Sources of Australian Pop Records from the 50s, 60s and 70s plus some Aussie originals and some New Zealanders
Originals / Covers / Remakes / Songwriters / Chart Positions
The Hawaiian singer who released ‘She’s My Baby’ before Johnny O’Keefe.
‘Froggy’, the British singer-songwriter who wrote Russell Morris’s ‘Rachel’.
The former Kingston Trio member who wrote Reg Lindsay’s ‘Armstrong’.
The lyricist who co-wrote both ‘You’re The Voice’ and ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’.
Hollywood Eight: the real motel that inspired ‘Hollywood Seven’.
The Roosters were formed in 1964 by high school friends in the Los Angeles suburb of Westchester. In December 1967 they released their their fourth single, Love Machine.
Their previous singles had been on minor labels with songs written by band members, but this one was on Philips, written and produced by regular collaborators Michael Gordon and Jimmy Griffin, and arranged by the notable producer-arranger-composer Al Capps.
The Roosters' single pops up on a scattering of US radio surveys in 1968 (#2 in Ogden, Utah, is pretty good), but it made only #106 on Billboard's national chart, and this was their most successful single.
Later in 1968, Love Machine charted at least Top 20 in all of Australia's state capitals when a one-off studio band called Pastoral Symphony released a version. It was rearranged by Johnny Hawker, whose band played on the record along with The Twilights. The lead singer was Terry Walker, who would be heard later in the year on The Strangers' classic Happy Without You.
Pop Archives
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Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2021. Chart positions courtesy of Gavin Ryan’s Australian Chart Books and Dean Scapolo’s Complete NZ Music Charts. Special thanks to Terry Stacey for information, corrections and suggestions. Thanks also to Tony Watson, Joop Jansen, More…