Browse by Artist: TULLY

Artist:	TULLY
Title:	Live At Sydney Town Hall, 1969-70
Label:	CHAPTER MUSIC (AUSTRALIA)
Format:	CD
Price:	$15.50
Catalog #:	CH 076CD

Chapter Music presents two rare live recordings from quintessential Sydney prog group Tully, including their 1970 performance of Australia's first-ever rock opera. These recordings capture the band in their first incarnation, before they joined forces with members of revered folk-psych band Extradition to explore more contemplative territory. Formed in late 1968, Tully The First were wild, expansive and unpredictable, their live shows now the stuff of legend. Terry Wilson (vocals), Richard Lockwood (reeds), Michael Carlos (organ), John Blake (bass) and Robert Taylor (drums) employed extended improvisation, spacious dynamics and an intuitive intensity, so impressing Australian jazz icon John Sangster that he called them "the best band in the world at the time." In mid '69, Tully became the house band for love-rock musical Hair, recording the original cast album later that year. They also starred in a six-part live-in-studio series Fusions, which premiered on ABC TV in August 1969. "Sights & Sounds Of 69," from a May show of the same name, is the only live Tully recording to have survived the intervening four decades, and documents a typically far-ranging, mind-expanding performance. Ken Firth (later of the Ferrets) replaced John Blake on bass in December 1969. Perhaps Australia's greatest living composer, Peter Sculthorpe wrote "Love 200" specifically with Tully and vocalist Jeannie Lewis in mind. The work, commemorating Captain Cook's expedition to map the Transit Of Venus in 1769, was dismissed by the stuffy classical establishment at the time, but Sculthorpe now calls it simply "one of my best works." Heard here for the first time since the early '70s, "Love 200" is an astounding piece, both elegant and jarring, serene and chaotic. After Tully's 1970 self-titled debut, Wilson and Taylor left the band, which then assimilated Extradition's Shayna Stewart and Colin Campbell before releasing two more albums, Sea Of Joy (1971) and Loving Is Hard (1972), both markedly different from their fiery and often thunderous early form. Live At Sydney Town Hall, 1969-70 is a fascinating insight into the early work of one of Australia's most heralded, but least-heard bands.

Artist:	TULLY
Title:	Sea Of Joy
Label:	EM RECORDS (JAPAN)
Format:	CD
Price:	$20.00
Catalog #:	EM 1068CD

First time on CD and reissue of the music from the classic Australian surf movie filmed by Paul Witzig in 1971, starring Wayne Lynce, Nat Young and Ted Spencer. Filmed in Australia, Mauritius, South Africa, Oahu and Kauai. The music was all written and performed by a psychedelic rock acid folk outfit called Tully featuring Richard Lockwood and Michael Carlos. The band that recorded Sea of Joy was the precocious child of two very different creatures, Tully the First (wild, psychedelic and spiritual progressive rock) and Extradition (ethereal acid folk sounds, later survived by the album Hush). They played together once, then became Tully the Second. The music they played for the soundtrack was engrossing and particularly enchanting, and still is. You may find there will be nothing to compare such a recording with -- not even other surf soundtracks or surfing-related music in the whole of surf music history (even now). Deep-psych-progressive-rock-acid-folk surf in the early 1970s! Some tracks were heard on the movie, but many of them are different versions and arrangements for this album, in a much higher audio quality than we hear on the original film. Sea of Joy, a title borrowed from the Blind Faith song of the same name (featured on the group's 1969 self-titled longplayer), was, as a film, a relaxing experience, instead of the usual story or travelogue. Uncrowded waves from Australia to Africa to Hawaii were a strong feature of the film and there was a serene beauty to the production. Geoff Watson in his review of the film in the surfing tabloid Tracks (issue #8) commented, "Paul Witzig takes us into his child's world in his newest film. It is a world of puppy dogs and slow motion pony rides, of fish eye gnomes and laughing faces. The grown-ups are friendly and very kind and every day is a holiday." A style and sound that won them inclusion in Lillian Roxon's highly-acclaimed Rock Encyclopedia. In fact, Tully were the only truly Australian group included in the book. Recorded at EMI's studios in Castlereagh Street, Sydney, the end result was a mixture of ethereal odes and tantalizing melodies. The organ-dominated title theme was mesmerizing -- it captured the mood of the film perfectly, even if many people missed the point.

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