‘Whatever It's Worth’ Col Nolan & The Soul Syndicate
Pacific Theatre Encore debuts with a reissue of an insanely rare breakbeat laden Soul Jazz holy grail from 1968 from the all-star inhouse band of the legendary nightclub Whiskey A Go Go in Kings Cross’ swinging sixties heyday, long before Sydney’s current lock out law induced coma. Having long contributed to the evolution of contemporary Australian Soul, Funk and Jazz, Lance Ferguson (The Bamboos, Lanu, Menagerie ex Cookin’ On 3 Burners), now aims to revive its history with a new reissue label. The first release on the label is undoubtedly one of Australia’s rarest and funkiest jazz albums.
Vinyl webstore orders receive a free 7" of "Shades Of McSoul" / "Whatever It's Worth" (NB this pressing of the 7" is not dinked)
Lead by Col Nolan on Hammond organ, the band consisted of drummer / percussionist John Sangster (whose own late ‘60s albums on Festival have been reissued recently), Col Loughnan on sax and flute, John Allan on bass and “Diamond” Jimmy Doyle on guitar. Influenced by U.S artists like Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff, by the late ‘60s Nolan had already established himself as Australia’s pre-eminent champion of his instrument. The ‘68 line-up of The Soul Syndicate would prove to be an Australian Jazz super-band and Loughnan and Doyle went on to form ‘70s jazz rock giants, Ayers Rock, who released two albums on Mushroom. Early ‘70s Soul Syndicate tunes have become highly-sought after, but this album is their rarest, with collectors paying close to four figure sums on the rare occasion that a copy surfaces.
The album is lead by some cracking originals written by Nolan, Loughnan and Sangster. Their versions of popular songs of the time are more re-inventions, such as the drum heavy, low slung take on Bobbie Gentry’s “Ode To Billie Joe” and a superlative rendition of Jimmy Webb’s much-loved “By The Time I Get To Phoenix”, where Col Loughnan steps up to deliver a tender vocal take, before the whole thing builds to a frantic, swirling, psychedelic crescendo.
“Even among some of the best Aussie Jazz artists of the 60’s and 70’s, the groove, that funky feel, was sometimes missing. But Col Nolan always had the groove.” Ennio Styles (Stylin' / 3RRR Melbourne)
"I honestly never thought this was a record I’d ever find, so I can’t wait to finally be able to share this music both on the airwaves and on dance floors alike!” Mike Gurrieri (Mystic Brew / PBS Melbourne)
"Australia had its own, as yet largely un-mined, swinging rare-groove history and Col Nolan was its King.” Paris Pompor (Jumping The Gap / 2SER Sydney)
“Soul-Jazz genius from the master of the Australian Hammond, Mr Col Nolan (R.I.P.). This blistering album of original compositions and covers features cream of the crop musicians, at arguably their best.” DJ Kinetic (aussiefunk.blogspot.com)
“Pacific Theatre Encore will be reissuing music from across the globe, but it was important to me for the first release to shine a light on the important legacy of our own scene”, Ferguson states. “Australia has a rich history of recorded Jazz, Funk and Soul music which deserves much wider recognition. ‘Whatever It’s Worth’ is as good as any Soul-Jazz album that was coming out of U.S and U.K in the late 60’s - the musicianship and production are absolutely top-shelf.” Ferguson meticulously restored the audio, taken from a vinyl copy of the album, which was then remastered by Steve Smith at Studio 301.
Track List:
1. Shades Of McSoul
2. Rivera Mountain
3. Angel Of The Morning
4. Ode To Billie Joe
5. Got My Mojo Workin'
6. Sunny view
7. Green, Green Grass Of Home
8. Blues For Madeleine
9. Whatever It's Worth
10. By The Time I Get To Pheonix
Release November 29, 2019
‘Runner’
by Machines Always Win
Lance Ferguson (The Bamboos) surprises with a side project that combines vintage synths and live drums to create an enveloping world of Ambient Beats, Downtempo Electronica, Lo-Fi Hip Hop and Dream Pop sure to appeal to fans of Boards Of Canada, Tycho, DJ Shadow, Four Tet and Air. Ferguson wrote and produced the album and played almost all instruments himself, alongside his longtime studio cohort John Castle (Dean Lewis, Gretta Ray, Angie McMahon, Washington).
Machines Always Win is a musical experiment designed to reconcile Ferguson’s love of beats, breaks, vinyl-digging culture and sampling with a particular strand of melancholic, ambient, guitar, synth-based music. Think much-sampled drummer Bernard Purdie playing with Ryuichi Sakamoto, or Clyde Stubblefield joining Cocteau Twins. The album is a musical reaction against writing standard verse/chorus/bridge song structures and is intent on letting the music flow and settle in its own way, finding its own level.
“...this sounds like Bonobo meets BadBadNotGood. The percussion is very jazzy and relaxed and meshes incredibly well with the synth pads; each gives the other equal room to stand out" Blisspop
"...leans into warm, widescreen waves of synth, though the elements of percussion are left generally untouched and organic” ADSR Collective
"Dreamy synth laden instrumental work” Electric Sound Of Joy
"...lush and layered with warm synths, a snappy bass line, and loose and relaxed drum work” Magnetic Magazine
Tracklist:
1. Escape
2. Thin Air
3. Runner
4. Joi
5. Deep Time
6. Childhood's End
7. Kee Bird
8. Lem
9. Static
10. A Clash Of Wings
‘Shades Of McSoul / Whatever It's Worth’ by Col Nolan & The Soul Syndicate
Australian Soul Jazz holy grail from 1968! Limited to 300 copies w/wide. Dinked (large hole) version. Two high energy Mod burners, both originals taken from the forthcoming album 'Whatever It's Worth'. Debut release on Pacific Theatre Encore, the reissue label started by Melbourne's contemporary funk / soul lynchpin Australian Lance Ferguson (The Bamboos, Menagerie, Lanu, ex Cookin' On 3 Burners).
Lead by Australia's own rival to Jimmy Smith and Jimmy Witherspoon, the '68 line up of Col Nolan & The Soul Syndicate would prove to be an Australian jazz super-group, consisting of John Sangster on drums / percussion (whose own late '60s Festival albums are highly collectable), John Allan on bass, Col Loughnan on sax and Jimmy Doyle on guitar (the latter two were also in mid Oz '70s jazz-rock giants, Ayers Rock).
Track List:
1. Shade Of McSoul
2. Whatever It's Worth
‘Special Arrangement’ by The Bamboos
1. Keep Me In Mind
2. Eliza
3. Stranded
4. I Got Burned
5. Strong (New Mix)
6. I Never
7. I Don't Wanna Stop
8. Lit Up
9. Stop
10. The Truth (New Mix)
‘Night Time People’ by The Bamboos
Track List:
1. Lit Up
2. Stranded
3. Golden Ticket
4. Salvage Rites
5. Pony Up
6. Night Time People
7. Backfired
8. War Story
9. You Should've Been Mine
10. San Junipero
11. Broken (feat. J-Live)
12. Broken (feat. Urthboy)
13. Broken (feat. Teesy)
‘Machines Always Win’ by Machines Always Win
1. Windmills
2. Dust
3. Minutes Left
4. Nocturne
5. Wait Til' They Go
6. Cinders
7. Golden Age
8. I Know You Know
9. Suspension Of Disbelief
10. Machines Always Win - Departure
‘Double Sunrise’ by Lanu
Track List:
1. Secret Order Of The Double Sunrise
2. The Others
3. Tiny Dots
4. Aranui
5. The Kava Diary
6. Menage A Trois
7. When Love Breaks Down
8. Down
9. Fly Away (Natural Double Remix)
10. Night Marchers (Radio Edit)
