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Blues Reform School
30th
Anniversary Show,
The Basement, Sydney
15 August 1997
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page is still under construction
In this live 1997 recording of
the Foreday Riders' 30th anniversary show, you'll find not only a
smorgasbord of full-blooded performances by a host of Australian blues
luminaries, but also a compact sonic history of the band to that time.
When the 30-year mark was
looming for the Riders in 1997, the rhythm section of Rosscoe Clark and
Stan Mobbs felt that some sort of blues party was warranted, and set in
motion the process leading to the big shindig that August. Good friend
and energetic blues impresario Peter Ghossein was consulted, and the
scale of the show escalated to take in most of the extended Riders
family; after contacting former players from all eras of the band (and
all parts of the country), Pete arranged the night for Friday August 15
at Sydney's prime night spot, the Basement.
Despite its epic duration and
logistical challenges, the show (dubbed 'university of the blues') ran
smoothly to time in an atmosphere of bonhomie and co-operation among
the players, who all delivered the goods, egged on by a buoyant and
well-oiled full house. Of course, with no rehearsal opportunities for
most of the line-ups, and many players not having seen each other for
years or even decades, the music has its rough patches, but we feel
this is offset by the spontaneity of the night, something not easily
achieved in the studio.
Fortunately Stan and Rosscoe
had thought to supply a DAT to our ace sound engineer for the night,
Luke Rodwell, who duly recorded the show at the desk. In the aftermath,
however, the tape was put to one side and consequently remained in
limbo - as Riders tapes tend to do - until re-surfacing for some reason
in 2008.
The DAT was transferred to CD by Stan's associate Syd Green at
Mononest Creative Studio, who did a top job of beefing up the sound and
editing the selected tunes into a coherent whole - our thanks to Syd.
So this is very much a live
recording, and while it may lack the sophistication of studio sound, we
feel it conveys enough of the show's flavour to justify it being
issued. The CD follows fairly closely the night's running order,
from the earliest to the latest line-up at the time, with a track
chosen from the set of each outfit. The night is undoubtedly recalled
by many as a monumental hoot, and hopefully this album can revive
good-time memories for those who were there, and give others some idea
of the show's rambunctious proceedings: as Stan Mobbs has so aptly put
it - a Foreday Riders time capsule.
Big thanks are due to Peter
Ghossein, Rosscoe Clark, Stan Mobbs, Luke Rodwell, Syd Green and all of
the players on the show, who were unsparing with time and effort.
Also from the Riders, a big hand for the very supportive audience which
made the night such a blast (and with a special thanks to Shane Pacey
for inadvertently supplying the album title).
Click
the photos below for enlarged view:
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