The TwilightsAdelaide - Melbourne 1964-69 |
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Frank Barnard - drums [1964-65]
Peter Brideoake – rhythm guitar, vocals
Terry Britten – lead guitar, vocals
John Bywaters - bass
Clem "Paddy" McCartney – lead vocals
Laurie Pryor - drums [1965-69]
Glenn Shorrock – lead vocals
Indeed, they and their contemporaneous rivals (The Masters Apprentices and The Groop, to name but two) could arguably cite only the mighty Easybeats as a band that achieved greater levels of popular success and creative innovation. Even then, The Twilights continue to enjoy a unique reputation in the pantheon of OzRock history, and not just for some of the remarkable individual careers which followed after the group’s demise.
They’re often overlooked in the hurry to elevate the 'Easys' (deservedly) to the top of whatever pedestal we’re talking about here. Moreover, notable rock historian Glenn A Baker (whose own authoritative writings on the subject have provided much valuable background material for this profile) would have it that The Twilights were pop to The Easybeats’ rock. Hmm, I’d like to suggest that that’s far too simplistic and facile a view as even the most cursory listen to either group’s recordings will attest. (Read on : The Twilights certainly rocked!]…
The Twilights have earned just acclaim and respect for their formidable
body of recorded work, coupled with their legendary status as perhaps the
most polished and accomplished performing unit of the era. Not to
mention (but we certainly will), the many significant milestones the group
set during its relatively short lifespan. The Twilights seldom took second
place to another act – apart from supporting The Easybeats on their triumphant ’67 homecoming tour, and The Rolling Stones during that band’s 1966 antipodean visit. Otherwise, supreme marquee billing remained theirs during their performing tenure. Why, even Glenn Shorrock himself remembers what we might affectionately dub "Twilight Time" as the happiest and most fulfilling
experience in his long and distinguished musical career. As he told
an online group of Little River Band fans in 1997 :
"... my first band, The Twilights,
is the band I remember most fondly; we were very close then in a
very exciting period of pop." .
Occasionally, and especially for more prestige engagements, the vocal 3-piece teamed with local instrumental outfits, among them The Vector Men and The Hurricanes. Typical of the era, the latter band began as a Shadows-style instrumental act, but soon caught the Brit-invasion bug. The Twilights and The Hurricans developed a solid bond. It was inevitable that with such strong, enthusiastic, precocious and insistent talents as those of Britten, Shorrock and Brideoake rubbing against each other, the prospect of blending it all together would prove irresistible. Thus, the six-piece, fully electric-and-vocal group as we know and revere them, was born.
Still based in Adelaide, self-managed and produced, the newly-formed band released its debut single, I'll Be Where You Are on EMI’s Columbia imprint in June. A plaintive, McCartneyesque (the Beatle one!) ballad written by Shorrock and Britten, the single gained moderate notice in Melbourne but failed to chart outside hometown Adelaide. Subsequent singles made further inroads – the second release, Wanted To Sell, cracked the Melbourne charts and the third, the brisk, Brideoake/Britten original If She Finds Out exposed the band to buyers further afield in Sydney and Brisbane.
The Twilights began to cause a stir with their dynamic live shows in Adelaide, and a 'vibe' was building about this band that could replicate Beatles songs with ease, but could equally rock out with wild abandon. Ironically though, it wasn’t until the fifth single that national success was assured.
Early in 1965, Frank Barnard (featured on the first two singles) was replaced on drums by one Laurie Pryor. The former’s wife apparently objected to (recently opted manager) Gary Spry’s strict away-from-home touring regime for the newly successful group, and so Frank succumbed to that well-worn marital constriction and quit. Laurie, a locally-known drumming prodigy, playing with Johnny Broome & the Handles in England at the time, immediately pounced on the offer of a slot with a band obviously going places. The new line-up including Pryor remained intact for the life of the band.
Upon assuming managership, Spry’s strategy was to establish the group
as a viable recording and performing entity from the far more stable and
accessible base of Melbourne. To that end, The Twilights moved en
masse to that city in late 1965…
The breakthrough! This refrain rang out relentlessly on our 2SM/UW; 3UZ/XY; 4BH/BC (etc) "good guy" radio stations during ‘66. "Needle In A Haystack", although not written by the band (it was one of their deft Motown heists), established their credentials in one fell swoop. The clarion call was out that here was a notable group to watch! There was a tangible buzz, at least within the industry, if not among the listener-fans, to "take notice", and the single duly went top ten in most states (or number one nationally, if you believe its enthusiastic lead singer!). The Twilights had already made big inroads with their previous single, a rendition of Larry Williams’ Bad Boy that comprehensively whipped The Beatles’ better-known version into a cocked hat. And to consolidate, the funky follow-up single to Haystack called You Got Soul, together with a robustly convincing first album, confirmed pundits’ belief in the band.
On that eponymous LP debut, The Twilights demonstrated their diversity as a recording unit. With a strong batch of self-penned tunes, songs specially commissioned for them (from the likes of Barry Gibb and Hans Poulsen), and tour-de-force reproductions of concert staples, the group’s dexterity with a variety of styles was proven. A blistering version of The Yardbirds’ I’m Not Talkin’ (consummately seeing off its original antecedent with a far superior welter of Britten guitarobatics) contrasted with the mellow tones of The Who’s La La La Lies, The Moody Blues’ Let Me Go and the thrilling harmonies of Paddy and Glenn on The Hollies’ Yes I Will. Then, just when you thought it safe, along came a white-hot reading of the Stones’ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction to close the program in a raspy-vocalled feedback freakout! The David MacKay-produced album gathered the band’s foremost strengths at the time, and thereby presented a strikingly potent document to take the nascent group into its most exciting era. Now who, from evaluating that bunch of admittedly encouraging original tunes on that first album and those early 45s, could have predicted what would happen next?
Not quite next, though, for there was still the matter of the National Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds competition. Established earlier in the decade by Everybody’s magazine as a talent quest for new unsigned bands, the Battle gained greater credibility and attracted many of the nation’s finer outfits when, in 1966, confectioner Hoadleys’ (best known for their scrumptious Violet Crumble Bar) assumed sponsorship, and Go-Set magazine took over the co-ordination role. The stakes were higher too, with first prize being full return passage to England on the Sitmar cruise liner, two definite gigs and $1,000 prize money. The intervening years would see such quality acts as The Groop and The Masters Apprentices get the gong. Many other prominent outfits that would go on to greater success competed in the Battle until its conclusion in 1970, but, as in so many other instances, The Twilights were pioneers.
In July 1966, The Twilights took the stage of Festival Hall, Melbourne, before a full house of screaming, streamer-bedecked fans, to win the competition ahead of over 500 other hopefuls. They were awarded bonus points for sound, originality, presentation and audience reaction – qualities the band already had in abundance (they had already taken out the 1965 title in a similar local Adelaide competition the previous year). A peculiar rule that set a maximum group membership of five, meant that Paddy, half of the band’s (unusual for the time) twin lead vocal line-up had to bow out of the winning performance. But he returned to the stage for the triumphant encore and was, luckily, included in the victors’ spoils. Any listener will thrill to hear what the fuss was all about – the full performance is contained on the Raven LP Twilight Time (see discography).
And so, on September 26 that year, the group set sail for the world
music mecca of London for their biggest adventure yet…
Lofty ambitions of world domination were tempered somewhat when the boys noted the sheer quality of the British groups they encountered. As Shorrock ruefully observed upon the band’s return to Australia:
"Our biggest shock was the high standard of so many groups who are not even known. It was hard for us to get jobs with good money".
Nevertheless, one major fillip for our li’l bunch of Anglophiles was the dream opportunity to play a week’s residency at Liverpool’s The Cavern Club (knoworrimean?), to very enthusiastic response!
The band fulfilled another dream - recording at the famous Abbey Road Studios under the production guidance of Norman "Hurricane" Smith (who engineered for the Fabs and produced Pink Floyd’s debut album). It’s alleged that Paul McCartney (or was it John Lennon?) poked his head around the door, thumbs aloft, and offered cheers and encouragement to our boys in recording delecto. How cool would you feel if that happened while you were overdubbing a tambourine solo on your b-side, eh? After all, The Beatles themselves were at that time ensconced at Abbey Road, recording one of the classic singles of all time, Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane and The Twilights were invited to sit in on their sessions. Phew! To be a fly on the wall…
A clutch of songs from the Abbey Road sessions soon saw release back in Australia. In February, the splendid What’s Wrong With The Way I Live? hit record bars and rapidly made the top ten nationally. Composed especially for the group by The Hollies’ resident tunesmiths, Graham Nash, Tony Hicks and Alan Clarke, the song exhibited a sophisticated sound that the band had only hinted at before. With its outrageous banjo motif and tight block harmonies, the recording earned plaudits from the composers themselves ("Much better than we did it!", an amazed Nash remarked) - and garnered support from other expatriate Aussie musicians (like the Bee Gees) trying to crack it in the UK at the time, not to mention earning encouraging airplay on Blighty’s pirate radio stations like Radio Caroline. The flipside called "9.50", a driving Terry Britten rocker with an irresistible guitar riff, proved equally popular and was revived by The Divinyls as a single b-side in the early 80s.
The third song recorded during the Abbey Road sessions provided the next a-side. Young Girl was a Laurie Pryor tune – melancholy and evocative, with Terry’s innovative use of the variable volume pedal (as employed previously on The Beatles’ Yes It Is). Listen to The Master Apprentices’ Living In A Child’s Dream, for instance, and then try to convince me it wasn’t a direct cop off Young Girl! That’s a measure of The Twilights’ pre-eminence on the Aussie rock scene by this time. Not only was this release the group’s biggest hit to date, its b-side hinted at new directions to come…
The changes in looks, attitude and musical accomplishment evident in the band upon its return to Australia were exemplified by the increasing dominance of Terry Britten. Of all the Twilights, the Manchester-born Terry seemed the one to have most absorbed the kaleidoscopic influences on offer in the melting pot that was London. Not only did he sport the best clothes and haircut (!) of the bunch, but more importantly, Terry exhibited the greatest creative growth in the band, and from this time onwards assumed the role of chief songwriter and virtual helmsmanship. Embracing, like his hero George Harrison, elements of Eastern philosophy and religion, Terry introduced exotic instruments and musical forms into The Twilights’ music, and heralded this newfound discovery by heavily featuring the sitar as a lead instrument on the b-side to "Young Girl", a fine social observation called "Time And Motion Study Man". It was not to be the only instance in which sitar and other Indian instruments were used prominently on major Twilights records.
The last single from the group in ’67 arrestingly utilised the sitar as a lead instrument on both sides. Unusually for the time, Cathy Come Home came housed in a two-colour picture sleeve. The spine-tingling a-side showed the group at the peak of its formidable pop powers (how did Britten consistently manage to cram so much detailed and pure pop into under two minutes?!), while its flip, The Way They Play displayed a dynamic group cohesion, with John Bywaters’ fluid basslines proving particularly effective. The single was another unqualified airplay and chart success, but it was probably the last major hit that the band enjoyed.
Interestingly enough, a trend beginning with Cathy Come Home, whereby Terry wrote a song based on a movie, continued in his later writing. He wrote a song for Ronnie Burns, around another Aussie-produced film called Age Of Consent (submitted but rejected for the film soundtrack), and released his own solo single in 1969 – again inspired by a current movie – 2,000 Weeks.
In concert the group continued to impress. Weeks prior to the local
release of The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album, The Twilights played
the whole thing live (could The Beatles themselves have done so at that
stage?). Alarmed reps at EMI demanded they desist, fearing their flawless
performance might actually spoil reaction to the album when it was finally
issued in June!
At the time, Go-Set magazine documented the pilot of "Once Upon A Twilight" (as the show was to be titled), with photos of the group on filming location around Melbourne. The shots showed the band looking just fine, with their proposed regular co-stars, the late comedienne Mary Hardy (playing the role of the band’s secretary), together with a youthful Johnny Farnham. While the disappointing negative fate of the TV show was only revealed at the end of the year, when the Ford motor company withdrew its sponsorship, the project helped to propel work on what was to become The Twilights’ zenith achievement. The "soundtrack" to the shelved TV show took on a life of its own. A long gestation period, interspersed with the band’s most concentrated regime of live touring yet, resulted in one of the finest albums of the era, Once Upon A Twilight.
The album - while showcasing Peter Brideoake’s plaintive, cello and horn-embellished Tomorrow Is Today and Laurie Pryor’s raucously daft comedy turn, The Cocky Song - is essentially Britten’s own. As main songwriter he provides lush settings for Glenn (the title track, Found To Be Thrown Away and Paternosta Row) and delicate arrangements for Paddy’s sweet lilt (Bessemae). But finally Terry makes his own mark with lead vocals and almost solo instrumentation on cuts like Mr Nice and Devendra – the latter featuring an arrangement of Indian string and percussive sounds not that far removed from Harrison’s Within You Without You. Elsewhere, the use of brass sections, string quartets, Clapton-esque wah-wah guitar, feedback, Keith Moon-ish drum patterns, backward masking, stereo panning and Leslie-d vocal effects; decorate a suite of generally spirited and captivating pop songs that (admittedly only occasionally) hinted at brilliance.
"OUAT" was initially pressed in mono only, as the stereo mix commissioned in America was delayed. An uncorroborated tale has it that Linda Ronstadt and her band The Stone Poneys (including Anglophile songwriter Andrew Gold and future Eagle and collaborator to Shorrock, Glenn Frey) were recording in an adjacent studio, and heard some of the mixing sessions. Mightily impressed with the quality of the songs and performances, Ronstadt and her manager apparently lobbied to secure American release for The Twilights on Capitol records. The veracity of this story is moot, because it all came to nought.
When it finally arrived, the stereo version of the album was slightly disappointing with its thin, murky mix, but it did highlight the dense layers of overdubs, sound effects and kitchen-sink studio trickery the group and producer David MacKay had meticulously laboured over. And it became plain that Britten had by now assumed defacto leadership of the band, with some of the most sophisticated songwriting yet demonstrated. To complete the ambitious package, another typically innovative touch: a gatefold pop-up 3D cover depicting the six lads frolicking with lusty wenches around a medieval castle!
Oddly enough to consider in retrospect: at the time of its release the album Once Upon A Twilight was regarded by some critics as music past its use-by-date! Well, at the time, sure, the considerable time-lapse between the album’s conception and its eventual release maybe didn’t do the band many favours, but 30 years later this album sounds as fresh and fine and seminal to this writer’s ears as, dare I say it?: Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake – an album The Twilights were known to perform in its entirety in concert (something the Small Faces – godblessem – could never have done with their limited live chops).
Concurrent with the release of the album came the group’s eleventh single. Always, recorded during the same sessions, is a sumptuous ballad, a rich mix of acoustic guitars, trilling flute embellishments, and Terry’s haunting lead vocal. Great single, crap response - the demise was about to set in. The lacklustre reception to The Twilights’ second and very important album and the Always single began to beg the question: how much longer could they sustain the momentum?
Nevertheless, 1968 was certainly the band’s year as a performing entity. Melbourne was "theirs" as they dominated the city’s thriving dance and disco circuit. Popular venues such as Sebastian’s, Bertie’s, Pinnochios, Catcher, The Thumpin’ Tum and Opus played host to the most polished stage shows by an Australian band yet witnessed. With their enormous Marshall amplifiers, impeccable presentation and tight professionalism, the boys could do no wrong. Sprinkled among a grab-bag of their own best songs and funkified Motown and soul classics, came assertively powerful cover versions of such numbers as Cream’s Sunshine Of Your Love, Traffic’s Dear Mr Fantasy, Hendrix’s Purple Haze and The Move’s Night Of Fear - often comprehensively eclipsing the originals.
It should be noted that a Twilights show at the time would not have been complete without the prominent comedy/slapstick element. Egged on by the sardonic wit of John Bywaters, Glenn was frequently prone to adopting his alter-ego, Superdroop, dressing in a most disreputable super-hero jumpsuit (or a ridiculous but scary gorilla outfit on occasions), to taunt the audience with puerile gags, sometimes swinging precariously on a trapeze over the crowd! The group toured extensively during 1968 and this author was lucky enough to catch a Twilights show in Canberra (their solitary visit to the capital). It was without doubt the best rock concert experience I was to have until well into the 70s. They were just that good!!!
Remaining busy in Armstrong’s recording studios with longtime producer MacKay, the group released the double-a-side, Tell Me Goodbye / Comin’ On Down in August. The former was a distinctively catchy singalong with a wicked tremelo guitar figure from Terry, while the cosmic, slightly confusing, phasing-drenched flip seemed to be about the apocalypse or something - probably only Britten knows for sure. It was a fine single however, but criminally ignored by the public. By this time the band was beginning to outgrow the audience that had so hungrily supported them only months before. They had achieved much in their short time together and according to some observers they had lost interest, become complacent and were merely going through the motions. Spry had quit as manager mid-year and internal divisions and petty power struggles had begun to surface.
November saw the release of the group’s swansong, this time produced by the up and coming Howard Gable. Sand In The Sandwiches attempted a jaunty, frivolous "let’s all head off for the beach" theme but fell short of target, coming across as somewhat stilted and forced ("abysmal", rock historian Glen A Baker describes it). The b-side, by contrast, shoe-horned just about every vital strength of the band into an absolutely exhilarating 2 minute 48 seconds. Led by Pryor’s ferocious tom-tom fills, heavily compressed handclaps, boisterous "Hey!" call-and-response vocal chants and yet another idiosyncratic Britten solo, the song called Lotus was a solid affirmation of The Twilights’ outstanding musical skills and was the perfect bookend to their remarkable recorded output. Yet again though, airplay and sales reception were comparatively pitiful.
Preparations for a return foray to the UK were thwarted later in the year when Laurie declined to participate and resigned from the group (what is it with tub-thumpers?!). Disappointed and dejected with their recent lack of progress and perceived declining public response, the group decided then to cut its losses and disband, announcing a series of final live appearances.
Revealed Glenn in 1985:
"The breakup of The Twilights was not something
that we planned. It all happened in three days. I didn’t know what
to do with myself…"
It’s now almost twenty years to the day that the new Twilights were formed. It was a warm summer evening in Elizabeth, South Australia, ten miles north of Adelaide. Paddy McCartney, Mike Sykes and myself had been singing in a quartet called The Checkmates but had decided to trim down to a more efficient trio. Looking into the changing colours of the evening skyline, I suggested we call ourselves The Twilights.
We performed as a trio for a year or so around Adelaide, sometimes with various bands, sometimes a capella. We sang songs like "Runaround Sue", "Surfin’ Safari", "At The Hop", "Blowin’ In The Wind" and "Tom Dooley" – sort of a cross between Jan & Dean and The Kingston Trio! Then, in mid-’63, Please Please Me hit our ears (Love Me Do was released here later) and things changed quickly. Adelaide went Beatle crazy and The Twilights rode the wave eagerly. We won a Beatles Soundalike competition and appeared on the Adelaide Tonight television show. Things were getting serious.
It was becoming obvious that our hobby had the potential to become a career and it was commitment time. From being just part of a "package" show of band, vocalist and vocal trio, The Twilights reorganised into a complete rock ‘n’ roll band. At that time there were a lot of young bands emerging in Adelaide, such as Bobby Bright & the Beaumen, Johnny B Goode & Penny Rockets, Pat Aulton & the Clefs and The Hurricans. We sort of merged with The Hurricans. This meant losing my friend Mike Sykes, my first bitter taste of ruthlessness. Into the fold came lead guitarist Terry Britten, bassist John Bywaters, rhythm guitarist Peter Brideoake and drummer Frank Barnard. Two other Hurricans members went on to other Adelaide bands – Kevin Peek to Johnny Broome & the Handles and John Rupert Perry to The Vibrants.
Over the next two years, The Twilights consolidated their position as Adelaide’s leading mod band, specialising in versions of the best British rock. We performed all over South Australia but the hub of things was our Friday and Saturday nights at the Oxford Club. There the faithful would squeeze into a tiny hall, pretending it was The Cavern. We began writing our own songs and cut a single for the local market – "I Don’t Know Where The Wind Will Blow Me", a prophetic song by Terry and I. Our second single, "Come On Home", picked up some airplay in Melbourne and came to the attention of budding club owner and band manager Gary Spry. He came to Adelaide with his band The Flies. They were supposed to be Australia’s leading Beatle-type band but when they got to the Oxford we drained them of their confidence. They honestly believed that the sound of The Twilights live was Beatle records being played in the club! Gary Spry instantly offered us Melbourne, the world and even Sydney.
So in November 1965 we took holidays from our day jobs (remember we were still only weekend superstars) and played a week at Melbourne’s leading mod discotheque, Pinnochio’s. The reaction was so strong that when we returned to Adelaide we decided to accept Gary’s offer of management and move permanently. All of us that is except Frank, who was replaced by Laurie Pryor. We were very much a vocal-orientated band and certainly the only one (until The Valentines came along) with two lead singers.
From early 1966 things started to happen fast. Our third single, "If She Finds Out", made the Melbourne top twenty. So we had a recording career, a producer (David MacKay), a manager and a hit. Within five months we had three more hits – "Baby Let Me Take You Home", "Bad Boy" and our first national number one, "Needle In A Haystack", a Velvelettes song. To cap it off, we won the 1966 Hoadley’s National Battle Of The Sounds and were on our way to England by September.
The performances [on the "Twilight Time" LP]… reflect the quality of live recording at the time – negligible – but nonetheless I was thrilled to hear my favourite band after so long and reaffirm what I felt about our playing. The Twilights were a damn good band!
So dig out your Oxford Club membership medallion, crack open a couple of Violet Crumble Bars, close your eyes, think of Pinnochios, say the magic words "Gary Spry", and enjoy yourselves – I did!
~ Glennn Shorrock. Birchgrove, Sydney, Australia
– late September 1982.
My abiding love affair with The Twilights’ music began, I guess, around the time one of my older brothers, Tony, and I used to listen to the radio broadcasts of the final heats of the Hoadley’s Battle of the Sounds contest. We used to argue and speculate on the relative merits of the contestants (as I’m sure most listeners did). When The Twilights won in ’66, my predictions and convictions were vindicated, and Tony agreed that this was indeed the closest thing Australia had to our own Beatles!
I was besotted by the band since first hearing Needle In A Haystack and its sublime b-side, I Won’t Be The Same Without Her; and had received their first album as a birthday present (my first own real LP, along with Sgt Pepper!)… when I actually saw one of my heroes from the group while I was on holiday in Melbourne…
It was great fun shopping for "mod" or "stylist" clothes in trendy Toorak Road (I picked up a fantastic blue windcheater with vertical white sleeve-stripes, as sported by the sartorially-bedecked band, The Vibrants; as well as a mustard epaulette shirt, paisley cravat and authentic brown suede Beatle-boots – I was barely 15!). Well, that day I spotted none other than Terry Britten walking along toting a guitar case. With the reckless nonchalance of youth, I followed him. He obviously sussed that I was tailing him – what must he have thought? Obviously I wasn’t a cute sixties pop-chick, merely a naïve, intrigued young fella touched by the pop music bug ever since first seeing The Beatles on Bandstand! Following Terry until he disappeared into a huge South Yarra mansion was strangely exciting – a brush with celebrity! Brother Tony, with whom I was staying at the time, thought it odd for a young bloke to have actually done that, let alone buy a pillowcase with the band’s photo on it, but I remained oblivious to his taunts. There’s an indefinable allure for some teenage boys when they see a long-haired guitar-wielding rebel swivelling his hips on TV. Just consider the effect Elvis had on Lennon. Or ask Tim Rogers about Pete Townshend. It happened for me when I first set eyes on Brian Jones with his blond moptop and otherworldly Vox teardrop guitar. And later, Terry Britten became my hero. I tried to emulate him and generally succeeded in the visual department; even started to write some little songs; but, crucially enough, I never did manage to play the bloody guitar!
The fantastic double a-side single, Cathy Come Home / The Way They Played advertised an address for The Twilights fan club on its picture sleeve. I immediately applied to join, and over the next year or so corresponded with, and assisted, the club’s president (her name escapes me now) with club activities, including the distribution among other fans of transcribed lyric sheets for all the band’s songs. She worked as a receptionist at Armstrong’s Studios, Melbourne’s pre-eminent recording venue until well into the seventies, and as such was graciously able to fill the small autograph book that I sent her with the signatures of The Twilights and those of many other well-known artistes of the day. I’ve lost much of the collected memorabilia of that time, but still treasure that autograph book (reproductions from which will appear on this site).
Sometime during 1968, my beautiful sister Margo and her boyfriend Andrew (now best friends and landlords!) chaperoned me to a concert the band put on at the Albert Hall in Canberra. As alluded to earlier in these pages, it was a mind-blowing experience for me. Among my abiding memories: Beige! – the huge horizontal Marshall speaker cabinets, the brocade frock-coats, the smart tailored pants, the drum-kit, even the guitars themselves – all beige! I recall Glenn’s witty stage banter, wherein he continually hassled the hapless, diminutive lead guitarist by referring to him as "Terribly Brittle". Everybody seemed to enjoy the pantomime interludes of the show, which complemented but never impinged on the sheer musicality of the performance. The band’s impeccable four-part vocal harmonies and tight musicianship reminded me of a rockier Hollies. They played all their hits up to that time (nothing from the yet-to-be-released second album though), and stunned punters with note-perfect readings of Sunshine Of Your Love, Mr Fantasy and Afterglow, among others, before lifting the roof off the staid old joint with spirited and consummate renditions of Stones, Move, Small Faces, Hendrix, and Who concert staples. How fortunate was I to have had such a rare chance to witness this magnificent band in its performing prime? I’ll never forget that night!
After that, notwithstanding the considerable enjoyment their second album and later singles afforded, it was somewhat a denouement. While I was but one of many fans saddened and frustrated by the group’s break-up, I continued to enjoy their records, followed their post-Twilight careers, and treasured my collection of many of the band’s rarities – still do to this day!
Yes, the music remains... Allow me to recommend that you, the reader - assuming you’re a neophyte - high-tail it to a reputable record outlet and snap up the CD The Way They Played, poste-haste! You could do worse than to secure the Raven album of live recordings, Twilight Time, too, if you can find it. Now, look here! If you remain unmoved by original classics such as What’s Wrong..., Cathy Come Home or Lotus, or fail to be blown away by the group’s incendiary versions of I’m Not Talkin’, Night Of Fear or Satisfaction, then why have you bothered reading this far? (But thanks for doing so anyway)…
~ Paul Culnane.
Canberra, Australia – June 1999
| 6/65 *I'll Be Where You
Are / *I Don't Know Where The Wind Will Blow Me [Columbia
DO4582]
10/65 *Come On Home / *Wanted To Sell [Columbia DO4610] 2/66 *If She Finds Out / *John Hardy [Columbia DO 4658] 5/66 Baby Let Me Take You Home /You've Really Got A Hold On Me [Columbia DO 4685] 6/66 Bad Boy / It's Dark [Columbia DO 4698] 8/66 Needle in a Haystack / I Won't Be The Same Without Her [Columbia DO 4717] 12/66 You Got Soul / Yes I Will [Columbia DO 4742] 2/67 **What's Wrong With The Way I Live / **9.50 [Columbia DO 4764] 5/67 **Young Girl / Time & Motion Study Man [Columbia DO 4787] ?/67 Bowling Brings Out The Swinger In You / instr. version [EMI Custom PRS 1736 – promo only] 11/67 Cathy Come Home / The Way They Play [Columbia DO 5030] 5/68 Always / What A Silly Thing To Do [Columbia DO 8361] 8/68 Tell Me Goodbye / Comin' On Down [Columbia DO 8448] 11/68 ***Sand In The Sandwiches / ***Lotus [Columbia DO 8602] Singles produced by: David MacKay
As The Pastoral Symphony: 5/68 Love Machine / Spread A Little Love Around
[Festival FK 2343]
One-off "supergroup" project, executive-produced by Jimmy Stewart, produced by Geoffrey Edelsten (yep, the notorious entreprenurial doc). Quite a substantial success upon its initial release, it was re-released in barely noticeable US remix form in 1977. Group comprised full Twilights lineup, augmented by Terry Walker (The Strangers) on lead vocals, Ronnie Charles (The Groop); backup vocals; and The Johnny Hawker Orchestra. Terry Britten solo: ?/69 2,000 Weeks / Bargain Day [Columbia DO 8711] Composed, performed and produced by Terry Britten. Both tracks available on the Raven Twilights comp CD. |
| Bad Boy [Columbia SEGO 70129]
Bad Boy / I'll Be Where You Are / Baby Let Me Take You Home / If She Finds Out Needle In A Haystack [Columbia SEGO 70139]
Always
Things Go Better With Coca-Cola [EMI PRS 2028 -
promo only]
Producer: David MacKay
|
|
Foolishly enough, I’ve long since parted with my then-prized (and aforementioned) Twilights pillowcase! Not to mention a very impressive swag of cards, exclusive photos, complete lyric sheets, individual biographies and so many other coveted items offered to members of The Official Twilights Fan Club which operated from about ‘67-‘69. …And who was that lovely fan club secretary who also worked for Armstrongs??
[As ever, if anybody reading these pages has information and, especially, examples of rare memorabilia relating to The Twilights that they would like to share with other enthusiasts who visit this website, please feel free to let the webmaster of ROCK ‘N’ ROLL SCARS know