performing on the ABC program Something Else
THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,656) The Atlantics — “Come On”
Australian surf-rock heroes gave us a “renowned” garage rock masterpiece “now considered [a] classic[] of Aussie ’60s rock”. (Milesago: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975, http://www.milesago.com/artists/atlantics.htm) Mike Stax writes that:
[“Come On” has] an amazing dynamism . . . . From the strong bass-riff intro onward, it builds through a sequence of distinct stages, adding and subtracting instruments, before tumbling into the raucous, shouted chorus. It all ends in an ear-splitting, fuzz-spitting guitar break. . . . a gritty punk track that stands as one of the best ever from Down Under.
liner notes to the CD comp Nuggets II: (Original Artyfacts From The British Empire And Beyond 1964-1969)
“What a kangaroo hopper! This baby shook the Outback”. (thomassmith8721, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlEUA_LvFrE) Oh, and “Sh*t. Putin played lead guitar”! (StratocastRS, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNvyfVGnc78) Ha, ha, ha.
The definitive Milesago: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975, gives us the out-back story:
Long hailed as Australia’s first and greatest surf band, The Atlantics . . . gained international renown for their superb guitar-based instrumentals. Glenn A. Baker rightly calls them “one of the most extraordinarily talented rock groups Australia has ever produced” and their eclectic output — most of it written by members of the group — included powerhouse surf numbers, incendiary garage-punk and even psychedelia. The Atlantics were . . . accomplished musicians and composers, one of the most popular live acts of their day . . . . They were remarkably prolific . . . during the Sixties they released eighteen Singles under their own name (plus one under a pseudonym), as well as providing backing for vocalists — including Johnny Rebb and Russ Kruger — on some twenty other Singles released between 1964 and 1969. . . . The Atlantics formed in Sydney during 1961 . . . . slowly built up a following around Sydney. . . . [and] soon became well-known for their adventurous use of sound effects . . . . The Atlantics might have remained one of the scores of obscure semi-pro bands of this period, but their fortunes changed when they . . . met local music agent Joan King, one of the few female agent-managers in Australian show business at the time, who took the group under her wing. She became their manager and persuaded them to turn professional. She arranged their first TV appearance . . . . [and they] made a demo tape of some of their original material and shopped it around . . . without success . . . . Finally, King managed to persuade producer-arranger-musician Sven Libaek to listen . . . . [He] had recently been appointed as the A&R manager and house producer for the new local division of the American CBS label. . . . The Atlantics auditioned for Libaek . . . . He was impressed both by their sound and their original material and immediately signed them to a recording contract. . . . They enjoyed a productive relationship with Libaek, releasing nine Singles, three EPs and four LPs in just over two years, as well as performing on at least ten other Singles in this period, backing vocalists Kelly Green, Colin Cooper and Johnny Rebb. . . . It was the group’s brilliant second single that really put them on the map. . . . ma[king] them world-famous and . . . recognised as one of the all-time classic Australian rock recordings — the immortal “Bombora”. . . . [It] was a massive Australian hit, reaching #1 in Sydney and #5 in Melbourne in July 1963. . . . CBS were so enthusiastic that they issued it in the USA . . . as well as the UK, Europe, Japan and New Zealand. . . . CBS was quick to capitalise on the success . . . with Libaek and the group laying down tracks for their first LP over the next two months. The album came out in October . . . and around the same time they released their first vocal single with Kenny Shane, “Surfin’ Queen” . . . . [It] was not a chart success and Shane left the group soon after. Their next single, “The Crusher” . . . was equally impressive . . . reaching #4 in Sydney and #21 in Melbourne in November 1963. . . . [and] established the band as a leader of the burgeoning surf-music craze in Australia. . . . CBS released both a new LP and a new EP in December 1963. . . . The next three releases continued the group’s run of classic surf original instrumentals. . . . Their sixth single (October 1964) was a notable change of style and an attempt to . . . avoid being pigeonholed as a ‘surf’ band. . . . [It] featured two Chet Atkins instrumentals . . . which were updated in the inimtable Atlantics style. . . . [T]hey parted ways with the label [in 1965] . . . . From this point on, The Atlantics’ output mainly consisted of vocal Singles. . . . [In 1966,] they signed with Ivan Dayman’s Sunshine label and over the next year Sunshine issued three gritty rock Singles “It’s a Hard Life” . . . a cover of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ classic “I Put a Spell on You” . . . and the renowned “Come On” . . . all of which are now considered classics of Aussie ’60s rock . . . . After parting ways with Sunshine . . . The Atlantics formed their own independent label Ramrod, and they released five vocal Singles and one instrumental . . . . The Atlantics also backed singer Johnny Rebb on a string of singles released under his name . . . . [and] had a long and productive association with singer Russ Kruger, backing him on no less than eight singles . . . . [T]he group finally called it a day at the end of 1969.
Here are Syndey’s Wet Taxis in ’84 — how was this not on heavy rotation on MTV?!
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