I feel good (Citizen Band) (LP 248-249)

Citizen Band Citizen Band (Vinyl - Polydor/ Mandrill, 1978) ****
Citizen Band Just Drove Thru Town (Vinyl - CBS, 1979) ***

Genre:  New Zealand rock/pop

Places I remember:  Marbecks Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: My Pohutukawa (from Citizen Band)




Gear costume:  The Ladder Song (a great single and off Citizen Band) and Rust In My Car (a good single of off Just Drove Thru Town)




Active compensatory factors: Second year at Auckland University and Greg Knowles and I fell head over heels for the smarty pants Beatles-esque fun rock 'n' roll of Citizen Band. Greg lead the cheerleading and he was spot on.

We'd been to a gig featuring Geoff Chunn's previous band (After Hours) and thought they were a promising band. 

Kevin Simms joined the party because he had a cassette tape of CB live at Westlake Girls' (I think it was there rather than the Boys' version). Of course, we were all big Split Enz fans so we were up for CB from the off.

Fair to say we all bonded over the music which was all grrrreat.

What a line up - The Ladder Song, Dig That Tex, My Pohutukawa, Julia, I Feel Good (showing the boys knew their kiwi music history), and capped off by the wig out that is Tex Goes To The Tinema (sic). It's a NZ music classic.

Second album syndrome hit them after that. Jay Lewis may have felt like a smart choice as producer but the glossy mix is underwhelming. Glyn Tucker Jnr shoulda done it again.

What a shame because Geoff Chunn's songs are worthy and the musicians are all ace faces.

Where do they all belong? In my heart forever. Dig that Tex!

Affirmation (George Benson) (LP 150)

George Bens0n Breezin' (CD - Warner Bros, 1976) ***

Genre: Jazz

Places I remember: The Warehouse, Hastings NZ

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles/ Gear costume: Breezin'




Active compensatory factors: When I was working for Marbecks Records during a 1981 University holiday, George Benson's double album The George Benson Collection came out. Oh my my! Did it go off!! We're talkin' mega!! I lifted a ton of those beasts onto the racks!

At the time the smooth jazz guitar stylings were a bit too poppy for my tastes. Plus I had/have this thing about stuff that everybody is buying. 

Instead I picked up a compilation, in the Columbia Jazz Profiles series, that is much more to my taste, being pre-pop stardom Benson.

Anyway. Breezin' had come out in the mid seventies and my old buddy (as in he's been a mate for yonks), Greg Knowles, taped a copy for me and I fell for the first few tracks, before the strings take over. It became a guilty pleasure of sorts.

And now, here it is some 40 years later and I picked up a CD copy cheap from a clearance bin at a red shed. It still has that lovely glow of familiarity about it - a re-acquaintance with an old friend!

Where do they all belong? George's pop/jazz niche is pretty much his own, so, kudos George. Next up it's back to Anouar Brahem in the jazz genre.

Forever Young (Bob Dylan and The Band) (LP 112)

The Band The Last Waltz (CD - Warner Brothers, 1978) *****

Genre: Canadian pop/ rock

Places I remember: The Warehouse CD copy replaced the cassette tape that (I think) Greg Knowles gave me.

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Who Do You Love (with Ronnie Hawkins) gets the set off to a storming start after the haunting Theme from The Last Waltz. Big time Bill! Big Time!




Gear costume: Plenty of other gear highlights - maybe the best Band moment is one of my favs - Life Is A Carnival. At the time, Greg and I were very taken with Van the man's spots as well.

Active compensatory factors: G.K. and I went and saw the movie in Queen Street while we were at Auckland University. I had the tape for years, thanks to him, but when I saw it going cheap at The Warehouse, I couldn't resist an upgrade. It is a classic, after all! 

The set shows off the best of both The Band as The Band and how great they were as a band, backing other talented individuals.

The special guests are very very special and his Bobness is in prime form. 

All that and Levon Helm has surely one of the best voices in rock and roll.

Only down point (still) for me is Neil Diamond. Levon was right, Robbie - you shoulda nixed that one.

Where do they all belong? As a high water mark for the seventies, it's pretty much untouchable. 

Lissa I am, doing what I can (Russia) #335

Russia Lissa/ Boucher (EMI, HR 591, 1979)

My memories of this one are a little dim - I'm sure I bought this on my good buddy's (GK) recommendation. I think he heard it on Radio Hauraki and we each bought a copy on our regular record buying trips to K Rd and Queen St.

We'd started these while at school - beginning first at George Courts on K Rd, going through St Kevin's Arcade (an early version of Real Groovy was the draw), through Myers Park to Queen St. for 246, Taste, Lewis Eadys and finishing off at the best of the lot - Marbecks Records in the Queen's Arcade.

But I digress- Russia was an Auckland five piece band who, I think, had only this one single. They were guitarists Mark Wenski, Chris Murray, Tom Boucher on bass, Graham Osbourne vocals and Noel Christian drums.

I have no idea what happened to the band but Greg sent me a photo of guitarist Chris Murray, looking like a dude, busking outside Countdown in Pt Chev. - apparently he's a regular.

Lissa is a really good pop song with some nifty hooks.

Hidden gem: The B side is a real ripper - Boucher is obviously the bassist's name. The punkish attitude in the song held real appeal for me at the time, and it still sounds like a blast of energised pop music. 

Lissa is available for a listen on this link:

http://www.ricko.co.nz/russia.htm

With every mistake we must surely be learning (The Beatles) #174

The Inbetweens Make A Wish Amanda/ While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Impact, IR 1056, 1970)

The Inbetweens started life in Dunedin (NZ) in 1967. Their story is one of try and try and if, at first, you don't suck seed, try again. Well they tried and they tried to make their big break (Auckland, Sydney, Los Angeles) but they could never break through to the big time. 

By the mid seventies they had given up their quest having fallen out of favour, even in their homeland.

But their music is still around!

Part of their legacy is this snappy single recorded in Auckland. I happen to have it in my collection thanks to a record swap deal with a school mate - Greg Knowles. I'm reminded of this because he wrote his initials GK on his stuff, including this single.

The remarkable thing is that the band were still teenagers when they recorded this single. Rob Guest, who went on to have a solo career as a show biz light entertainer, had become the lead vocalist in 1970, and so it does sound quite professional.

The A side is actually a nice slice of NZ pop - with different vocals it would sound like a long lost early ABBA track.

Hidden gems: The boys make a good fist of Eric Clapton's guitar blitz on the Beatles' While My Guitar... by fuzzing up the guitar and changing the bassline. It's pretty impressive stuff given their age and level of experience.

I was far out, I was groovy (Citizen Band) #84 - 85

Citizen Band In A Lifetime/ Good Morning Citizen (Mandrill M 10007,  1977)

Citizen Band I Feel Good/ 1 Good Morning Citizen 2 My Pohutakawa (Mandrill Drill 4,  1977)

I'm pretty sure it was my old school friend, and (in 1977) my varsity buddy, Greg Knowles who broke the news about Citizen Band. He'd heard about them, maybe from his big brother Michael or maybe it was his sister Susan (pretty sure it wasn't his mum although she was pretty hip as I remember).

Anyway GK was a fan and pretty soon, after he shared the secret, so was I. We loved them partly because they were so accessible. Our new University friend, Kevin Simms, had a tape of Citizen Band and Hello Sailor live at Westlake Girls' High School - the bands often played college gigs - they were cunning! How great was that - we were practically related!

We knew Mike from Split Ends (before they became the Enz) and we'd seen Geoff in After Hours at the Old Maid(ment) Theatre at Auckland University before Waves played. We knew Eccles and Clark from the awesome Space Waltz album.

We were ready for Citizen Band!
 

In A Lifetime had stiffed before Greg shared his discovery and I was ignorant of its existence until after I Feel Good and the other great songs on their first album - Citizen Band.

In A Lifetime didn't make the album, whereas the B side did! The A side is an okay song but it's not representative of the boys' quirky sense of humour and the melodies that would later come pouring out of the classic Geoff Chunn/ Warren Sly writing partnership.

It's I Feel Good where the CB story really starts. A remake of the old Larry's Rebels song; it injects more drive (go Brent!), more infectious fun and more guitar to the original great song. It's become a CB signature tune.

Hidden gems: Good Morning Citizen was clearly a band favourite - it appears as two B sides and is the opening track on their first album but it's not a great song. That description does apply to My Pohutakawa. It IS a great kiwi song.

You're my Pohutakawa, you're my greenstone, my paua, you're the mussel in my sholes, the sausage in my rolls.

Genius! Sholes rhymes with rolls! That's CB at its finest.

They redid the song for the album so this single version is quite rare and I prefer the energy here to the album version. Looking for an alternative national anthem? Right here!

Let me be your little dog 'til your big dog comes (Carl Perkins) #21 - 25 of 300 singles

Welcome to The Beatles alternate universe. It's a world of bootlegs, alternate B sides and different A sides, weird labels, and more.

The Beatles Twist and Shout/ Falling In Love Again  (Lingasong NB 1, 1977)

The Beatles Love Me Do/ I Saw Her Standing There   (Parlophone NZP 3158, ?)

The Beatles All My Loving/ Roll Over Beethoven   (Parlophone NZP 3158, ?)

The Beatles Slow Down/ Matchbox   (Apple 5255, ?)

The Beatles And I Love Her/ I Should Have Known Better   (Parlophone NZP, ?)

Toldja. Weird stuff. Apple? Lingasong? New Zealand red Parlophone singles with different songs and B sides? Yep - that's right.

The Lingasong single accompanied the Live! At The Star Club, Hamburg Germany 1962 double LP. It's raw and shoddy but of historic interest (only). Both songs are on the album so no hidden gems - just a bizarre choice for a B side.

The Apple one was part of an American reissue campaign and I have a complete set of the NZ red Parlophone singles which have came from swaps over the years with collectors (including Mr G Knowles) and other sources like radio NZ.  

Hidden gems: I Saw Her Standing There is a natural for a single and way better than the fairly lame Love Me Do but didn't ever appear on a UK single; Ringo is in top form as he tears into the Carl Perkins Matchbox; and George's cover of Chuck's Beethoven is also a superb side bar part of The Fabs' career.

What a band = four superb musicians, four fantastic singers with their own styles, and three world class writers (sorry Ritchie). Will we ever see there like again? Will we heck as like.

Hey Lord, would ya look out for her tonight and make sure that she's gonna be alright until she's home in here with me (Billy Joel)

1. The Exponents – Like She Said (1994)/ Nameless Girl (1992)
2. Blerta - Dance All Around The World (1972)/ Joy Joy (1972)
3. Dragon – Young Years (1989)/ Rain (1984)
4. John Hanlon - Higher Trails (1975)/ Wind Songs (1975)
5. Crowded House - Private Universe (1994)/ Weather With You (1991)
6. Split Enz - Six Months In A Leaky Boat  (1982)/ Split Ends - One Two Nine (1973)
7. Max Merritt and The Meteors - Slippin’ Away (1976)/ Let it Slide (1976)
8. Headband - The Laws Must Change (1971)/ Good Morning Mr Rock N Roll (1971)
9. Citizen Band - My Pohutakawa (1978)/ The Ladder Song (1978)

Ninth in the Wozza countdown of the 10 best Nu Zild bands and their two best songs is the Chunn brothers'supergroup from the seventies called Citizen Band (a sponsorship deal with Citizen watches was a cunning plan).

Super because Geoff and Mike were from the Enz; Clark and Eccles were from Space Waltz.

I can't remember if I formed an attachment to CB via collecting discs on the Mandrill Records label or after hearing the I Feel Good single which has Good Morning Citizen AND My Pohutakawa on the B side. Or maybe it was the Citizen Band live at Westlake Girls' cassette that Greg or Kevy gave me (not sure who it was - both had an attachment to CB; Greg might remember - he's younger than me and has a much sharper memory. I believe he even belonged to the CB fan club but that could be just idle speculation).

However way it happened - it happened and we all fell for the Brent Eccles Muldoon impressions, the twangy guitar of Greg Clark, the gifted Geoff Chunn songs and the humour from Mike Chunn.

All came together on their first album in particular and on this early single mentioned above (the redone LP version of My Pohutakawa does not improve on the single version in my humble opinion).

The band flamed out after two studio albums and a dull live album. If they'd asked I would have supplied the Live At Westlake Girls' tape - now that one had the goods!

[Sorry - nothing on youtube for either of these two songs.]

Ah c'mon all you lads (Split Enz)

1. The Exponents – Like She Said (1994)/ Nameless Girl (1992)
2. Blerta - Dance All Around The World (1972)/ Joy Joy (1972)
3. Dragon – Young Years (1989)/ Rain (1984)
4. John Hanlon - Higher Trails (1975)/ Wind Songs (1975)
5. Crowded House - Private Universe (1994)/ Weather With You (1991)
6. Split Enz - Six Months In A Leaky Boat  (1982)/ Split Ends - One Two Nine (1973)

Sixth in the Wozza countdown of the 10 best Nu Zild bands and their two best songs is the mighty Split Ends who then became the even more mighty Split Enz.

One of the great things about NZ music is how accessible the bands are to the public at large.

My mate Greg wrote recently to tell me that he remembers hearing Dragon rehearsing from their house near his place in Mt Eden when he was a teenager. He also reminded me that people could book John Hanlon to appear in their living rooms with his guitar and voice.

The band who played at the Mt Albert Grammar school ball in 1976 was Th' Dudes - a great NZ band who may have made my top 10 (you'll have to wait and see). I remember the night well!

And then there was Split Ends, as they were called when they started out: a people's band if ever there was one. The Finn's of Te Awamutu - there you have it - as down home as you can get!


I have a single in my collection at home in Nu Zild that is very special to me. It is Split Ends One Two Nine on the EMI label. You'll notice it was the B side (to Sweet Talking Spoon Song, a good but to my ears, an inferior song to the wonderful One Two Nine).

It was given to me in 1973 by a school friend from Mt Albert Grammar - a fellow member of Senior Five - Michael Budd. I can remember the day he gave it me very clearly.

I was living with the rest of my family in Asquith Ave in Mt Albert at the time, close to another mate (Peter Cahill) while we were waiting for our new home in Mt Roskill to be built. I loved living so close to all my friends (Mike lived in Ponsonby) and so close to the school.

One day during the summer holidays Mike came round to our place in his little Morris Minor (called a Morrie Thousand or Morrie Thou' for short) after work. He was working at the local Heards’ sweet factory.

He had a pile of singles with him: One Two Nine by a group called Split Ends. Seems some members of the group were also working at the Heards factory - supplementing a non-existent income I guess - and they had given Mike some singles to give to his friends. I still have the copy he gave me as I mentioned.

This was fantastic because I knew the song from the TV show - a NZ Opportunity Knocks style show called New Faces. We all loved this show - an early precursor to the X Factor, Turkmenistan's Got Talent rubbish we have now.

At the time it was one of the rare chances we had to see some pop bands on TV. I can remember seeing bands like Split Ends and Space Waltz and solo artists like John Hanlon and Shona Laing from that show especially.



Regardless of my rose tinted memories, it’s a great great song – done in an endearingly flippant kind of tone. I can remember being slightly disappointed with their first album (Mental Notes) because it was much darker and dense in its sound compared to the fun One Two Nine.

Six Months… comes from a vastly different period for the band; much more straight forwardly poppy thanks to Nil Fun being a member (see my previous post for his adventures after the end of the Enz).

It’s probably become a larger than intended touchstone for ex-pats because of the New Zealand references (Aotearoa, rugged individual) and the succinct explanation for our country’s isolation (tyranny of distance).

I include it also to celebrate the patriotic feel that I always have when I live outside the country. Even when I visited NZ at Christmas I felt more positive about the place. Much more positive.

Here’s my top ten of NZ positivity

·         The music industry is fantastic.

·         Isolation can be a blessing.

·         Being laid back is better than over thinking things.

·         Pohutakawa blooms are amazing.

·         The All Blacks won the world cup.

·         The proximity of the sea and swimming beaches is a real plus.

·         The film industry is exciting.

·         JB Hi Fi has a great CD and DVD selection at reasonable prices.

·         My habibi and the immediate fandamly are (mostly) there.

·         And, of course, some of my favourite people are NZers.