I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before at some point, but it still bugs me, so I’ll say it here again. I look over my music collection and I see cool boxed sets by the Kinks, the Stones, the Who, the Beach Boys, and of course maybe more by the Beatles than there should be (and with remixes instead of really good represses from master tapes more often than not, but that’s another gripe for another day…🙄)

What I don’t see is a worthy boxed set of the Easybeats because it doesn’t exist! There is a flimsy compilation called The Complete Easybeats on CD, which is not only inaccurate…there’s no inclusion of “Friends” (which I guess is because it was on Polydor?)…but it also comes in the most basic packaging one could possibly imagine. It is a wrap-around piece of card stock. It’s true that with the bonus tracks on the six albums, and with the addition of the “Friends” CD and its bonus tracks, you do get most of the Easybeats musical output, but it’s all just the old Repertoire editions, so the sound is hardly spectacular, and apart from a little insert there just isn’t much else to get excited by. An Apple records release this is not… (and since George Young’s older brother Alexander was in Grapefruit, who were championed by the Fab Four, it’s not completely insane to suggest a connection, or at least that the Easybeats should be considered as part of that exciting scene). When I see how The Monkees got the Rhino Handmade treatment, and the early Bee Gees got the studio set of their early years on CD and vinyl, it seems crazy that the Easybeats get nothing more than poorly compiled Greatest Hits if anything at all…

This comes to mind not only because I repeatedly go on huge Easybeats kicks, but because I repeatedly find they have great little explosions of excellence that I can’t believe it took me so long to recognize. For instance, they have a fine song covered by the Marmalade on that band’s first album, and their version of “Watch Me Burn” may have the best bass sound this side of JJ Burnel. It is incredible, and languishes as a bonus track or tucked away on an 80’s EP compilation. Then there’s the Easyfever EP, which I have read they hurriedly threw together. A work of brilliance. It has four amazing non-lp songs. I’m not a huge EP guy, but in this case, it’s an essential artifact of the Easybeats.

Part of the issue is the Easybeats (on their UK releases anyway) had a tendency to allow their producers to throw on some rather annoying (or perhaps cloying is the right word) “commercial” duds like “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” or “Hit the Road, Jack” and then leave off a stone cold killer like “Bring A Little Lovin’” in the process. But a nicely produced boxed set, sticking with the Australian versions of albums like Vigil could stick that junk way at the end of a disc five or six and keep us all happy. I think their discography is scattered around, with recordings on Albert, United Artists, Polydor, etc. and then their are songs like “Friends” where the UK version features Harry Vanda singing it and the Australian version features George Young singing it. So it’s a challenging discography to get right, but that’s all the more reason for a nicely done boxed set with a cool book and all the alternate takes. Actually they could kind of go with the track selection of “The Complete Easybeats” and just do a more elaborate presentation with nicer mastering and maybe some BBC or TV stuff and it would go some distance towards correcting the injustice that to my mind surrounds this band.

OK, that’s a long rant, and I am pretty sure I’m dreaming anyway, as I can just guess some financial person has done the math and said that an Easybeats collection is not feasible. But it still irritates me. Just having all those weird 45’s by Vanda and Young after the Easybeats disbanded by Tramp or Paintbox or under their own name would make the boxed set worth having. Maybe Demon records could do it. They did a pretty good job with the Tucky Buzzard set on CD and vinyl, and I wouldn’t have expected that to happen either…

Oh well, any thoughts on my long screed? Any other Easybeats fans?

I screwed up putting my name in the Name box. But it is me, Joe, posting my wish for a good Easybeats boxed set!

Joe

Fully agree with you Joe. I have the Repertoire CDs from years back full of great tracks but not exactly well packaged. All those post-Easybeats Vanda-Young records and songs written for others as well. There's enough for two box sets!

PM:grimacing:

Yup, Paul….that Vanda-Young collection might require a second box set. And for the fun of it here’s my favorite 20 Easybeats songs that don”t get enough play:

1. Peculiar Hole in the Sky (one of my all time favorite psych tunes by anyone!)
2. Watching the World Go By (I like this one more than St. Louis, the “hit” from “Friends”)
3. Each Day…ok I’m cheating already. This is Tramp (Vanda-Young) and it’s the b-side by older brother Alex Young of Grapefruit, i put it here because it sounds like a track from the first Grapefruit album. The other side is Vanda-Young.
4. What In the World
5. Fancy Seeing You Here
6. All Gone Boy (one of the songs written in an attempt to follow-up “Friday On My Mind”)
7. Look Out I’m On the Way Down
8. Watch Me Burn
9. You Said That
10. Get Ready for Love …ok, another Alex Young song here too, but it’s got a nice silly pop hook
11. Vietnam Rose…a Vanda Young song this time but the same early 70’s goofy glam vibe
12. Good Times
13. Lay Me Down and Die
14. Can’t Find Love
15. A Very Special Man
16. Tryin’ So Hard
17. I’ll Make You Happy
18. I’m On Fire
19. Bring A Little Lovin’
20. Where Did You Go Last Night (I just compared the CD version, a bonus track on Complete Easybeats to the vinyl version on the Raven EP album and I could use this comparison of why vinyl destroys digital. But with a remaster maybe they could make it sound better on CD?) Both versions have a little tape drop out mid-song, but the vinyl version is much punchier.

OK, some of those aren’t obscure or overlooked, but this is a list of songs that aren’t the first you hear even on good radio shows. ‘Heaven and Hell” gets more attention than this list, but I kind of agree that the song has a few too many working parts. I can hear in that song where I would have told them “Great guys… this is cool. We’ll repeat this part and add some strings and build it up!” Instead it turns into yet a third section which means the song never really seems to make up its mind. My opinion of course, and others may love it…

And just for some more fun, here’s some newly discovered Easybeats footage…


Evidently it’s from Top of the Pops…

Love the Easybeats, but unfortunately their recorded output is so complex and confusing with much of their best stuff only released in Australia or unreleased at the time. If you only bought their UK releases at the time, you would have missed most of their greatest tracks. On top of this, they often had different versions of the same track released in different territories. I have a few of their Aussie only LPs, like Volume 3 and Best Of Vol 2, both of which are great. Shame Just Drained and the Raven EPs also capture some amaxzing unreleased tracks. I think they were very talented songwriters and performers and they have not been well served, remembered almost solely for their Friday On My Mind hit and not for the genuine innovators they were.

I would also add to linked releases the first My Dear Watson 45, both sides of wich were produced and played on by The Easies and both sides sound like prime Easybeats.

Yup, I agree with you there. I keep finding there are three or four versions of so many of their songs. I just came upon a true stereo version of “Land of Make Believe” on a 45, or there are songs that have versions that are fast/slow, orchestrated/non-orchestrated, instrumental/vocal, overdubs/no overdubs (We All Live Happily Together missing the overdubs is an odd one…) It’s also very true that the Australian releases showed the band in the best light. It really is a vinyl puzzle.
And in addition to the four versions of “Friends” (Canadian, UK, German —called “Holding On” in that case—-and Australian…there are two versions of The Best of the Easybeats Volume 2, the first of which is on Parlophone and the second is on Albert/Drum with…you guessed it…different covers and different versions of the same songs! It’s madness!😝
And something I just noticed…the last Grapefruit single is after the real band was done, and they just used the Grapefruit name. It was a one-off on Deram, but on the Italian picture sleeve it’s definitely Vanda and Young standing to the right and I think Alex Young is on the left…
https://www.discogs.com/release/5207242-Grapefruit-Sha-Sha-Universal-Party

Yes totally with you on this one Joe,
The Easybeats have been sorely and poorly treated on cd,i do have that Complete Easybeats set,and i have many other cd versions too.......but all are basic as they come,no fancy liners or booklets filled with photos or information,i dont even know if any of their albums on cd are even remastered or been cleaned up sonically,as for the misnomer Complete Easybeats,thats just a lie,missing a complete album entirely in Friends as you pointed out,luckily i picked up the repertoire cd version of it.

Is The Easybeats stuff owned by Vanda/Young or their estate?Theres obviously a legal issue and licensing issues that would have to be conquered through first,with different labels in different countries,who owns the publishing.....etc..wasnt Albert Productions not set up by the group?Or is it one of those minefields of ownership outwith the group?Maybe the legalities to put together a totally comprehensive multi cd box set is too much bother for labels to sort out?As the profit margin would i'd imagine be slim,so straight away that would put companies off....god knows why a group who did have success like The Easybeats,and remember it was global,not just in one or two countries,haven't been fairly treated ,when you have other groups from the same era,getting box sets.

Why oh why a talented and exciting group like The Easybeats would record some of those horrible cover versions,i mean hit the road jack.....maybe it was a publishing scam where someone within the record company had publishing rights in certain songs ,and the Easybeats may have been coerced.....or maybe i'm just making excuses for recording such awful covers,when their own songwriting was so exciting and dare i say it hip.A real mystery.

Particularly when a 2 part movie was made about their formation,and their progress from immigrants in Australia staying in temporary housing and bolding facilities,untill there was more permanent housing and bureaucracy was complete,how else was a Dutch national and a bunch of Scottish geezers going to meet and form a group?An absolute melting pot of many different european nationalities as Australia was asking for people to emigrate there.Also the movie covered their meteoric rise to fame in Australia,resulting in them being the biggest group,and it covers their rather disappointing trip to the UK,where they recorded some rather splendid songs while there.Many which appeared on the Shame Just Drained cd compilation,which feature quite a few pop/psych gems.

My favourite of theirs is Volume 3,i condsider this album to be their best most consistent bunch of songs,with no fillers or awful covers,its solid from start to finish,after that its Vigil,but god knows what album was released in what way in what country,its a rabbit warren id hate to go down,what a confusing and fuddled mess,as Vigil too has a couple of clunkers on it,it could be a masterpiece of pop and psych.

I'll be honest,i dont usually fall for this 50 odd year vinyl sounds better than cds like is made out by many vinyl only collectors,but i must agree the cd versions of their material is muddy sounding,not crisp or clear like many albums that have had the cd treatment,but cd technology has so much improved over the years...so to hear all those albums and recordings done right with the respect,would be a dream,no longer muddy sounding.

Good post Joe,a fantastic group,who deserved to be still remembered for the talent they where!!

Good to hesr from you, Stuart! Yeah, Volume 3 may be my favorite, although the Australian “Vigil” is great. They remove the “naff” tracks and add “Bring A Little Lovin’” which they gave to Los Bravos, I believe.
According the book Friday On My Mind by a fellow named Jeff Apter, George Young liked “Hit the Road, Jack” and wanted the Easybeats to show their versatility. I was surprised as well to read that, as I prefer it off the album as well. But the epics like “Hello, How Are You” were evidently the ones George Young felt were too “off-brand”, as we might put it these days.
George Young was suspicious of psychedelia, as he thought it wasn’t “rock’n’roll” enough according to that book, but a lot of bands just dipped their toes briefly in the lysergic pool.
I’m in agreement about the My Dear Watson stuff. I just listened to the second My Dear Watson single which is another Easybeats sounding affair. The third 45 is kinda country rock, and not Easybeats at all, but the first two are definitely for Easybeats fans, even the non-Vanda Young songs have the guitar and la-la-la’s…😂
The later Easybeats like Music Goes Round My Head and those Vanda-Young 45’s from the early seventies show some of their love of ska/Caribbean/blue beat stuff they heard in the clubs (again according to the Jeff Apter book), and there’s kind of a “good timey” feel to the Grapefruit dong “Sha-Sha” on that last single that bears that out. Not the best thing Vanda and Young ever did, but kind of fun.
The Easybeats are a fine topic and it’s great to hear everyone’s take. If Lou Reed liked them, that does show their global and stylistic reach. Not as hip as the Velvet Underground maybe, but they could write a catchy tune!
Great to hear from you all! 😀👍