magpie in the 80's wrote:johntheclaret wrote:Whilst we are on songs of the early 70's
Has anyone ever heard of an Aussie band called The Zoot.? or where I might be able to find out some info on them.
My 1st single (proper one) was by them. Can't remember the A side but pretty sure the B side was Evil Child. Lent it to a mate a good number of years ago and as always they lost it.
Would love to get hold of it again.
Zoot's final line-up of Darryl Cotton, Beeb Birtles, Rick Brewer and Rick Springfield came second to Flying Circus in the 1970 'Battle of the Sounds'. Frustration at the loss led to rumours of a break-up, which eventually occurred in May 1971.
Cotton left for England in 1972. Springfield moved to the United States where he achieved great success as a solo performer and Beeb Birtles joined the Little River Band
When the Zoot moved from hometown Adelaide to Melbourne in 1968, the band's management gave it a bubble-gum image, centred on the slogan Think Pink, Think Zoot'. The band dressed entirely in pink outfits. It took Zoot until 1971, just before disbanding, to shake the image and achieve musical credibility.
In 1970, Zoot promoted the release of the single 'Hey Pinky', by taking out an ad in Go-Set magazine that featured a nude rear photograph of the band members. The song was a scathing comment on the band's pink image.
Zoot's biggest hit single was a radically re-arranged hard-rock version of The Beatles' 'Eleanor Rigby'. The single reached No. 4 on the national charts in 1971, although it didn't achieve Gold record status until after it was reissued in 1980.
Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 10:15 am