The Angels are a truly iconic band for people of my generation. They burst onto the scene in the mid 1970′s and went from strength to strength. I first saw them at an all ages gig at Cabramatta Town Hall in 1978 where they absolutely blew the place apart. Each subsequent time I saw them they had the same drive and strength of performance. They really did shine on stage.

Recently I’ve had the pleasure of seeing some of their reunion gigs and they still have it. The crowds are still flocking in and rocking out. Like many Australian Pub rock bands, they didn’t really do that well overseas which is astonishing to me, but at home they are truly loved.

The Angels in the 70′s

The Angels have been through a number of distinct incarnations over their lifetime. They started life in Adelaide as the The Moonshine Jug and String Band, originally formed by the Brewster brothers around 1970. By 1974 they’d become the Keystone Angels and were starting to come to the attention of a wider audience. In 1975 they dropped the “keystone” to become The Angels and had released their first single “Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again” in April 1976. At that time they were performing as a 4 piece band with Doc Neeson handling vocals and bass, Charlie King on drums and John & Rick Brewster on guitars.

Around this time Graham “Buzz” Bidstrup had replaced Charlie King on drums and Chris Bailey joined soon after on bass to make the band a 5 piece. This is really the first “classic” lineup of the band. Their big break came with 1978′s Face to Face album, reaching number 16 in November and staying on the Australian charts for 79 weeks. This album also gave them their first big hit with “Take a long line”.

The 80′s & 90′s

Buzz Bidstrup left in early 1981 and was replaced by Brent Eccles & about 12 months later Chris Bailey also left to be replaced by Jim Hilbun. They had a number of successful albums during this period including “Night Attack”, “Watch The Red” & “Two Minute Warning”.

The next significant lineup change was when John Brewster left and the job went to ex-Skyhooks guitarist Bob Spencer in March 1986. By the mid to late 1990’s the band had tried to crack the US market with limited success but support in Australia had remained fairly solid. All this time the band toured relentlessly and were famed for their energetic live performances and on 20 October 1998, The Angels were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame.

They performed their “last” gig on New Years Eve of 1999. Doc Neeson, having suffered spinal & neck injuries in a car accident, announced he was leaving.

For most of the 2000’s there was some animosity between various members and a few disputes over the name. Doc Neeson toured for a while under the name “Doc Neeson’s Angels” with a band containing Jim Hilbun, Dave Leslie, Paul Wheeler and others. The Brewster brothers teamed up with Buzz Bidstrup & Chris Bailey to form “The Original Angels Band” but in 2008 differences were sorted and the band reformed again as The Angels.

At the time of writing this (2010) they are still performing to packed out houses across Australia and sounding as good as ever.

Members

• Chris Bailey – Bass
• Graham “Buzz” Bidstrup – Drums
• John Brewster – Guitar, Vocals
• Rick Brewster – Guitar
• Brent Eccles – Drums
• Jim Hilbun – Bass, Sax
• Charlie King – Drums
• James Morley – Bass
• Bernard “Doc” Neeson Doc – Vocals, Bass
• Bob Spencer – Guitar, Vocals

Images

Known gigs for The Angels

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Albums

• The Angels – 1977
• Face To Face – 1978
• No Exit – 1979
• The Angels Greatest – 1980
• Dark Room – 1980
• Night Attack – 1981
• Watch The Red – 1983
• Two Minute Warning – 1984
• The Angels Greatest Vol 2 – 1985
• Howling – 1986
• Live Line – 1987
• Beyond Salvation – 1989
• Red Back Fever – 1991
• Their Finest Hour… and then some – 1992
• Evidence – 1994
• Skin and Bone – 1998
• No Secrets – 1998
• Greatest hits – 1999
• Left Hand drive – 2000
• The Complete Sessions 1980-1983 – 2002
• Live at The Basement – 2005
• Wasted Sleepless Nights – The Definitive Best Of – 2006

video

I had the pleasure a few months ago of working on an Angels tour. I was the sound engineer for Black Label who were the support. It’s a bit of a spin out to be working on the same show as The Angels who I first saw in 1978!  They were brilliant. The tempos were a little slower and there wasn’t too much leaping off the drum riser but the music was still there. And the crowd loved it!

Here are a few selected shots I took at Wyong Leagues Club. Let me know if you were there or if you spot yourself in the crowd.

Hi, my name is Helen and each week from now on I’ll be presenting a brand new category of “Classic Australian Albums”. To start the ball rolling I’d like to present “Boys Light Up”, the debut album for Australian Crawl which was released in 1980 and went on to sell in excess of 280,000 copies. It reached a peak of No. 4 and was in the charts for a total of 101 weeks. In 1992 the album was re-released in CD format although I still have my vinyl copy in the garage!

My favourite song from this album was “Hoochie Gucci Fiorucci Mama”, I’d love to hear your memories of this album in the comments below.

Tracks

1. “My Coffee’s Gone Cold” (Simon Binks) – 3:29
2. “Man Crazy” (James Reyne) – 3:39
3. “Way I’ve Been” (Brad Robinson, James Robinson) – 2:17
4. “Chinese Eyes” (James Reyne, Simon Binks) – 3:01
5. “Downhearted” (Sean Higgins, Guy McDonough, William ‘Bill’ McDonough) – 3:09
6. “Beautiful People” (James Reyne, Mark Hudson) – 2:56
7. “Indisposed” (Brad Robinson, James Robinson, James Reyne, William ‘Bill’ McDonough) – 4:04
8. “Walk My Way” (James Reyne, Brad Robinson)- 2:44
9. “The Boys Light Up” (James Reyne) – 4:41
10. “Boot Hill” (James Reyne, Simon Binks) – 2:36
11. “Red Guitar” (Simon Binks) – 3:19
12. “Hoochie Gucci Fiorucci Mama” (James Reyne, David Briggs) – 2:30

General Information

Released April, 1980
Recorded August, 1979 – February, 1980
Genre Pop/Rock
Length 38:25
Label EMI
Producer David Briggs

About Avion

** Updated **

Sydney band Avion (not to be confused with the L.A. act current in the 00’s or the ‘Par’ variety) came into being during 1981. Randall Waller (vocals/guitar) had already released two solo albums (‘Oasis’ in 1978 and ‘Midnight Fire’ in 1980) before forming the band Lionheart which soon evolved into Avion. Completing the original line-up were Martin Toole (guitar), Evan Murray (keyboards), along with Waller’s brothers Kendall (bass) and John (drums). Avion’s musical style was unabashedly influenced by American Adult Oriented Rock (think Journey/Boston/Night Ranger etc).

From Paul Gannell’s MySpace page

History

A recording contract with RCA led to the release of their eponymous debut album in 1983 (OZ48). RCA obviously thought the group’s sound better suited the North American market because the album was release there before it was at home in Australia. The album didn’t receive much promotion and though the first single from it ‘I Need You’ was a minor hit (OZ61 – reaching as high as 40 in NSW), Avion didn’t break through in a major way. Two more ‘Diamond Eyes’ and ‘Never Let Me Go’ were lifted from the album but neither made the charts. A stand alone single ‘Still The Night’ was released in August 1984 but again didn’t sell well. Paul Gannell came in to replace Toole on guitar for the band’s second album, 1987’s ‘White Noise’. The album included the earlier single releases ‘We’ve Got Secrets’ and ‘Celebration’ but the celebrations were non existent as none made the charts. The band had remained a solid touring outfit throughout this period though, and it was on a late 1987 tour that keyboardist Evan Murray was killed in a car accident. The loss of Murray and the failure to break through commercially finally led Waller to call an end to Avion’s tenure.
From Paul Gannell’s MySpace page

Members

• Randall Waller – Vocals & Guitar.
• Martyn Toole – Guitar
• Kendall Waller – Bass
• Evan Murray – Keyboards
• John Waller – Drums
• Paul Gannell – Guitar

Video

Recordings

• Avion – 1983
• White Noise – 1986
• Live – 1987

Technical Crew

• John McConnell – FOH Engineer

Other Resources

• Improve Your Music
• Wikipedia
• Rock Detector
• Paul Gannell’s MySpace page

About Australian Crawl

Melbourne based band from 1978-1986

Australian Crawl was an Australian rock band formed by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano) and Simon Binks (lead guitar) in 1978 and joined by Guy McDonough (co-lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Bill McDonough (drums, percussion), Paul Williams (bass guitar), and Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar). The band was named after the front crawl swimming style also known as Australian crawl. The band’s music was a defining feature of Australian surf culture during the 1980s.
From Wikipedia

A Brief History Of Australian Crawl

In 1978 if you’d wanted to invent a truly Australian group, you’d have invented Australian Crawl, five sun bronzed Aussies from middle to upper class backgrounds: possibly the first high profile band to draw their influences almost solely from their Australian predecessors ( in Australian Crawl’s case, groups like the Dingoes and Sports). Even the characteristic drawl in singer James Reyne’s vocals seemed to approximate an Australian accent.

It was a time when world music was going disco crazy. The first recession in the music business since the arrival of ‘popular music’ saw many international labels trimming their rosters, and Australia took its eyes off the world charts and trends to enjoy the music being played in our own backyard. That recession was a boom period for Australian music. One of the bands at the centre of that boom was Australian Crawl.

They grew up in the Mornington Peninsula suburb of Mt.Eliza on the outskirts of Melbourne, where judges and diplomats raised their young families in a pseudo rural setting within driving distance of the city. While their bored parents attended cocktail parties the bored children surfed and smoked marijuana. For extra fun this particular group of friends also formed a band to entertain their friends. Their first attempt at a band Spiff Roach (!) ended up as the core for Australian Crawl.

Once the band’s escalating popularity brought them into the city they caught the attention of Little River Band’s guitarist David Briggs, who helped them to a recording contract and produced their first single. If Australian Crawl had been an English band they might have handled the subject matter like a Sex Pistols or a Stranglers, with anger and vitriol. But this was an Australian group from Mornington, and they looked at their parents’ world with sarcasm and self-effacing humour. The result was a hit single called ‘Beautiful People’.

While on stage they were these handsome Australian hunks – everything the girls in the audience could want – there was also something brattish and arrogant about them – everything the guys wanted to be. Within eighteen months of their first gig they were the most popular band in the country, on the strength of their first album and its title single, ‘The Boys Light Up’, teenage rebellion in the suburbs dressed up in an accessible chant-along pop songs. The album spent more than 50 weeks in the Top 30 and sold five times platinum, one of the biggest selling Australian albums of the Eighties.
From Howlspace

Members

• James Reyne – Vocals
• David Reyne – Drums
• Bill McDonough – Drums
• Guy McDonough – Guitar
• Harry Brus – Bass
• Simon Binks – Guitar
• Brad Robinson – Guitar, Keys
• John Watson – Drums
• Paul Williams – Bass

Recordings

• Boys Light Up – 1980
• Sirocco – 1981
• Sons Of Beaches – 1982
• Phalanx – 1983
• Semantics – 1984
• Crawl File (Greatest Hits) – 1984
• Between A Rock And A Hard Place – 1985

Other Resources

• Wikipedia
• Howlspace
• Australian Rock Database

About

Sydney based jazz band.

Members

• John Hall – Bass
• Harry Koster – Guitar
• James Tse – Keyboards
• Murray Bishop – Trumpet, Trombone, Flute and many more
• Denise French -Vocals
• Mark Gibson – Drums

Other Rescources

• AQ Jazz Band Website
• Sydney Gig Guide