THOUGHTS ABOUT OUR FIRST FEW ALBUMS, by ROGER ILOTT
Restless in Retrospect
It's more than 20 years since I listened to this album – our first record as a duo, and our first release on our own record label, Restless Music. When Restless was released in 1983 on LP, it received a terrific response - it got very favourable reviews, received lots of airplay. However, only 500 LP's were ever pressed.
Since then, Penny and I have recorded and released many more albums (only two more on vinyl, the rest on CD or cassette), but as this first one had only been released on vinyl (and vinyl in Australia, particularly, is now considered very old-fashioned) we thought the album had been long forgotten .. . until some music lovers and collectors from all around the world started contacting us to see if we had any copies left.
It seemed that copies of Restless and our other early LP's were in demand, and were commanding quite a high price. There were even bootlegged CD's circulating the world. Nevertheless, we never even thought of reissuing our early albums, as we seem to be always so busy working on new music. So it was quite a surprise to get an email in 2006 from Antoni Gorgues from Guerssen Records , in Spain , expressing interest in re-releasing Restless on C ompact Disc .
Over the years, both Penny and I had been quite dismissive of our first two albums - Restless and The Proud and Careless Notes… (RRP002 1984) . We both viewed them as experimental learning curves which helped us develop our styles and sounds that have been in evidence since Birchgrove Quay , our third album whic h was released in 1986. Kind of musical baby photos. But as a result of Antoni's enthusiasm, I got out the original ¼” analogue Ampex master tapes and set to work creating a CD master. The condition of the tapes was better than I thought after 23 years in storage . As the tapes ran through the machine, I was quite surprised by what I heard: I heard two young people experimenting in an imaginative way with Australian folk music; I heard Penny's young voice before she developed fully into the wonderfully expressive singer she is now; I heard a young guitarist pushing boundaries. And I really enjoyed it .
Back in the old vinyl days, you could only fit about 37-40 minutes content on LP's, so I've included a few bonus tracks to round out the CD release. These are very, very rough demos mixed to cassette, but though the quality is quite poor, the ideas are interesting. The percussion on one track is my Maton guitar case, and the backwards sounds on another are created by my Rickenbacker, and a flat pick rolling over the strings of our 1890's upright Leipzig piano.
Since 1983, Penny and I have released more than a dozen albums (by 2026, more than double that!) as a duo, and produced over 100 on our Restless Music label. But this is where it all began.
ROGER ILOTT Stanthorpe , Queensland , Australia , February, 2006 .
The Proud and Careless Notes… 25 years on.
Time is indeed a funny thing. One minute it's 1984, and you're relatively (i.e. early 30's) young and working on your (and your independent label's) second album. Then suddenly it's 25 years (and 15 albums as a duo, and more than 150 as an independent label) later - and you're remixing the same album!
Penny and I got together in 1976, formed the Restless Music label in 1982 with friends Howard Jones (engineer) and Cathy Kennedy (graphic artist), set up a studio and recorded and released our first album, Restless (RRP001), on LP in 1983 to an excellent response. Restless was mainly recorded on Howard's Otari 8 track, with a few tracks recorded on a TEAC 4 track.
In 1984, our partnership with Howard and Cathy dissolved. We got our own equipment, including a TEAC 4 track recorder, rebuilt the studio around it, and started working on our second album, The Proud and Careless Notes… (RRP002).
When The Proud and Careless Notes… was released on LP (mastered by Sheard & Co, in Glebe) it garnered mixed reviews. Neither Penny nor I were that happy with the album's sound (reflecting a little inexperience at the mixing board at the time), and so, when we upgraded to 8 track shortly after, I transferred the basic tracks and added bass and some keyboards. The result was a more complete album. I always intended to re-release the work – though a bit sooner than this!
The album mainly reflects our urban life at the time in the inner city Sydney harbour-side suburb of Balmain, and our interest in science fiction (alluded to in Bob Hudson's review). It also reflects the underlying tension of the 1980's (a result of U.S. Sheriff Reagan being on the loose). At the time we were experimenting with the idea of “Futuristic Folk”. We had toyed with this on a couple of tracks on Restless . Traces of that genre can be still found on our recent albums, Big Water (RM100, 2006) and Moon Caller (RM138, 2009).
In retrospect, both Restless and The Proud and Careless Notes… were terrific learning experiences. Both albums exude ideas, enthusiasm, and experimentation. Following the release of the first two albums, our studio was in demand, and over the next couple of years we gained invaluable experience working on and producing other artists' albums. These other productions enabled us to take our time over our third album, Birchgrove Quay (RM012), released in 1986.
The bonus tracks included here are demos of some quirky songs we were fiddling with at the time, plus the theme from one of our weekly radio shows, 2SER-FM's Timeless Fusions (co-hosted by Lucinda Castaldi).
The LP versions of Restless and The Proud and Careless Notes… are hard to get (there were only 500 copies of each pressed), and have been “collectables” for some years. To me it's important the music is out there. So here's another chapter in the story – “…the proud and careless notes live on, but bless our hands that ebb away”. (W.B.Yeats).
ROGER ILOTT, Stanthorpe , Queensland , Australia , January, 2009.
After the 1984 release of our second album, The Proud and Careless Notes…, our independent label, Restless Music, was starting to make a name for itself. We had upgraded to 8 track recording equipment, and our Balmain studio was in demand for New South Wales based folk artists. Penny and I produced albums for artists such as John Broomhall, Vincent P. Brophy, Peter Kearney, Skewiff, Spangled Drongoes, Gill Rees and Jill Stevens, as well as quite a few compilations, including the landmark Wilderness – Songs for Conservation & the Environment (RRP005, 1985).
With the 1983 release of our first album, Restless , Penny and I started performing regularly in the folk scene that encompassed Sydney and environs. At that time there was a thriving folk scene - Bankstown Folk, Sutherland Folk, La Pena, Berry Folk Club, The 3 Weeds and many others. We also started appearing regularly on Dermott Ryder's Ryder Round Folk Saturday evening radio programme on 2MBS-FM.
It was a time of blossoming musical friendships, collaboration, and inspiration. As we started developing ideas for our third album, Birchgrove Quay , we became friends with Harry Robertson, who helped us work on our vocal interpretation and delivery.
Our cottage in Balmain had become a real drop-in point for folkies. One life-changing rainy night Dave de Hugard came knocking on the door to play us a ‘great new song' he'd just learned – Bill Scott's Hey Rain! Dave sat at our kitchen table with his big old accordion and sang about the ‘rain, rain coming down on the cane' in North Queensland . We loved the song, and shortly after recorded our own (completely different) version.
Birchgrove Quay (mastered at CBS) was released on LP/cassette in 1986 and received a wonderful response. We were extremely happy with the production, and the much broader lyrical vision we had developed.
The bonus tracks on this CD reissue include the theme we recorded for the 1986 Folklore Conference (Ku-ring-gai Polka) . A film of the conference was produced with Penny as the presenter/interviewer. She met and interviewed Bill Scott, writer of Hey Rain! And this became the start of a wonderful friendship and musical collaboration. Also included is the first version of Harry Robertson's Deep Sea Tug . We recorded a completely different, thundering version (The Byrds meet The Who) on our next album, Fair Wind Home in 1990.
Shortly after the release of Birchgrove Quay, Hey Rain! was picked up by Ian McNamara on his nationwide ABC radio programme, Australia All Over. Ian included the song on his compilation, Australia All Over – Volume 1 (1987). The album quickly went double platinum (over 150,000 sales). We were also on television promoting the album. Suddenly, Penny and I had a nationwide audience!
And it was then we decided to relocate 500 miles north – to our 32 acre property, Folkstone, in Queensland 's Granite Belt.
ROGER ILOTT, Stanthorpe , Queensland , Australia , January, 2011
There was a four year gap between the release of our third album, Birchgrove Quay (1986) and our fourth album, Fair Wind Home (1990). In that time, we had recorded about 20 albums for other artists in our Balmain studio, and then in 1987 uprooted and moved interstate nearly 500 miles north to our 32 acre property overlooking Storm King Dam in Queensland 's Granite Belt. There we relocated (all the way from Brisbane ) and then renovated a beautiful 1920's ‘Queenslander' (a style of timber home), and rebuilt the studio. In 1989, Penny gave birth to our son, Jordan.
During this time we also became close friends with Bill Scott and his wife, Mavis (we had recorded Bill's song Hey Rain! on Birchgrove Quay ). As we were moving from Sydney , they were moving from Brisbane to Warwick - an hour north of us. This friendship developed into a wonderful creative collaboration over the ensuing years.
Hey Rain! had been a huge ‘hit', receiving lots of airplay on the ABC's national Australia All Over programme (an audience of well over 2 million people), and was included on the first Australia All Over album which went double platinum.
While Penny was pregnant, we started working on the new album. Rural themes had started to replace our urban explorations of the previous albums, but in contrast, there was a yearning for the sea in many of the songs.
While Jordan was still a babe in arms, we started touring extensively for the Queensland Arts Council, and continued to do so for the next five years.
The title of the album comes from the Gordon Bok song, Dark Old Waters – a song of incredible depth and beauty. We started corresponding with Gordon (who lives in Maine , U.S.A. ) after we recorded this track, and also put him in touch with Bill Scott. These two ‘old sailors' developed a wonderful rapport. In 2003 Penny helped organise a short tour for Gordon and his wife, Carol Rohl. They came and stayed with us, and we recorded four songs together (copies are in the National Sound Archive). We all got together at the Scott's home in Warwick as well.
The version of Deep Sea Tug included on this album stands in stark contrast to the unreleased 1986 version included as a bonus track on the Birchgrove Quay reissue.
The bonus tracks here include another Gordon Bok song, Mr. Eneos . This was our regular concert set opener at the time, including the 1989 Maleny (now Woodford) Folk Festival.
Fair Wind Home remains one of my favourite albums of ours. Only a few hundred cassettes of this were released (it was the transition time between LP's and CD's), so it received neither the coverage nor the audience it should have. But it was a magic, busy, creative time in our lives, with huge changes. The album reflects all these things, and I guess that's why I like it so much.
ROGER ILOTT, Stanthorpe , Queensland , Australia , January, 2011.
Since saying Farewell To Campbell Street , Balmain, in 1987, and moving to Storm King Dam in south-east Queensland , our music had started to explore more rural themes. Our fourth album, Fair Wind Home (1990) had begun to reflect our new country life, and Down The Track distilled many of those rural themes.
Between April, 1990 and April, 1995 (and later, from September, 2000 to February, 2003), Penny and I undertook an extensive series of concert tours for the Queensland Arts Council. From Mt Isa to Muttaburra, Weipa to Winton, Cooktown to Cunnamulla, Boulia to Bowen, from the outback to the coast, through the mining towns of Central Queensland , we performed over 100 concerts for the QAC. This was in addition to Folk Festivals, clubs and our other gigs.
Touring regional Queensland (with a young child), experiencing the changing landscape, performing for and meeting rural people, sparked a change in our music. While retaining folk sensibilities, we carefully applied some country touches. Life in the country had helped open up our music to a different audience, an audience quite different to the folk audiences we had been used to in Sydney and surrounds.
Down The Track , and its predecessor, All Over Queensland (1990) , which combined some new songs about Queensland with a few from our earlier albums, were the albums we toured with from 1990-1995. Our song, All Over Queensland , had been picked up by the ABC's Chris Jensen, who used it as the theme song for his programme, Queensland Sunday. We had also started collaborating with Bill Scott. Our 1986 version of Bill's song, Hey Rain! had helped us find a wide audience in Australia thanks to exposure of the song on Ian McNamara's weekly ABC radio programme, Australia All Over. One of the first sets of lyrics Bill gave us to work with was The Monkeys Sing Soprano (Around Stanthorpe In July) – featured on this album.
Following the release of Down The Track , Ian McNamara started regularly playing Beside a Railway Line and The Monkeys Sing Soprano on his programme. These two songs were subsequently featured on the ABC albums, Macca On Air (1996) and Macca By Request (2002) , and were also included on Macca's Top 100 (2012) . They still receive quite a bit of airplay (and we still perform them regularly) to this day.
While recording Down The Track , we also started work on Backbone of the Nation – The Women of Australia (which was released the same year) – all this with a very active 3 year old son in our lives (and in our studio! That's Jordy at the end of Farewell to Campbell Street playing a chord on his ukulele).
Down The Track received some delightful reviews. The material contained more variety than our previous very folky albums. In addition to “serious” songs, we included a couple of the topical crowd pleasers from our concert sets, Not The Shed (a parody of the John Williamson song), Kids Today , as well as our regular set closer, Dream A Little Dream Of Me .
Between the 1992 releases of Down The Track and Backbone of the Nation , however, it would be another six years before the release of our next album, Outback Café (1998) . Though we continued to tour, perform and record regularly, we were thoroughly immersed in our roles as parents of a growing child - the experience of a lifetime!
ROGER ILOTT Storm King , Queensland , Australia , July, 2015.