Johnny Young - Young Johnny

AUS Clarion Mono LP, MCL-32,124
First released November 1966
Genre: Pop

01 - You'd Better Run
02 - Uptight
03 - Land Of 1,000 Dances
04 - Cara-Lyn
05 - Till There Was You
06 - Let It Be Me
07 - Tell Her
08 - Watcha' Gonna Do About It
09 - So Lonely
10 - Step Back
11 - Time In Between
12 - All My Sorrows

Bonus tracks
13 - Baby (You've Got What It Takes) - Clarion extended play "Let It Be Me" MCX-11,205; Oct 1966
14 - When Will I Be Loved  - Clarion single MCK-1546; Jan 1967
15 - Kiss Me Now - Clarion single MCK-1546; Jan 1967
16 - Step Back - demo; Early 1966
17 - Things Go Better With Johnny Young

==About Johnny==

For a generation that has grown up watching Johnny Young grin and mug his way through endless episodes of Young Talent Time, it is probably difficult to view him as an Oz Rock pioneer. But let there be no doubt at all that he was a pivotal figure in the 'coming of age' of Australian music, During the second half of the sixties, it was Vanda & Young and Johnny Young who jointly forged a path for rock songwriting in this country. After a decade of derivation (with only a few minor exceptions), they proved that it was viable to craft original works.

Johnny songs were recorded by Herman's Hermits, Russell Morris, Ross D. Wylie, Rick Springfield (as Wickedy Wak), Ronnie Burns, Lionel Rose and others. They were highly commercial and occasionally innovative (i.e.: "The Real Thing") efforts which delighted radio and greatly assisted the careers of most of the acts who recorded them.

Born Johnny DeJong in Indonesia in 1945, Johnny was raised in outback Western Australia and trained as a DJ as soon as he left school. He spent 18 months as lead singer with The Nomads (later The Strangers) and in 1965 landed the host's role on the teen TV show Club 17. He cracked the Perth charts with two singles on the local 7-Teen label - "Club 17" and "Go Johnny Go" - before being signed by local recording whiz Martin Clarke to the Clarion label. This coincided with a visit to Perth by The Easybeats, who presented him with an original ditty, "Step Back". Backed with a pounding cover of the Strangeloves' "Cara-Lyn", the song gave Johnny a smash number one hit. He returned to the summit at the end of 1966 with an EP featuring a version of the Everly Brothers' "Let It Be Me" and was back in the top ten at the beginning of 1967 with another Everly song, "When Will I Be Loved?".

A swift move to Melbourne with backing group Kompany (Jim Griffiths, Don Pryor, Warwick Findlay, John Eddy and Tony Summers) saw Johnny's fortunes soar. He fronted a short-lived rock TV show called Too Much before being called upon to compere the powerful Go! Show after the resignation of Ian Turpie. He landed another EP (featuring a version of the Beatles' "All My Lovin'") in the top ten and by mid-1967 was all set to take England by storm. His extraordinary farewell concert at Sydney's Trocadero featured Gus & The Nomads, Julian Jones, Jeff St. John and The Id, the Sebastian Hardy Blues Band, Phil Jones & The Unknown Blues and the Masters Apprentices.

Johnny left for the U.K. with a new Kompany led by MPD's firebrand drummer Danny Findlay, a month before Normie Rowe came home, and was exceptionally fortunate to fall in with the expatriate Bee Gees, who had just become the darlings of London. Barry Gibb was writing songs with a fervour and more than a few came Johnny's
way. The first, the quite lovely "Lady" (with an exquisite french horn refrain), put Johnny back into the Australian top forty but failed for Polydor in England. Likewise with pleasant covers of "Craise Finton Kirk", "I Am The World" and "Every Christian Lionhearted Man Will Show You". Apart from being in the studio when The Beatles performed "All You Need Is Love" for the Our World global telecast, Johnny's greatest achievement during his half-year in London was discovering that he could write songs.

Which is exactly what the lad did when he came home. He all but abandoned his own recording career and began tailoring hits - "Smiley", "The Real Thing", "The Star" et al. Yet even that endeavour had a limited time span. By the early 70s he was a popular Melbourne DJ and budding TV tycoon. Most of his recordings since then have been in the company of various formations of the Young Talent Team.

Presented here is his November 1966 debut album "Young Johnny", containing his biggest hits "Step Back" and "Cara-Lyn". Perhaps one of my favourite beat albums from the 1960s.

==About this transfer==

Firstly, let me stress, "Young Johnny" is not a sonic masterpiece. "Step Back" and "Cara-Lyn" sound particularly average. A few of the tracks also sound somewhat muddy and bloated. However, with a bit of volume it's not too bad.

There's a bit of cutting hum that I've left intact as reducing it also removed some of the bass (it's only really noticable in the fade outs anyway).

The EP from which "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" is sourced has perhaps the loudest cutting hum I've ever heard! Again, I left it intact lest I remove some of the bass frequencies.

Source vinyl was not pristine, but I've done the best I can; this is the best of about three or four copies of this LP that I own and I'm not buying any more copies! Expect to hear some occasional light distortion and surface noise.

"Things Go Better With Johnny Young" sounds a little bit phasey but it's the best source I can find.

Every effort has been made to preserve the integrity of the original recordings. You should be aware, however, that these transfers contain imperfections that were inherent in the recording equipment and techniques of the time. For example, there's a light tape drop out during the guitar solo in "Tell Her". There's also the occasional sound like vinyl pops or clicks. They're not; they're also on my reference copy, suggesting that they're on the mono master tape.

==Vinyl transfer and 24bit mastering by Q==

Source Matrices
01-06: MX21375 Ai
07-12: MX21376 Ai
13: Clarion extended play "Let It Be Me" - MCX-11,205 (MX21152. A.)
14-15: Festival CD "Step Back with Johnny Young & Kompany" - D 19008 (remastered by Q)
16: RPM CD "The Clarion Call" - RPM BC 253 (remastered by Q)
17: LP "Things Go Better With..."

Hardware
- Project Xpression III Turntable
- Ortofon 2M Blue Cartridge
- Project SpeedBox II Quartz-Generated Electronic Speed Regulator
- Denon PMA-700AE Integrated Amplifier
- Cakewalk FA-66 Audio Interface (set to 24bit/96kHz)

Software
- Audition 3.0.1 (audio capture and editing)
- ClickRepair (audio editing)
- iZotope RX 2 Advanced (resampling and dithering to Red Book audio specifications)

Artwork included

CD quality (146mb)
Hi-Res (not available)