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.

Trevor Lucas "Overlander" 1966 LP Rip

This album was previously downloadable from the "musica acida" blog.  That blog has now disappeared so I am now providing downloads here.

The rip is at 128 CBR but the quality is good and well worth the download.
Trevor Lucas, a Melbournian, 1943-1989, produced this solo album before his association in England with the groups Eclection, Fairport Convention, and Fotheringay and his marriage to the well-known Sandy Denny.

Download with graphic - click here



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The Bushwackers "The Great Bushwackers Band" 3CD compilation 2002

I have now noted that the 2002 Rajon 3CD compilation featuring selected tracks from the Bushwackers is not currently available for sale so I am now posting it. If it should again become available, I will remove the links to this post.
As is common for this type of issue, all tracks have most probably appeared on previous Bushwacker albums and you will recognise that many of them have been included in the excellent LP rips posted here courtesy of our Adelaide friend Ian. The tracks on these CDs appear to have been generated from the original masters. The rips are MP3 @224-256VBR and each CD is about 100Mb.

Track Listing for CD1
1. To the Shores of Botany Bay
2. Wooloomooloo Lair
3. Clancy of the Overflow
4. Overlanders
5. And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda
6. Waltzing Matilda
7. Theme from 'BenHall'
8. One of the Has Beens
9. Jog Along Till Shearing
10. New Broom
11. Van Diemens Land
12. Lachlan Tigers
13. Lime Juice Tub
14. Flying Pieman
15. Marijuana Australia
16. Theme from 'Cash & CD'

Download CD1
From MediaFire

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Track listing for CD2
17. Hard Luck Stories
18. Billy of Tea
19. Flash Jack from Gundagai
20. Faces in the Street
21. Ned Kelly's Tunes
22. Ballad of 1891
23. Weevils in the Flour
24. Freedom on the Wallaby
25. Les Darcy
26. Dick's Pig
27. Bill's Yarn
28. Tent Poles (Are Rotten on the Wallaby)
29. Mistress on the Floor
30. Stringybark Creek
31. Annie
32. Past Carin'

Download CD2
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Track listing for CD3 (mainly music for bush dances)
33. Wild Horses
34. Fanny Bay
35. Waves of Bondi (Waves of Tory, Rakes of Mallow, Drowsie Maggie, Spanish Ladies)
36. Road to Gundagai (Mudgee Scottische, Road to Gundagai)
37. Heel and Toe Polka (Brown Jug, Davvy Nic Nac, Ten Pound Float)
38. Pride of Erin (Planxty Irwin, Big Fairy Mountain and Little Fairy Mountain)
39. Drongo (Muckin' of Geordie's Byre, Nancy, Rakes of Kildare, Wynham's Reel)
40. Madmans Woodyard (Merri Creek, Madmans Woodyard, New St. George's Road)
41. Barn Dance (Dumbarton Castle)
42. Stockyards, Ned Kelly's Dance, Flying Doctor (Blackthorn Stick, Sixpenny Money, Kesh Jig, Haymakers Jig)
43. Queensland Back Step (Gallopede, Nut Brown Melody, 42nd Regiment, Bottom of the Punchbowl)
44. The Kangaroo Hop (Rogue's March, Skippy)
45. Strip the Willow (Soldier's Joy, Fred's Delight, McLeod's Reel, Trip to the Cottage, Marie's Wedding)
46. Waltz Country Dance (Starry Night for a Ramble, Springtime Brings on the Shearing,The Dark Isle)

Download CD3
From MediaFire (new 31Aug2017)
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Paul is temporarily back &"Speewah" lives!

Hi all, I am back home for a short while before going on to the UK and Ireland for about 8 weeks.

Greg Dimmock of the Speewah bush band has commented on the posting of their LP "Banjo Paterson's Old Bush Songs" and advises that the band still has some life  and they are still selling music as listed on THIS LINK. "Flat to the Boards" looks like an interesting CD which would well be worth obtaining.

" Bushwackers" Faces in the street 1981

Another nice rip from Ian, our prolific Adelaide ripper ... Thanks as usual Ian, nice one.

This album is on the "Avenue" label from 1981, comes with front and back scans, not much information on the recording as yet, some research needed.

Track Listing:
01 ; Faces In The Street
02 ; Ned Kelly's Tunes
03 ; 1891
04 ; Weevils In The Flour
05 ; Marijuana Australiana
06 ; Freedom On The Wallaby
07 ; Les Darcy
08 ; Dick's Pig
09 ; Bill's Yarn
10 ; The Tent Poles Are Rotten
11 ; The Mistress On The Floor

Something here for everyone: Raunchy Rock guitar, Cajun Banjo, Ceilidh dance,
humour as well as a good dose of pure Ozzieana, plus some Environmental protest,
makes this Band popular with a wide audience.

New Links as of 12 Nov 2012 - 256k MP3 rip + Scans
 From MediaFire
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Now to the Quiz! Checkout the faces in the foreground, recognise any familiar ones that
shine through the artists characterisation?

Roger Thwaites "200 Years" LP 1970

Track List
1. Two Hundred Years
2. The Colonial
3. The Dingo Fence
4. Ballad of Frank Gardiner
5. To Wander the Wallaby Track
6. Cobb & Co
7. The Blue, Red and Grey
8. Quong Tart
9. Araluen
10. Ticket of Leaver
11. The Clarkes
12. Ironbark

The album was issued to mark the 200th anniversary of the discovery of the east coast of Australia and the claiming of Australia as a British possession by Captain James Cook in 1770 (settlement would occur 18 years later).
In 1970, Roger Thwaites was a young man residing in Araluen, previously the site of New South Wales' second largest gold mining operations. I understand that he may still be living there. He and his father were involved in recording and publishing the history of Araluen and many of the songs on this LP seem to have sprung from that activity. There are some very good songs here mixed in with some that tend to make me cringe but overall it is a very acceptable offering. It is distinctly folky except for the musical backing which, although well performed, has a distinct rock and roll feel to it - very reminiscent of Presley's earliest backing group, The Jordanaires but, of course, it is vocally much different.
Definitely not one for the folk purists but then it doesn't try to be. It was an LP meant for general consumption aimed at a 1970 audience. The graphics give the background for each song.

Download with graphics MP3 rip @ 192-224 VBR 
From MediaFire

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The Bushwackers Band "Murrumbidgee" LP 1977

Another great rip from Ian of Adelaide
MP3 @ 192 CBR
Track List
1. Augathella Station
2. Lachlan Tigers
3. Billy of Tea
4. Cold Feet
5. Rain Tumbles Down
6. Streets of Forbes
7. The Cameo (instrumental)
8. Tomahawkin' Fred (The Ladies Man)
9. Murrumbidgee River (instrumental)
10. Flash Jack from Gundagai

Ian has graciously provided another rip of a Bushwackers LP together with its cover graphics. I suggest that the music already posted speaks for the fine talent of this band.

I do have one reservation. "Augathella Station" is more usually known as "Brisbane Ladies" or similar. It was penned by one Saul Mendelsohn, a stockman, in the 1880s but minor variations have been collected. It is firmly based on the British sea song "Spanish Ladies" about British sailors returning to England from Spain.

Numerous artists performed versions of this song before the Bushwackers, for example, A.L. (Bert) Lloyd, The Rambleers, Denis Gibbons, John Greenway and others. The lyrics at the Contemplator are a fair representation of their versions (and they make sense).

Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, someone with little or no idea decided the song could benefit from some tinkering. Now I'm not opposed to a bit of sensible tinkering - it is a folk song after all. I could live with the elimination of most of the place names although I can't see the point of it. The really absurd bit though is that this version has the drovers still in possession of the herd of cattle on the trip back to Augathella Station (Ranch) after having sold them in Brisbane?? No, they would not have driven any stock back home! Further, this version also has the drovers spending all their "money on the shanty town women" in some country town on the way home. This raises two points - firstly, it was very unlikely that any drovers that way inclined would have any money left after the "Brisbane Ladies" and the "girls of Toowong" (Toowong is an inner suburb of Brisbane) but more tellingly, Australia may have had "shantys" (inns), but not "shanty towns" in that sense and "shanty town women" appears to someone's crude attempt at evoking the concept of USA wild west saloon girls. Altogether, it is very disappointing that the Bushwackers had anything to do with such unauthentic garbage. "Quintessence" has also performed this version.

"Rain Tumbles Down" was one of the legendary Slim Dusty's earliest songs; the classic "When the Rain Tumbles down in July". He wrote it in 1945 and it was first released in 1947 on the old Regal Zonophone label as a 78rpm. The initial release was definitely of the Australian "hillbilly" style but Slim thankfully released continuously improved performances of the song over the years and they appeared on several of his 103 albums. The Bushwackers remain fairly true to the song and it retains a country and western feel.

Great versions of "The Lachlan Tigers" and "Flash Jack from Gundagai".

For those who may be wondering, the LP cover is of a "lagerphone" in frantic motion. A very popular instrument in any respectable "Bush Band". It's often thought to be purely an Australian invention but it's an import from England but given the now very common name "lagerphone" in Australia (because of all the crown beer bottletops used in its construction).

Download with graphics
From MediaFire

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Johnny Ashcroft "They All Died Game" 1971 LP

Track List
1. Moondyne Joe
2. Ballad of Mat Brady
3. And He used to be a Preacher Man
4. Sixteen Summers
5. Thunderbolt's Lament
6. Twilight Bar in 'Frisco
7. Run Caesar Run
8. Who'll Light a Candle in the Morning
9. Bailing Up the Mail
10. Donahoe's Lullaby
11. On the Fifth of May
12. We'll All Die Game

Johnny Ashcroft began his singing career during the Second World War as a "hillbilly" singer (early Australian "country music" often with lots of yodelling). He cut a few 78s and ended up recording Australia's first C&W LP "Songs of the Western Trails". There is quite a lengthy entry for him on Wikipedia for those interested. He is best remembered for his 1960 hit song "Little Boy Lost" about a toddler lost in the bush and found alive after a massive search lasting four days.
This album was released in 1971. Each song relates to a bushranger and was written by Joe Halford and Johnny Ashcroft based upon extensive research on bushrangers. I find it a hard album to categorise but I tend to think of it as country and western but the overall ballad approach makes one think of "folk". Then again, the musical backing owes much to jazz. I would love to hear other's thoughts on this album.
Lyrically and musically, it is a great album with some very well-written songs giving us different insights into both some of the Australian bushrangers. For those who love irony, one of the songs looks at the fate of Frank "the Darkie" Gardiner (subject of other folk songs also), an Australian-born bushranger, who, as a condition for his release from a lengthy prison sentence, was exiled to the USA - most of the others were born elsewhere and then transported here as convicts!

Download with graphics (LP MP3 rip @192-224 VBR)
From MediaFire

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The Wild Colonial Boys "Glenrowan to the Gulf" CD release of 1970 LP

Track List
1. All for Me Grog
2. Lime Juice Tub
3. The Ryebuck Shearer
4. The Wild Colonial Boy
5. Shores of Botany Bay
6. Poor Ned Kelly
7. Soldiers Joy - Mason's Apron
8. South Australia
9. Nine Miles from Gundagai
10. Ballad of the Kelly Gang
11. Flash Stockman
12. The Death of Ben Hall
13. The Cuckoo's Nest
14. The Canine Catastrophe
15. A Thousand Miles Away

This album was originally released as an LP in 1970, re-released on Larrikin (or so I think) in the 1980s and then in 1996 on CD. This rip and the provided covers come from that CD. MP3 ripped at 196-224 VBR.
Although performing some of the usual Australian traditional songs, they too have usually opted for lesser-known versions in both lyrical and instrumental terms. Like many bands, they tend to substitute as to what that "bloody dog" did in the tuckerbox (food container) five or nine miles from Gundagai. Some may be wondering as to why "sitting" in the tuckerbox was such a bad thing. It makes more sense if you put the 'h' back into "sat". "Poor Ned Kelly" is not traditional - it started as a tongue-in-cheek Australian "hillbilly" song in the 1930s giving an outline of Ned Kelly's criminal activity and execution but also deriving the moral that modern day "bushrangers" use taxes and high prices to rob everyone with impunity - a great song picked up by many Australian folk singers. A very enjoyable album.

Download with graphics
From MediaFire

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