The W & G Story - Australian instrumental rock

Here's some very rare Australian instrumental rarities. W & G was a quaint little record label active in the 50s and 60s and showcasing Aussie artists particularly country and western and Hawaiian. It operated under the Astor umbrella which in turn was an offshoot of Pye an English company well known for the work of Tony Hatch.

Anyway the main interest in this collection is a nice number of tunes by the Thunderbirds an Aussie outfit that turned the Rockin' Rebel's Wild Weekend into a huge hit on the early 60's Aussie charts. Its every bit as good as the original and the rest of their stuff is good though the studio conditions were fairly primitive. The rip contains inner sleeve pics too.

Anyway a must have if you're into guitar and organ instrumentals. Git it here.

An xtabay presentation.

Xtabay on board

I've asked Xtabay to contribute to the blog as my posting can be slow at times. He has a good surf collection so should be some great stuff coming up.

Denvermen - Lets Go Surfside

For a short period of time around 1963 the surf instrumental groups ruled the airwaves and Australia was no exception. The top of the heap with numerous hits were the Atlantics and Bombora was the crown jewel.

Next and also with a few hits were the Denvermen an experienced instrumental group and like the Atlantics they ditched their vocalist and for a little while ruled the roost. I've always liked the Denvermen named after the initials of the birthplaces of the members not an American affectation.

Like the Atlantics they were heavily influenced by the Shadows but they didn't have the racing drums and the guitar stabs more a Duane Eddy twangy guitar sound. Their "Bombora" was Lets Go Surfside but this was a laid back moody piece that conjured images of lonely surfers looking into the horizon for the eternal wave.

Anyway I think it was DaBoss who asked for some Australian surf music so here's the first album I could find, a comprehensive look at a very good oz instro group.

Surfside

Here's more info about the band than you really need.

Surfin Knots 6

Dedicated to Trustar, DaBoss, RYP, Xtabay and anyone else I've forgotten here's a belated new instalment of Surfin Knots. Hope there's one or two things you guys don't have here.

I've used one of my photos of a sunset here in the West taken near the coast.

Here tis

New Surfing Knots?

Xtabay has told me that the great surf music blogger Trustar has uploaded all 5 volumes my compilations Surfin Knots to share. I think the original links are long dead so that's good news.

In fact its given me inspiration to create a new compilation in the series so keep your eyes out for Surfin Knots Volume 6.

That cover above is my favourite of the series and my mate Xtabay supplied his own photo of a Western Australian beach at sunset. He's now on the other side of the continent on the sunny Sunshine Coast so he'll have to make do with sunrises if he can ever get out of bed on time.