1. Cloud Nine
2. Sing A Simple Song
3. Fanciful Flights
4. Any Orange Night
5. You Don't Have To Listen
6. I Been Treated Wrong
7. Days To Come
8. Reach Out
9. Can't Find My Way Home
10. Train
11. I Remember
12. Environment In 3 Parts
a. At the Party, Mrs. Prothero (Environment, Part 1)
b. How many People (Environment, Part 2)
c. Highway (Environment, Part 3)
13. Teach Me How To Fly
14. Freedom Blues
15. Hummingbird
16. Keep On Growing
Jeff St John was named Jeffrey Leo Newton when he
was born in 1946, and grew up in Sydney. Jeff was diagnosed at birth
with spina bifida, a congenital disability that causes malformation
of the spine and resultant posture and walking difficulties. For
much of his youth, Jeff walked with a calliper on his right leg, and
underwent numerous painful operations.
But the kind of tenacity to overcome this
affliction that Jeff has maintained throughout his life, first
became evident in his formative years. As he told Who Weekly
magazine in October 2000: "I was told If you want something badly
enough and put the work in, there's always a solution to achieving
your goal". That goal turned out to be music. Jeff's early ambitions
were fully encouraged by his parents, whose house was constantly
filled with all kinds of music. "They had glorious voices. On
house-cleaning days we'd be wandering around singing excerpts from
musicals!"
In 1965 Jeff joined forces with an established Sydney blues-rock
outfit called The Syndicate who he met by chance at the Sydney
Musicians Club in early 1965. With members including guitarist Peter
Anson (from legendary Sydney garage-R&B monsters The Missing Links)
The Syndicate with Jeff on board soon evolved, via The Wild Oats,
into The Id (named after the popular Johnny Hart cartoon strip The
Wizard of Id), with Jeff also adopting the stage name he has used
ever since.
Copperwine (also known as Jeff St John's Copperwine), was formed in
early 1969. Aided by Ross East and Peter Figures, plus Alan Ingram
on bass and keyboardist Barry Kelly (from Marty Rhone's Soul
Agents), St John wowed punters at the Ourimbah "Pilgrimage For Pop",
Australia's first major outdoor rock festival, held at Ourimbah, NSW
at the end of January 1970.
The band's dynamic repertoire mixed quality prog-flavoured
group originals with powerful renditions of Sly & the Family Stone's
funk classic "Sing A Simple Song" (a stage fave for many Australian
acts of the time including Southern Comfort and The Affair), a
storming version of The Temptations' psych-soul masterpiece "Cloud
Nine" and Blind Faith's "Can't Find My Way Home."
This body of songs was captured by producer Pat Aulton and remains
one of the most accomplished and musically adventurous long players
of the time. The punningly-titled "Joint Effort", released in 1970,
won considerable critical acclaim, but failed to generate
significant sales.
In retrospect, Joint Effort reveals at least three truths -- the
album was one of Festival Record's most consistent sellers for many
years, it's a fine artefact of what was musically going on with Oz
Rock in this heady and fertile time, and it documents what a fine
band Copperwine was and provided conclusive proof that Jeff is one
of the best rock vocalists this country has ever produced.
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