The Strangers

by Geoff Jermy

The Australian group most closely associated with the Shadows was, of course, The Strangers.
A series of events linked the two groups - most notably the ‘recruitment’ of lead guitarist / vocalist / composer / arranger / producer John Farrar to the Shadows ranks in 1970.

The Strangers began as a group in 1961, and comprised Peter Robinson (Bass), Graeme (Garth) Thompson (Drums), Laurie Arthur (Lead Guitar) and Fred Weiland (Rhythm Guitar). Peter and Garth were to remain with the Strangers for their whole duration.

Peter, Laurie and Fred had all attended Glenroy (a Melbourne suburb) High School, and had each played with different Melbourne bands. Peter had played with the Thunderbirds, then had a brief stint in Adelaide as guitarist with Ray Hoff and the Off Beats, Laurie had played with the Planets and the Chessmen, and Fred with the Lincolns. After Peter’s return from Adelaide, a chance meeting with Garth (previously with the Earls) resulted in the formation of the Strangers. The aim was to play Shadows type material. As was the trend at the time, the group opened their own dance, at Glenroy Youth Club. They soon built up a huge following, and 1962 saw the Strangers establish themselves on the local dance circuit.

The Shadows / Cliff influence was obvious - one of the dance ‘brackets’ at that stage comprised Cry Of The Wild Goose, Man Of Mystery, Peace Pipe, Tough Enough, Twenty Flight Rock, She’s Gone, Do You Want To Dance, Gonzales, The Breeze And I, Leavin’ Town, We Say Yeah and The Stranger, all titles excepting Wild Goose and Leavin’ Town having been recorded by Cliff and/or the Shadows!!

A number of recording demo’s - including Gypsy Rock and Tales Of A Raggy Tramline led to the signing of a recording contract with Ron Tudor’s W&G label in late 1962. The Strangers’ first single, Cry Of The Wild Goose / Leavin’ Town in January 1963 and reached number 12 on the Melbourne charts. Two follow up singles, Torlido / The Outcast and Undertow / Along The Navajo Trail were also released in 1963 and both reached the ‘Top 40’. The six tracks were all instrumentals, and all except Cry Of The Wild Goose and Along The Navajo Trail were written by Laurie Arthur, who left the Strangers in early 1964.

Laurie’s replacement was the multi-talented John Farrar, whose unique falsetto voice prompted the group to release its first vocal records - Poppa Oom Mow Mow, If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody and later In My Room, a Beach Boys ballad.
An excellent E.P. was also issued, and by the mid sixties, The Strangers had become renowned for their musical and vocal ability. They were in huge demand as session musicians, doing countless backings for top artists, along with commercials, jingles and of course, their own recordings. With personal appearances at dances such as Opus and The Swinger, the boys were the busiest in town.
To cater for the overwhelming workload and bookings, the group began an agency with Ron Fletcher, and formed a private company - Magnum Productions Pty Ltd.

In 1965, it was reputed that they had only 15 free days, and in March 1966 manager Brian de Courcy claimed that the Strangers worked “twenty-nine hours a day, fourteen days a week, four hundred and seventy two days last year”.

Among the artists the the Strangers had, either collectively or individually, backed were Yvonne Barrett, Grantley Dee, Merv Benton, Pat Carroll, Russell Morris, Johnny Young, Little Gulliver, Peter Doyle, Billy Adams, Terry Dean, The Field Twins, Buddy England, Ronnie Burns, Johnny Farnham, Lynne Randell and Colin Cook. John Farrar began to produce and arrange some of these sessions too. The Strangers work with Colin Cook and Merv Benton has been highlighted recently on the Canetoad CD’s “Colin Cook and The Strangers - His Greatest Recordings” (CTCD-026) and Merv Benton - Greatest Hits 1964-1967 (CTCD-031).
An album, “Colin Cook and The Strangers” featured seven tracks by Colin (with backing by The Strangers, naturally) and seven of the group’s recordings - Blues By Five, Walkin’, Never On A Sunday, Stagecoach (all instrumentals) and Fun Fun Fun, Matchbox and I Call Your Name. The LP was a fine showcase for the group’s many talents, and is now very hard to find.
Apart from the continuing stream of sessions at Bill Armsrong’s studios (they must have slept there!!), the group had landed a job as resident backing band on ATV O’s “Go!!” show. After the show folded some years later, they became the house band on HSV 7’s “Sunnyside Up”. In all, the Strangers appeared on TV at least once a week for nine years straight!! (Wish we had VCRs then!!).

The group’s by now obvious talent and versatility led to even more work in 1967.
In February, Terry Walker (ex Glen Ingram and Hi Five) replaced Fred Weiland, who left to join the Mixtures (who later enjoyed enormous international success with In The Summertime and The Pushbike Song). In May 1967, Western Union / Cool Jerk was released, and became the group’s fifth chart hit - however, more was to come. Happy Without You and Lady Scorpio both achieved considerable chart success and featured Terry Walker’s strong voice and the group’s superb harmonies.

Sweet September proved to be their last Philips release, apart from a self-titled LP “The Strangers” which contained a selection of great tunes. The album once again showcased the tight harmonies and superb production for which the group had become renowned, and the Beatles / Beach Boys / Four Seasons influence was evident.

Early 1970 saw a radio ban on British recordings. This led to the foundation of Fable Records - many of whose early discs were ‘covers’ of British hits. One of these was Melanie Makes Me Smile (a hit in England for Tony Burrows) which, with P.P. Arnold’s If You Think You’re Groovy was the Strangers’ first Fable release, and proved to be the group’s biggest seller ever. Three other singles were recorded for Fable in the next two years - Mr. President (also an English ‘cover’ - by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich) / Looking Through The Eyes Of A Beautiful Girl, Sweet Water / Wishing My Life Away and Tennessee / That Sunshine Feeling were all excellent records, although none achieved the success that Melanie had. The three singles had all been recorded with the new line-up of Robinson and Thompson with guitarists John Cosgrove (ex Fendermen) and Bill Pyman, who had joined when John Farrar and Terry Walker left. Terry had departed to embark on a solo career at about the same time that John journeyed to England to join Hank and Bruce in Marvin, Welch and Farrar.

The Strangers’ recording career ended after two more singles for Astor - Home Ain’t Home Anymore / Hitchhike and Kentucky Poor Boy / Sweet Song Of The Country, both of which, although excellent and imaginative, sold poorly. A later compilation LP “The Best Of The (Original) Strangers” included all of the tracks from “The Strangers” album less Paperback Writer but adding Melanie Makes Me Smile, Wishing My Life Away, Sweet Water, Looking Through The Eyes Of A Beautiful Girl and a different ‘mix’ of Mr. President.

The Strangers ceased to exist as a group in late 1973 after two further personnel changes which saw Jim Sifonius (ex Dove), Lloyd Poole and Rick Berger (all keyboards) briefly appear with the group.

Subsequent careers of the Strangers members have followed widely differing paths. John Farrar’s career has been closely followed by most Shadows’ fans; Peter owned a substantial musical equipment sale company and has continued playing - The Seekers (mainly touring the Far East), Rite On The Nite (a soul band) and The (newly Reformed) Thunderbirds among others; Garth teaches drums and percussion at Scotch College and Billy Hyde’s Drum Clinic, while still playing freelance (including TV work); Terry has pursued a wide range of professions, from helicopter pilot to (successful) designer of children’s toys; John Cosgrove works for a security company and still plays guitar - more recently with reformed Fendermen; and Bill Pyman left the hurly burly world to join a religious sect.

In April 1983, Peter Robinson and Laurie Arthur comprised half of a re-formed “Strangers” to perform at a Rock ‘n’ Roll Revival concert at Melbourne’s “Billboard”.
They included a number of instrumentals in their act, including Shazam, The Stranger, Leavin’ Town and Cry Of The Wild Goose.

I was fortunate to see The Strangers ‘live’ on many occasions during the sixties and early seventies. In 1968, they provided support for the Shadows at Menzies Hotel in Melbourne (a grand old hotel, long since demolished!!). The program included One Note Samba, Sunny, Goin’ Out Of My Head, Love Is Blue (all instrumentals), Green Tambourine, Sweet September, Kentucky Woman, Bonnie And Clyde, California Girls, Paper Cup, The Letter, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, With A Little Help From My Friends, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Baby Now That I’ve Found You, Last Train To Clarksville, Bottle Of Wine, Hallelujah I Love Her So, Simon Says, Summertime Blues, Carpet Man, A Little Bit Me A Little Bit You, Shirley Lee and Hawaii.
After the Shadows’ one hour show, the Strangers returned for The Little Girl I Once Knew, Gimme Little Sign, Will You Love Me Tomorrow, Barbara Ann, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Good Vibrations, Sloop John B, Do What You’ve Gotta Do, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and Paint It Black.

At an earlier concert appearance at Menzies, The Strangers played a similar repertoire, but included the instrumentals Nivram, Sleepwalk, Yesterday, Call Me, Girl From Ipanema and Summertime (which included a great bass solo from Peter Robinson).
At Dallas Brook Hall in Melbourne in the early 1970’s, an ‘augmented’ Strangers provided the backings for Cliff Richard and Olivia Newton-John, and included an ‘extended’ (well over five minutes) version of The Rise And Fall Of Flingel Bunt.
John Farrar had returned ‘home’ with Olivia and was the MD for the show, as well as playing lead guitar. Personnel consisted of Garth and Peter plus Bill Pyman (guitar), Barry Guard (keyboards and percussion), Bruce Rowlands (keyboards) and Janice Slater and Pat Carroll (now Mrs John Farrar) on vocals.

I remember seeing the Strangers at the Myer Music Bowl backing Johnny O’ Keefe, and on a number of occasions at various dances around Melbourne - including ‘Opus’, South Yarra, and ‘The Swinger’ at Coburg Town Hall. It was at ‘Opus’ that I recall my astonishment at watching John Farrar using a coca cola bottle as a slide to get that sitar effect on Norwegian Wood.

In later year’s, ‘Matilda’s’ and the Matthew Flinders Hotel were venues at which I frequently caught up with the “new” Strangers. The group featured a great arrangement of Macarthur Park (based on the Four Tops’ version) and a number of hits by Buffalo Springfield, CCR, Deep Purple, Neil Young and other contemporary acts, as well as retaining a few Beatles, Beach Boys and Four Seasons songs.