Nominated by: Simmsy
Music club: Wander to Wozza's
Playlist addition: I'm Finding Out
Mr Simms' instruction is not be hyper critical of this selection so here goes...
Ray and The Invaders were only together for a short time (basically four years from 1962) but they are firmly a key part of NZ music's DNA.
The Invaders included two other giants of the NZ music scene - Billy Kristian and Jimmy Hill and they were a big part of the group's success. But, really, Ray Columbus is the main protagonist here. I've mentioned him before in my Goo Goo G'Joob blog, so I won't labour the point here.
Instead, let's consider their final album together, released in 1966. Kudos for all original material on display. She's a Mod and Till We Kissed were cover versions and huge hits, so it must have been extremely tempting for the savvy Ray to go with another one but he resisted.
So what we have are 28 minutes of NZ's version of American R&B via British R&B (some of the early Invaders singles included covers of Beatle/Stones songs). I'm Finding Out, for instance sounds a tad like The Yardbirds covering a John Lee Hooker song. Yes - it's that good!
No surprise that the band jumped ships to Max Merritt after this album and Ray headed to America for a few years and the successful solo career.
What we are left with is a fun album very much of its time. It's pretty much beyond criticism - Ray's voice is just part of the fabric of my life as a kiwi music fan. He and The Avengers have reached National Treasure status which means they are beyond picky preferences.
There you go Kevvy - how was that me old mucker?
No comments:
Post a Comment