The Loved Ones

Of all the Australian rock groups of the 60s there’s none that lives on as brightly in the memories of those who saw them or heard them, as The Loved Ones. They had “it”, that unquantifiable quality that transcends the fashions of the day, that “something” that’s more than a great record or two, or frequent memorable live performances that grow larger than reality in people’s memories. You can still hear “it” in some of their earliest records, still see “it” on the little video evidence left behind. The Loved Ones were exciting.

When the British group quake hit in the early sixties most of the new bands started from scratch, made up of musicians who had only just picked up their instruments, more driven by their ambition to do it than their ability to do it. That’s where The Loved Ones were different, and unique. These were experienced musicians. They came from that timespace between 50s rock and 60s rock when ‘youth’ descended into jazz clubs, listening to the blues and watched it spawn folk music. The musicians who became The Loved Ones hadn’t just learned to play, they’d leaned to improvise and create. And when the Rolling Stones came along out of the London jazz scene playing their version of the blues, these Melbourne musicians understood not just its excitement value, but how it was done.

The Loved Ones was formed in 1965 by three members of the Red Onions Jazz Band (Gerry Humphries, Ian Clyne and Kim Lynch) and two members of the Wild Cherries (Rob Lovett and Gavin Anderson), a jazz group at that time which later also turned to rock. Singer Gerry Humphries seems to have been the instigator, already an agitator for change and adventure, ruffling feathers inside the Red Onions. A Red Onions session was turned into the first recording by The Loved Ones, named after Evelyn Waugh’s darkly comic book of the day. Their first single carried the same name.

Two things marked that landmark recording - the unique double rhythm, a complex musical achievement made accessible by a clever use of handclapping; and Gerry Humphries’ sometimes bluesy, sometimes soaring voice. ‘The Loved One’ was like nothing we’d ever heard before, from Australia or from anywhere else in the world. It says volumes about the song that when INXS recorded a version early in their career fifteen years later they resorted to a faithful copy, and then, when at the height of their powers, INXS recorded it AGAIN seven more years later they still couldn’t dare a dramatic overhaul.

The Loved Ones’ own version had an immediate impact. Attracted by the song, audiences found an enigmatic singer with sunken cheeks and outstretched arms, as exciting as any singer they’d ever seen or heard before, surrounded by an obviously more than competent band of not just pretty faces, but pretty enough to attract fans of their own. They followed ‘The Loved One’ with ‘Ever Loving Man’ showing off Gerry’s voice more than the first single, and another interesting but less complicated arrangement. Third came the compelling ‘Sad Dark Eyes’. As the band careered headlong into the popstardom tunnel they had never imagined for themselves, the keyboard player did an ‘Eric Clapton’ and jumped off. With him left part of the band’s songwriting power.

The Loved Ones’ records were released on independent W&G Records’ pop label In. W&G had made its name as a boutique label recording cover versions of American hits by local Melbourne performers, and made a significant contribution recording Melbourne jazz and folk – hence the Red Onions Jazz Band connection. What W&G wasn’t ready for, and had never had to deal with before, was a national pop hit.. and then a second.. and a third. By the time Melbourne was ready for a second hit, the first was only taking off in another state; and when the third was released, a different state finally had enough stock of the first. The band was sent whirling around the country chasing their hits. In the middle of it all they quickly ducked into the studio and recorded a jazz standard they could play with their eyes closed. The ‘Blueberry Hill’ EP was a hit too. It took a year before the band was able to return to the studio properly to complete enough songs for an album. By then another original member had left, replaced by an American guitarist, causing Rob Lovett to move to bass. The dynamics of the band had completely changed. It helped make the ‘Magic Box’ the enduring album it has become, but didn’t help The Loved Ones at the time. They were exhausted and spent, and broke up in October 1967, just two years after they were formed with so much promise.

Gerry Humphries rattled around the music scene, tried management, formed the anything-goes fun-and- nonsense Jerry and The Joy Boys and in 1977 returned to London in an unsuccessful attempt to save a failing marriage, giving up music for the life of a hospital orderly. One suspects there could have been so much more. Gerry Humphries died in London on December 5, 2005 aged 63.