DOWNLOAD NO.105 - SOFFROK

“Set Me Free” was a hit song by a young Aussie band that seemed destined for a big future. In 1972 the song reached #40 in the NSW top 100 and the main man behind it was legendary muso Rick Turk.

Here is a little about him from his online biography:

I started playing the piano when I was 5. I joined a band at 14 and we were doing school dances within a year or so. We ended up doing supports for a few of the well-known bands around Sydney and as I was still underage - the rest of the guys were older than me and had driving licenses The singer in our band, 'The Blue Feelings' - I know, don't say anything - went on to change his name and became a famous pop singer in OZ called Marty Rhone. The rest of us went our own ways and ended up in different bands. I was sent off to Uni to do a degree so that I'd have "something to fall back on." At Uni, I met a couple of guys through a mutual friend, Jeremy and Richard to give them names, who played bass and piano respectively. We found a great drummer named John Proud and 'a group was born'. We started off by being the backing group for a singer who had a recording contract - he shall remain nameless - and we ended up with a recording contract with Alberts/EMI ourselves. We couldn't think of a name for the group, but we were playing a kind of soft rock style of music, for restaurants, clubs and piano bars etc, so what did this really creative foursome do - we called it 'Soffrok'. No points for originality but heaps for stating the bleeding obvious. No one ever got the spelling right. We recorded 5 of my songs and one, "Set Me Free", actually made it to #40 on the charts with the help of Simon Napier-Bell (the guy that signed WHAM! and ripped them off - but he was a great producer!) We were off - or so we thought - with dreams of tours around the world and platinum album sales. Not to be. We split up 2 years later.

Here is a link to Rick Turk's web page:

http://www.rickturk.com/bio.html

I don't know if anyone else hears a similarity with Elton John's "Country Comfort" but to me they seem very similar. The song is presented here as an extended Tom Mix. Enjoy!

http://rapidshare.com/files/179958424/Soffrok_-_Set_Me_Free__Ext_Tom_Mix_.mp3