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CD
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EM 1068CD
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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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