6.12.2008

The Purple Hearts: The Sounds of... (Ep 1966, Very Rare Australian Garage Rock)

Originally formed in Brisbane in 1963, where they established a strong cult following with their wild brand of uncompromising heavy rock and R'n'B. An example, Here 'Tis can also be found on the Devil's Children CD.

They relocated to Melbourne in 1966 and when Redmond left to open a disco Tony Cahill was recruited as his replacement.

Lobby Loyde (aka Barry Lyde) was in their band prior to joining The Wild Cherries. Bob Dames went on to Black Cat Circle and then with Mick Hadley joined Coloured Balls. Tony Cahill later went on to The Easybeats.


Although the Purple Hearts' legacy is rather slim, amounting to five 1965-1967 singles, the group was one of the very toughest garage/R&B-styled bands on the '60s Australian scene. Like many Australian bands of the era, they were something of a cross between the British R&B/rock groups (like the Rolling Stones and the Pretty Things) and the somewhat less adept American garage bands, though they leaned more in the British R&B direction. And, like some other notable Australian bands, they in fact featured some recent British émigrés in the lineup. Their failure to record any original material helped exclude them from the first division of such international acts, but their singles always offered satisfying R&B-oriented covers, and occasionally thrilling ones.

Bassist Bob Dames and vocalist/harmonica player Mick Hadley, both of them recent arrivals from the U.K., starting playing together around 1963 in the Impacts in Brisbane, Australia's most conservative city. With the addition of guitarist Lobby Loyde and a more avowedly nasty, bluesy attitude, they evolved into the Purple Hearts by 1965, releasing their debut single in October of that year. After that initial 45, drummer Adrian Redmond was replaced by Tony Cahill, who was on board for their best 45s, the archly rebellious "Of Hopes and Dreams and Tombstones" and a devilish hard R&B-rock arrangement of the traditional song "Early in the Morning."None of the five singles they issued on the Sunshine label, however, were big Australian hits, and the group broke up in early 1967, before the last of these was even released. Tony Cahill made the biggest mark of any of the Purple Hearts on the international scene when, after playing with Georgie Fame for a few months, he was tapped to fill the drum seat in the Easybeats during the last part of their career. Lobby Loyde went on to become one of Australia's most acclaimed psychedelic and hard rock guitarists as part of the and Wild CherriesBilly Thorpe & the Aztecs. Bob Dames and Mick Hadley carried on for a while in a hard rock/blues-rock-oriented spinoff band, the Coloured Balls.

Here you have an ultra-rare australian garage band, one of their first and extremely limited eps that were released in 1966, this band never made an studio album.
Yes, this is to show whats coming next...the Benzedrine Compilation. Their repertoire was full of covers... raw, fast and with great R&b. Plus the back cover! Don`t miss this exclusive rarity!!!

LINK: BO

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used to see this band play in Sydney at 'The Bowl', one of the first beat group type venues in this city. They were good, but there were better eg The Missing Links, The Creatures, The Throb, all in the same tough R&B mould. They were good days:-)

Mr. Trashe said...

Gracias por los comentarios, estaba buscando algo de Thundercrack y mira lo que me encontre otyro blog cojonudo.

http://cosmozebra.blogspot.com/

echale un vistazo

The Bomber said...

Pass: mza-garage.blogspot.com

PD: Nice to hear that you had the opportunity to watch all those great bands ! ! ! Such a lucky guy ! ! Yes...the golden years ah..

Don t you have any live recordings of that time ? ?any of those bands ? ?

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately no live recordings. Only in my mind's eye and ear:-)

Ed

The Bomber said...

ahhhh it would be nice to be in your mind or to hear what you hear just for a couple of minutes ! ! ! jajaj

Thanks Ed

Robert Charbonnier said...

A very good record with four equally good and powerful songs. Thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

rough and raw ... nice stuff, for certain. gotta love finding these great old recordings! envy you guys that got to see them live. many thanks.

Mateus Paul said...

Mais informações sobre a banda e o EP:

http://www.milesago.com/artists/Purplehearts.htm

!!

Anonymous said...

Gracias por la música, esta banda es buenisima.
Kersukut

Anonymous said...

Gracias por la música, esta banda es buenisima.
Kersukut

Anonymous said...

Gracias por la música, esta banda es buenisima.
Kersukut

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the chance to hear these very hard to get recordings of a great band.




Rhod

Anonymous said...

Cool music, thank you!

Fergus said...

Perfecto!!!! Buen Grupo y Exelente Blog!!!!!

The Bomber said...

Gracias,me alegro que haya gustado ;)