This Sherbet album is a very down to earth, yet at the same time showing some real progressiveness.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Sherbet
ALBUM: On With The Show
LABEL: Festival Australia/Infinity
SERIAL: L35007
YEAR: 1973
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Australia
LINEUP: Daryl Braithwaite – lead vocals * Clive Shakespeare – guitars, vocals * Alan Sandow – drums * Garth Porter – keyboards, vocals * Tony Mitchell – bass, vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 We Can Make It Right * 02 Summer Satisfaction * 03 Jubilee Morning * 04 Cassandra * 05 Roll Me Over * 06 Chicago * 07 Jungle River * 08 Sweet Valentine * 09 Au Revoir
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
Difficult for me to fault a band whose first single was a cover of Badfinger‘s ‘Crimson Ships’. It never charted and is a top rarity these days. But it’s a good example that in their early days Sherbet were much more experimental.
What with their roots more in the blues and soul music which does fly in the face of their later teeny bopper and glitter image. This was a fantastic band that created some of the best rock n’ roll to come out of Australia and their second album ‘On With The Show’ is one of their finest works.
The Songs
Many years ago before I bought this album (and their first), I found it hard to believe that Sherbet’s big break in Australia was supporting Creedence Clearwater Revival.
An incredible mismatch knowing their later glitter pop history, but ‘On With The Show’, like the music of Creedence, is a very down to earth album, yet at the same time showing some real progressiveness reminding me of bands like Sugarloaf, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and even the first Styx album.
The ten minute plus Graham Nash penned ‘Chicago’ is a prime example of this combining blues, jazz and classical in an extended jam reminiscent of Traffic, a group the band sited as an influence.
‘Jubilee Morning’, an ode to ‘getting high’ complete with mellotron is another bluesy workout, but pop music was never far from their mind with the Queen-like ‘Cassandra’ which became one of the band’s biggest hits.
There is plenty of good time rock to be found on the record with songs like ‘Roll Me Over’ and the bump n’ grind of ‘Sweet Valentine’, but the album closes with a short piano based piece ‘Au Revoir’ again reminding me of Queen, a sort of ‘We Are The Champions’, ‘Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)’ type tune – only less bombastic.
In Summary
Getting the Sherbet albums on CD including this release is becoming more difficult since many have gone out of print in the last couple years. Reportedly, a Sherbet DVD of their early videos is to be released this year and there are numerous compilations out there, but do what you can to get the original albums on disc. It’s worth the effort.
