The Easybeats: Album by Album Thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by paulisdead, Apr 3, 2013.

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  1. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    Well here it is.

    The first official release from The Easybeats:
    "For My Woman" / "Say That You're Mine" (Parlophone A-8146)


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    Released on 18 March 1965

    The first single from The Easybeats was recorded in January 1965. Ted Albert set up a two track machine in the old dormant 2UW theatre (which Albert Productions owned). The building was once used by the Sydney radio station for broadcasts.

    According to John Tait's 'Vanda & Young: Inside Australia's Hit Factory', the tracks recorded during this session were:

    'For My Woman'
    'Say That You're Mine'
    'The Bells'
    'I Who Have Nothing'

    'I Who Have Nothing' (a cover of the Ben E King song) was original indented to be the first single, however Normie Rowe's version was released ahead of them.

    'Bells' was pressed as an acetate (EMI Custom Label, 7P. 1463) by EMI Studios in Sydney. This disc contained the track 'I Know It' as the B side. A picture of the disc is featured in the booklet of The Easybeats Anthology.

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  2. tages

    tages Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    Let me be the first to say thanks for starting this thread.

    Great post and GREAT first single. Mick Jagger and Eric Burdon would've LOVED it. Still sounds modern and defiant.

    Long live The Easybeats.
     
  3. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    'Mean Old Lovin'
    'I'm Happy'
    'Hey Babe'
    'I Don't Agree'
    'Keep Your Hands Off My Babe'
    'No One Knows'

    Recorded Early 1965 (?)

    These tracks are also often linked with the earliest Easybeats recordings (sometimes listed as "the first"). They were first officially released in November 1979 on Glenn A Baker's Raven Records as an EP collection titled: Mean Old Lovin' (Raven RV-01). These tracks also appeared on CD throughout the bonus tracks of the Repertoire Records reissues.

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  4. tages

    tages Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    And thanks for getting all of the tracks in their proper chronological places -we'll get this mess sorted out someday!
     
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  5. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    As a point of interest - here's Normie Rowe's version of 'I Who Have Nothing' (Sunshine QK-1069):



    The single climbed to number #9 on the national chart.
     
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  6. Paul K

    Paul K Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Thank you for this thread too!!!!
     
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  7. Jae

    Jae Senior Member

    Hadn't thought about this, but now you mention it, yeah, I can imagine the Rolling Stones doing For My Woman. Add some organ, and you have the Animals.
     
  8. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    In the sleeve notes for Mean Old Lovin' Baker claims that Ted Albert recorded over 40 songs in the Easybeats' first session and only For My Woman/Say You Are Mine were released. Some of the tracks from this session later turned up on the notorious vinyl bootleg Steady On.


    Side One

    Steady On
    I Believe In You
    Mama
    I’m In Love With You
    No One Knows
    I Know Something
    Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
    I’m Happy

    Side Two

    I Know It
    The Bells
    How You Doin’ Now
    Every Night
    I Don’t Agree
    I Can Still See The Sun
    Hey! Babe
    Woe Is Me
     
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  9. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    I love this band. The first single and we have a can of worms. :laugh:

    OK. This is what we know from what the releases say about the first 2UW Theatre sessions - we know that we can confirm:

    'For My Woman'
    'Say That You're Mine'
    'The Bells'
    'I Who Have Nothing'
    'Mean Old Lovin'
    'I'm Happy'
    'Hey Babe'
    'I Don't Agree'
    'Keep Your Hands Off My Babe'
    'No One Knows'
    'Little Queenie' (from 1977's The Shame Just Drained - yep, nearly missed that one :D)

    That leaves us with the remainder of the Steady On tracks:

    'Steady On'
    'I Believe In You'
    'Mama'
    'I Know Something'
    'How You Doin’ Now'
    'Every Night'
    'I Can Still See The Sun'
    'Woe Is Me'

    Now the bootleg says the tracks are recorded between '65 to '66. So in sort - the Australian years. I haven't heard the boot or have been able to find a copy so I'll throw this one out someone else who's heard it. If someone can tell us which remaining tracks belong to the "40 or so" from the 2UW Theatre sessions.



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  10. Tim S

    Tim S Senior Member

    Location:
    East Tennessee
    Thanks for the thread! Certainly off to an interesting start already! LOL...
     
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  11. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    The '40 plus tracks' they recorded for Alberts initially must have been an earlier session than the For My Woman/Say That You're Mine/I Who Have Nothing/The Bells/ No One Knows recording. Maybe Ted Albert picked the songs and recorded them properly after wading through the songs. Even The Bells ( a In My Book style ballad with lots of background harmonies)has better fidelity than the Mean Old Lovin' tracks suggesting two different sessions. Mama (From Steady On) sounds like it could be one of the 40. Stevie puts on his 'bluesy' For My Woman voice (Great guitar solo too), ultra low fidelity too

    Most of the Steady On tracks sound like they were recorded between Volume 3 and Good Friday. (lots of twin guitar work and stop start arrangements). I Believe In You and I Need Your Loving would fit perfectly on Volume 3, Nothing Happens sounds like The Hollies' version of Just One Look, I Can Still See The Sun makes use of minor chords, like The Zombies, with a great guitar riff (similar to Lovers of Today by The Only Ones). Steady On starts like Just Like Starting Over then goes into a similar melody to The Masters Apprentices Turn Up Your Radio, then changes again and again. Not a very good song.

    The 'test pressing' Phantom sold was most likely a copy of the vinyl version of Steady On.
     
  12. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    Nothing Happens from the Steady On CD is actually Every Night from the Steady On vinyl :agree:
     
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  13. Bill

    Bill Senior Member

    Location:
    Eastern Shore
    Great, much needed thread. Thanks!
     
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  14. bizmopeen

    bizmopeen Senior Member

    Location:
    Oswego, IL
    Seconded!
     
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  15. bizmopeen

    bizmopeen Senior Member

    Location:
    Oswego, IL
    Any benefit to tracking down this (and any other) Raven EPs over collecting the tracks on the Rep releases?
     
  16. Mylene

    Mylene Senior Member

    Not really. The Mean Old Lovin' Ep is 6 tracks on 33rpm. The fidelity is not great.

    No One Knows has proper production (a great guitar solo, hand claps and separation between the instruments. You can hear the bass) same with The Bells. It's hard to believe the other tracks on MOL came from the same session.
     
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  17. tages

    tages Senior Member

    Location:
    Seattle
    I agree. "No One Knows" fidelity-wise would've fit right on "Easy".

    And "How You Doing Now" sounds to me exactly like the "It's 2 Easy" LP.
     
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  18. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    I agree about the fidelity.

    'No One Knows' sounds professionally recorded (the drums have more definition in them and features and features the hand clap overdub) while the others on the EP sound lo-fi. The other tell tale sign with the remaining Mean Ol' Woman tracks and 'Little Queenie' is the some what shambolic performances.

    The Absolute Anthology notes says Ted used a domestic recorder to track "every song they knew" while Tait's book says Ted brought in a two track "machine" to the old theatre. 'Little Queenie' sounds like it was mixed in the 70's as no other track from these sessions (unless the confirmed ones on Steady On do) have tape delay. But on that note: Ted Albert must of had more up his sleeve than just a "domestic recorder". 'For My Woman', 'No One Knows' and 'I Don't Agree' all have the same style of reverb on the vocals. If all the tracks were recorded 2-track then it would have been Band/Vocals on each track. But Ted would have needed a 2nd tape machine to do any overdubs (a la Please Please Me), unless he tracked the band on 1 track then vocals and handclaps at the same time.

    I think Mylene could be on the right track. There were possibly two different sessions: the "40 songs" session were they played the live set. Then a second where they recorded the possible single tracks: 'For My Woman', 'Say That You're Mine', 'The Bells', 'I Who Have Nothing'. So this comes back to the quality of the Mean Ol' Woman recordings. The lack of bass could also be due to poor dubs of the tapes (we don't know how many generations down those things were). And this may be the cause of confusion: who said the recording sessions weren't on the same day? Alberts owned and had access to professional studios (the new 2UW studios and EMI studios), but my guess would have been they used the old disused theatre because they could have it as long as they wanted, without paying for studio time or other staff. They could have been there until 5am if they wanted too. And who said the tracks were mixed at the old theatre - Ted could have taken the tapes to any of the other studios tied to Alberts to add reverb on the vocal later. While we are on reverb: does anyone notice that all the so called 2UW tracks have reverb on vocals and dry band (sans the guitar amp reverb) EXCEPT for 'No One Knows'.

    I put this out there: 'No One Knows' was NOT part of the first session(s) and was recorded later in 1965 either at Armstrong Studios or EMI Studios.
     
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  19. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    The beginning of "Easyfever"

    'She's So Fine'/'The Old Oak Tree' (Parlophone A-8157)

    [​IMG]

    Released 27 May 1965

    It also states on the Milesago website that the backing track to 'She's So Fine' was tracked at Armstrong Studios in Melbourne. Which begs the question: why go all the way back up to Sydney to track the vocals?

     
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  20. Jae

    Jae Senior Member

    I've always loved that video - the girl on the left of screen has amazing energy!

    A question - what exactly is being said during the solo - "1, 2, 3, 6, Sorry Harry"???
     
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  21. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    Some info on 2UW Studios. Below are some photos from this site showing a recording session at 2UW Studios (I'm not sure if it's King Street Studios or from a studio in the George Street Theatre). The photos show the group The Charades recording "The Big Dipper". The photos are dated March 1964. According to the site - at that time all recordings were 1-track with one ambient microphone overhead. There was no tape machines - all recordings were cut straight to disc.


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    [​IMG]

    Here is the finished product.

     
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  22. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    That's what it sounds like to me.
     
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  23. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    Wedding Ring / Me Or You (Parlophone A-8168)


    [​IMG]

    Released 26 Aug 1965

    Two more Wright/Young original's - The driving power pop classic 'Wedding Ring' back with the country tinged 'Me Or You'.

    Both tracks also appeared on the Easy As Can Be EP in February 1966.

    [​IMG]

    http://images.45cat.com/the-easybeats-easy-as-can-be-1966.jpg

    Although their debut album wasn't to be released until next month, 'Wedding Ring' didn't make it's LP debut until their 2nd album It's 2 Easy. Both 'Wedding Ring' and 'Me Or You' are available as bonus tracks on the Repertoire Records CD release of It's 2 Easy.


    Performing 'Wedding Ring' live on 'Brian Henderson's Bandstand' at the TCN-9 Studios.
     
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  24. paulisdead

    paulisdead fast and bulbous Thread Starter

    Easy (Parlophone PMCO-7527) Mono

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    Released 28 September 1965

    Recorded in two consecutive all-night sessions, Easy set the bar high by containing all original songs by the group. Not bad for a pop debut in 1965.

    Side A
    1. It's So Easy 2.09 (Wright/Young)
    2. I'm a Madman 2.51 (Wright/Young)
    3. I Wonder 1.48 (Vanda)
    4. She Said Alright 2.13 (Young)
    5. I'm Gonna Tell Everybody 2.03 (Fleet)
    6. Hey Girl 2.09 (Wright/Young)
    7. She's So Fine 2.06 (Wright/Young)
    Side B
    1. You Got It off Me 2.27 (Wright/Young)
    2. Cry Cry Cry 2.01 (Young)
    3. A Letter 1.38 (Wright/Young)
    4. Easy Beat 2.38 (Vanda)
    5. You'll Come Back Again 1.54 (Young)
    6. Girl on My Mind 3.02 (Wright/Young)
    7. Ya Can't Do That 2.25 (Wright/Young)

     
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  25. Jae

    Jae Senior Member

    A side note: Just prior to "Wedding Ring" being cut, EMI Australia changed their matrix prefix from 7AXPA to 7XAPA. The numbers continued sequentially.
     
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