong,
basically it's an EP containing five acous-
tic songs. In very amateurish style, the
CD is titled WHAT REMAINS, it is real-
ly home made looking, in fact the CD
package is plain white cardboard with
a black and white photocopied photo
of her and De Jong on the front, it
doesn't get any more primitive than
this, the CD itself is just a burned
disc. But as they say, dont judge a
book by its cover, Leigh-Chantelle
sings good enough to turn her own
ordinary lyrics into very soulful ren-
dentions which certainly are better
than just decent, her pitch is not
altogether unlike Pat Benatar and
Madonna, albeit not so impacting.

THE BALLAD OF K.B REMAINS THE COUNTRY FUSION BENCHMARK FOR KEVIN BENNETT AND THE FLOOD

2012-01-18T05:30:00.000-08:00

Going way back to when i started this website mid way through
2010, i wrote an article about an album which has to rate as
one of my favourite country fusion albums ever recorded &
one of the very best to listen to. This album was a live re-
cording of the australian country fusion band THE FLOOD
doing a one off gig with an american alternative country
artist named Kevin Welch. The Flood is lead by the none
too subtle but an extremely talented singer songwriter
named Kevin Bennett. The Flood generally speaking is
known as Kevin Bennett and The Flood. I dont exactly
know where the band got their kudos that night when
they recorded the concert with Welch at the Base-
ment in Sydney but they were literally doing som-
ersaults on stage, they virtually outplayed the
star of the show Kevin Welch, not taking away
from his outstanding performance on the night.

The live recording ended up materialising as LIVE
DOWN HERE ON EARTH, it is an absolute gem,
heaps of blues and boogie woogie to back up
some of the most intense country fusion ev-
er recorded. If i did have to choose my fa-
vourite The Flood album in their own right,
then the wonderful debut THE BALLAD OF
K.B, in reference to Kevin Bennett, would
still have to be the one. It was released
around 1998, it's jammed packed full of
The Flood's unique amalgam of country,
rock, blues and even a dash of boogie
piano, be that unintentional or not.
MILK is a 7-minute long drawn out
slow blues affair, TEAR STAINED
EYE is uneventful musically but
lyrically one of Bennett's most
enduring artistic expressions,
HIPPY JOHNNY STIRFRY is the
best example going of Bennett
at his eccentric & undefinable
best, i dare you to work out
what he is singing about and
songs like BANK, MARY and
the title track remain crowd
favourites at any Flood gig.
My favourite song is number
one off their very first album,
titled DONT LOOK BACK AT ME.

JOHN DENVER MIGHT HAVE DIED IN A PLANE CRASH BUT HIS LAST EVER RECORDING WAS ALL ABOUT TRAINS

2012-01-17T06:04:00.000-08:00

There's an old saying in the entertainment business that you
have to die sometimes before you can be famous or be ap-
preciated for your talents like you should have been while
you were alive. Even though he died having a loyal follow-
ing, John Denver represents that saying to a tee. After
being killed in a light plane crash in 1997 off the coast
of California, Denver's music has largely been corrupted
by a number of greatest hits recordings which have only
served to recycle the same old songs of his which were
his big hits back in his 1970`s heyday. The only reason
most of them have been released is because Denver is
no longer living to argue against the record company
or companies doing so. The very last recording that
Denver ever made is one that has been completely
forgotten alongside some cheap & nasty greatest
hits released after 1997, it was recorded in the
same year he died, 1997, and it is a fun affair
and an experimental diversion from his typical
folk country style he was most famous for way
back when. The album is called ALL ABOARD,
and it is a collection of songs written about
and inspired by trains. Effectively you might
call it a kiddies album, certainly there's still
the typical folk nuances and flashes of pure
country which Denver was quite famous for
displayed on ALL ABOARD, but these influ-
ences are greatly outweighed by the swing
jazz and blues dynamics whipped up by his
jolly good backing band. For once Denver
didn't write any of the songs, they're all
covers or adaptations of old traditional
songs. Jimmy Roger's WAITING FOR A
TRAIN, Curtis Mayfield's PEOPLE GET
READY and the very ancient LEADBEL-
LY tune LINING TRACK might be three
songs which you may well know, but
every song on here is a delight and
an insight into another side of the
boy from Aspen Colorado that has
up until now remained very elusive.

UNION JAYHAWKERS FROM KANSAS PICKED ON THE WRONG MAN WHEN THEY PICKED ON THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES

2012-01-15T03:17:00.000-08:00

If i had to name my absolute favourite movie of all time &
i only had once choice, then the 1976 western classic THE
OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, starring the veteran actor Clint
Eastwood, would probaly be one of about three movies
in the race. On the basis of plot construction, depth of
characterisations & overall screenplay and on location
filming, it would be at the very top of my list without
any doubt. The beauty about this western is it does
extend the theme of the western genre and breaks
through many cliches that even the westerns mas-
ter, John Wayne, could have been accused of recy-
cling often in his films. Dont get me wrong, i like
John Wayne and half a dozen of his ones are much
better in my opinion than a few of Eastwood's west-
ern movies, but JOSEY WALES is just a brilliant and
captivating movie, despite lower than average act-
ing skills being on display from Eastwood for most
of the movie. He just happens to be the star of
a movie which has everything else going for it,
Clint makes an aggravating habit in the movie
of chewing a lot of tobacco and then spitting
it at people, mostly dead people he just shot,
as well as a stray scorpion in one particular
scene. That scorpion must have wondered
what hit it after Clint spat at the poor bug-
ger. The beauty about it is that the movie
merges themes of the mid-west western
movies and the american civil war, which
was fought in the more eastern states of
the US. Hence by the time the movie is
ended, you feel like you have been all
around america in the era of the wild
west. The movie plot is centred on the
revenge that Josey Wales enacts upon
to settle a score with the pro-Union or
nothing renegade marshalls who are re-
sponsible for burning his house to the
ground in Missouri, a terrible act re-
sulting in the deaths of his wife and
son. Wrong move! Despite being out-
numbered on so many occasions, the
outlaw Josey Wales makes it a real
habit of mowing down the bad guys
on regular occasions, the showdown
between Wales and John Vernon in
the movie, who plays a very con-
vincing bad egg role, is partic-
ularly riveting and convincing.

SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK HARMONIES CAPTURED TO PERFECTION AT THE MELBOURNE CONCERT HALL

2012-01-14T04:09:00.000-08:00

Been a long while since i talked about any indigenous music
on here. Indigenous meaning black music. In fact there has
only been two other instances, once about soulful crooner
& singer/songwriter Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu & the
other time the caucasian but very Aboriginal and Dream-
time inspired didgeridoo player Andrew Langford from
Alice Springs. So i thought it is long overdue for me
to add another take on an indigenous recording that
really takes my fancy. The women belonging to the
vocal harmony group SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK
were really a bunch of troopers who were capable
at times of being a world class act in the genre
of what you might call alternative soul. Perhaps
it would be stretching it to identify their unique
harmonies as world music considering the lack
of instruments backing their harmonies. Apart
from their ALIVE IN AUSTRALIA live recording
which was recorded only with some financial
assistance from the Australian Broadcasting
Network Radio network and the backing of
family, friends and closer aqaintances in
the australian indigenous music business,
i dont know anything else about SWEET
HONEY IN THE ROCK and how they were
in a position to make such an inspiring
recording based on three live concerts
between 1994 & 2000 at the much re-
vered venue Melbourne Concert Hall.
With the complete lack of a rhythm
section, you have to be pumping out
some good vocals to maintain an au-
dience's interest for the duration of
one album, but Arnae, Ysaye Barn-
well, Nitanju Bolade Casel, Aisha
Kahlil, Carol Lynn Maillard & Ber-
nice Johnson Reagon in many
places of ALIVE IN AUSTRALIA
were simply breathtaking and
adorable with their harmonies.
A very original Afro-american
outfit who continue to inspire.

BABY MADE HER BLUE JEANS TALK AND MADE MEN BEHAVE LIKE THEY HADN'T GOT LUCKY IN A LONG TIME

2012-01-11T04:42:00.000-08:00

What can i say, the star of the show on the video clip above
has got one heck of a cute bum, enough to make me turn ret-
ro and go back to the days of tight singlets and the old bowl
hair cuts that mum occasionally use to give us kids. Sorry
mum, it had to come out sooner or later. Back in the days
of such uncoolness, the one thing that was really trendy
was blue jeans & who better to show off wearing them
than a hot blonde like the one who managed to get
the gig on the video clip for BABY MAKES HER BLUE
JEANS TALK by the eccentric rock stars of the late
70`s and early 80`s named DR. HOOK. These guys
were always a bit way out there, musically very un-
inspiring at times, very straightjacket & workman-
like really, but the eccentricities of the members
of the band from a personal point of view now and
then carried over to the stage and onto the video
clips the band made. This is a great song, simple
& totally two-chord but then again did someone
like Brian May create a third chord on Another
One Bites The Dust. Some of the best songs
can be ones where a good solid riff will carry
a song that is lacking a bit in the adventure
department. This clip is funny, i dare a guy
in the 21st century to try their luck doing
what all the perverts are doing with their
eyes on this clip 30 years plus ago (laugh),
these two lead band members of Dr. Hook
forgot about political correctness at the
time and followed the blond lady wearing
a pair of adorably tight blue jeans like
a couple of dogs with a schnozzer to die
for if you want to smell Aunty Daphne's
roses five miles down the road. I was
going to say something diffrent then
but i am a good little boy down deep
and i think i have already been bad
enough already tonight by checking
out this baby and playing it over
and over until i was cross eyed.

SCOOP FOR ALL MONDO ROCK/ EAGLE ROCKER FANS

2012-01-10T06:12:00.000-08:00

Scoop for all the Ross Wilson/Daddy Cool/Mondo Rock fans
out there, Ross the Boss personally sent me a message on
facebook to tell me that definitely this year he intends
to finally get around to releasing his classic album by
the name of DARK SIDE OF THE MAN at some stage
this year on CD. We have to make sure he comes
good on that solumn promise, it is a great album,
never been available on compact disc before this.
The next thing i want to talk about is a long lost
MONDO ROCK EP which i think is the best record-
ing Mondo Rock ever did release actually besides
their classic debut album PRIMAL PARK in 1979.
I have never seen this recording on a compact
disc either, just vinyl. It's called ALIENS, the
title track has the extended name of ALIENS
WALK AMONG US. Only five songs to talk of,
best to me is A WOMAN LIKE YOU which has
a bit of a yankee metal edge to it, ALIENS
is a great song too, perhaps more in the
trad Mondo mould, then there is a quite
convincing soul cover of I'M FREE which
i have never heard Ross Wilson ever
sing live or heard he had in all the
years since, followed by a predicta-
ble but not sacrilegic re-mix of the
the band's minor hit on the radio at
the time PRIMITIVE LOVE RITES and
to end off the EP off there is a tough
rootsy sounding blues rock embedded
piece of grainy funk called WORKING
MY WAY BACK. I think i might well be
pushing my luck but i really hope Ross
gives thought about re-releasing this
EP on compact disc while he is doing
likewise for Dark Side of the Man.

REAL LIFE FOOTAGE OF CIGARETTE TRUCK POLICE CHASE IN LOS ANGELES IMMORTALISED IN BEVERLEY HILLS COP

2012-01-08T03:58:00.000-08:00

I just love car chase scenes all round, i think this is about
the third one i have put on Lost Treasures. Only diffrence
with this one is that a runaway truck full of cigarettes is
the star of the show instead of a car and Axel Foley, who
has a famous bro named Eddie Murphy, got more than
he bargained for after being caught on the back of the
truck after a deal turned sour and LA coppers chased
the truck through the streets of the city way back in
1984. Contrary to popular belief, this is not a scene
out of a movie, Axel Foley is not make believe, it is
real life footage of a man by the name of Axel Foley
who bears a very strong resemblance in looks to his
famous brother Eddie being involved in a cigarette
deal gone very wrong, but after the footage of it
which was captured on a private cop chaser video
went viral, the producers involved with the pro-
duction of Beverley Hills Cop, which was being
filmed at exactly the same time, decided very
quickly to incorporate this real time footage
into the movie plot & at the same time they
also opted to change the name of Murphy`s
character in the movie to his own brothers
identity in real life. Axel Foley isn't real-
ly a movie character, he is a real person
just like Eddie Murphy is. Axel Foley is
a living real person, to this very day no
one in Hollywood, including Murphy him-
self, has ever acknowledged the exist-
ance of this long forgotten bro. Axel
Foley was born Axel Murphy but then
changed his name because he didn't
want to sound too irish at around
the age of 20. This is the classic
live footage of that truck chase
which ended up being the intro
to Beverley Hills Cop. Reality
TV which ended up in one of
the best comedies ever made.

'UNVITED' OFF CITY OF ANGELS SOUNDTRACK SAW ALANIS MORISSETTE SWITCH FROM ANGRY TO ANGELIC MODE

2012-01-07T05:32:00.000-08:00

Alanis Morissette rose to worldwide fame on the back of what
is still considered to be one of the greatest angst rock albums
ever recorded. JAGGED LITTLE PILL proved to be an unlikely
commercial mega-hit in 1995, her raw and emotional vocals
hit the spot with a massive female audience who took to
her unpretentious and powerful anti-men lyrical senti-
ments. I have to admit that i am not a big fan of the
angst rock genre, hearing peeved off chicks letting
rip about how bad the men in their life have been
to them is not exactly an ear pleasing experience
if you ask me. But in 1998, Alanis recorded this
song off the CITY OF ANGELS soundtrack by the
name UNINVITED. A truly adorable and sweep-
ing rock epic with a Kashmir like orchestral
accompanyment, the song proved only too
well that Alanis Morrisette could really sing
& not just whine and rasp about the rotten
men she had dealt with, it was very hard to
believe this was the women who delivered
JAGGED LITTLE PILL to the world. There
are a couple of live versions of this song
on the internet, in this instance i think
the studio one rules. Alanis dropped off
the radar almost as quickly as the movie
did after this movie soundtrack was re-
leased, over a decade later it remains
to be seen if she makes a big comeback.

BELATED BUT GENUINE WELL WISHES FOR MOLLY MELDRUM THE QUINESSENTIAL AUSSIE MUSIC GURU

2012-01-06T06:12:00.000-08:00

When news broke that aussie music guru and critic Molly
Meldrum was in a critical condition in hospital after suf-
fering severe head injuries and trauma after falling off
a ladder hanging up christmas lights at his home, i was
not in any hurry to join the queue of all the sometime
friends sometime not friends in the celebrity business
who all of a sudden were gushing of Molly and only too
quick to exagerate their respect for him. I am certain-
ly not suggesting that many in the music business dont
have a genuine respect for Molly and what he does to
promote music and musicians here in australia, peo-
ple such as Kylie Minogue & Ross Wilson as well as
so many others who have made it big in australia
as a musician owe a lot to him and they genuine-
ly adore the man, but there are heaps of others
who simply jumped on the bandwagon of frivolty
when Molly had his accident when privately it's
well known many of them snigger behind his
back about his dying influence on the austra-
lian music scene and even his sexuality. It
always amazed me that Molly did not jump
up and deck John Blackman on Hey Hey It's
Saturday when he used to host a segment
on the program, but he's a gentleman and
he proved it by remaining as cool as the
proverbial cucumber even when bombard-
ed by Blackman's verbal sprays. Overall
he's a legend in the australian music in-
dustry, i mean where would so many mu-
sos in Australia be without Countdown,
and here is wishing Molly all the best
and a full recovery in the near future.

CRAIG MORRISON STEALS SOME OF ROBERT PALMER'S BAD GIRL VIDEO CLIP THUNDER WITH HOT KINDA LOVE

2012-01-04T04:17:00.000-08:00

The son of veteran aussie rock'n'roller Lucky Starr, the mul-
ti talented CRAIG MORRISON, has finally recorded a debut
album in Nashville called HEAVEN KNOWS. Morrison is a
veteran of performing if you count all his experience in
acting roles over the years as well as the time he spent
in a much overlooked pop rock band DE MONT. He had
roles in both A COUNTRY PRACTICE as well as SONS
AND DAUGHTERS on the Seven Network, that gives
you some idea how long this 'old dog' of nowadays
rock influenced country music has been around. A
long bloody time at that rate. DE MONT did have
some degree of commercial success with a chart-
ing debut album, the esteem which the band was
held in as a live act was even more recognised
by other australian musos and audiences alike.

DE MONT also had the distinction of landing
a recording contract with ALBERT PRODUC-
TIONS, a much coveted record label which
AC/DC rose to prominence on. Circa 2012
and Craig Morrison is back with his first
recording since DE MONT with a group
known to be CRAIG MORRISON LITTLE
COWBOYS. For all of his malnourished
fans it has been a long time between
drinks but i am sure the new record
has been worth the wait for anyone
who likes good country music with
some aussie rock influence thrown
in as well as some satire. Here is
a tune of Craig's which makes me
have a laugh each time i see the
video clip. HOT KINDA LOVE is a
no nonsense and no frills country
rock song with a decadent video
which would make Robert Palmer
lick his lips if he were still alive.
You just gotta love all the naugh-
ty women who feature in this clip.

ALY COOK'S COUNTRY STORM IS HEADING ACROSS THE TASMAN IN THE DIRECTION OF TAMWORTH

2012-01-04T03:09:00.000-08:00

New Zealand is not really famous for creating and nurturing
country music stars and country music in general, although
it has been a fairly productive place for giving rise to new
new rock, pop and even folk talent in the past there has al-
ways been a miserable amount of the rock moulded type
of country music in NZ which Australia is just overflow-
ing with presently. Like Lee Kernaghan & Troy Cassar-
Daley country, a bit rocky and a bit bluesey but still
genuine country. The output from females is even
more lame when it comes to New Zealand music
in general compared to the blokes, no sexism is
intended. But the persistent and talented Aly
Cook is trying to brake down the australasian
country music barrier with a new album which
was recorded in NZ and the US and is full of
rootsy songs tinged with an amalgam of pop,
folk & traditional country. I find it so easy
to make the comparison between Aly and
Australia's Beccy Cole, both are anything
but polished and airbrushed but in stark
contrast tend to win you over with their
boisterous unrefinity and sheer passion
to belt out a riveting vocal in a brazen
sort of manner. But Aly like Beccy also
knows how to tone it down quite a few
notches and go into a slowed down di-
va mode depending on the occasion or
what song she wants to record at any
one moment. COUNTRY STORM does
sound like one of Aly's more tradit-
ional country song's if you ask me,
at least out of the ones i have had
a chance to hear, it has an upbeat
and well choregraphed video clip
to go with it which was half re-
corded in the US & half in New
Zealand, and i love the choice
of dresses that the lovely Aly
chose to wear for this clip as
well (laugh). Ally is going to
Tamworth this year, if you're
down there in two weeks time
do check her out when she is
playing a gig in the country
music capital of Australasia.

AXIOM WAS A LITTLE RAY OF SUNSHINE ON THE AUSTRALIAN MUSIC SCENE LONG BEFORE PUB ROCK WAS INVENTED

2012-01-03T05:49:00.000-08:00

Made up of the `frontline' remnants of two australian bands
which never quite made it, AXIOM was the first supergroup
as such which was ever formed in Australia. The eventual
lead vocalist of THE LITTLE RIVER BAND Glenn Shorrock
was the star leftover from the group The Twilights and
Brian Cadd, who would go on to forge a successful so-
lo career after AXIOM's demise, was the star left-
over from the other band called THE GROOP. The
two were joined by Don Mudie, Chris Stockley,
Don Lebler and for a while Doug lavery. Not
a group of genius' or anything, but for the
brief time they were an active band in the
latter part of '69 and early 1970`s AXIOM
was the forerunner in terms of harmony
rock which bands such as Crosby Stills &
Nash and The Eagles were making pop-
ular around the same timeframe in the
US. A LITTLE RAY OF SUNSHINE to this
day remains AXIOM's most popular &
and recognisable anthem, incredibly
inspirational, simple and basic, no
frills at all, and very much a song
that can be admired by rock fans,
lovers of country music and pop
as well. This is a live recording
of this iconic tune, apparently
judging by some of comments
to the clip this is a lot better
version than the original stu-
dio one. You tell me folks.

DOUBLE TROUBLE FROM 1987 DESERVES A BELATED TACK-ON TO ANY NEW CARS GREATEST HITS RELEASE

2012-01-02T05:38:00.000-08:00

The last time i wrote an article on the classic electric
rock group THE CARS a commenter threw brickbats at
me because he felt this band was not only anything but
a lost treasure because of their deliberate endeavours
to be a hit single machine but they were just crappy
and pissweak in any case. At least a year ago i was
getting a few comments, i wasn't perturbed what-
soever by his reaction, and to be honest, i tried
to write something about the debut CARS album
in 1978 to get some attention for my blog, know-
ing the songs on it were familiar with most peo-
ple who like classic rock. Now that i am in the
business more of covering real obscure music
i thought i would throw another CARS record
into the mix, only this time it is anything but
a commercial success. In fact, hardly anyone
knows THE CARS recorded it. The album is
called DOOR TO DOOR, it was released in
1987 after the band had released its great-
est hits album which contained their very
last hit single, the wicked TONIGHT SHE
COMES. This lost swansong album lacked
a bit of the magic spark which the band
was most famous for in the HEARTBEAT
CITY era around 1984, you do get the
feeling that the guys recorded the al-
bum out of contractual neccesity rath-
er than any oozing desire to go back
and record another album like their
famous debut or HEARTBEAT CITY.
Benjamin Orr puts in a good effort
on vocals for some songs, as does
Ric Ocasek, who really could not
sing too well most of time any-
way. The only song off it that
i believe should be tacked on
to a greatest hits recording
would be the hard rock clas-
sic DOUBLE TROUBLE. A truly
great anthem from the 80`s.

CHUCK NORRIS MADE A GOOD HABIT OF USING HIS HANDS AND FEET TO GET OUT OF A STICKY SITUATION

2011-12-30T22:52:00.000-08:00

Either you like Chuck Norris or you dont really. His muted
and stilted style of rather unconvicing acting was all too
often only saved by his ability to use his arms and legs
to do all the talking by karate chopping a few bad eggs
down to the ground. Norris is now 71 years old and it's
hard to see him ever being in demand as an actor in
the future, seeing he has probaly worn all his joints
out by now after punching & kicking his way to star-
dom back in his younger glory days as an actor. He
does of course have his own martial arts academy
called CHUN KUK DO in the US, Chuck is also a ve-
ry dedicated and devout christian & he's an active
supporter of the US Republican Party as well, hav-
ing donated thousands of dollars to the party over
the past decade. He was also the lynchpin of the
campaign endorsing Arkansas governor Mike Huk-
abee as a candidate at the previous US presiden-
tial election, which of course proved to be un-
successful. Norris had so many B-grade films
over the years that it's hard to pick the ones
that are the pick of the crop so to speak, he
is not a good actor, but he was fantastic at
martial arts. He did make a minor improve-
ment on his acting skills when he starred
in WALKER TEXAS RANGER in the 90`s,
you got to grant him that, but his films
in the 70`s 80`s were only ever good for
having a laugh and admiring his ability
to drop someone quicker than lightning.
Apart from LONE WOLF MCQUADE, the
movie i class as his best, my next fa-
vourite would probaly be AN EYE FOR
AN EYE from 1981. This movie is per-
haps Chuck's most convincing movie
as far as the intentional satire goes.
Enjoy the You Tube clip above that
highlights some extremely funny
parts of this half decent movie.

ROBBIE NEVIL NEEDED THE NAUGHTY GIRLS ON THIS MUSIC CLIP NEARLY AS MUCH AS TIM BADRICK STILL DOES

2011-12-29T04:08:00.000-08:00

If i were getting any amount of comments, i would bother
to improvise a longer article on this guy's entire recording
output, fillers and all. Robbie Nevil came and mysterious-
ly went from the pop rock scene after recording three al-
bums best described as patchy and hit and miss. He went
on to become a well respected writer and music producer
over the past two decades with seemingly no plans ever
to go back on stage himself or into a recording studio
as an artist instead of a knob tweaker. Perhaps Nevil
could be best summed up as too much of a pop metal
try-hard, when he was only capable of popping instead
of rocking. His 1991 album was his most ambitious &
provocative, albeit not as successful as his previous
two. The album is called DAY 1, apart from the quite
successful single JUST LIKE YOU, which is featuring
on the You Tube video clip above, the album was a
complete commercial disappointment. Maybe this
was the reason Nevil decided to give it away as a
musician and concentrate on being a music produ-
cer. This song, JUST LIKE YOU, is a real raunchy
affair, i had a request to write something about
GIRLS ON FILM or HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF by
Duran Duran, but they were highly successful
singles which continue to get airplay to this
day, so i decided to run with this song which
has many similarities to the lewd themes of
naughty girls which Duran Duran attempted
to articulate on their video clips. Nevil was
never the world's best guitarist, but he is
pretty convincing with this song. But lets
be honest Tim, you only like this song be-
cause the video is just overflowing with
chicks who need it bad 'just like you'.

SOUNDTRACK FOR ALL THE BANK ROBBERS AND CATTLE RUSTLERS WHO WERE EVER HOLED UP IN A COUNTY JAIL

2011-12-28T04:39:00.000-08:00

A few blogs ago i wrote something on Albert King, one of
the old masters of Texas blues, and going back further
i wrote an article on the other Albert of Texas, Albert
Collins, who died from smoking related throat cancer
in the early 1990`s after a brief dazzling career for
the blues label ALLIGATOR. Albert Collins took his
time getting commercial and critical recognition
of his slasher style electric blues, he started out
in around 1970 recording what would have to be
regarded as lackluster albums which were totally
lacking any of the innovation which become evi-
dent on his ALLIGATOR albums from around `80
onwards. His tool of art was a Fender Telecas-
ter, and unlike the majority of artists in the
blues genre, Albert Collins never used any
pick. This gave his guitar dynamics a raw
and rich edge which blues pickers simply
could not copy. When Albert started out,
he was more renowned as an instrumen-
talist than a singer and one song that
i like of his from his earlier mediocre
days, which is an instrumental by the
way, is a 2 minute tune by the name
of HARRIS COUNTY LINE-UP. The mel-
ody which Albert plays to the song is
totally symbolic of what you imagine
hangs out in a county jail somewhere
deep in the american mid-west. This
song was released on a double album
consisting of his first two recordings,
HARRIS COUNTY LINE-UP comes off
the second one i believe. If you are
a blues fan, do hunt it down, there
might even be a few other listen-
able songs if you listen closely.

HEARTBREAK RADIO CONCLUDED A GREAT ROCK'N'ROLL COMEBACK FOR THE BIG O ROY ORBISON

2011-12-25T03:38:00.000-08:00

Going back a few months i tried to write this one, but i
was having some problems with linking the video clip to
the webpage, so i put it on ice for a while. Until now!
Roy Orbison, THE BIG O as he is so often referred to,
was an amazing vocal talent in the world of rock and
roll. Going back to the mid to late 50`s when Elvis
and Buddy Holly were on their genre shattering rol-
lercoaster and carving out their creative nitch in
the world, Orbison was flat out convincing quite
a few music producers he had what it took to be
the world beater he would surely become in the
next decade. It wasn't until the early 60`s when
he struck paypirt with OH PRETTY WOMAN that
he finally was on the path to rock immortality.
A descent into drinking & nondescript country
music done nothing for his legacy in the 1970`s
and early 80`s, but as most rock fans know al-
ready, Orbison made a grand comeback being
a member of THE TRAVELLING WILBURY'S in
the late 80`s. Two great albums, especially
the first effort, as well as most likely con-
tributing to Tom Petty's not so solo album
FULL MOON FEVER, which despite denials
from Petty himself and the record compa-
ny was in fact an unofficial Wilbury's al-
bum, propelled Roy Orbison's influence
wider than it had done since the early
days of rock. The song HEARTBREAK
RADIO is to me the best song Orbison
ever recorded, quite a bold statement
to make considering the catalogue of
music he compiled over 30 years but
that's my opinion. I never realised
up until today that fellow Wilbury
Jeff Lynne was also credited with
recording the song, but going by
the clip, that is definitely Lynne
standing there playing on guitar
next to Roy. Turn it up and en-
joy this jukebox blockbuster.
Orbison died only a matter of
months after this song was re-
leased on single, i never knew
either that it was a song to a
soundtrack before i download-
ed the song, appears a movie
with Pierce Brosnan starring in
it was the reason for recording
it. I could have used Google to
confirm that but that's cheating.