Jeff St John's Copperwine - Joint Effort (1970 Australia, garage psych with blues and funky )Full

Copperwine (aka Jeff St John's Copperwine) was formed by Jeff St John's in early 1969. The band's first gigs were some low-key dates in Perth, before returning to Sydney. Copperwine soon commanded a rabid following in that city's fast-developing 'head' scene. Around the time of the new band's formation, guitarist Ross East was also invited to join the revised Masters Apprentices line-up by Jim Keays, but he turned it down, opting to stay with Jeff. Aided by East and Peter Figures, plus Alan Ingram on bass and keyboardist Barry Kelly (from Marty Rhone's Soul Agents), St John wowed punters at the Ourimbah "Pilgrimage For Pop", Australia's first major outdoor rock festival, held at Ourimbah, NSW at the end of January 1970. The band's dynamic repertoire mixed quality prog-flavoured group originals with powerful renditions of Sly & the Family Stone's funk classic "Sing A Simple Song" (a stage fave for many Australian acts of the time including Southern Comfort and The Affair), a storming version of The Temptations' psych-soul masterpiece "Cloud Nine" and Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home." This body of songs was captured by producer Pat Aulton in superb that remains one of the most accomplished and musically adventurous long players of the time. The punningly-titled Joint Effort won considerable critical acclaim, but failed to generate significant sales. A similar fate befell the great single lifted from the album, "Cloud Nine" / "Days To Come" (Feb. 1970). An EP, Sing A Simple Song, which featured four selections from its parent album, came out in May 1970. In retrospect, Joint Effort reveals at least three truths -- the album was one of Festival Record's most consistent sellers for many years, it's a fine artefact of what was musically going on with OzRock in this heady and fertile time, and it documents what a fine band Copperwine was and provided conclusive proof that Jeff is one of the best rock vocalists this country has ever produced. The musicianship of the band, particularly that of East and Kelly illustrated the embarrassment of riches scattered among Australian groups at this time. Original band-composed collaborations on the LP include the reflective "Fanciful Flights" (compiled on Raven's 2-CD compilation Golden Miles: Australian Progressive Rock, 1969-1974), the jazz-tinged instrumental "Any Orange Night" and the ensemble piece "You Don't Have To Listen". The towering opening track, a surging, organ-driven cover of The Temptation's "Cloud Nine", showed off Jeff's commanding soul stylings, superbly backed by a power-drive performance from Copperwine that, frankly, puts the original in the shade. Tracks 1. Cloud Nine - 6:22 2. Sing A Simple Song - 4:25 3. Fanciful Flights Of Mind - 3:23 4. Any Orange Night - 7:26 5. You Don’t Have To Listen - 5:00 6. I’ve Been Treated So Bad - 3:09 7. Days To Come - 4:10 8. Reach Out - 5:22 9. Can’t Find My Way Home - 4:19 10.Train - 2:18 11.Remember - 5:54 12.Enviroment In Three Parts - 7:50 Musicians *Harry Brus - Bass *Ross East - Guitar, Vocals *Johnny Green - Guitar *Barry Kelly - Piano, Clarinet *Wendy Saddington - Vocals *Jeff St. John - Vocals *Peter Figures - Drums *Alan Ingham - Bass *Phil Wooding - Guitar *Glyn Mason - Vocals, Guitar *John Sangster - Vibes, Glockenspeil *Billy Thorpe - Harmonica *Doug Ashdown - 12 String, Dobro Guitar *Elegio Sincic - Sitar *Mick Parker - Flute *Marilyn Murray - Vocals *Obadia Loombogle - Harp *Phil Wooding - Guitar