The Most Primitive Band In The World (Live From The Twilight Zone, Brisbane 1974)

Recorded in early-mid 1974, these rehearsal tapes are revelatory for anyone who thought The Saints appeared out of nowhere with their self-released 1976 debut single, “(I’m) Stranded”. The group documented here – Ed Kuepper on guitar, Chris Bailey on vocals, Ivor Hay on bass and Laurie Mysterio on drums – swings harder than the volatile, amphetamine-rush punk rock of the best-known line-up (where Hay switched to drums, and Kym Bradshaw joined on bass). Instead, what you’ve got here is a classic suburban garage gang, with essential first-album cuts, like “(I’m) Stranded” and “One Way Street” taken at a slower clip, and more grounding in R&B/soul standards (“Knock On Wood”, “River Deep Mountain High”). In his liner notes, Kuepper writes that this is one of Bailey’s best vocal performances, and he’s not wrong – there’s something about the snarling garage-band sneer here that he’d never quite fully convey on subsequent recordings. Here’s the DNA of the greatest group Australia ever produced – in beautifully brutal tape-recorded quality.