Daddy Cool

Melbourne 1970-73, 1974-75

See also: [The Pink Finks] [Party Machine] [Sons Of The Vegetal Mother] [Mighty Kong]

"A rollicking good-time band amid a sea of hairy heavyweights"
- Glenn A. Baker

The original Daddy Cool lineup, ca. 1971
(l-r) Ross Wilson, Gary Young, Ross Hannaford, Wayne Duncan

Personnel

Wayne Burt [gtr] 1975
Wayne Duncan [bs]
Gunther Gorman [guitar] 1975
Ross Hannaford [gtr, bs, vcls]
Jeremy Noone [sax, kbds] 1971-72
Ross Wilson [gtr, vcls]
Ian Winter [gtr] 1972
Gary Young [dr]

Biography

Almost by accident, Daddy Cool became one of the most successful Aussie groups of the '70s. Originally formed as an occasional and informal offshoot of Melbourne progressive-rock outfit Sons of The Vegetal Mother, within twelve months it had completely eclipsed its parent band to become the most successful and popular act in the country, and the Daddy Cool story became one of the pivotal chapters in Australian rock history. Their debut single and LP were the biggest selling Australian records ever released up to that time, and they ushered in a whole new era of Australian rock. The records are perennial favourites, their signature tune, Eagle Rock, has become one of the alnthems of Australian popular music, and their recordings l have been anthologised many times in many forms, with around 20 compilations of their songs to date.

It might have appeared to be overnight success, but of course the background to Daddy Cool's breakthrough was years of hard slog. Founders Ross "The Boss" Wilson and Ross Hannaford had played together around Melbourne since they were teenagers, first in the Pink Finks, then Party Machine. The rhythm section, drummer Gary Young and bassist Wayne Duncan, had been working consistently since the early 60s, mostly in instrumental bands backing solo singers - notably in the Rondells, the backing band for pop duo Bobby & Laurie.

 

"Good Rockin' Daddy" 1970-72

After the breakup of Party Machine in 1969, Ross Wilson was asked to go to the UK to work with expatriate band Procession, who were floundering and in search of a new musical direction. In the event, it didn't work out, and after they split, Ross returned to Australia in early 1970 armed with the concept for a new band, inspired by the work of Frank Zappa - in particular his 50's rock'n'roll/doowop parody, Cruisin with Reuben and the Jets. The new band - Sons of The Vegetal Mother was an "esoteric special occasion progressive band" with a floating lineup based around the nucleus of Wilson and Hannaford. It was conceived to perform on the Melbourne concert circuit, at events and 'happenings' in 'head' venues like the TF Much Ballroom. Wilson also began exploring the music of the rock'n'roll era in earnest, and he came up with the idea of creating an informal group to perform it. In this he was aided by Young and Duncan - who shared his love for the music of that period and had large rock'n'roll record collections - as well as by friends like David "Dr Pepper" Pepperell, Keith Glass and Gulliver Smith (Company Caine). In fact Keith and Gully were originally pencilled in as alternative/additional lead singers for the group, and it was Keith who suggested the song Daddy Cool as an addition to the DC repertoire. Numerous originals from the classic rock'n'roll era 1950s became staples of the set list, and these were combined with Wilson's more progressively-oriented originals.

In the beginning, Daddy Cool though was not the "main event" - it was originally intended as"light relief" during Vegetals gigs, performing a short, snappy set of '50s rock'n'roll songs between the lengthier progressive explorations of the main group. Their first (impromptu) appearance was at a Vegetals gig at Glenelg Town Hall in November 1970 ,when they filled in for a support band who failed to show up. A few weeks later they made their 'official' debut at the TF Much Ballroom in Melbourne.

They combined great musical strength, honed by years of experience playing around the traps, with an irreverent and ebullient stage presence. In Wilson they had both a great songwriter and one of the great frontmen of Australian rock. Gangly and rather goofy looking, Ross Hannaford's appearance belied the fact that he was - and is - one of the true legends of the guitar - and the perfect foil for Wilson. Another memorable feature was their stage outfits - the Mickey Mouse ears, the foxtail which Wilson attached to the back of his pants, and of course Hannaford's trademark helicopter cap. Daddy Cool stood out against the prevailing serious progressive mood of the time. They rocked, they were danceable, immediate, accessible and, above all, fun.

Audiences responded immediately, and over the next few months SOVTM/Daddy Cool became one of the most popular live acts on the Melbourne dance/disco circuit, with regular gigs at the Much More Ballroom, Garrison, the Myer Music Bowl and the Melbourne Town Hall, as well as festival appearances at Launching Place (Melbourne) and Odyssey (Wallacia, NSW). By the time of their rapturous reception at the Myponga Festival in early 1971 (where they totally eclipsed the Vegetals) it was clear that Daddy Cool were far more popular than their parent band, and Sons of the Vegetal Mother was soon shelved for good.

The major turning point came on 7 May 1971, and from there things moved very fast. Daddy Cool played a gig at the Melbourne Town Hall with Tully, where they were spotted by Robie Porter. A child guitar prodigy, Porter was a teenage pop performer turned producer who had his own unusual but quite successful musical career in the late 50s and early '60s, performing guitar instrumentals under his stage name "Rob E.G". After a spell in the USA, Robie had returned to Australia and had recently become half-owner of the small independent Melbourne label, Sparmac. When Robie saw DC that night he signed them virtually on the spot. Within days he had them in the studio and the first single was out before the end of the month.

Porter produced the tracks for the first LP, and he also contributed piano and steel guitar to various tracks, with the help of Wilson's old pal Jeremy Noone on saxophone. It's a testament to the band's strength as a performing unit that they were able to cut all the tracks in a marathon two-night, 22 hour session. The album included two Ross Wilson originals which became instant classics - Come Back Again and their legendary debut single. Eagle Rock was influenced by Delta blues (evident in the classic opening riff). The title of the song had come from a newspaper article which Wilson read while he was in London -- a Sunday Times story describing the juke joints of the Deep South in the 1930s, which included a photo of dancers at a juke joint, captioned "Some negroes do the eagle rock and the pigeon wing".

Alongside Spectrum's I'll Be Gone, Daddy Cool's debut single became one of the keystones of the 'new wave' of Australian rock in the early Seventies. Released in late May, Eagle Rock entered the Melbourne charts at No 20; it was immediately picked up by pop stations around the country and was the national #1 within two weeks. It became one of the biggest hits of the year and its success shot the band into the national spotlight virtually overnight. They undertook a joint nationwide tour with Spectrum, and the song gained crucial TV exposure thanks to the famous promotional clip made by director Chris Lofven, a former member of Cam-Pact who also made the clip for I'll Be Gone only months before. The clip, which included intercut live footage of the band's performance at Myponga, is now regarded as a classic, and has been much imitated. Certainly, The Pretenders' breakthrough 1978 clip for Brass In Pocket bears a remarkable resemblance to it. Eagle Rock rewrote the record books for Australian popular music - it was #1 nationally for 8 weeks, #1 in Melbourne for a record-breaking 17 weeks, it charted for 25 weeks in all, and became the best-selling Australian single of 1971. Daddy Cool were voted Best Group in the 1971 Go Set Pop Poll, and Best Group in the TV Week "King of Pop" awards. Eagle Rock has long since taken on a life of its own; it's become one of the best-known songs of the era, and a staple of commercial radio "classic rock" programming. The story goes that Elton John was so taken with the song when he heard it on his first Australian tour later that year that he immediately penned his own riposte, Crocodile Rock, which was an massive international hit for him. Likewise, on his 1973 tour, Marc Bolan good-naturedly ribbed Wilson about "ripping off" Eagle Rock's main riff from T-Rex's Ride A White Swan! When it was re-released as a 12" single in 1982 it was a Top 10 hit all over again.

The debut LP Daddy Who? ... Daddy Cool was released in July 1971. It too went to #1 and smashed all previous sales records - it went gold within the month, sold an unprecedented 60,000 copies from its initial release, and went on to become the first Australian LP to sell more than 100,000 copies locally. The album was originally issued in a textured cover, and the cover illustration, -- a cartoon rendering of the band members by Melbourne artist (and Go-Set staffer) Ian McCausland -- effectively became the group's logo. McCausland created all the band's graphics and was responsible for much of their visual image. The album is still as fresh and immediate as it was back in 1971, and Porter's clean, warm production has tremendous presence and fidelity, and still sounds terrific. The majority of the original songs were by Ross Wilson (except for Bom Bom, which was co-written by Hannaford) but they sit very comfortably next to the vintage R&B covers - Guided Missile, Good Rockin' Daddy, Cheery Pie, Slay & Crewe's Daddy Cool and Chuck Berry's Schooldays.

As brilliant as the group was, it also has to be said that their success was partly due to good luck and good timing - it was released in May 1971, at the height of the infamous "radio ban". At this time commercial radio was embroiled in a dispute with the major record companies, who wanted to charge royalty payments for songs played on air. Not wanting to pony up for what they (rightly) claimed was free promotion for the majors, radio boycotted all major label product. Obviously though, radio still needed material, so local independent labels like Fable and Sparmac leaped into the breach, and thus got a unique chance to get their foot in the door - a situation not really possible before or after, when the majors had a stranglehold on commercial play-lists.

In August they flew to America for a short tour, including a 4-day engagement at the famous Whisky A Go Go in Los Angeles, supporting the Elvin Bishop Group. The tour was not especially successful, largely because of differing expectations. The promoters wanted the good-time, funny-costume Daddy Cool, and they overhyped the group in the US, but Wilson was reportedly very uneasy about taking American culture back to Americans, and worried about looking foolish to US audiences. The resulting performances were reportedly below par, but the trip did result in the offer of further engagements later that year, on which they supported acts like Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids and Captain Beefheart; it also secured the release of Eagle Rock on Warner Bros (why it never became an international hit remains a total mystery). Both albums and various singles were released in the US over the next year, but Daddy Cool remained essentially a cult attraction on the US West Coast. The other result was the track Please Please America, a tongue-in-cheek plea for stateside fame and fortune, inspired by their experiences on the tour.

In September Jeremy Noone (Company Caine) joined on sax and keyboards. He already had a long association with the band as part of the floating lineup of the Vegetals, played on their ultra-rare The Garden Party EP, and of course also played sax on the first Daddy Cool album. His arrival coincided with the release of their wonderful second single, Come Back Again, which was another huge hit for them reaching #2 nationally. It was covered by country singer Anne Kirkpatrick in 1986.

Daddy Cool toured the US again in October and then returned to release their 5-track D.C.E.P. in November. It was divided into a "Jump" side (Flip, Lollipop and Jerry's Jump) and a "School" side (Long After Schooldays Are Through and Three O'clock Thrill), came in a lavish gatefold cover, again with artwork by Ian McCausland, who created the pop-art candy-cane design for the front cover. Each of the group members got to sing a track, and it was another big success for them, reaching #11. On November 29 Daddy Cool achieved another Australian first, becoming the first local rock band to broadcast live from a recording studio. They performed in front of 80 people at Armstrong's Studio in Melbourne, and the concert was broadcast nationally around Australia and also to New Zealand.

The third single, released in December, was another brilliant Wilson original, Hi Honey Ho / Don't Ever Leave Me (Don't Ever Go), which was later issued as the group's second US single. The song was taken from their forthcoming second LP, and was also released in a rare promotional issue which carries the full-length (6'45") album version, as opposed to the edited (3'29") version on the official single.

The new LP Sex, Dope, Rock'n'Roll - Teenage Heaven was released in mid-January 1972; its famous "lipstick kiss" cover was designed by Hannaford and realised by Ian McCausland, who also provided the irreverent comic strip which adorned the inside of the gatefold. The LP showed their repertoire expanding, mixing the familiar 50's-style rock'n'roll with more progressive material, along the lines of Wilson's earlier work in Sons of The Vegetal Mother. Some of the longer tracks indicate that they were still listening hard to Zappa (and the Hot Rats LP in particular) - a fact especially noticeable in the arrangement for Wilson's dope anthem Make Your Stash, which Ross had already performed with Procession and the Vegetals, and which had also been covered - in a radically different arrangement - by Spectrum. There were also unmistakeable "lipstick traces" of Zappa in the album's centrepiece, the "drive-in trilogy" Teen Love / Drive-In Movie / Love In An F.J. There was some controversy after the LP was reviewed in a Melbourne newspaper, mainly because of the title, and the choice of the two '50s covers, The Penguins' rollicking boogie-woogie hit Baby Let Me Bang Your Box, and Billy Ward & The Dominoes' Sixty Minute Man. There was inevitable outcry from the wowser fringe, with calls to ban the LP, even though the content was only mildly suggestive, at best, not to mention the fact that both the aforementioned songs had been released in the early '50s in America and had been top-sellers at the time without apparently raising too many eyebrows over there. No doubt this all helped sales and Teenage Heaven was another Top 10 album. It was issued in the US (where the title was predictably truncated to just "Teenage Heaven") and it was promoted with a disc that has become another real collector's item, a special 10", 78rpm record, with the "Drive-In Trilogy" across the two sides.

In February '72 Jerry Noone left the band, apparently because he felt that he was not fully involved in the spirit of the group. He was replaced in March by Ian "Willy" Winter (ex-Carson) who took over the rhythm guitar duties, so that Ross Wilson could concentrate on singing. They undertook a third US tour from March-June 1972 and recorded several tracks including Teenage Blues, At The Rockhouse and Rock'n'Roll Lady at Warner Bros studios in L.A.

The next DC single was a cover of Ruth Lowe's I'll Never Smile Again, a song probably best known from the version recorded by Frank Sinatra on his 1959 album No One Cares. Backed by Daddy Rocks Off it was released in June in the US and in July in Australia, providing DC with another Top 40 hit, peaking at #27 nationally. Ross Wilson is a man of many talents, but his singing in particular is something that can't really be praised often enough. He's a powerful and versatile rock/pop singer who can sing superbly on a very wide range of material, but for this writer he is rarely better than when he's working out in his upper registers, where his voice is especially emotive and appealing. I'll Never Smile Again really gave him te chance to stretch out and show what he could do, and it is without doubt one of his most sublime and beautiful vocal performances, ranking alongside Mighty Kong's With A Smile Like That ... and Mondo Rock's State Of The Heart.

Daddy Cool were still packing them in around the country, but by now the inevitable stresses and strains of their success were building up and the pressures within and on the group were dividing the formerly close-knit unit. Gary and Wayne were keen to form their own band, and the two Rosses were finding the restrictions of the Daddy Cool image increasingly frustrating. By August the group realised that the phenomenon had run its course, and rather than dragging it out they wisely decided to call it a day while they were still on top. They performed their farewell show (which was recorded in its entirety) to a packed house at the Much More Ballroom in Melbourne on 13 August 1972. They released their valedictory single Teenage Blues / At The Rockhouse presumably to coincide with the concert -- although exactly when is not listed in Ian McFarlane's exhaustive Daddy Cool discography. The rocky A-side is a strong pointer to the direction the two Rosses were heading in, which of course evolved into Migty Kong the following year. Reportedly this 'farewell' single was only issued to fulfill their immediate contractual obligations to Sparmac, and it appears that relations between the band and their label had become pretty fraught by this time -- and Sparmac were surely none too pleased at losing their biggest selling act after less than two years. The four original members pursued their own plans, and Willy Winter rejoined Carson.

 

"Long After Schooldays Are Through" 1973-74

In September '72 Young and Duncan formed Gary Young's Hot Dogs, who appeared at Sunbury in Jan. 1973, and the two Rosses began planning their next venture. The project briefly involved several prominent musicians including former Dave Miller Set bassist Harry Brus, and Tim Gaze and Nigel Macara, ex-Tamam Shud, but they soon moved on, after which singer Gulliver Smith and guitarist Russell Smith from Company Caine came in. Gulliver was only involved briefly, and he moved on to a solo career and album before the new band was launched, but Russell Smith stayed on and two Smith-Smith songs made it onto the resulting album.

In May 1973 Wilson and Hannaford unveiled the new band, dubbed Mighty Kong, which comprised Wilson, Hannaford, Smith, bassist Tim Partridge and drummer Ray Arnott, from Spectrum. (Arnott's departure to join Kong in fact triggered the break-up of Spectrum, but in a neat turnaround, Gaze and Macara then linked up with Mike Rudd and co. to form the first lineup of Rudd's new band Ariel.) Unfortunately Mighty Kong did not achieve long-term success and the group folded in December 1973, just after the release of their excellent and much-underrated album All I Wanna Do Is Rock.

Meanwhile, the Daddy Cool juggernaut rolled on regardless. Sparmac (who still had a lot of unreleased material stockpiled) issued the Daddy Cool's Golden Hits LP in January 1973; it combined the best tracks from the two LPs, and the original pressing came with a bonus 7" of the Hi Honey Ho / Don't Ever Leave Me single. During 1973 Sparmac was absorbed into a new label Wizard, co-owned by Porter and Steve Binder, and they released the double album Daddy Cool Live! The Last Drive-in Movie Show on the new imprint in September 1973. This album was the live recording of DC's farewell gig at the Much More Ballroom from August 1972. The track order faithfully followed the set list on the night. Record One features the original 4-piece Daddy Cool, with Side One devoted to R&B covers, and Side Two turned over to Gary Young's selection of favourite country and rockabilly numbers. On Record Two, the second half of the show, they were joined by Willy Winter and this included some of the more progressive material including Flash In My Head and Boy You're Paranoid. The original pressing also included a bonus one-sided 33-1/3 rpm single with the live version of Daddy Cool. Remarkably, despite of the group's huge popularity, the live album sold less than 5000 copies from its first release, and it is now by far the rarest of their three 'original' LPs.

 

"Come Back Again" 1974-75

By the start of 1974 both Mighty Kong and Hot Dog had both split. Because of financial pressures (including outstanding debts to Sparmac), the members of Daddy Cool decided to reform for a one-off gig to clear the decks. The reunion took place at the third Sunbury Festival in January '74, to the great delight of the crowd. It was meant to be a "one-off" event, but the band was so heartened by their rapturous reception that they decided on a semi-permanent reformation with the four original members, and they lined up a series of shows during 1974-75. A new studio LP was planned and they began recording in April/May, but during the sessions a dispute erupted with Porter and Wizard over contracts and copyright, and the new album was soon aborted. Only the tracks All I Wanna Do Is Rock Parts I & II, Boogie Man and I Was A Teenage Creature made it onto tape. These were finally released on the Missing Masters LP in 1980.

In June/July 1974 Ross Wilson took a month out from Daddy Cool out to produce the debut album for a new Melbourne band, whom he had first seen when they supported Mighty Kong in late 1973. Wilson was so impressed with them that he immediately signed their songwriter to a publishing contract, and he was instrumental in getting the group signed to Michael Gudinski's Mushroom Records label. It was a serious gamble for Mushroom, who were still struggling financially. The band had not been notably successful -- in fact they had been booed off the stage during their first major appearance at Sunbury earlier that year -- and adding to the uncertainty was the fact that this was also Wilson's first major production job. But the wager paid off handsomely -- the record was of course the legendary Living in the Seventies by Skyhooks, released in October 1974. It made Skyhooks stars overnight, becoming the best-selling album in Australian recording history to that time (eclipsing Daddy Cool's own record) and it literally saved Mushroom's skin, establishing the label and its owner Michael Gudinski as a major player in the Australian recording industry.

In January 1975, Daddy Cool appeared at the final Sunbury Festival, after which (Ian) Gunther Gorman was recruited to help bolster the group's lineup, but by now Daddy Cool was past its use-by date. They soldiered on for a few more months; when Wayne Duncan was sidelined after injuring his hand in a car accident in June, Hannaford switched to bass and guitarist Wayne Burt (later of Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons) was brought in, creating the very last Daddy Cool lineup. In August Ross Wilson announced the group's final split, and in September 1975 they played their final shows at Paddington Town Hall in Sydney and the Reefer Cabaret in Melbourne.

 

"Daddy Rocks Off" 1975 -

Since the final DC split, all four members have worked with one another in various combinations at various times, and each has a list of credits far too long to recite here in full:

Daddy Cool have been anthologised many times, with numerous 'Best Of' collections appearing over the years. Probably the most interesting compilation to collectors would be The Missing Masters, issued in 1980, which brought together the rare single b-sides like Don't Ever Leave Me, all the previously unreleased studio material including the three tracks from the aborted third studio LP, plus a selection of live tracks.

In 1992 Mega Records issued the definitive Daddy Cool collection, Totally Cool, a 3CD boxed set compiling the studio albums, the singles, the D.C.E.P., the live album, and the rare tracks from the Missing Masters LP. The one shortcoming with this terrific set is that it regrettably uses the abridged versions of Come Back Again and Hi Honey Ho rather than the longer album versions.

In 1995 the original Daddy Cool lineup got back together and joined Skyhooks for a final farewell tour, which was promoted with the single The Ballad of Oz, released in tandem with Skyhooks' valedictory Jukebox in Siberia. Since then, the band has passed into legend as one of the icons of Australian music, and Daddy Cool has since been honoured both with a stamp in Australia Post's Rock'n'Roll collection, and with the voting of Eagle Rock as one of Australia's Top Ten Songs of All Time by ARIA in 2001.

Discography

(with acknowledgements to Ian McFarlane)

Singles

5/71 Eagle Rock / Bom Bom [Sparmac SPR 008]

9/71 Come Back Again / Just As Long As We're Together [Sparmac SPR 010]

12/71 Hi Honey Ho (long version) / Hi Honey Ho (short version) [Sparmac SPR 014]
Promo only

12/71 Hi Honey Ho (short version) / Don't Ever Leave Me [Sparmac SPR 014]
Promo only

?/72 Teenage Blues (mono) / At The Rockhouse [Sparmac SPR 018]
Promo only

?/72 Teenage Blues (stereo) / At The Rockhouse [Sparmac SPR 018]

7/72 I'll Never Smile Again / Daddy Rocks Off [Sparmac SPR 019]

9/72 Rock'n'Roll Lady (mono) / Cadillacin' [Sparmac SPR 021]
Promo only, as "Gary Young with Daddy Cool"

9/72 Rock'n'Roll Lady (mono) / Cadillacin' [Sparmac SPR 021]
as "Gary Young with Daddy Cool"

7/73 One Night / Cadillacin' (live) [Wizard ZS 102]

7/73 Paranoid (live) / One Night (live) [Wizard ZS 102/103]
included as part of a four-track Wizard sampler on a blue flexi-disc

8/73 Flash In My Head / Little Darlin' / Boy You're Paranoid (live) [Wizard ZS 104]

9/73 Duke Of Earl / Jambalaya [Wizard ZS 105]

?/74 All I Wanna Do Is Rock (Part I) / All I Wanna Do Is Rock (Part I) [Wizard ZS 117]

?//74 The Boogie Man / I Was A Teenage Creature [Wizard ZS 121]

?/?? You Never Can Tell / All I Wanna Do Is Rock [Wizard ZS 129]

1/81 Eagle Rock / Cadillacin' (live) [Wizard ZS335]

9/82 Come Back Again (short vers.) / Come Back Again (long vers.) [Wizard ZS 586]

10/89 Eagle Rock / Come Back Again [Wizard ZS 2312]

?/9? Ballad Of Oz / Jukebox In Siberia (Skyhooks) [Mushroom]

 

12" singles

6/82 Eagle Rock / Daddy Rocks Off, Bom Bom [Wizard ZS 12582]

11/82 Hi Honey Ho (long vers.) / Come Back Again (long vers.), Baby Let Me Bang Your Box [Wizard ZS 12822]

EPs

11/71 The D.C.E.P. [Sparmac SPEP 1]

?/75 The D.C. Hits EP [Wizard ZEP 2]
reissued with logo cover in 1980, and with no-picture cover in 1982

Albums

7/71 Daddy Who? Daddy Cool! [Sparmac SPL 001]
Reissued 1977 (with different sleeve) as Wizard ZL 214 and in 1982 (with original artwork but non-gatefold sleeve) as Wizard MID-160005

Daddy Cool [Slay-Crewe]
Schooldays [Berry]
Come Back Again [Wilson]
At The Rockhouse [Wilson]
Guided Missile [Gaitwood]
Good Rockin' Daddy [unknown]
Eagle Rock [Wilson]
Zoop Bop Gold Caddillac [Wilson]
Blind Date [Wilson]
Bom Bom [Wilson-Hannaford]
Cherry Pie [Marvin-Johnson]

Piano & slide guitar: Robie Porter
Saxophone: Jeremy Noone

Produced by Robie Porter
Recorded at Armstrong Studios, Melbourne
Cover illustration by Ian McCausland

1/72 Sex, Dope, Rock'nRoll: Teenage Heaven [Sparmac SPL 002]
Reissued 1977 (with "back seat" illustration as front cover) as Wizard ZL-242

Hi Honey Ho [Wilson]
Daddy Rocks Off [Wilson]
Please Please America (Hear My Plea) [Wilson]
Sixty Minute Man [Ward-Marks]
Baby Let Me Bang Your Box [McRae-Wyche]
Teen Love / Drive-In Movie / Love In An F.J. [Wilson]
Donna Forgive Me [Wilson]
Make Your Stash [Wilson]

Produced by Robie Porter
Recorded at Armstrong Studios, Melbourne
Cover illustrations by Ian McCausland. Cover concept by Ross Hannaford & Ian McCausland

1/73 Daddy Cool's Golden Hits [Sparmac SPL 004]

9/73 Daddy Cool Live! The Last Drive-In Movie Show [Wizard ZL 202]
Reissued 1982 with different cover

That'll Be The Day [Holly-Petty]
Zoom Zoom Zoom [Hayes-Jackson]
Cherry Pie [Marvin-Johnny]
Sh-Boom [Keyes-Feaster-Feaster-McRae]
Little Darlin' [Williams]
Guided Missile [Gaitwood]
Duke Of Earl [unknown]
Roll With Me Henry [James]
Momma Don't You Tear My Clothes [trad. arr. Wilson]
One Night [Bartholemew-King]
Come Back Again [Wilson]
Flash In My Head [Hannaford-Smith]
Teenage Blues [Wilson]
I'll Never Smile Again [R. Lowe]
Boy You're Paranoid [Wilson]
Shake, Rattle'n'Roll [C.Calhoun]
Daddy Cool [Slay-Crewe]

Produced by Robie Porter
Recorded live at the Much More Ballroom, Melbourne, 13 August 1972
Cover art by Ian McCausland

Ross Wilson - guitar & vocals
Ross Hannaford - guitar & vocals
Ian Winter - lead guitar
Wayne Duncan - bass
Gary Young - drums & vocals

?/76 The Greatest Hits [Wizard ZL 219] (with 'back seat' cover)
Reissued in 1982 with red cover

?80 The Missing Masters [Wizard ZL 241]

Album compiled rare and preciously unreleased studio & live tracks:

Studio tracks:
Just As Long As We're Together
Rock-A-Billy Beatin' Boogie Band
Rock'n'Roll Lady
Cadillacin'
Don't Ever Leave Me
Teenage Blues
Boogie Man
I Was A Teenage Creature
All I Wanna Do Is Rock (Parts I & II)
I'll Never Smile Again

Live tracks:
Good Golly Miss Molly
Gee
Fried Chicken
Jambalaya
You Never Can Tell
Schooldays

?/82 Daddy's Coolest Volume I [Wizard WIZLP 2002]
Reissued 1992 on CD as Mega 472002-2

Eagle Rock
Daddy Cool
Come Back Again
Lollypop
Hi Honey Ho
Sixty Minute Man
Bom Bom
At The Rockhouse
Rock'n'Roll Lady
I'll Never Smile Again
Good Golly Miss Molly
You Never Can Tell
One Night
Teenage Blues
Boogie Man
Cherry Pie
As Long As We're Together
Please, Please America
Baby Let Me Bang Your Box
Daddy Rocks Off

?/86 Daddys' Coolest Volume II [Wizard WIZLP 2003]
Reissued 1992 on CD as Mega 472003-2

?/86 Daddy's Coolest [Wizard RRLP 104-105]

Radio-only promo 2LP set

? The Daddy Cool Collection [Axis 260313]

? The Daddy Cool Story [Music For Pleasure MFP 2-398042]

2LP compilation combining the tracks from both original studio albums, resequenced

? The Best Of Daddy Cool [Summit SRA 295-001]

?/88 Retrospective [EMI EMX 748315]

Compilation LP of Daddy Cool, Mighty Kong, Ross Wilson solo and Mondo Rock tracks

References