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The
Easybeats were formed in Australia in 1964 when they met all
at Sydney's austere Villawood Migrant Hostel. They soon
found themselves to be the equivalent of the Beatles in
Australia, causing what was called "Easyfever" throughout 1965. Although by the time the Easybeats landed
in England in 1966, their creative balance was shifting. Originally
Harry Vanda, who was actually Dutch and Englishman lead
singer Stevie Wright would pen their tunes, now Vanda
teamed up with George Young and the first song written
together, which was also the first to be recorded in England (with
Shel Talmy producing) was the song that is most remembered
from them:Friday On My Mind. A huge international hit,
it was the first for an Australian pop/rock group at the time.
Friday On My Mind let the Easybeats move on with
confidence and resulted in spending most of 1967 and 68 in the
studio, creating some of those years most ambitious work—which is no understatement. They
tried their hand with all types of musical styles, from good old
rock n' roll (Good Times) to psych pop (Land Of Make
Believe), all the while finding new beats, melodies and guitar
styles not heard in pop music before. The group more or less disintegrated
by 1969. Drummer Snowy had become too homesick to continue working in England with the group and Tony
Cahil replaced him. Their last album, Friends, was
released in 1970 and showed the group lean towards the boogie rock
similar to what the Status Quo went for around that time.
It is also important to note that the album was really a Vanda/Young collaboration, as the group didn't really exist anymore. However, a great wealth of unreleased work that was left behind eventually surfaced,
salvaged in 1977, when Vanda & Young compiled The Shame
Just Drained LP. Featuring 15 tracks from sessions dating
from 1967-68, it shows the Easybeats should have been destined
for greater things, but in similar style to the Kinks work
of the same time, appreciation came much too late. Repertoire
Records lovingly released all their original albums with massive
amounts of bonus tracks in the early nineties.
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