Songs , 300-700kB (Full length, mono low quality MP3's)
Some of these songs were recorded in the 1950's and as such, sound quality is representative of the era. The rest of the songs were recorded in 1998.
Information on each of the tracks from the CD can be found at the bottom of the page
Track Information by Harold Frith
Go Downtown
This song started off in my mind in the early 60's as a rockabilly vocal. However, we decided during early rehearsals for this album to turn it into an instrumental. When the band had finished reworking it we ended up with a classic T-Birds stomper. A hard driving workout for the rhythm section, Murray's rollicking two hand piano. Henri's raunchy tenor sax and a blistering guitar solo from Laurie Bell.
Prehistoric
This is a new "old" Thunderbirds number reminiscent of the style which brought success the first time around. The main theme and arrangement had been running round my head consistently over the years and with the help and input from the other guys it has finally gotten out and seen the light of day. My head feels better too!
House will Rock
This is a favorite Treniers song from our live repertoire, reviving memories from the period in the 50's when this type of band were the mainstays of the old Rock & Roll movies. We tried to faithfully re-create the authentic sound and atmosphere of this period. My vintage 1940 Ludwig Snare Drum, Henris' screaming Alto Sax, and vocals with Murray on lead and us other guys on background vocals and handclaps set this tap well.
Rollin' on Sunset
This arrangement started with an idea from Laurie built round a bass string guitar riff (with tremolo) typical of the period, and an unusual climbing middle section in harmony with Henri. After some input from the rhythm section it turned into another T-Birds rocker. There's those handclaps again !!!
Caravan
This classic" has been a favorite of everyone's including the Thunderbirds for many years. This version kicks off with a great riff from Pete and Laurie which sets up the exotic atmosphere for the first verse section. The bridge is typically vintage Thunderbird stomp led by Henri on sax and underpinned by Murray's New Orleans pumping piano.
Towards the end of the piece, some fine didgeridoo playing by Henri adds to the mood. An interesting point is that the ending was originally intended to be a fade-out When we listened to the play back the "fooling around things we played after the song was supposed to be over sounded like fun so we left it all in, warts and all.
Botswana Beat
This Afro-calypso number starts out with a catchy melody from Laurie, Murray adding a T-Birds rocking piano, a little bit of reggae bass from Pete, healthy drums, plus two extra percussion overdubs from yours truly. Check out the guido and cowbell just before the second chorus. The initial working title for this song was actually Calypso Rock, but after Henri added the honking tenor sax part it got a whole lot more tribal, so a shift from the Bahamas to Africa was required, at least for the title!
We're Gonna Teach you to Rock
Another band featured in the early rock & roll movies was Freddie Bell and The Bellboys. They sometimes added extra brass players to their recordings in a carry over from the jazz inspired rhythm & blues big bands of the day. This is one of their best with it's obvious message from the earliest days of Rock & Roll. Our version features vocals by Pete and Laurie on the chorus with Murray on the lead just as it was at The Thunderbirds dances in the 50's and 60's. Pretty hot instrumental work from all concerned especially Henri's extended 48 bar tenor solo. Additional brass instruments were added on this cut (arrangement by Peter Robinson) featuring The Thunderbrass; Ivan Troha, baritone and tenor sax. Ben Sandow. trombone and Rod Campbell on trumpet.
Henri's Groove
Moving to a slightly more modern sound, this arrangement is reminiscent of the Hammond organ and tenor sax based combo's of the early to mid 60's. It was born at a rehearsal when we were jamming over an idea of Laurie's and it pretty well came together straight away. I really like it when after rocking out in the sax and guitar solos, the feel pulls right back to a very subdued pump, under Murray's Hammond solo and then back up again for the final theme and ending.
Royal Whirl
Originally released by The Thunderbirds in 1961 this was one of the first tunes we played when we had our reunion rehearsal in 1996 as headliners for the Moorabin Town Hall Concert series, also featuring old friends Betty McQuade, Colin Cook, The Fendermen, Malcolm Arthur and Billy Owens. This version is pretty faithful to the earlier version, with a nice rewrite of the sax and guitar harmony parts by Laurie Bell tasty new piano work by Murray, me on brushes, and Pete rounding out the rhythm section. I particularly like the full stereo sound which gives this track a lot more life than the old mono version.
Gonzo
Back in 1962 W&G Records made a live recording of The Thunderbirds dance at Preston Town Hall (in Melbourne) and released it on their GEM label as Quite A Party (now a rare collectors, item). As well as a fine vocal version of Roy Orbison's Candyman by Murray Robertson there was an instrumental called Gonzo featuring Henri on flute.
We thought this great tune deserved a studio version as it had never before been released on a single or a compilation album. It was also typical of a lot of jazz influenced things we used to really enjoy doing. The playing and the recorded sound on Henri's flute is exceptional and some great piano work by Murray almost overshadows the subtle guitar chops courtesy of Laurie Bell.
Rompin' and Stornpin'
After seeing Freddie Bell and The Bellboys live at The Stadium in Melbourne and on film in the fifties, The Thunderbirds became great fans of this style of music which paralleled our own instrumental and vocal style. We included some of their tunes in our live performances and always had a great time singing and playing them and all our fans just love dancing to them. This is a faithful rendition of that atmosphere and style of music. Vocal ensemble is Murray, Laurie and Peter, with Murray stepping out on lead vocal. Notice how the band digs in behind a wailing alto sax solo from Henri. Raunchy Another classic theme of the 50's but more from the country side of Rock & Roll. We went for a laid back but still driving sound, similar to the original version recorded by Bill Justis. However, the gut tar part was expanded and overdubbed by Laurie Bell to include an acoustic and a tremolo chord line making 4 guitars parts including his guitar solo. Simple tasty instrumental solos by the guys will Henri on alto sax again help turn this version into a cool little toe tapper.
Voodoo
Great vocal by Murray. The ThunderBrass again helped us out with this track. Ivan on Baritone sax, then doubling on Tenor, with Rod on trumpet and Ben on Trombone to make up a 4 piece section (brass arrangement by Peter Robinson). The guys blew up a storm on this, especially a great talking bass line from Pete (or is it a duet) behind Henri's wailing alto sax solo.
Wild Weekend
The Big One revisited. This is the tune that first brought recognition to The Thunderbirds. Because of it's historical importance we thought that we should include a new version because we wanted to and to see if we still could. Hope you like it too !
Brothers go to Mothers
Back in the late 50's early 60's Rock & Roll, the music of long haired rebellious youth (sound familiar), had yet to be accepted by most of the mainstream music industry, radio and television stations. It's early exponents, were looked down upon by legitimate musicians and most presenters in the media with the exception of Stan Rofe, then at station 3KZ, whose input and support was incalculable. In order to get onto TV, or gain any publicity from events which are automatically available to performers these days, it was necessary to sanitize our performances by referring to or disguising ourselves as something more acceptable. In order to appear on Graeme Kennedy's national television show, In Melbourne Tonight, The Thunderbirds had to come up with something a bit tamer. It was suggested that we do an arrangement of this tune from the hit TV show Peter Gunn. The band never performed this song again after the show. It was a one off performance. It is included here, as an example of what Rock sounded like, when it wasn't supposed to be Rock. Besides, any Henry Mancini tune can't be bad!
Rockin' Is Our Business
Rockin' certainly is our business and if our live shows are any indication the business is going well. We may be rockin' forever!
This song serves as an introduction to the boys in the band by Murray, once again on lead vocal with Laurie and Peter backing up on the chorus. Pulled from our live on stage repertoire, this song works every time, with pumping piano from Murray, Laurie's cutting guitar work and totally out of control saxophone soloing from Henri. No problems here!
Bell Boogie
This bonus track was recorded almost 40 years ago. It features exactly the same players appearing on this album today. The original recording took place at A.W.A. Studios in Melbourne. This forgotten recording was discovered by Laurie Bell while digging through his memorabilia box to find some Thunderbird photos for this CD.
It is reproduced on this cut, complete with surface noise and scratches, as perhaps the earliest recorded example of the fledgling Thunderbirds.
Laurie's guitar work is unique to this song in the way that he incorporates bell-like harmonics. The technique was to become popular with guitarists many years later. This was an improvised inclusion of a style probably stemming from his childhood studies of the violin.
Only a handful of electric guitar players existed in Melbourne at this time, and most of their instruments were acoustic guitars with some kind of rudimentary home made pickup attached. No imported solid body electric guitars were available in Australia until quite a few years later. Laurie, an engineer by trade, built his own solid-body electric guitar and used hand wound single-coil pickups developed by his good friend Peter McCarthy to recreate the sounds we were all hearing on the radio and on records coming from America at the time.
Later on he would build a solid body electric bass guitar for Peter Robinson as instruments of this type were not readily available in Australia. One other pioneer at the time was Kenny Hargreaves from the aristocrats who had experimented with a 3x2 hardwood plank strung up with piano strings.
Murray's formidable piano style shines through on this track, a very physical demanding boogiewoogie style that became necessary, due largely to the fact that pianos then had no internal amplification and, if you were lucky were fitted up with a mike on the outside or back and straight into a 40 Watt PA.
Also the quality and condition of the instrument that you were required to play was something that you had no control over. Whatever piano was at the venue, that was it. Play it boy!
A very young Peter is featured playing an upright double bass made by one of his mates from woodwork class at Preston Technical College.
It is a bit hard to hear exactly what I am playing as the drums were always recorded very low in the mix so the needle wouldn't jump while they were cutting the acetate. In those early days of recording in Australia, the recording was cut directly to an acetate (soft record) from the mixer output instead of going to tape. No overdubs or fancy bits on this track folks!!
However in spite of all that deprivation and hardship there is a spirit to this recording that still survives today. Five young Thunderbirds testing the water and preparing to jump out of the nest, flying onwards and outwards into the big wide world.
