Master's Apprentices - Choice Cuts / Toast To Panama Red (CD)

Australian Progressive

Two original recordings in 1 CD:

-Toast to Panama Red (1971)
-Choice Cuts (1970)

Re-issue 1998 BOD Records

Choice Cuts - 1971 -

Probably the Masters Apprentices best work. Recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, Choice Cuts epitomised the progressive rock genre. Contains such gems as 'Rio De Camero', 'Because I Love You' and 'Easy To Lie'. This album bridged the gap of the '60's band and brought the Masters into the new era of the '70's. No other Australian band from the '60's made the transition and Choice Cuts is testament to the Masters' endurance and credibility.

TRACKLIST;
Rio De Camero
Michael
Easy To Lie
Because I Love You
Catty
Our Friend Stanly Owsley III
Death Of A King
Song for a Lost Gypsy
Satisfier
Song for Joey Part II

A Toast To Panama Red - 1972

This was the Masters last album before they split in 1972. Although largely overlooked at the time, it is seen in retrospect as a highly accomplished work. In Germany, France, Holland and Britain it is considered a major Progressive Rock album and a sought after collector's item.

TRACKLIST:
Answer Lies Beyond
Beneath the Sun
Games We Play I
Games We Play II
The Lesson So Listen
Love Is
Melodies of St Kilda
Southern Cross
Thyme To Rhyme

History

They formed in Adelaide in 1964 and continued until 1972, reforming briefly in 1988 and on several subsequent occasions. Their raw sound and wild stage act led top Australian radio DJ Stan Rofe to dub them Australia's Rolling Stones. Like their contemporaries The Easybeats and The Twilights they tried unsuccessfully to break into the British music scene, although one of the later members of the band, Glenn Wheatley, learned valuable lessons from their travails, and after moving into artist management in the 1970s he played a major role in the Australian music industry and the media over the last thirty years, most notably through his management of Little River Band -- who became the first Australian rock band to achieve major commercial success in the USA -- and Australian vocalist John Farnham.

The Masters were hugely popular throughout Australia, scored a string of chart hits and were consistently hailed as one of Australia's best live and recording acts. They started out as an instrumental band, rose to prominence during the mid-Sixties Beat Boom, moved through psychedelia and bubblegum pop, finally becoming one the first and best Australian progressive/hard rock groups of the early Seventies. They went through many lineup changes, with vocalist Jim Keays being the only constant, and their membership also illustrates the intricate interconnections between many Australian bands of that era.

The group was also notable in the Australian context in that they played mainly originals. One of their biggest Australian hits, Undecided (1967), was revived by Silverchair in 1997, and their best-known song Because I Love You has been revived many times, including its use in an Australian jeans commercial in the late 1980s. Swedish death metal band Opeth named the track Master's Apprentices (from their 2002 album Deliverance) in honour of the band, of which Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt is a fan.