Various -  Garrison: The Final Blow - Units 1 & 2 (1973)

 


Unit 1
1. Madder Lake - Bumper Bar Song
2. Madder Lake - When Is A Mouse
3. Madder Lake - Rodneys Birthday
4. Ray Brown - Covered Wagon
5. Friends - Lady Montego
6. Friends - Freedom Train
7. Ray Brown 's One Ton Gypsy - Boy You Shot Me Down

Unit 2

8. Chain With Matt Taylor - Grab A Snatch And Hold It
9. Sid Rumpo - Now I`m Free
10. Sid Rumpo - Forty Days And Forty Nights
11. Dutch Tilders - Sweet Marie
12. Chain - Do What You Wanna Do
13. Matt Taylor - Roberta
14. Alta Mira - My Soul`s On Fire
 

The Garrison discotheque was a small two-storey building sandwiched between a chemist shop and a billiard parlour in High Street, Prahran (Melbourne). Thursday to Sunday nights it rocked through the early hours of the morning to the sounds of the best rock bands in Australia.

Against strong opposition, the local council forced its closure in June 1973. Two albums were recorded over Garrison's last five nights - Wednesday 6th to Sunday 10th of June. The three groups featured on Unit (volume) 1 are "Ray Brown's One Ton Gypsy", "Madder Lake", and the group "Friends," who would later be known as "Ayers Rock".

Friends contributed two songs, an early version of "Lady Montego" (as featured on Big Red Rock) and "Freedom Train", with it's incredibly long break / solo by drummer Mark Kennedy. "Boy You Shot Me Down" by Ray Brown is also worth a listen.

This four-piece version of Friends only lasted until the middle of the year. The group folded soon after the Garrison farewell, with Burton Kennedy and McGuire all leaving to form their eponymous trio, which evolved into the original line-up of Ayers Rock, who re-recorded "Lady Montego" on their debut album.

This is a unique, live Australian rock'n'roll album that is certain to stand the test of time. Garrison has gone but because of this album the music will last forever - we had the final blow.