Alex Hood "The Second Hundred Years" LP 1970

I recently stated that I was working on this album but, thankfully, Alan from Sydney has now provided a very good rip of the album; a task I was finding very difficult because of a close-to-death LP. Many thanks Alan.
This album was a follow-up the his "First Hundred Years" LP. Alex did not actually wait out the 200 years (1988) and this LP was released on the 200th anniversary of the discovery of eastern Australia and the claiming of Australia for Britain by Captain James Cook in 1970.
Alex Hood might not be the best of the Australian Folk singers but he is surely one of the most dedicated and prolific. I have always admired his work and enthusiasm. He is still a regular performer today.
This is definitely one of my favourite Australian folk albums which accounts for why my copy was so worn out (I actually bought it in 1970). The songs, of course, supposedly come from the period 1888 to 1970 and are a mix of traditional, oldies and some modern compositions written specifically for the album. Actually, the album notes advise that the song "Just before the Battle, Mother" was collected in Australia near Canberra and was thought to be about the Boer War. Of course, it is the very well-travelled song written during the American Civil War. The notes on Waltzing Matilda completely overlooks that "Banjo" Paterson penned this song in 1895 and it was published as sheet music in 1903. This track is close to the original. Thankfully, our folk singers avoid the later Marie Cowan version which is the one most Australians know.
The track "Dinki Di" is practically identical to the version my grandfather, a First World War veteran of the Western Front, used to sing but Australian Army personnel have continued to adapt this song to subsequent wars and actions.
"Lord Gort" and "How'd Yer Be?" are two well-known recitations (at least to we older ones) very well performed by Alex. Additionally, there are four tracks written by Larry King with some involvement by Alex.
A very enjoyable album.

Download link removed at the request of the copyright holder J. Albert & Son Pty Ltd
see comments

Potential Copyright Issues (Edited)

As many will know, we have had a bit of a to-do over an item made available through this blog. Without going into that incident, I just wish to set out for future cases, the rationale under which this blog is operated and to also set out a suggested approach by anyone who feels that some item should not be available through here.

The primary purpose of this blog is to ensure that Australian folk music and other folk music by Australian performers is not lost through inaccessibility.

If such music is available for purchase, I am totally opposed to sharing it through this blog. Also, I am always happy to do an entry promoting such music and providing a link or other information so visitors can buy the material. Also, if the music subsequently becomes available, I am happy to remove the download links and provide purchasing information (as illustrated by previous entries about the music of The Settlers and The Cobbers).

Probably all the material published here is still subject to copyright to some extent and all download offerings are potentially breaches of copyright law. On the other hand, the owner of the copyright of any material posted here is firstly unlikely to suffer any significant loss (download numbers are relatively low which is of concern from a preservation context). Second, the copyright owner may either approve or not be concerned about the music sharing. Incidentally, copyright is not necessarily vested in the performer. Quite often it is held by others e.g. producers and recording firms and often the copyright becomes virtually abandoned once it is recognised that such copyright is not commercially viable.

So if you are the genuine copyright owner of any material made available through this blog and you object to its inclusion, please email me direct on mr.stockman@gmail.com with some details supporting your claim and I'll immediately remove the links. I'll be broken-hearted if you are not intending to make the material available elsewhere, commercial or otherwise, but I will respect your rights.

Please enjoy the music and don't forget to buy the material when it is available from proper sources.

Graham McCarthy "Best Loved Folk Songs" LP 1970s

Graham McCarthy is better known as the male half of the couple Lyn and Graham McCarthy who commenced their folk singing career in Adelaide in the early 1960s. They then spent many years in the UK where they were very much in popular demand especially for TV performances. They produced four albums of mixed Australian, US and UK folk music in the UK returning to Australia in the 1970s. This solo album was subsequently produced in Adelaide and is an eclectic mix of English language folk music but with an Anglo-American folk music emphasis.
On some of these tracks, McCarthy demonstrates an excellent folk singing talent and there is some great backing music. The negative is that some of the original recordings appears to have been poor and the sound engineering (by someone named “Mad Mal”) is strange (It took me two LPs to discover this factor). Nevertheless, this LP was well worth the ripping effort.
Track List

1. Botany Bay
2. The Riddle Song
3. Black-Eyed Susie
4. Barbara Allen
5. Old Paint
6. Jimmy Crack Corn
7. Gypsy Rover
8. Streets of Laredo
9. Skip to my Lou
10. Scarlet Ribbons
11. On Top of Old Smokey
12. The Water is Wide

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The Twiliters "Waltzing Matilda" 45 EP 1967

We have already met the Twiliters with their two albums and it is disappointing that only one traditional Australian track "The Albury Ram" appeared on those two albums.
Well, they actually performed more Australian folk songs than that as evidenced by this EP which was released after the two LPs (but was never followed up by an LP).
The four tracks are:-
1. Waltzing Matilda
2. The Albury Ram (studio)
3. The Reedy Lagoon
4. Lazy Harry's

This EP is in bad shape especially track 3 which had several skips. I did manage to patch that track together after considerable effort and Franz and I have worked hard on it but we couldn't remove all the effects of all the skips. Still, you will find far worse offerings on the blogs. The other three tracks have ripped and edited to an acceptable level. It really is a pity that these three lads did not publish more Australian traditionals.

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Alex Hood sings of Australia's First Hundred Years LP c1960

Alex Hood was one of the early participants and collectors of the folk revival and has been continuously involved ever since as an individual and a member of different folk groups. He has produced several albums and is still a regular performer at folk festivals. Another of his albums "While the Billy Boils" was posted here in January 2009.
I am guessing as to when this LP was released. I never owned this album but I recall buying the "Boomerang" songbook for it in late 1963 and the LP had been out for a while then.

This is another of the albums provided by Dave and it is a very welcome addition to the blog. Franz has also done a great clean-up on this album so many thanks to both of you.
I hope to be in a position to post his follow-up LP soon "The Second Hundred Years" but it needs a lot of work yet.

Tracklist
1. The Catalpa
2. Jim Jones
3. Plains of Emu
4. Bold Jack Donahue
5. Dead Horse
6. South Australia
7. "Where's Your Licence"
8. The Old Bark Hut
9. New England Cockie
10. Death of Ben Hall
11. Kellys, Byrne & Hart
12. Old Bullock Dray
13. Bluey Brink
14. The Overlander

Download link removed following request from copyright owner (see comment)

The Twiliters "The Twiliters in Concert" LP 1966

This is the first of the two Twiliters LPs (Great Day was posted here on 7 September 2009). In my view, there is no real comparison between the two - this is a far superior album in terms of both performance and engineering. I am very thankful to Alan of Sydney for his great rip of the LP. I have been looking for this one for a long time.
As the title implies the tracks were recorded at various locations and includes some entertaining patter and I reckon their versions of some of these songs are as good as and even better than those of their American and English contemporaries. Certainly this LP demonstrates why they were clearly Australia's best of the college boy, folk trio type.

Track List
1. The Ox driver
2. In the Evening
3. Chickens (comedy)
4. Where I'm Bound
5. The Albury Ram
6. Ella Speed
7. Me and my Uncle
8. Where have all the Flowers gone.
9. Coal Tattoo
10. Dark as a Dungeon
11. Creamsleeves (a comic look at Mr. Whippy ice-cream vans always playing Greensleeves)
12. San Francisco Bay Blues

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Folk Songs from Queensland - 10" LP 1959

The year 1959 was the first Centenary of self-government for the colony and State of Queensland. The recording label, Wattle, issued this LP featuring traditional Australian songs collected in Queensland. Two groups contributing to the LP, namely, The Moreton Bay Bushwhackers and The Bandicoots, featured some of the early stalwarts of the Australian folk music scene particularly in Queensland. John Streeter Manifold, the prominent poet and writer with a deep interest in folk music was a member of The Bandicoots and leads on two songs. Bill Scott, who was later to become famous for his songs, poetry and folklore writing, leads on three songs. (incidentally, Penny Davies and Roger Ilott, do great justice to many of Bill Scott's songs).
Also featured are Doug Eaton and Stan Arthur among others.

Don't expect any flash, popular-style singing or great musical performances on this album. What you will get is solid traditional Australian folk singing very much in the style of the old-timers from whom these songs were collected. There are a few songs that have not been posted here before - The Freehold on the Plain, The Sheepwasher, The Old Palmer Song, Billy Shean, and a version of a personal favourite of mine, The Canecutter's Lament (anyone got other versions please). Additionally there are two instrumental numbers; Charley Sailor's Woman Song and the Cunnamulla Stocking Jig. The other usual standards are The Queensland Drover, Banks of the Condamine, The Ram of Dalby (originally of Derby, England), Bullocky-o, Brisbane Ladies, and Wallaby Stew.

Two LPs of this album were very kindly lent to me by one of our visitors who has also provided one other much-sought-after album to come. Many thanks, Dave - having two was very advantageous even though they were in relatively good condition considering their age.

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The Twiliters - "Great Day" LP 1967

The Twiliters, affectionately known as the 'twits', originated in Perth, Western Australia. This trio was one of many inspired by the Kingston Trio and their successors in the American folk scene and, as such, relied heavily on Anglo-American numbers. They were, by far, the best Australian exponents of this type of folk music and, as Warren Fahey notes, a lot of their music was adopted with variation from that of the American "Journeymen" group. They produced two LPs, this one in 1967 and The Twiliters in Concert in 1966 (anyone have it please?).
Franz from Austria has done the bulk of the work cleaning up this album for which I am most grateful (I've been caught up with virus and installation problems).
If you are a fan of such artists as the Kingston Trio, The Limeliters, The Journeymen, The Brothers Four and similar folk groups, you will enjoy this album. All tracks are MP3 VBR 192-224 mostly at about 212kbs.

Track List
1. Mary, Don't You Weep
2. Boy Child
3. The Waggoner's Lad
4. Bethlehem
5. Thanks for the Hand to Hold (Phil Sawyer of Adelaide)
6. Whisky in the Jar
7. Go Where You Want to Go
8. The Wanderer
9. Kentucky
10. Hurry Sundown
11. Great Day
12. Green Green

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Various Artists "Treasury of Australian Song" 2 LP set 1974

MP3rip@192-224VBR
One of the blog's kind supporters made and sent me .wav files for this very rare two LP set. I am informed that its 34 tracks (32 folk songs, 1 comedy song and one anthem) were recorded in a Sydney studio over three days in 1974 and released on the American "Dyna" label about two weeks later (Serial no. CD2019).
I know that this hasty approach sounds very "rough and ready" but it also captures the true essence of this type of music (along with the occasional cough and side remark). With a couple of exceptions, I have been thoroughly charmed by this double album set and I think many of you will feel exactly the same. Sadly, a couple of the tracks have not cleaned up as well as I would like due probably to some minor damage to one of the LPs but they are still enjoyable. (Correction:- I have later checked a further copy of this album which reveals that the problems in tracks 31 and 34 are identical in both)
Singers appearing on this set are, John Currie, Anne Cochrane, Lee Williams, Kate Delaney, Maureen Cummuskey and Tony Suttor. Additional musical backing was provided by Don Hopkins on harmonica and piano accordion, Tony Suttor on button accordion, Chris Duffy on banjo and mandolin and George Cliff on bush bass. Cliff Atkinson was the producer.
John Currie with his strong Irish accent does a great job on those songs where an Irish connection is often suggested, accurately or otherwise, e.g. Wild Colonial Boy, Black Velvet Band, Denis O'Reilly and Shores of Botany Bay but the strong brogue is a bit off-putting in bush songs such as 1000 Miles Away and Click Go the Shears. However, he does a great job of The Old Bullock Dray where his brogue is nowhere so evident but I don't like his Flash Jack from Gundagai. Overall, I highly recommend this music, it has a 'folky' naturalness rarely achieved elsewhere. The songs, listed under their singers, are:-

John Currie - Click go the Shears, Wild Colonial Boy, Old Bullock Dray, Black Velvet Band, Shores of Botany Bay, Wild Rover, Flash Jack from Gundagai, Look Out Below, Denis O'Reilly, 1000 Miles Away, Canine Catastrophe (comedy), and All for Me Grog.
Anne Cochrane - Botany Bay, Wallaby Stew, Waltzing Matilda, Moreton Bay, Lime Juice Tub, Advance Australia Fair, Dying Stockman, Convict Maid, and Bold Jack Donahue.
Lee Williams - The Overlander, Ned Kelly, Traveling Down the Castlereagh, Cockies of Bungaree, The Catalpa, The Streets of Forbes, and The Ryebuck Shearer.
Kate Delaney - Banks of the Condamine (we need more from this lass)
Maureen Cummuskey and Tony Suttor - Lazy Harry's
Maureen Cummuskey - Euabalong Ball, Springtime It Brings on the Shearing, and Drover's Dream.
Tony Suttor - Bluey Brink

Download compressed file including the 34 tracks and graphics
Click here for MP3 version 192-224VBR - 128MB
Click here for FLAC (lossless) version - 475MB
File must be decompressed to extract music tracks and graphic files.
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The Settlers "Songs of the Snowy Mountains" 1999 CD now repressed

This album has previously been available for download through my earlier posting. Shannon O'Boyle, daughter of Ulick O'Boyle, now advises that the CD has been re-pressed and is available preferably from her by email request to shanno2222@hotmail.com (all proceeds then go to Ulick).

Alternatively it is also available from Monaro Books & Music, 49 Vale Street, Cooma, NSW 2630, Australia (PO Box 1234) or phone +61 (0)2 6452 4225 or fax +61 (0)2 6452 2339 or email monarobm@snowy.net.au

It is great to see such a fine CD again available.