Master's Apprentices - Undecided 7" GER Metronome M-981, 1967

Here's a undeniably handsome German sleeve for the Masters Apprentices first single. The band photo is great, the red song titles are florid, and of course the music is pretty damn good too. A double sided masterpiece in fact.

Quite astounding that this got a release in Germany. Go!!, which was distributed by Astor, was proactive in getting their records out outside Australia, but Astor itself wasn't. Mind you they didn't release a lot of Australian bands, really. And on the other hand they did distribute a lot of overseas labels and bands, and I assume they had reciprocal arrangements with some of them. 

I think I've got the line-up in the photo right - it's a 1967 photo. From left to right: Jim Keays, Steve Hopgood, Gavin Webb, Mick Bower and Tony Sommers. The actual line-up that recorded the single had Rick Morrison and Brian Vaughton instead of Sommers and Hopgood. The Australian issue was Astor A-7071 from November 1966.

Blue Stars - I Can Take It 7" UK Decca F.12303, 1965

The UK release of kiwi band the Blue Stars revved up beater I Can Take It came out three months prior to its NZ release (NZ Decca DEC-361).


The first modern article written about the Blue Stars was by John Baker in The Livin' End 7. He states that the Please Be A Little Kind / I Can Take It 7" was "also released in Europe and Japan!!" A few years later in the excellent article by Andrew Schmidt in Social End Product this was extended to "the single was also released in Australia, Japan and the United States, where Billboard reviewed it favourably." Then sergent.com.au goes the whole hog: "the single was released in Britain and the Continent, as well as the US, Japan and Australia."

Now Baker and Schmidt are no slouches when it comes to research but I have to make the challenge - label scans or it never happened!!!

Here's what I've found:

• US Billboard is completely searchable on Google books. The only mention of the Blue Stars (or Bluestars) is that Social End Product was a hit in an NZ report from the Dec 31 1966 issue;
• Here's the Australian Decca discography. No Blue Stars. There's a few gaps there, but none between Y7242 (corresponding to about the UK F12180s in early '65), to Y7336 (mid-late '66 around the UK F12500s);
• I looked through the Japanese record porn books that I and a friend own - no Blue Stars Japanese issue pictured.

OK, nothing conclusive, and continental Europe is a black hole from where, 45 years later, we're all still finding odd releases. And while I haven't collected sixties records as fervently as my main genre I ain't never seen hide nor hair of the claimed releases. So - please be a little kind and send me hard evidence. I can take it!

Ray Columbus and The Art Collection - Kick Me 7" USA Colstar 67-1001, 1967

Take yourself back to the first time you heard this monster. For most of us it was probably on Ugly Things 2 in 1983, or maybe Off The Wall in 1981, or maybe you held an original copy prior to that. Whenever, I hope your memory is similar to mine - that is being sat flat on your arse by the song. And for me, ignoring the previous 19 songs on that Ugly Things (no slouches amongst them) to play Kick Me over and over again.


Fast forward to this millenium and a copy appears on eBay circa 2005, in a lot with some other Ray Columbus 7"s on the same label. From memory that first lot went for about $500. Straight away another went up and we saw the start of the classic exponential decay of price curve that accompanies quantity finds. I think I got the fourth or fifth one by which time it had dropped to $150 or so. There haven't been too many times since then that copies haven't been up, usually from that same seller. A copy will set you back somewhere between $75-125. What are you waiting for?


There was a quantity find - the seller bought out the back stock of the label. Which reminds me of my favourite part of the legend (since I'm a record collector): the only copy of this found in the wild in NZ was at an Op Shop under the office of Ray Columbus's manager. For the rest of the story perhaps head to Andrew Schmidt's account of Ray's time in San Francisco - and at the bottom there's a clip of the song itself.


What hasn't been touched on too much elsewhere is the re-recording of She's A Mod. While enthusiastic, I've always found the original version with the Invaders to be sappy and twee. Here it is somewhat updated - the major improvement is two 12-string tinged guitar breaks and a mild freakout replacing the well known crescendo at the end. The mid-song scream is definitely better on the earlier version though.

The Loved Ones EP FRA Festival FX 1528 M, 1967

This one's quite well known, but what a great sleeve. The photo is cool, though they do all look like they are leaning to the right.

So, typically great sleeve design, for which the French are justifiably famous. But I just noticed the typo - Everlovin' Man has become Ever Lovin'man. Apostrophes always throw graphic designers. Aujourd'hui we have a mid-word French variation.

W&G released The Loved Ones EP in Australia, this French version replacing Blueberry Hill by More Than Love.

Where do you classify The Loved Ones? The Loved One itself is prime punk for me, the rest is slightly off-kilter rhythm and blues and downkey oddities (The Loverly Car for example - bizarre).

Lastly, I should mention there's a French jukebox 7" pairing The Loved One and Everlovin' Man.

Jon - Upstairs, Downstairs 7" NZL Leedon, LK-1667, 1967

Here is Jon's fab, Gibb brothers penned ode to Anglo girl desire. A particular favourite of mine, seething with obsession and need; her mysterious ways "tor-men-tinnngggggggg myyyyyyy braaaa-iiinnnn..."

But wait on, I thought this blog was about odd O/S pressings? Well look closely - this one's 'Made in New Zealand'. I've only seen a few records like this and this seems to be the only one I've kept. I mean sure there's Delltones and Johnny O'Keefe NZ pressings - but what else is there from the more interesting end of the Leedon spectrum? Hint: Other Leedons from around this time are Tony Cole, a couple of Pogs, Others, Syssys, R. Black and the Rockin Vs...

The Aussie Leedon press has exactly the same catalogue number. Hear the track on Pretty Ugly and Peculiar Hole In The Sky.

Clefs - Bring It To Jerome 7" GRE Leon LE107, 1967

One of the most unknown overseas pressings is this Greek release of an already obscure Adelaide recording originally on Melbourne label Phono Vox. The general commentary attached to this is "How the hell did this get a Greek release?," and I suppose I'd like to know the answer too.

A good, driving r&b workout with plenty of punky attitude evident. Of course being the Clefs the organ is upfront, though not overly so - guitar and bass get equal time.

The Greeks, as is their wont, flipped the backside and frontside. A Boy Like Me, the Australian A-side, is an organ driven number, and it's alright. Hear both sides here, where there's also photos and history of the band.

Cherokees - I've Gone Wild 7" NZL Salem XS115, 1967

I love a song with just two, two-line verses; then third verse - same as the first. But Melbourne's Cherokees' finest moment has so much more - rollicking punk rhythms, guitar (or rudimentary electronics, or theremin or something) freakouts, screams, plaintive pleading.

An old garage taxonomist once observed "if it mentions 'brain,' it's punk; and if it mentions 'mind,' it's psych". Here we have "Feel what you've done to my brain" and "Please let out of my mind", so I suppose we have punk/psych. No arguments here.

Regular Australian release on Go!!, here's the NZ issue on Salem who put out a handful of Go!! records there. Hear it on Ugly Things Volume 2.