This
is a copy of the screed on the Milesago website, which is not directly accessible
by linking.
Ariel formed in mid-1973, after the breakup of Spectrum. When Spectrum
drummer Ray Arnott announced he was leaving to join Ross Wilson’s new band Mighty
Kong, Putt and Rudd commendably decided to end the band rather than try to recruit
a new member, feeling that it wouldn’t be possible to recreate the special spirit
of that group. Within a few months of Spectrums’s farewell performance their
new band (whose name was taken from the character in Shakespeare’s “The
Tempest”) was up and running. Ironically, the two new members, Tim and
Nigel, had originally come to Melbourne to work with Ross Wilson and Ross Hannaford
on their new project (which became Mighty Kong) and it was after they departed
that Wilson asked Ray Arnott to join, thus precipitating the split of Spectrum!
Strong record company interest in Ariel quickly led to a contract with EMI’s
progressive Harvest imprint. Their superb debut single “Jamaican Farewell”
looked set to repeat the early success of Spectrum but it only managed to
reach No.34, its success hampered by lack of airplay, especially in Sydney,
although it impressed the industry enough to win the FACB ‘Single Of The Year’.
They toured as support to Gary Glitter November 1973 and released their excellent
first LP A Strange Fantastic Dream in December, with writing credits split
fairly evenly between Gaze and Rudd. According to Noel McGrath, the album
was also the first use of Moog synthesizer on an Australian rock record (though
it’s possible Tully may have been the first Australian band to recod with
one) and producer Peter Dawkins still names it as one of his favourite productions.
It fared well commercially and critically, reaching #12 in the LP charts
in February 1974, although there was a minor controversy about Stephen Nelson’s
brilliant, hallucinatory cover painting, which included (shock! horror!) a
hypodermic syringe. Airplay for the LP was further hindered by the banning
of three songs (“Confessions Of A Psychotic Cowpoke”, “Medicine
Man” and “Chicken Shit”) by the commercial radio industry’s
self-regulatory body, the FACB.
One particularly important outcome for the group was that EMI International’s
President, Allan Davies, fell in love with the album: “You know, Peter,”
he enthused to Dawkins, “I can’t recall ever hearing a song about necrophilia!”
Renowned British DJ John Peel also picked up both album and single and “said
some really nice things about both of them”. These and other factors
led to Ariel being invited to tour the UK and record their next album at Abbey
Rd.
Ariel’s second album was to have been a John Whyndham-ish science fiction
concept piece, The Jellabad Mutant; you can read more about this long-lost
project in Paul Culnane’s feature article. But before the project had even
been conceived, there was a major disruption, with the band abruptly splitting
in two. Mills, Macara and Gaze quit amidst some rancour in April 1974, after
a trip to Perth and Mike retreated to the Mornington Peninsula with his family.
He began writing fragments of new songs on his “trusty Canora guitar
and a crappy tape recorder” which began to form themselves into “some
sort of order … the beginnings of a Grand Idea that might eventually become
what every songwriter had dreamt of since Townshend dropped Tommy on an unsuspecting
public — a Rock Opera”.
Returning to Melbourne, Rudd “did what I always did — I called Bill”.
They worked on the new material over a period of weeks, and by May they the
piece sufficintly ready that they approached drummer John Lee to rehearse
with them. John, a fine drummer who had previously played in Sayla, Blackfeather
and Gulliver Smith & The Dead End Kids, had just left The Dingoes, after
recording their first album and their debut single “Way Out West”.
The three began rehearsing together, and in June or July, as the material
took shape, John suggested bringing in his former bandmate from Sayla, lead
guitarist Harvey James. Mike later discovered that John and Harvey had also
known each other in school, a connection which, he later realised, would sow
the seeds of “another ‘them and us’ scenario” in the band’s internal
politics.
Harvey, who was already gaining a reputation as a player to watch, had recently
left Mississippi and returned home after that band’s disastrous trip to England.
Rehearsals continued and before long it became apparent that this arrangement
had taked on a life of its own. More by accident than by design, the quartet
became the new lineup of Ariel. The new lineup cut a terrific single, “Yeah
Tonight” which was released in August — presumably to keep EMI at bay
while they beavered away on the new album.
Thus far things had fallen into place rather nicely, but it all began to
turn pear-shaped over the next couple of months. With writing more or less
complete, Ariel demoed their new album at EMI Studios in Sydney, wit the sessions
produced by Peter Dawkns and engineered (probably) by Martin Benge. However,
to the band’s dismay, EMI rejected it outright. Mike sardonically comments
that they were told that it had been rejected because EMI England had “a
basement crammed full of rejected rock operas”. It would be nearly thirty
years before The Jellabad Mutant saw the light of day on record, when it was
reissued by Mike and Bill’s RareVision label. In the liner notes, Mike ponders
wistfully about what could have been:
“It’s interesting to speculate what might have happened had we been
allowed to proceed with the Mutant with an intact budget (EMI slashed the
budget for Rock’n’Roll Scars adding to the pressure) and with the time to
to reflect and be creative with the raw material you hear in the demos. I
regret not going in to bat for it at the time. We had a fabulous opportunity
with the best technical assistance any band could have wanted. But I didn’t
sell the dream, even to myself.”
The rejection of The Jellabad Mutant obviously placed them in a very difficult
position. EMI England had offered them the chance to record their next LP
in London, but the band suddenly found themselves unable to record the material
they had spent the last year working on. To complicate matters even further,
they soon realised that EMI England had made the offer on the basis of the
first album and were expecting the original Ariel lineup. The news that they
were getting an entirely new Ariel apparently went over like a lead balloon
with ‘the suits’ at EMI House in London.
Ariel left for the UK on 12 October 1974 for the recording and some gigging,
hoping to capitalise on the momentum, including favourable UK reviews of “Jamaican
Farewell”. After the 30-hour flight to London they were greeted by manager
Phil Jacobsen, who announced “There’s been a change of schedule. We start
today.” They immediately began eleven days of recording at the world-famous
Abbey Road Studios with engineer Tony Clark, who was impressed with “the
speed and efficiency” with which the Aussies worked. It was mixed by
the great Geoff Emerick, engineer on most of the later Beatles Albums and
Singles. The tracks they recorded there became their next LP Rock’n’Roll Scars.
Although Mike somehow found time to dash off three new (excellent) songs,
the rejection of the Mutant project forced him to fall back on earlier material
from his days in Spectrum/Murtceps. These songs, rearranged for the two guitars,
formed the bulk of the album. They included new versions of “I’ll Be
Gone”, “Launching Place”, “We are Indelible”, “What
the World Needs (Is A New Pair Of Socks)”, and a superb reworking of
the Murtceps’ “Some Good Advice”, which showed the skills of Harvey
James to the full. The album also included a new version of “Red Hot
Momma”, which had been cut by Ariel Mk I but was only released as the
B-side of Jamaican Farewell. The cover photo features a subtitle, “Before
The Mutant” — evidently an ironic reference to this album’s abortive
predecessor. One of the three new tracks from the album, “Keep on Dancing
(With Me)” was issued as a single in March ’75, but it didn’t make the
charts.
Despite its troubled birth, Rock’n’Roll Scars is still much loved by Ariel
fans. It remains an excellent record and a tribute to the skills of the four
musicians — even though Mike, fairly, considered it a retrograde step. He
has often been asked about recording at the legendary Abbey Road Studios,
but it must be remembered that he was under great pressure to come up with
enough suitable material for a whole album in a very limited time. Consequently
he had no chance to savour what should have been a special experience, and
doesn’t have particularly fond memories of the sessions.
Ariel returned to Australia in January 1975 and the same month they added
New Zealand-born Glyn Mason on guitar and vocals as fifth member. Glyn’s previous
credits included Chain, Copperwine and even a stint with Thunderclap Newman.
His powerful, soulful voice was a great addition to the band, and the three
guitar lineup packed a real punch, but unfortunately this terrific lineup
was woefully under-recorded. Happily though, a high-quality live recording
of this lineup has recently come to light, and it’s a priceless historical
document for several reasons. Made at the Station Hotel, Prahran on 11 November,
1975 — the night of the dismissal of the Whitlam government — the tape includes
a live rendition of a suite of songs from The Jellabad Mutant, and it showcases
what a polished and dynamic live outfit Ariel Mk III really was. Hopefully,
Ariel fans will get a chance to hear this great gig in the future on CD. An
alternate version of the Mutant Suite, taken from a live Double Jay broadcast,
has been included on the new Jellabad Mutant CD (see Discography).
It was during this period of Ariel’s History that Mike Rudd played a small
but crucial role in the story of another up-and-coming New Zealand band, Dragon.
Dragon had arrived in mid-1975 and had been slogging it out for several months
in wine-bars and clubs in Sydney. Mike had seen them playing around the traps
and was impressed enough that late in the year he took Peter Dawkins (an old
friend from NZ and then CBS house producer and A&R manager) to see the
group. Dawkins too was impressed — he returned with a group of CBS executives
visiting from the USA, who were impressed enough to signed Dragon to the label;
putting together a strong new repertoire of pop-oriented material, much of
it penned by their recently recruited keyboard player Paul Hewson, Dragon
quickly shot to to the top of the Australian charts and dominated the late-70s
pop scene on both sides of the Tasman.
Meanwhile, the five-piece version of Ariel cut just one excellent single
“I’ll Take You High”, released in Dec. 1975, and it reached No 36.
They made another trip to the UK in April 1976 but while they were there John
Lee left the band. He briefly joined English group Dirty Tricks and then finally
returned to The Dingoes when they relocated to America. He was temporarily
replaced by the erstwhile Nigel Macara. Ariel continued gigging into 1976,
but their progress was again disrupted in March by the departure of Harvey
James, who was subsequently chosen to replace guitarist Clive Shakespeare
in Sherbet.
Opting for keyboards instead of guitar this time, they replaced Harvey with
Tony Slavich (ex-Richard Clapton Band) on keyboards and vocals. No doubt facilitated
by Mike’s friendship with Dawkins Ariel changed labels to CBS and their third
LP Goodnight Fiona, again produced by Dawkins, was released in August. The
wistful single “I Can Do Anything” was lifted from LP (although,
as was almost always the case with both Spectrum and Ariel, the single version
was a different recording from the album version.
Lineup hassles continued when Macara left again in October ’76 due to “general
incompatibility”, and he was replaced by another former Richard Clapton
Band alumnus, Iain McLennan. The single “Disco Dilemma” was released
in April ’77, just before expiration of their CBS contract, after which they
signed to Image Records.
By early 1977 the band realised they had taken Ariel as far as it could go.
The breakup was announced in July 1977. Their final gig was a lavish affair
with an ‘island fantasy’ theme, held at Melbourne’s Dallas Brooks Hall on
31 August 1977; it was recorded live and later released over two LPs: Aloha
Ariel and Live – More From Before. A farewell single, “It’s Only Love”,
was released to coincide with the concert. The live LPs were later combined
and reissued as the 2LP set Ariel Live In Concert.
After Ariel ….
Mike Rudd moved into in promotion and production for a time. He produced the
debut album for Newcastle bands Daniel and Jab and demos for Janie Conway
(ex-Melbourne band Stiletto). Slavich and McLennan joined a theatre backing-band
for a musical play
Bill went overseas to study at the New York Conservatorium of Music, and
after he returned, he and Mike formed a succession of groups: Mike Rudd’s
Instant Replay, Mike Rudd & The Heaters (both also with Tony Slavich)
and the more electronically oriented W.H.Y.. Unfortunately he was never able
to regain the commercial momentum of his early 70s successes — a lamentable
fact which says much more about the parlous state of the Aussie music industry
than it does about the talents of Mike & Bill.
Iain McLennan went on to spells in Mondo Rock and Sports. Glyn Mason worked
solo for some time, then in 1978 he formed Loose String Band followed by Stockley,
See & Mason, with veteran players Chris Stockley (ex-Dingoes) and Sam
See (ex-Sherbet, Flying Circus, Greg Quill’s Southern Cross), and they recorded
one fine album for Mushroom.
Mike and Bill have sustained their enduring partnegsubip over the years,
with reunions of Spectrum during the ’80s, and a very fine duo album in 1996,
Living On A Volcano. The new 3-piece incarnation of Spectrum, with drummer
Peter “Robbo” Robertson, debuted with the CD Spectrum Plays The
Blues album, which took them back to their roots. Ariel has reformed for occasional
gigs with varying lineups, including one final reunion of the Mk II lineup
with Harvey James and John Lee, which took place not long before Lee’s untimely
death in July 1998. Mike was also forced to withdraw from performing for some
time due to the illness and subsequent death of his wife Helen.
Rather like Steely Dan’s Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Mike & Bill
have been the hub around which Spectrum, Ariel and subsequent groups have
revolved, and over the years they’ve built on the idea they pioneered with
Spectrum/Murtceps, in which the various band identities effectively functioned
as modules of a larger project. Mike and Bill are among the most consistently
stimulating and satisfying performers Australasia has ever produced, and their
legacy with Ariel deserves far greater recognition. Hopefully, the recent
CD releases will go some way to achieving that.