Thank you for that additional information, MarcS. Here is an updated list of all the dates and venues that I have managed to unearth so far for this elusive tour. Supposedly 27 dates were confirmed at beginning of tour but several cancellations and some shuffling took place as the tour was underway. 04 Aug 67 -- Bushnell Memorial Center, Hartford, Connecticut (opening night) 05 Aug 67 -- Commack Arena, Long Island, NY 06 Aug 67 -- Memorial Auditorium, Worcester, MA 07 Aug 67 -- Casino Ballroom, Hampton Beach, NH 00 Aug 67 -- Victory Stadium, Roanoke, VA 00 Aug 67 -- The Dome, Virginia Beach, VA 00 Aug 67 -- J.S. Dorton Arena, Raleigh, NC 13 Aug 67 -- Coliseum, Greensboro, NC 00 Aug 67 -- Memorial Auditorium, Greenville, SC 17 Aug 67 -- Chilhowee Park, Knoxville, TN 20 Aug 67 -- I.S.U. Arena, Terre Haute, IN 23 Aug 67 -- KRNT Theater, Des Moines, IA 24 Aug 67 -- RKO Orpheum, Davenport, IA 25 Aug 67 -- Joliet, IL 26 Aug 67 -- Exposition Gardens Opera House, Peoria, IL 27 Aug 67 -- Omaha, NE 28 Aug 67 -- Sioux Falls, SD 29 Aug 67 -- McElroy Auditorium, Waterloo, IA 30 Aug 67 -- Brooklyn, MI 31 Aug 67 -- Windsor ONT, Canada 01 Sep 67 –- Dane County Coliseum, Madison, WI 02 Sep 67 -- Milwaukee, WI 03 Sep 67 –- Mesker Amphitheater, Evansville IN 04 Sep 67 –- unknown venue, South Bend, IN (last night of tour)
Very cool. Likewise the recent film, Juliet Naked, contains a montage set to the original studio version as Ethan Hawke's character and his son are traveling to the UK.
It's been said before and I have to concur this thread is a godsend for all Easybeats anoraks like me. May I humbly ask whether there's anyone who has some of those vinyl-only mixes (e.g. US-Friday On My Mind mono LP, UK-Vigil in mono, etc) in digital form meanwhile and who can help me out with files??? I am otherwise inclined to invest some huge money for those elusive original pressings AND getting these professionally transferred AND mastered. Btw I have some first-hand info meanwhile reg. the Repertoire-CDs. Pretty much all (or most) of what was assumed to have been done [e.g. so-called "Mono Single Versions" being foldowns] is correct. If anyone has a peculiar question left, I'd be happy to check.
I’m pretty sure (need to check) that the true mono mix of Vigil was only released in Australia and New Zealand. Didn’t it get released during a Record Store Day?
Some of these mono mixes that aren't on the Repertoire CD's are available digitally. The mono mixes are "Friday On My Mind", "Pretty Girl" and "Made My Bed, Gonna Lie In It" can be found on the Australian CD release of The Best of The Easybeats + Pretty Girl. The 2014 RSD release uses the 1980's stereo remixes. The true UK mono mixes of Good Friday was released on vinyl for RSD 2016 and the Australian mono release of Vigil was released on RSD 2017. But yes, as you now know from reading this thread, The Easybeats' digital catalogue is messy, incomplete and is due for a massive overall. It also doesn't help with Repertoire's decision to place the bonus tracks across the albums in non-chronological order. william r small gives a good run down of the Repertoire CD's (what IS available digitally) here: The Easybeats: Album by Album Thread (pt3) and The Easybeats: Album by Album Thread (pt3) The Albert Productions CD's (Easy, It's 2 Easy and Volume 3) have superior audio quality, but are processed in fake stereo and feature no bonus tracks.
The 12-track Australian mono version of "Vigil" (Parlophone PMCO 7551) was indeed re-released on Record Store Day, April 2017 as Varese Vintage 302 067 1. Andrew Sandoval, who supervised the RSD version, took great care to duplicate the same mono mixes as heard on the original Australian release. These tracks are dedicated mono mixes and I believe that a couple of them may be very slightly different than corresponding mono mixes which appeared on the 14-track UK mono release (United Artists ULP 1193). The 14-track UK stereo version (SULP 1193) is identical to the New Zealand Parlophone stereo release (PCSM 6062). Although "Vigil" was originally issued in mono only in Australia, I understand the New Zealand release was originally issued only in stereo and was pressed from UK stampers. Confusing as this is, I hope this might help! By the way, my discussion of the Repertoire CD reissues was not based only upon my own ears and assumptions. I consulted Andrew Sandoval and Alec Palao concerning these. Andrew has been involved in several Easybeats reissues over the years and Alec is Shel Talmy's personal assistant and caretaker of Talmy's own original 4-track session master tapes. And, they are both passionate Easybeats fans.
What about the mono version on Repertoire's "It's 2 Easy"-CD [2:13 min] ? Could that be the original EP version (1)?
I waited a couple days to see if Garethofoz might step up to answer this question but he has apparently left the building. The version of "All Gone Boy" from the Repertoire CD of "It's 2 Easy" is indeed the same as originally issued on United Artists French EP "Heaven and Hell," No. 36.117 UAE (July 1967) and on Australian EP No. GEPO 70048 (November '67). This would be the mono version as originally recorded and mixed by Shel Talmy and his engineer Glyn Johns in 1967. Here is some additional information about the Shel Talmy sessions which may (or may not) be new to this Thread and maybe to some readers here. Even before leaving Australia, Easybeats manager Mike Vaughan had made contact with Beatles producer George Martin in London, connected by a mutual acquaintance at EMI in Sydney. Martin had suggested a London PR man named Brian Sommerville to Vaughan. Sommerville had been The Beatles' Press Agent on their first US visit and he had later worked for The Kinks. Through his connection with the latter band, Sommerville knew independent producer Shel Talmy and he would later arrange to introduce Talmy to The Easybeats. "Friday On My Mind." 'Made My Bed," "Pretty Girl" and "Remember Sam" were recorded on 8 September 1966 at I.B.C. Studios, London. The first two tracks were issued as a UK single on October 14, 1966 and debuted in the British Top 40 on November 9th. Further recordings were made with Talmy in January and February 1967 at both I.B.C. and Pye Studios in London. The twelve tracks released on the UK "Good Friday" LP were all completed by late February and received mono and stereo mixes in preparation for LP release. (For unknown reasons there are a few slight anomalies between the US and UK mono LP mixes. Stereo mixes between the two countries appear to be identical.) Two completed tracks, "All Gone Boy" and "Lisa" were not used in the album running order and mono mixes of these appeared on EPs. ("Lisa" appeared on United Artists French EP "Who'll Be the One," No. 36.112 UAE (April 1967). A completed alternative take of "Lisa" featuring an alternative band track and different lyrics, was released in April 2017 on the highly recommended 'various artists' CD called "Making Time: A Shel Talmy Production" (Ace CDCHD 1497.) The Easybeats were reportedly well prepared and rehearsed upon entering the studio with Talmy and required a minimum of "takes" to complete recordings onto four-track tape. The only exception was "Happy Is the Man," which Talmy had suggested as a single release and this went to nearly twenty takes, over different sessions, before completion. Two incomplete performances remain in Talmy's tape collection. These are an early alternative arrangement of "Happy Is the Man" and an unfinished instrumental which was titled "Express Yourself" on the tape box. Many thanks to Andrew Sandoval and Alec Palao for detailed information included here.
I wonder what this silver vinyl re-release or It's 2 Easy from Music On Vinyl will be like (out April 26th) - I wouldn't expect anything nearly as perfect as the Vigil Record Store Day issue from 2017, but it'll be interesting to find out where this is sourced from. Will it be the Repertoire version on vinyl? THE EASYBEATS – IT’S 2 EASY - Music On Vinyl
Has anybody here heard a decent quality version of HP Man? I've got the 1975 vol 2 best of, and the version on there sounds as grotty as the CD versions. So I'm wondering if the 1969 Vol 2 and/or the original B-side sound any better?
The best (by far) is the B-Side to the single of “Peculiar Hole In The Sky”, followed by the ‘75 release and then the ‘69 last. The ‘69 is very harsh and lacks any bass. The ‘75 is much better but is still lacking bottom end. The single is FAT, with a nice wooly bass line and is the go to. Keep in mind that H.P. Man will never sound amazing. It was a Central Sounds recording and was meant as a demo. Alberts stuck it on the Volume 2 album to capitalise on their ‘69 tour when the band was no longer signed (and without consent).
Handbill for final night of the tour. The University of Notre Dame is 2 miles north of South Bend, Indiana. One more date, 5 September, for the Ohio State Fair in Columbus, was apparently cancelled due to unavailability of a couple of the artists in the show (not the Easybeats). At conclusion of the tour, The Easybeats are thought to have spent the following four days sightseeing in New York City before returning to London on Saturday the 9th.
I found a couple more dates August 15, 1967-Memorial Auditorium Greenville SC August 19, 1967-Clowes Memorial Auditorium Indianapolis IN
I have to disagree a little bit about this concert.I just played my copy of the sydney concert this week, that taped off air (played on Mlebourne FM radio without commercial breaks) so long ago. 1)The crowd reaction is fantastic...and continues throughout the entire concert. 2)the recording quality is clearly superior to the five tracks that did make it to cd...it made me wonder if the fm broadcast I heard and taped is actually the same concert...but it it is,although I think it's almost like a remix of what's on the cd. 3) Stevie's voice is still quite good, it's certainly not a mess, although obviously to everyone the Melbourne concert was a better gig,and in 1983 I saw him live and his voice then was still really amazing (on that tour he did easybeats as well as an awesome version of Flash and The Pan's "Love is the gun"...I wished they taped that tour!), but I don't find the way he sang a reason to not put out the whole 1986 concert.
Before I begin, it saddens me the fact that this thread seems kind of dead. The fact it is usually weeks or months before another post is made here. This is really the only thread about the Easybeats on the entire website that is somewhat active, or made with the band in mind. Anyway, I was just thinking about this. Like virtually every other Australian group from the sixties, The Easybeats are full of mystery (particularly the Australian years), many facts are often conflicting and most questions won't end up with answers as the population of the Easybeats' fans shrink over time. Their are many things about the band that is often questioned particularly involving their recordings and the technology used for said recordings, but this is something a bit different. It involves Dick Diamonde, the bass player of the group. After the Easybeats disbanded in 1970 he seemingly fell off the end of the world (pun intended). He was completely away from the public eye until the Easybeats reunion in the mid 1980s where he came back and then vanished again. All the other members of the group have some form of a story after the band: George and Harry kept writing and performing songs until they retired in the 1990s, Stevie had a solo career which eventually got overtaken by alcohol and drugs, Snowy owned a successful construction company and Tony ditched the drums altogether to become a bass player. But virtually nothing is known about Dick. The common story is that he retired to New South Wales and that's about it. There is virtually nothing about him. From what I've found their is little evidence if he is alive or deceased. When Stevie and George passed away, it was all across the news and even Tony has an article about him. Even though Harry and Snowy have moved on from the Easybeats, they still give interviews, give help in Easybeats related projects and go out to mourn their deceased band mates, but Dick has never been found. I have found comments by various people on other forums stating they knew Dick, but all of them talk about him before or during the Easybeats never even mentioning him afterwards. I understand that he is an obscure person in the scheme of things but if people have been searching for Snowy, I don't understand why not Dick unless he isn't here. Maybe he's trying to hold the record for longest amount of time a person stays inside a house. If their is any info on him I missed please let me know, more mystery to the Easybeats tale.
It is my understanding that Dick returned to the faith of his youth and is currently an ordained minister at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses at Ballina on the east coast of Australia. He has put his life as a musician behind him and prefers not to discuss his time as an Easybeat. Hope this helps. I'm personally sorry about this Thread but our other contributors have apparently lost interest and have moved on, just as Dick did. Below: photo of Dick taken at his church a couple years back.
I see you joined SHF in April 2018, so you just missed the bulk of activity on this thread. From 2013 to about 2016 there were several dozen posts a day while we were documenting the group's releases. Since getting caught up to the late-90's chronology-wise, there has obviously been less activity simply because we've reached a point of fewer releases by the band (mainly compilations). Additionally, as @william r small said above, a few of the contributors have moved on. Thankfully, all of our efforts and comments from the last several years are there to be read and researched indefinitely...
just saw this picture the other day ! is it the same place as the easybeats it 2 easy album cover? looks the same to me ! 'Is 2 degrees warmer really that bad?': Scientists answer your questions
Hank B. Marvin from 'The Shadows' also did the same disappearing act when he got fully involved to be a 'Witness'. They tend to really forget or put behind their previous when they join that religion. If your in that faith, you can source them out through connections, but otherwise, as a rock star, he is most certainly 'missing in action'.
