Medium, Rare and Well Done – Hard To Find NZ LP’s From The 1970’s and Early 80’s
Jun 15
There are some rare little gems from the shaky isles still on vinyl which have never been re-mastered and released on CD and for years it was assumed that they never would. Sadly, this means that they are as rare as hens teeth and attract ridiculous prices from vinyl scalpers around the world. Case in point are “original presses” of albums like “Ticket – Awake” which up until recently changed hands at prices akin to gold … well not quite, but a 120 gram vinyl record selling for $400 USD has got to be considered gold. There is some call you’d think to reissue these on CD and thus alleviate the pressure on prices. Only the resellers benefit; the bands themselves get no royalties for second hand sales and as for those who simply want to listen to the music it’s just downright hard to get hold of, if you can. OK there are a few “Best Of’s” and various artist compilation albums about – but they are largely eclectic collections that leave you somewhat wanting. Basically, nothing beats getting the original album, with perhaps a few bonus single tracks added. Now back in the 1980s when I started up my archival music collection (I’m still going some 30 odd years later) I tried to track down bands to see if they would be putting out their records on CD. To my dismay I discovered that record labels like CBS had dumped the original masters. But it gets worse… other producers sold the rights off-shore and as to access to the masters, well, who knows … the bands certainly don’t have the rights! Then you get all the label buy outs and the signing away of rights in perpetuity, so that even if the artists want to release their own works 30 years or more after the so called “sound recording mechanical rights” normally expire – it all just becomes ‘too hard’! There is some relief in play though – Ticket have released their classic 1971 album AWAKE on CD, so it’s available to the world again (and hopefully this will take the sting out of second hand record prices). You can now buy this in music stores, on eBay and on websites (like www.gocatalogue.com ) around the world. Wellington band ‘Highway’ have re-release their only self titled album on CD – great, I won’t have to try and...
Nambassa Festival 1978-81
Jun 14
Nambassa was a series of hippie-conceived festivals held between 1976 and 1981 on large farms around Waihi and Waikino in New Zealand. They were music, arts and alternatives festivals that focused on peace, love, and an environmentally friendly lifestyle. In addition to popular entertainment, they featured workshops and displays advocating holistic health issues, alternative medicine, clean and sustainable energy, and unadulterated foods. What we consider mainstream living today was pretty radical in the 1970s. The New Zealand hippie movement was part of an international phenomena in the 1960s and 1970s, heralding a new artistic culture of music, freedom and social revolution where millions of young people across the globe were reacting against old world antecedents and embracing a new hippie ethos. Specifically New Zealand’s subculture had its foundations in the peace and anti-nuclear activism of the 1960s where hippies were actively trying to stop New Zealand’s involvement in the Vietnam war and to prevent the French from testing nuclear weapons at Mururoa atoll in French Polynesia in the Pacific Islands. The January 1979 three-day music and alternatives festival held over Auckland anniversary weekend attracted over 75,000 patrons making it the largest event of its type in New Zealand and the world (per capita). Timeline: 1977 January. Waikino music festival at Bicknel’s farm, Waitawheta Valley, between Waihi and Waikino. Attendance 5500. 1977 December. Parade from Queen St, Auckland, to nearby Albert Park for a free concert. Attendance 10,000. 1978 January. Nambassa three-day music, crafts and alternative lifestyles festival on Phil and Pat Hulses’ 400-acre (1.6 km2) farm in Golden Valley, north of Waihi. Attendance 25,000. 1978 October. Nambassa winter road show toured the North Island promoting the 1979 festival. 1978 December. Two-day gathering in Maritoto Valley for the Mother Centre and friends. Attendance 1500. 1979 January. Nambassa beach festival touring family roadshow – Whangamata, Waihi Beach, Mount Maunganui and Coromandel. 1979 January. Nambassa three-day music, crafts and alternative lifestyles festival on Phil and Pat Hulses’ 400-acre (1.6 km2) farm in Golden Valley, north of Waihi. Attendance 75,000 plus. 1981 January. Nambassa five-day celebration of music, crafts and alternative lifestyles culture on a 250-acre (1.0 km2) farm at Waitawheta Valley between Waihi and Waikino. Attendance 15,000 – well down on the 1979 festival. Reacting against the huge 1979 event which was deemed by many of the counterculture movement too large and not reflective of the alternative message, the organizers purposely ran this festival on...