Cobbers "Bushdance Party" Cassette c1988

The Cobbers bush band was mainly active in the 1970s and 1980. They had a relatively high output of good quality music. They have a website at http://www.cobbersbushband.com/ from where you can order some of their albums (on CD-R) and also download the individual tracks of their first LP (MP3 @128bps). There have been no changes to this website for many years - the download bit works so I presume that ordering might still be possible. Perhaps query by email first. If you are a fan of this blog you would be sure to enjoy their music.

I found this cassette recently. This album has long been "out-of-print" and is not offered on the website. It was put out by Dino Records on both cassette and vinyl sometime about 1988. Being a Dino release, is is possibly a re-release possibly a condensed version of earlier tape releases of bush dance music. Any information would be very welcome. You will notice that one of the corners of the insert has been clipped indicating that the cassette was sold at a remainder bargain price.

This is a great toe-tapping album but also features lots of vocals. The Cobbers were excellent musicians and singers as this album demonstrates. Most of the tracks have both a traditional instrumental section coupled with a song in the appropriate dance time. The two exception, unsurprisingly, are the "Manchester Gallop" and the Russian "Troika".

Tracklist
1. Polka with "The Lachlan Tigers"
2. Stockyards Jig with Travelling down the Castlereagh
3. Heel and Toe Polka with "Lazy Harrys"
4. The Galopede - "10000 miles away"
5. The flying pieman with "The Old Bullock Dray"
6. Pride of Erin with "Springtime it brings on the Shearing"
7. Strip the Willow with "Stringbark and Greenhide" (a rarely featured song)
8. Barn Dance with "Click go the Shears"
9. Waves of Tory with "The Ryebuck Shearer"
10. Muffin Man Jig (eh!) with "The Drovers Dream"
11. Polka - "Maggie May"
12. Gay Gordons with "Sandy Maranoa"
13. The Oxo Reel (eh! eh!) with "Lime Juice Tub"
14. The Troika (all alone)
15. Waltz Country Dance - "The Reedy Lagoon"
16. The Manchester Gallop (all alone)

Click here to download the album. MP3 @ 224-256 VBR. All graphics included with dance instructions in very minature printing.
Any problems, please let me know on mr.stockman@gmail.com.

Ants Bush Band - Untitled LP - 14 tracks

Probably one of the most requested tracks I get asked for is the the Ants Bush Band "The Whale" which is a "modern" folk classic inspired by Melville's "Moby Dick" It has previously appeared in one or two compilations on this blog. Anyway, Ian of Tassie has generously provided a rip of this album which features this song and many other Australian folk classics - both new and old.

This is a brilliant album demonstrating the fine musical skills of this well respected bush band which, unfortunately, did not have a large commercial output. Thanks Ian for providing this album. I have no doubt that it will prove to be very popular.

I have no idea as to when this album was issued. This Band operated from the '70s originally as the "Fabulous Ants Bush Band". Judging by the album cover, it might be a re-release but that's nothing more than base speculation. I'd love some concrete advice. (Additional - a blog visitor from Ireland has brought my attention to the fact that the identical album was sold as a cassette under the the band name "The Fabulous Ants Band" and the title "Tribute to 150 years Western Australia" and with the massively misleading claim "14 Great Western Australian Songs". The Sesquicentennial of WA was 1979 so that gives us a likely date of 1979 - perhaps 1978).

Sure, you can moderately criticise this album on the basis of some of the vocals but if you do not like this album, you are possibly on the wrong blog. I'd rank this as one of the better Australian folk albums by a bush band.

This album has a strong Western Australian focus which is refreshing (Well now we know why).

Band member Paul Duncan has now commented on this album. Click on the "Comments" tag below to read his interesting information.

Tracklist
1, Lachlan Tigers
2. Western Australia for Me
3. One Thousand Miles Away (Hurrah for the Roma Railway)
4. The Catalpa
5. The Overlanders
6. Augathella Station (Brisbane Ladies)
7. Waves of Tory (dance instrumental)
8. Maggie Maggie May
9. To the West
10. Across the Western Plains
11. Dennis O'Reilly (With my swag all on my shoulder)
12. The Whale (modern Australian folk classic)
13. Struggle in the West
14. Lime Juice Tub

Download with graphics - 64 Mb - MP3 VBR 192-225 Click here
Any problem with this or other links email mr.stockman@gmail.com

Martyn Wyndham-Read, Phyl Vinnicombe & Peter Dickie "Bullockies, Bushwackers & Booze" LP 1967

Another rare album submitted by Ian from Tassie. This is a 1967 album featuring the Brit Martyn Wyndham-Read, Phyl Vinnicombe (later becoming Phyl Lobl) and Peter Dickie. We have met all of these previously in this blog.

There are some great tracks on the LP but the sound recording and subsequent sound engineering, if any, is very basic even for 1967. (No production details of any type are listed on the liner notes). This has detracted from the performances of these very competent artists.

Still, this is a "must-have" album for the serious Australian folk fan featuring some rarer tracks including Kenneth Cook's (remember him from Lionel Long's Bold Bushrangers 2 LP album)  composition "O'Meally's Shanty" which is clearly to the tune of the forebitter "Oh, You New York Girls, can't you dance the Polka".

• Side 1
  Reedy River (5.08)
  The Overlanders (2.50)
  Andy's Gone with Cattle (2.09)
  Euabalong Ball (1.45)
  One of the Has-Beens (1.51)
  The Wild Rover (3.25)
  Ye Sons of Australia (3.55)
  Maryborough Miner (3.55)
  
  
• Side 2
  Click Go the Shears (3.45)
  The Wild Colonial Boy (3.06)
  O'Meally's Shanty (2.20)
  Put a Light in Every Country Window (2.38)
  'Ard Tack (3.44)
  Lazy Harry's (2.55)
  Ballad of Ben Hall's Gang (2.56)
  Waltzing Matilda (2.45)

 Download with full graphics (new link 29 Jul 2017}

Leonard Teale and Andy Sundstrom "Songs of the Sundowners" LP 1969

This was the first LP by these two. It was produced in 1969.  Although they are performing many of the more popular Australian folk songs, they are mainly using less common tunes and variations.
These tracks have been kindly provided by our Tasmanian correspondent, Brendan.  There is some distortion and minor faults on some tracks but they are still very enjoyable particularly for those interested in the rarer renditions of these  folk songs.

Tracklist
Waltzing Matilda, Flash Jack from Gundagai, Bluey Brink, The Overlanders, Jim Jones at Botany Bay, The Jolly Farmer, Look Out Below, Van Dieman's Land, Black Velvet Band, Rabbiter's Song, Lazy Harry's, and Euabalong Ball.

Download compressed file containing tracks and album graphicsMP3 @192-224 VBR
Click here to get MP3 (192-224 VBR) -  41MB
Click here for FLAC (lossless) version - 125MB
Files must be decompressed to extract track and graphic files
Link failed? Then please contact mr.stockman@gmail.com

A.L. "Bert" Lloyd "Australian Bush Songs" 1956 LP

Well, we finally have a good rip of this 1956 American release LP.  One of our visitors, Gary, has kindly provided a 256kbs MP3 CBR rip of his copy of the LP and also the LP graphics.  Many thanks Gary; a lot of people have been trying to get a good rip of this LP for many years.

Some of these songs also appear in the below item "Old Bush Songs" but these are different performances especially in terms of musical backing.  Lloyd is here accompanied by Al Jeffrey on banjo and harmonica, Alf Edwards on concertina, and E.L Rewald on guitar. Alf Edwards was an accomplished concertina player who featured prominently in the 1950s British folk scene.

The tracks are The Lime-Juice Tub, The Maryborough Miner, The Drover's Dream, The Banks of the Condamine, Bluey Brink, Click go the Shears, The Wild Colonial Boy, Euabalong Ball, The Cockies of Bungaree, Brisbane Ladies, The Road toGundagai, The Castlereagh River, The Lachlan Tigers, and Bold Jack Donahue.

Download with graphics
From MediaFire

Link failed? Then please leave a comment or contact mr.stockman@gmail.com