Pirana-S/T 1971 Australian Prog rock LP Harvest

	A$		103
	$		68

melmusic3345 Store

Pirana-S/T 1971 Australian Prog rock LP.

Tracks: "Elation" (Stan White)
"Sermonette" (Stan White)
"Time Is Now" (Tony Hamilton)
"Find Yourself A New Girl" (Stan White)
"The River" (Stan White)
"Easy Ride" (Stan White)
"Stand Back" (Tony Hamilton-Stan White)

Lable:Harvest Cat# SHVL-603. Record is visually Ex+ with barely a mark on it. Cover is VG-. This is an ex-radio station copy, there is a large white sticker on the front top LH cnr with some letters and numbers in large blue felt tip pen. There is thick tape along the spine. (You may be able to remove this carefully leaving a little residue. The coloured tape was applied for coding purposes not to repair the spine.) There is a small price sticker residue patch on the front top RH cnr and a large square outlined with tape residue on the front. There is some light ring wear inside the gatefold. There is a little edge wear particularly along the opening edge. There are some letters and numbers written in black felt pen on both sides of the label. (see scans)

The following info is from an Original article by Paul Culnane (revised 2007) and can be found at http://www.milesago.com/artists/pirana.htm.

Critics have pigeonholed Pirana as mere Santana clones, and while comparisions are understabdlble and the influence of Santana is obvious, this arguably did the group a considerable disservice. Its dynamic and rhythmic performance at the definitive Sunbury music festival in 1972 drew inevitable comparisons to the Latin-rock champions of Woodstock, due in no small measure to their superb performance of Santana's "Soul Sacrifice". But there was much more to Pirana than that facile categorisation allows

Let's acknowledge, then set aside for a moment, the band's obvious debt to Santana as their early musical template. Beyond that, we can hear examples of fine, melodic songwriting -- mainly from keyboardist Stan White on the first album, but consummately taken over by guitarist and vocalist Tony Hamilton on the second -- that displays a diversity of influences while still keeping the band's innate individuality. It's a bit like their contemporary peers, Sebastian Hardie or Sherbet, who also had a hard time living down copious (and mostly bogus) comparisons while they tried to forge an original path.

For a start, Tony Hamilton's guitar was never less than wonderful. He sang commandingly, with soul, atop Jim Yonge's fluid drumming, supported by the anchorage of Graeme Thompson's throbbing bass. Keyboards were vital to the Pirana sound, and Stan White and his successor, Keith Greig, provided rich Hammond organ reinforcement for the overall feel of the band.

In Pirana, members came and went, but it is essentially the core band comprising Duke-Yonge, Thompson, Hamilton and Greig (who replaced Stan White after the first LP), who made the records and sustained the bulk of the band's performing tenure, and must be most remembered as the definitive entity. Hamilton, Thompson and Yonge were all ex-members of Gus & The Nomads, a 60s R&B/pop band fronted by "the wild man of Sydney rock" Gus McNeil. Gus was executive producer on Pirana's debut album, and several others including the legendary A Product Of A Broken Reality for Company Caine, Greg Quill's early solo recordings (including the  Fleetwood Plain). Gus also set up his own publishing company, Cellar Music, which (besides Pirana) also handled publishing for Mike Rudd, Greg Quill, Ross Wilson and Gulliver Smith.

Pirana's first recordings were as the backing group for Greg Quill's 1970 solo album Fleetwood Plain. They signed to Harvest in 1971 and issued two singles. Here It Comes Again (May) was reputedly the first local single released in stereo, and can still be found on Raven's Golden Miles compilation CD; the same month they toured nationally as support band on the historic package tour by Deep Purple, Free and Manfred Mann's Chapter Three. Their second single was "I Hope You Don't Mind" (Nov.) Late in the year Stan White left to join pop band The Going Thing, and he was replaced by Keith Greig.

In concert they were always regarded as a top-drawer act; they went down a storm at the inaugural Sunbury rock festival, and their live version of Santana's "Soul Sacrifice" earned them a track on the Sunbury '72 album. EMI issued their second LP Pirana II in November 1972, by which time Richard McEwan had replaced Hamilton on guitar. Andrew James replaced Greig in 1973 and Phil Hitchcock replaced Graeme Thompson on bass in 1974. The band continued to work on the dance and pub circuit, but they didn't record again, and they eventually broke up in late 1974.

Duke-Yonge (aka Jimmy Tonge) went on to work with Corroborree, the Anne Kirkpatrick Band and Bullamakanka and in the late 1970s Keith Greig was a founding member of The Brucelanders, who went on to considerable acclaim in their later incarnation as The Reels (minus Keith).

See my other items for their 2nd album.

Vinyl:
M, mint condition, unplayed, with no marks on playing surface and labels as new.
M-, mint minus, either unplayed, with minimum scuffs caused by paper sleeve, or played once or twice only and still as new.
EX, excellent condition, record played carefully, very clean surface, minimum scuffing. 
VG, very good condition, scuffing or signs of groove wear but no bad scratches. Only minor pops or crackles.
G, good condition, well played with plenty of scuffs, light scratches and groove wear.Noise evident but no jumps.
F, fair condition, playable but heavily scuffed or scratched, with a lot of surface noise. Maybe minor jumps from scratches.

Covers:
M, Mint - As New
Ex, Excellent – Very little ware – no marks or worn corners
VG, Very Good  – some minor wear and some minor marks visible 
G, Good – worn cover, may have creased corners, heavier marks, small tears but still complete
F, Fair – cover is worn and maybe torn.

(+ or - means a little better or worse).

( Note : This item is located in Australia )
~ Packaging and postage within Australia is AUD$9.00. Pick-up can be arranged in Springvale South. There is a $2.00 handling fee for pick-ups. You should arrange to pick up within a week of the auction ending and pay COD.
~ Air-Mail to the rest of the world is AUD$19.00 

Yes, I am happy to combine multiple items to reduce shipping costs. This usually only applies to items won within a 10 day period. Contact me after your first win if you plan to bid on further items and wish to combine postage. Usually the second item will be at half the stated postage and handling fee and subsequent items will be an additional $1 each. This may be more for overseas destinations.

Insurance inside Australia is an extra AU$2.50 and the rest of the world is an extra AU$9.50. This will cover up to AU$100.00. Once it is posted it is your responisibility to follow up with Australia Post if you do not choose insurance. I am not responsible for any uninsured parcels once I have posted them. If you wish to avail yourself of PayPal's buyer protection scheme then you must pay for registered postage, otherwise there is no way of tracking the parcel.

Please check out my other auctions and add me to your favourite sellers list for the future as I have much rare and collectable music including a lot of Aussie stuff waiting to be listed.

Australian buyers should pay by direct debit to my bank account within 5 days of the end of the auction, if you use PayPal you should pay within 3 days of the end of the auction.
Overseas buyers should pay by PayPal within 3 days of the end of the auction.