A MIXED BAG OF AUSSIES:
In the 1940 and 1950's Australia's music tastes were satisfied by a blend of English and American music played on the radio. The first Australian recorded music stars were country bush balladeers such as Tex Morton, Slim Dusty and Reg Lindsay. Other than Australian country music, some big bands did a little recording and the first actual 'Hit Parade' style of performer was the Les Welch Band with “They Called It Dixieland”, in May 1956.
The Red Perksey Band came in second with a song from the then new movie “A Town like Alice” in Sept 1956. Red Perksey was a French jazz musician who arrived in Australia in 1951 and began to record conventional dance music for the Pacific label in 1953. The singer with the band was Ray Dickson. The song “A Town like Alice” got to chart position #5 in 1956.
“(Be My) Saturday Girl” by Johnny O’Connor with orchestra conducted by Julian Lee, got to #24 in 1959. The song was from the stage musical “Lola Montez”. The CD of this production was available for sale at one stage.
Graeme Emerson Bell AO MBE, b.1914 Melbourne, is ‘The Father of Australian Jazz”. Graeme was 11 when he began studying classical piano, but he was converted to jazz by his younger brother, trumpeter Roger. One of Graeme’s pop hits was “Rag Trade Rag” which got to position #19 in 1963.
The Le Garde Twins had a #32 hit in 1961 with “Where Can The Lovelight Be”. Some of their material surfaces on C.D. but is not widely distributed. 
"Rocking" John Currie had a #29 hit in 1974 with his traditional folk ballad “Four Maries”. John tried the following year with "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" which charted briefly in NSW.
Here is a RAR file download which contains:
“A Town like Alice”
“(Be My) Saturday Girl”
“Rag Trade Rag”
“Where Can The Lovelight Be”
“Four Maries”
http://rapidshare.com/files/180563234/tom_mix_oldies_from_oze.rar
This download is “They Called It Dixieland”:
http://rapidshare.com/files/180590857/les_welch_-_and_they_called_it_dixieland.mp3
Thanks for these ones Tom. Gees you're really going back now :-)
ReplyDeleteNonethless much appreciated & loking forward to hearing these (mostly) pre-Oz rock songs
Micko
Tom, I tried download this mix of songs which supposedly has a file size of 27,000-28,000KB however the download lasted only 20 seconds with 385KB only being downloaded???
ReplyDeleteNot sure how to fix that?
I am really only after the John Currie song 'Four Maries' .. can you help?
Thanks
Richard
rbiec@pmsltd.co.nz
RAR file no longer works.
ReplyDeleteLooking for "where can the livelight be" but not sure of the artist until I listen.
Graeme
Hi
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled across your site and couldn't believe it! You mention Ray Dickson as singer in the band The Red Perskey Band. Well, Ray is my dad. Dad is now 87, still driving, playing bowls weekly and is just an amazing man! He had and for his age today, still has, a beautiful voice. He still performs for special functions. In 1954 he was also humbled to sing in front of the Queen during her visit and sang "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Everything I Have is Yours". Unfortunately, I never inherited my dad's beautiful voice but fingers crossed my grandchildren may. He actually recorded a few records of his own and was also backed by Lou Toppano & his orchestra on ones I recall. Thanks Cheryl