Friday, June 25, 2010

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

Monday, June 14, 2010

A.L. Lloyd "The Old Bush Songs" 1994 CD re-release


Albert Lancaster Lloyd recorded as A.L. Lloyd but was better known as "Bert".  He was born in England in 1908.  As a young man (1924-1932) he worked in Australia mainly on sheep stations in the Lachlan River area of New South Wales where he commenced to collect Australian folk songs.  On his return to England, he continued with his growing interest in folklore and folk music at a time when there was very little interest in the field.  He went on to record a considerable volume of work including a large proportion of Australian folk songs including his contribution to the LP The Great Australian Legend previously posted on this blog.  His first significant Australian-related output was the 1956 Riverside RLP 12-606 Australian Bush SongsSee above - we now have a good rip of that LP.

This particular album was an Australian CD release on the Larriken label and incorporates tracks from 1960s and 1970s Topic label LP releases.  The accompanists include Martin Wyndham Reade, Trevor Lucas, Alf Edwards, Al Jeffrey, Dave Pegg, Andy Seagrott and Dave Swarbrick on eight of the tracks and Peggy Seeger, John Cole, and Ralph Rinzler on six tracks.

I have no idea who did this rip as I collected this material from elsewhere.  It is MP3 at 160bps CBR.

The fifteen tracks are Waltzing Matilda (original/Queensland version), The Kelly Gang, The Drover's Dream, The Cocckies of Bungaree, Flash Jack from Gundagai, Bluey Brink, The Derby Ram, Bold Jack Donahue, The Wild Colonial Boy, The Hold-up at Eugowra Rock, Euabalong Ball, Rocking the Cradle, Lachlan Tigers, and The Lime Juice Tub.

Download with graphics and notes


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

Friday, June 4, 2010

The Hawking Brothers "Australian Heritage" 1971 LP

The Hawking Brothers were Russ Hawkings (1931-1976) and Alan Hawking (1933-1988).  Excellent singers and instrumentalists, they first recorded in 1955 and were equally proficient with both traditional Australian folk music and country music.  In the latter genre they very deservedly had a big hit in Australia with the American song Catfish John (on their self-titled album).  They toured North America in 1975 and appeared at the Grand Ole Opry.

This album was produced in 1971 and features Australian traditional folk songs.  In 1975, they also produced a volume 2 but I have not yet been able to obtain a copy.

I have no idea who ripped this LP but if you are out there reading this, please accept my thanks.  It is MP3 VBR ranging from 178 to 202.
The tracks on this album are South Australia, Wild Colonial Boy, The Limejuice Tub, Botany Bay, Ten Thousand Miles Away, Bullocky-O, Click go the Shears, Eumerella Shore, Ladies of Brisbane, Flash Jack from Gundagai, With my Swag on my Shoulder, The Queensland Drover, and The Old Bullock Dray.

Download from MediaFire

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

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Tex Morton "20 Golden Greats" Cassette late 70s?

Tex Morton (1916-1983) was a New Zealander by birth and an Australian by adoption reportedly arriving in Australia at the age of 16 in 1932.  He was to become a gifted showman variously performing as a singer, hypnotist, sharpshooter and whip cracker  in various countries including lengthy stints in Canada and the United States of America.

He is best known in Australia as a singer and is accepted as being the "Father of Australian Country Music" paving the way for such later greats as Slim Dusty and Buddy Williams.  He was first commercially recorded in 1936 for the Regal Zonophone label and his subsequent output included scores of the old 78rpm records. He always sung with an American accent and initially his song tracks were American songs or at the very least passed off as American songs using the then standard American country music terms, e.g. outlaw, prairie, but over the years his music did become more Australianised.  Basically, in his prime he was a typical "hillbilly" singer given to lots of yodelling.

His singing style was distinctly out-of-fashion from the 1960s onwards but, in 1973, he recorded "The Goondiwindi Grey" about the legendary racehorse Gunsynd with great success.  This created considerable general interest in his music and resulted in the release of a number of compilations of his music.  In his later years, his contributions to Australian country music were often publicly acknowledged and he was a regular guest at the Australian Country Music Awards at Tamworth.
This particular compilation tended towards general music tastes of the 1970s and thus does not include any yodelling tracks and focuses more on Australian based material and comedy (he was a great comedy singer albeit in a country style).  Some of the tracks are recitations which he performs with great distinction.  His music may now sound rather unsophisticated and basic but, for his time, he was an outstanding performer.

Be warned that, although this compilation features traditional items - Bullocky Bill, The Stockman's Last Bed,  Holy Dan, and The Dying Stockman, he may offend those of you who are folk purists.  I am not presenting this album as being "folk" but to provide some insights into the music leading up to the later bush balladeers.

Some discerning readers may note that the cassette is presented as being Dolby Stereo and I've provided mono rips - that's because it was not really stereo.


Download with graphics  MP3 @192 VBR
From MediaFire

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