Easybeats
Friday on My Mind / Good Friday United Artists 1967
Tracks: 1. River Deep Mountain High/ 2. Do You Have A Soul / 3. Saturday Night / 4. You Me We Love / 5. Pretty Girl / 6. Friday On My Mind / 7. Happy Is The Man / 8. Hound Dog / 9. Wholl Be The One / 10. Made My Bed Gonna Lie In It / 11. Remember Sam / 12. See Line Woman / 13. Heaven And Hell / 14. Do You Have A Soul (Long Version) / 15. Women / 16. All Gone Boy (Different Mix) / 17. You Me We Love (Different Mix) / 18. Lisa (Different Mix)
Comments:
By the late summer of 1966 The Easybeats had moved to Europe (England) to musically try their hand at the big world. Former producer Ted Albert was replaced by Shel Talmy, who had already had success with The Who and The Kinks. This move was soon to be rewarded when the group had a big international hit with the single "Friday on My Mind", which today can only be described as a 1960s classic.
The group had a hard time finding the right sequel to "Friday on My Mind," although the group's songwriting couple, Harry Vanda and George Young, were incredibly productive at the time, writing many really good rock songs.
The first choice fell on "Who'll Be the One", a song that can also be found on the album "Good Friday". It's a pretty nice beat/rock song akin to the best that came from this time's leading groups like The Small Faces, The Who, The Kinks and The Beatles, whose vocal work The Easybeats were very inspired by.
Unfortunately, "Who'll Be the One" disappointed on the charts in Europe, but did quite well in home country Australia.
The group continued to work tirelessly on a first "European" album, resulting in "Good Friday" in May 1967. The album is really solid with lots of strong rock songs akin to the aforementioned groups. However, the musical currents changed rapidly these years with i.a. The Beatles '"Strawberry Fields Forever" and The Rolling Stones' "Ruby Tuesday" and "Good Friday" probably sounded more like 1966 than like 1967. Nevertheless, this is a really solid album that shows a group with lots of talent and will and ability to innovate. This should be even more evident on the sequel "Vigil", from the following year.
Vanda/Young are behind 9 of the 12 tracks all of which are really nice. In addition to the already mentioned singles, there are semi-classics like "Saturday Night" and "Do You Have a Soul", which have the distinctive characteristics of Easybeats. "Happy is the Man" and "You Me We Love" are a bit in the same category; perhaps less noticeable. "Pretty Girl" is also nice, but sounds a bit more like the "old" Australian "Easybeats".
Two big favorites are "Made My Bed", which in addition to a great melody oozes dirty garage rock. "Remember Sam" shows the group from a slightly softer side and points towards what was in store from the group.
Despite the fact that the group had plenty of original Vanda/Young songs, they chose to include three cover songs. They give a very nice version of "River Deep Mountain High", but the other two fall through. "Hound Dog" is OK in a way, but sounds completely different from the rest of the album, while "Sea Line Women" is just awful and tiring.
On later editions there are nice bonus tracks. "Heaven and Hell" in particular is the hit that never was. It’s a complex ambitious composition which is both innovative ear-catching enough to have become a hit. However, there were details in lyrics that many radio stations did not like, "Discovering someone else in your bed" and using the word "Hell" in a title, was too much for some. "Heaven and Hell" was therefore not the hit the group had deserved and needed.
"All Gone Boy" and especially "Lisa" are really nice songs that should have replaced the two failed covers on "Good Friday".
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