The Easybeats


Easy - Parlophone 1965

Tracks: 1. Its So Easy / 2. Im A Madman / 3. I Wonder / 4. She Said Alright / 5. Im Gonna Tell Everybody / 6. Hey Girl / 7. Shes So Fine / 8. You Got It Off Me / 9. Cry Cry Cry / 10. A Letter / 11. Easy Beat / 12. Youll Come Back Again / 13. Girl On My Mind / 14. Ya Cant Do That / 15. For My Woman / 16. Say That Youre Mine / 17. The Old Oak Tree / 18. Friday On My Mind / 19. Lisa (Rough Mix) / 20. Find My Way Back Home / 21. No One Knows / 22. Shes So Fine


Comments:

The Easybeats’ first album from 1965, was originally only released in Australia, where the group became very popular early on; almost like a The Beatles Down Under. There is really a lot of Merseybeat sound to many of the tracks and the best of them are really fine and catchy.

The group's breakthrough in Australia, She’s so Fine ”can be found on the album, where their very first single “For My Woman” is included as a bonus track. Both tracks are probably a little too raw to be called Merseybeat, and if they should be labelled it could be as garage or R&B.

A highlight is the opening track "It's So Easy" which is irresistibly catchy and almost sounds like a Beatles song. Another favorite is "I'm Gonna Tell Everybody" written by Harry Vanda and Snowy Fleet. In the beginning, it was actually George Young and Stevie Wright who together wrote most of the material, and the later so legendary Vanda / Young songwriter constellation only emerged gradually during the group's early years. You may sense on this first album that Harry Vanda's ear for the melodic is somewhat stronger than Wright's, and already in 1967, Wright largely stopped contributing to the songwriting.

The majority of the tracks here are a good mix of garage and merseybeat, but there are also a few Herman's Hermits-like ballads such as "I Wonder" and "Hey Girl". George Young's "Cry Cry Cry" is almost country. Among the bonus tracks, "Say That You're Mine" is pretty good; by the way a Vanda / Young song. Strange to include two later tracks like "Friday on My Mind" and "Lisa" as bonus tracks - they both fall outside to the rest of the album, which is overall interesting and solid - but no more than that.


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