DUCK
Sydney 1972
Larry Duryea (percussion)
Jon English (vocals)
Bobby Gebert (piano)
Bobbi Marchini (vocals)
Danny Robinson (vocals) - concerts only
John Robinson (guitar)
Russell Smith (guitar, concerts only)
Teddy Toi (bass)
Steve Webb (drums)
History
Studio group
Duck was the brainchild of musician and producer G.Wayne Thomas; created from the
nucleus of Sydney club band Hunger,
it featured some of the best performers in Sydney at the time, under
the leadegsubip of ex-Blackfeather
guitarist John Robinson.
Duck headed to Melbourne and recorded a highly regarded album of rock
and R&B covers, cut at Armstrong's Studios
and engineered by the legendary Roger Savage. Laid
was one of the first local albums recorded by the fledgling Australian
division of the Warner group and was released on the Warner Brothers
label.
Issued in mid-1972, it featured Jon
English and Bobbi Marchini
on lead vocals, with backing provided by John Robinson, renowned jazz
pianist and session cat Bobby
Gebert, percussionist Larry Duryea (ex Tamam
Shud), former Aztec
Teddy Toi on bass and Steve Webb on drums. The LP was given only
limited release and is now a prized collectors' item.
The album featured a wildly eclectic mix of cover versions.
They
included some popular tracks such as Neil Young's "Southern Man", Bill
Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine", John Lennon's "Mother" (performed by
Bobbi) and a sterling rendition of Nick Gravenites' "Buried Alive in
the Blues" , the track written for Janis Joplin's last LP Pearl,
but released as an instrumental
because Joplin died before she could record her vocal. Other tracks
were more obscure -- Frank Zappa's "Dog Breath" and "Lucille Has Messed
My Mind Up", the title tack from the Zappa-produced solo album by
former Captain Beefheart guitarist Jeff Simmons, and "Memo To Turner",
the 'theme song' from the cult Mick Jagger-James Fox film Performance.
Two singles were released -- "Sweet Inspiration" / "Southern
Man"
came out in May 1972 (the A-side is the only track that does not appear
on the LP). It was followed by "Maybe I'm Amazed" b/w "The Man in Me"
(September '72). A touring version of the
group was put together, but by the time it was ready to go on the road
Jon English had joined the cast of Jesus
Christ Superstar, so he was ably replaced by former Wild Cherries frontman
Danny Robinson; former Company
Caine guitarist Russell Smith was also added for some gigs.
Duck lasted only a short time as a live act. According to a
contemporary press report, Bobbi Marchini was hospitalised with
appendicitis in late 1972 and by the time she came out of hospital the
group had already dissolved.
After Duck ...
- Bobbi Marchini went on to a brief solo
career before
quitting the music scene and leaving Australia in 1976. She returned to
Australia in 2004 for a reunion with her first band, Southern Comfort.
- Jon English spent several years wowing
Australian audiences in the role of Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar,
before launching a very successful solo singing career in the mid-70s
and later branching out into acting.
- Larry Duryea worked with Stevie Wright and other acts
before leaving Australia and settling in the USA in the 1980s. He died
in California in late 2003.
- Bobby Gebert remains one of the
stalwarts of the Australian jazz scene and still performs regularly
around Sydney.
- John Robinson used
many of the Duck team for his rare and collectable 1974 solo LP Pity
For The Victim. In 1975 he played on the equally rare and
collectable jazz-rock album Morning In Beramiada by
Jackie Orzacsky. He worked on a variety of other projects in the late
'70s before quitting live performance to concentrate on guitar
teaching. His CD Hot,
his first album in thirty years, was released in August 2004. He has
since released several more albums of new material, which are available
on the CD-Baby website.
Discography
Singles
May 1972
"Sweet Inspiration" / "Southern Man" (Warner Brothers WBA-4018)
Sep. 1972
"Maybe I'm Amazed" / "The Man in Me" (Warner Brothers WBA-4023)
Album
1972
Laid (Warner Bros WS-20008)
1. "Maybe I'm Amazed" (Paul McCartney)
2. "Southern Man" (Neil Young)
3. "Anyway That You Want Me" (Chip Taylor)
4. "Dog Breath" (Frank Zappa)
5. "Buried Alive In The Blues" (Nick Gravenites)
6. "Memo To Turner" (Jagger-Richard)
7. "The Man In Me" (Bob Dylan)
8. "How Long Before I'm Gone" (Zager-Schefrin)
9. "Ain't No Sunshine" (Bill Withers)
10. "Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress" (Cook-Greenway-Clark)
11. "Mother" (John Lennon)
12. "Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up" (Bruister-Simmons)
13. "Do Right Woman" (Penn-Moman)
Produced by G.Wayne Thomas
Engineered by Roger Savage
Recorded at Armstrong's Studios, Melbourne
References / Links
Ian McFarlane
Encyclopedia of
Australian Rock & Pop (Allen & Unwin, 1999)
Glenn Robertson
Bobbi Marchini website
http://www.bobbimarchini.co.uk/