Legend

Very scarce pressing! Rare 1971-74 material from great New Zealand band. Pristine vinyl, really nice clean gatefold cover.

Talented, sexy, sophisticated, adventurous, dynamic, innovative - just some of the many tags that have been been attached to The La De Das' name. But one word was always associated with them more than any other - the La De Das were cool. Their career spans the entire '64-'75 period, and we're fortunate that the story has been been documented in considerable detail, by Glenn A. Baker, who interviewed the band members for his extensive liner notes to the definitive double album retrospective Rock'n'Roll Decade in 1981, and then by New Zealand rock historian John Dix, who devoted a entire chapter to them in his seminal 1988 book Stranded In Paradise. Formed in New Zealand at the very start of the beat boom, they were already major stars at home when they relocated across the Tasman a couple of years later. They're practically the only major group (on either shore) to emerge from the beat boom of 1964-65 who managed to ride out the massive musical changes of the Sixties and adapt to the new scene in the Seventies, emerging as one of Australia's most popular hard rock groups during the first half of the Seventies. There are a lot of similarities to their Aussie contemporaries The Masters Apprentices. Both were touted as their country's answer to The Rolling Stones. Both survived for so long in that mercurial era because they had tons of talent, determination and the ability to adapt their sound and look to align with prevailing trends. Both groups went through major personnel changes - by the time the Masters split, singer Jim Keays was the only remaining original member, and by the time of their final 1973-74 'power trio' incarnation, only guitarist and singer Kevin Borich remained from the original La De Das lineup. Like the Masters, they started off as blues/R&B purists, and their original style leaned heavily on British R&B practitioners - The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - and on the American originals like John Lee Hooker, Elmore James and Muddy Waters. They moved into their 'mod' period - with covers of Ray Charles, Motown and Northern Soul favourites, replete with tartan trousers, satin shirts and buckle shoes. Then they plunged headlong into psychedelia (the obligatory concept album, covers of songs from West Coast outfits like Blues Magoos, paisley shirts, sitars, long hair and moustaches). They almost came unstuck after the inevitable - and ultimately futile - attempt to "make it in England". But it's here that the stories diverge - the Masters fell apart in England in 1972, but the Las De Das survived (just) limped back to Australia, regrouped, and bounced back with a mature and reinvigorated take on their R&B roots. Their final incarnation as a hard-rockin', no-frills, blues & boogie band carried them very successfully through to the mid-70s.

Side 1:
Gonna See My Baby Tonight [Borich]
Morning Good Morning [Borich-Key]
I Guess I'll Never Stop Loving You [Borich]
It's The Beginning [Borich]
Honky Tonkin' [Hank Williams]
Too Pooped To Pop [Chuck Berry]

Side 2:
Feel Like A Dog [Borich]
Sentimental Rose [Borich]
I'm In Love Again [Dave Bartholomew-Antoine Domino]
All Along The Watchtower [Bob Dylan]