The Zoot: Rick Springfield and Little River Band's Beeb Birtles, the early years
Written: Nov 18 '06 (Updated Feb 15 '07)
Product Rating:
Pros: The early years of Rick Springfield and The Little River Band's Beeb Birtles.
Cons: A strange mix of bubblegum and hard rock.
The Bottom Line: The Zoot were a Top 40 band in Australia. Band member Beeb Birtles later founded The Little River Band and guitarist Rick Springfield became a major solo star.
Don_Krider's Full Review: Zoot Locker: Best Of The by Zoot
The Zoot had a handful of Top 40 Australian hits between 1968 and 1971.
They evolved during their brief time on the charts from a heavily mod-influenced, vocal harmony-loving group in the style of their British Invasion idols like The Hollies and The Beatles into a psychedelic, guitar-driven hard rock band once lead guitarist Rick Springfield joined the group.
Three band members --- guitarists Rick Springfield, Darryl Cotton and Beeb Birtles --- later went on to achieve the international music stardom on their own that had eluded The Zoot as a group:
Springfield became a solo superstar in the U. S. with such Top 10 hits as Jessie's Girl and Don't Talk To Strangers.
Birtles gained fame as guitarist for The Little River Band (LRB) from 1975 to 1983. LRB hit the U. S. Top 10 during that time with hits like Reminiscing, Lonesome Loser and Cool Change.
And Cotton? In the U. S., he may be remembered best as a member of Cotton, Lloyd and Christian (with Michael Lloyd and Chris Christian), who hit #75 on the U. S. charts with I Go To Pieces in 1975.
Considering their later international success, it amazes me that The Zoot remain largely unknown outside of Australia. Their music covered a wide range of recorded styles, from pure bubblegum music to late period Beatles-influenced psychedelia.
They weren't the greatest band of all time, but The Zoot were very good at what they did. Evidence of that fact can be found on The Zoot CD anthology, Zoot Locker: The Best Of The Zoot, 1968-1971.
The collection gives a glimpse at what made Australian youth go nuts as the rocking 1960's came to a close. It also gives the fans of individual band members a look into the formative years of some fine musicians. The CD booklet also lets you see Rick Springfield's bare behind (more on that later).
A little background
The Zoot went through a number of personnel changes, and some members even changed their birth names (Springfield was born as Richard Springthorpe, and Birtles was previously known as Gerard Bertelkamp) along the way to stardom.
The band was born from several Australian bands by left-handed bassist Beeb Birtles with guitarist Darryl Cotton, lead singer John D'arcy (that's the spelling on founding Zoot member Birtles' own Zoot website, though the CD booklet for this CD identifies him as "John Darcy") and drummer Teddy Higgins.
By 1967, they were backing singers like Johnny Farnham in EMI recording sessions.
"Think Pink - Think Zoot"
As seems to happen with all new groups, they hire managers who come up with promotional ideas that young musicians go along with but don't always agree with. The Zoot's management dressed the four band members in Pink. They then came up with the slogan, "Think Pink - Think Zoot."
This was 1968. Guys wearing pink in public was, shall we say, somewhat unusual, but the image was meant to shock and cause attention, and attention is what the band got.
Handsome guys won young girls hearts. Handsome guys dressed in pink also sometimes got beat up by less-than-nice fellows not dressed in pink, all of which leads to the publicity the managers want, but it was not the kind of attention serious musicians desired.
Things don't always go as planned, of course. The group's first lead singer, John D'arcy, was not interested in becoming a professional musician at the time, so he departed the band when they sought a recording contract.
He was replaced by singer Steve Stone. The Zoot's first single for EMI, You'd Better Get Going Now, was released and flopped.
Their second single, the strangely titled 1 x 2 x 3 x 4, reached #32 on the charts in Melbourne, Australia, but worldwide fame didn't follow, leading two more band members (Stone and Higgins) to exit the group.
Birtles and Cotton then recruited guitarist Roger Hicks and drummer Rick Brewer as replacements. This was followed by a successful outdoor concert at Melbourne's Velodrome that was shown on Australian television in 1969, where the group's fan club made itself known via adoring screams from the audience.
After this success, band members were forbidden by their managers from being photographed in public with their girlfriends --- the image of the unattached male being the image desired by the band's managers. The group's third single, Monty & Me, became a regional Top 40 hit in Australia (#33 in Melbourne, #1 in Brisbane).
But personnel problems continued, with guitarist Hicks exiting the band because of Zoot's "pretty pink pansies" image in the rock press.
Rick Springfield
The band next recruited guitarist Rick Springfield, who had done USO tours of Vietnam with his band MPD Ltd.
Springfield wore the pink outfits for a while, but then rebelled. Darryl Cotton had been beaten up by "a gang of louts" in 1969, suffering a mild concussion, so all the band members joined Springfield in open rebellion against the pink image, including burning "all things pink" on an Australian TV show in 1970.
Perhaps to place emphasis on the idea that clothes do not make a rock band, the band released publicity shots of the four band members naked from the rear.
Springfield took over creative control of the band, leading to their first, and only, album, Just Zoot, in 1970. The band won fan polls in Australia and their cover of The BeatlesEleanor Rigby was released as a single at the end of 1970, making it into the Top 3 on all the Australian charts (re-released in 1979, the single was then certified as a Gold Record Award winner in Australia).
Still, international success didn't follow. The next single, The Freak/Evil Child, peaked at #27 (charting only on the Melbourne charts) in early 1971, and the group decided to call it a day.
This CD
When groups are gone, the music remains. In this case, we have Zoot Locker: The Best Of The Zoot, 1968-1971.
You get 16 songs, including seven Rick Springfield originals, with a total running time of 47 minutes and 52 seconds on a single CD.
The 8-page CD booklet features a number of photos of the band (including the "nude-from-behind" shot) with liner notes from this album's original 1980 vinyl release written by Glenn Baker, Australian editor of Billboard magazine.
The tracks
The 16 tracks on one CD are:
You Better Get Going Now, 1 x 2 x 3 x 4, Monty & Me, It's About Time, Sailing, Yes I'm Glad, Little Roland Lost, She's Alright, Sha La La, Flying, Mr. Songwriter, Strange Things, Hey Pinky, The Freak, Evil Child and Eleanor Rigby.
The Music
Some songs on Zoot Locker are outstanding, such as their Jackie Lomax cover You Better Get Going Now, Terry Britten's She's Alright and Monty & Me, which all tickle this Hollies' (Bus Stop) fan's musical ribs with some lovely 1965 Merseybeat rhythms and sweet harmonies.
The Zoot's cover of The Beatles Eleanor Rigby actually makes the tune much heavier than the original Fab Four recording via it's whining heavy metal guitar intro and takes the song to a different dimension.
I think it's a nice alternative version of the tune, but Beatles' die-hards may find that description hard to swallow; personally, I really like The Zoot's take on the song.
Weaker moments on the CD are tunes that are very bugglegum-ish in nature (think 1910 Fruitgum Co. and The Archies). Rick Springfield's Sha La La has lyrics that make me wanna gag (I mean, how many times can you sing "sha la la" in a row? If you're not sure, The Zoot answer that musical question here).
But there is meat among the fruit on the musical plate that is the Zoot Locker CD.
That meat comes in the form of Springfield's guitar-based tunes, tunes that show a lyrical intelligence and a sense of melody that shows the direction Springfield later followed as a successful solo artist.
For this Springfield fan, this is why I bought the CD --- to see Springfield's growth over the years, and I wasn't disappointed by what I heard.
On Mr Songwriter, Springfield is the happy balladeer one minute writing an acoustic ballad to the girl he loves, but the next moment he takes the song on an unexpected alternative route on the chorus and the bridge as psychedelic lead guitars kick in. It's an interesting mix of soft and hard sounds.
Hey Pinky has a funky, fuzz guitar at its heart, beating a pulse of biting sarcasm at those who sought to hurt the men in pink while the lead singer laments of bigoted people "...shouting from the back row, like monkeys at the zoo, intricate abuses, 'Hey Pinky, we'll get you'...".
The Freak could be mistaken for a Black Sabbath (replace Ozzy Osbourne with Rick Springfield, and you might --- just might --- get the idea) heavy metal delight with lyrics that again seem to reflect Springfield's anger over the way The Zoot were being marketed to the public: "the question they posed to the public, 'When is a man not a man?," when he's a freak in a sideshow...".
Final recommendation
Zoot Locker: The Best Of The Zoot, 1968-1971 at its worst is a curiosity. At its best, however, it shows the growth of some Australian musicians who later found success after leaving The Zoot.
At it's very best, too, it shows the talent and energy that is the artist we call Rick Springfield, exposing his muscial growth for the open mind.
This is not an album for everyone, but it is certainly a fine addition to the collections of any Rick Springfield fan.
Zoot Locker works because it makes you appreciate Rick Springfield's formative years and his amazing growth as a singer-songwriter-guitarist over the years since The Zoot last roamed a concert stage.
Fans of late '60s classic rock will enjoy this, too.
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