Easybeats

THE EASYBEATS

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DISCOGRAPHY

The Easybeats were formed in Australia in 1964 when they met all at Sydney’s austere Villawood Migrant Hostel. They soon found themselves to be the equivalent of the Beatles in Australia, causing what was called “Easyfever” throughout 1965. Although by the time the Easybeats landed in England in 1966, their creative balance was shifting. Originally Harry Vanda, who was actually Dutch and Englishman lead singer Stevie Wright would pen their tunes, now Vanda teamed up with George Young and the first song written together, which was also the first to be recorded in England (with Shel Talmy producing) was the song that is most remembered from them:Friday On My Mind. A huge international hit, it was the first for an Australian pop/rock group at the time.

Friday On My Mind let the Easybeats move on with confidence and resulted in spending most of 1967 and 68 in the studio, creating some of those years most ambitious work—which is no understatement. They tried their hand with all types of musical styles, from good old rock n’ roll (Good Times) to psych pop (Land Of Make Believe), all the while finding new beats, melodies and guitar styles not heard in pop music before. The group more or less disintegrated by 1969. Drummer Snowy had become too homesick to continue working in England with the group and Tony Cahil replaced him. Their last album, Friends, was released in 1970 and showed the group lean towards the boogie rock similar to what the Status Quo went for around that time. It is also important to note that the album was really a Vanda/Young collaboration, as the group didn’t really exist anymore. However, a great wealth of unreleased work that was left behind eventually surfaced, salvaged in 1977, when Vanda & Young compiled The Shame Just Drained LP. Featuring 15 tracks from sessions dating from 1967-68, it shows the Easybeats should have been destined for greater things, but in similar style to the Kinks work of the same time, appreciation came much too late. Repertoire Records lovingly released all their original albums (with generous amounts of bonus tracks) in the early nineties.