DOWNLOAD NO.207 - SOUTHERN CONTEMPORARY ROCK ASSEMBLY

This band was massive with 11 band members at it height and they came from the UK, Oz and NZ. The band also incorporated various styles of rock and pop. They could rock with big band tracks similar to Blood, Sweat And Tears and then take it down a notch to small quiet love songs.

Some of the original band members were from Levi Smith's Clefs which provided a valuable training ground for young players.

New Zealander, Mike “Mickey” Leyton became a member after leaving his band Sounds Unlimited (from Auckland). He married singer Lyn Barnett and they moved to Sydney in the late 1960s. In February 1971 Mickey had became a singer in a pub band called Small Chant (which over the course of 1971 was upgraded to become SCRA - Southern Contemporary Rock Assembly).

The Small Chant members were: Barrie Heidenreich - piano, Mickey Leyton - vocals, Wayne Ford - bass, Peter Martin – classical guitar and composer and Leon Isakson on drums. Peter was breaking his neck to play classical works after studies in Spain. Peter had also written a few songs including one called Roly Poly, which they played live but never recorded as Small Chant.

By mid 1971 Peter Martin had finally secured a permanent gig at the Oceanic Hotel, but by that time Leon Isakson had joined the Delltones. Peter’s band went into the Oceanic with the old line-up of the Small Chant plus a few changes. Barrie had other commitments and Peter replaced him with his star pupil on guitar, Jim Kelly. Russell Dunlop came in on drums with Ian Bloxom on percussion and Dave Ellis on bass. Greg Foster (trombone and blues harp), Mick Kenny (trumpet) and Don Wright (sax) made up the front-line. Michael Lawler’s girlfriend, Sheryl Blake, made up the 3rd singer with the band along with Mickey Leyton and Ian Saxon. And so SCRA was formed. It was a huge 11-piece band and it all sounded fabulous. Dig Richards was so impressed that he decided to use SCRA on his next RCA album, Harlequin.

Singles:

CC Rider (M7 4512) 1971
Roly Poly (M7 4514) - #19 December 1971
Sydney Born Man (M7 4519) 1971
Our Ship (Atlantic 10009) 1972
It’s A Game (Atlantic 10012) 1972

Sheryl Blake female singer with SCRA has a solo single “As Long As Life Goes On” lodged on this blog. Please use the search facility to locate this track.

The single of "CC Rider" is available at download No.56 - type 56 in the search facility box and scroll down the page to this second item...

Here for download is a live recording of SCRA at Sunbury 1972. The track “I Just Want To Make Love To You” is taken from the DVD of this recording which is different again to the version dubbed and cleaned up for the commercial version on the 1972 Sunbury Soundtrack:

http://rapidshare.com/files/226298239/s_c_r_a_-_i_wanna_make_love_to_you__live_at_sunbury_.mp3