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Axiom were touted as Australia's first supergroup, because it contained 5 seasoned musicians, rather than one or two gifted musicians in a band of 4 or 5 members. They had chart success with their first single, Arkansas Grass, reaching number 1 only in Brisbane, but top 5 elsewhere, but to many its 2nd single, A Little Ray of Sunshine is probably more fondly remembered. (It's interesting to compare how the band's singles charted in different states. In three states, only three of their releases charted (My Baby's Gone was the third single to reach the charts, whereas in Adelaide, all five were represented. In two states Arkansas Grass was more popular than Ray of Sunshine whereas in Adelaide, My Baby's Gone was the highest charting of any of their releases there!) Ian McFarlane notes in his Encyclopaedia of Australian Rock and Pop, that the band were influenced by The Band's album, Music from Big Pink, and remarks that the band was among the first Australian band to utilise Australian lyric themes - despite the title and topic of Arkansas Grass - the US civil war! and a track off the band's 2nd album, called Georgia by Morning - although in fairness this song was re-titled at their US record company's request from its original title, Ford's Bridge. The band journeyed to London, were signed to a major label and then sent to the USA to record its second album, If Only. This collection collates almost all of the band's recorded career - all of the tracks off the first album, and 8 of the 10 off the 2nd. Omitted are a re-recording of A Little Ray of Sunshine and Georgia by Morning. Added to the set are a rare recording done for the ABC show, GTK, and two tracks recorded by Mudie and Cadd off a single they recorded for Fable in late 1971 after the band had broken up. All members of Axiom went on to further their careers in the industry, but perhaps the better known of the group were Brian Cadd and Glenn Shorrock, both of whom have had enormous solo careers. Don Mudie who co-wrote most of the material on the band's two albums, did not pursue the limelight to the same extent. Thus the collection is a must for any fan of the era or the band - just imagine listening to those great songs on a pristine cd! Aside of the tracks mentioned above the set includes Hold the Phone, Mansfield Hotel, Fool's Gold, Father Confessor, and Show me the Way - the Mudie Cadd song released after the band broke up. The Liner notes, written by music historian Ian McFarlane, utilise interviews with both Cadd and Shorrock and give a good overview of the period and background on the songs and recordings. Raven have been quite active in the past few months. Aside the Axiom collection they have compiled albums of both Doug Ashdown and Joe Camilleri. This column hopes to review both these albums at a later date. Just a quick mention of a couple of recent Canetoad collections you might be interested in. First up there is the various artist compilation of mainly US artists, called Hazy Memories, consisting of 32 hard to find original pop hits of the early sixties. Most of the artists aren't familiar to me, but if you can remember Ben E King, Dorsey Burnette, Connie Francis, Buddy Knox, Brian Hyland, Don Carroll, Margie Singleton then you might want to check out this collection. (Canetoad International CDI 007) Another in Canetoad's International series is the Best of Michael Parks; Parks was an actor who was compared to James Dean. Most of the tracks sound like country numbers; session players include James Burton, Charlie McCoy and Larry Butler. (Canetoad International CDI 008) References: References Previous
columns Chris Spencer is author of the "Who's Who of Australian Rock'. He can be contacted through Moonlight Publishing. |
Axiom
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