Who are the Greats of the World of Music?  

Fair enough. Australia has produced some fine musicians. I'm a massive fan of the Australian composer Percy Grainger, who orchestrated English folk song to haunting effect. Crowded House are one of my favourite Rock bands ever, but they are from New Zealand and yet beloved of Australians. The Bee Gees are faves of mine; they are English-Australian. And then there's my dad, who has been a musician since he became the soloist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra aged just 9 years old. But I know that's just a very short list...

oh wow that great to hear, I grew up with 60's music and now I am connected with some bands today, trying to promote them which is not easy....

My favorite band from Australia would be AC/DC, they are one of the greatest.

Yes AC/DC were really good but I think there were many bands and artists fron here better than them but they just didn't go overseas as was a must in those days...

There was an Australian band from the 70s I liked; Jigsaw; they only had one big hit in the UK. A marvellous song, "Howzat"; but they were massive back home.

Yes this band was around when I was going to see all the bands, today I am connected with a couple of artists and I have seen a couple of the boys from that band arounf the traps, they had some good music.

They did. They should have been bigger over here. I'm gonna check out that song on youtube later; loved it!

There is a lot of the old Melbourne artists on Youtube, have you ever heard of Bobby and Laurie, they were huge here in Melbourne, I have them on my Youtube page www.youtube.com/BonnieLBW I was a fan of theirs in the 60's but became very good friends with Laurie just before he passed away in 2002...

I am a dunderhead! I meant Sherbet; not Jigsaw; I am sorry..."Howzat" was by Sherbet!!!

I never even picked up on the song, I just liked most of Jigsaw songs but I never really was into Sherbet......

It was a top 5 hit over here; but I don't know their other songs. The most successful ever Australian band here was Crowded House. Formed in Australia with Australian musicians, but led by New Zealander Neil Finn, one of the greatest songwriters of all time. I love that band very dearly, and was devastated when Paul Hester died. They've reformed but it's not the same for me.

I checked out Bobby and Laurie. Quite good; very influenced at first by the British Merseybeat/Beat boom. It fascinates me to realise how many home-grown Beat/Pop movements there were in the 60s...in Australia (Beat-Pop), France (Ye-Ye), Japan, Scandinavia and so on, but little of it succeeded internationally, which seems unfair to me. One Australian Beat band that did break through in the UK in the 60s were the Easybeats whose classic "Friday on my Mind" was a very big hit, and still stands as one of the most original discs of the Beat era. I wonder what happend to the Easys...

Yeh so very few of the Aussie artists got to go overseas, I think sometimes we Aussies are a little too layback. Bobby And laurie toured with PJ Proby when he came out here and they were thinking of going to England but never did get there...

The easybeats were also on the PJ Proby Tour, they had a special on TV here last year for Stevie the lead singer of the easys, he really spent some hard years after that scene finished, had trouble with alchohol and trouble with the law and healthwise he isn't all the best, his wife has had to care for him, she has been loyal and stood by him for many years...it was a good show, he got up and sang but of course he wasn't the same...sad really.

I just read his biog on Wikipedia. I'm glad Stevie Wright is reasonably healthy; I hate to read of famous people who suffer like that. I know what you mean about laid-backness...my dad was raised in Sydney; he did well out of music, but has confided in me that at heart all he ever really wanted to be was back where he still considers home, sailing, canoeing, beachcombing. Can't say I blame him. I inherited alot of that; but I'm trying to make up a bit for that now...better late than never.

Oh that wikipedia is amazing isn't it, I just discovered it a couple of weeks ago when someone told me my webpage was listed with them under Bobby and Laurie, that really made my day.....

It certainly is!

Jerry Lee was a brilliant musician, and a tortured soul. Still is. Aretha...once seen as the Queen of Soul...I don't think anyone's stolen that crown. Some have come close, but it's still hers. Janis. Incredible talent; so magnetic, but happiness was never hers: the level of intensity required of artistry of her calibre can prove actually dangerous in my opinion.

I agree with many of those, notably Bach; Mozart; Tchaikovsky; Berlin; Porter; George and Ira; John Barry. Regarding the Rock artists mentioned, with reservations, I agree with them too, although I can't vouch for Aerosmith, as I'm not overfamiliar with their work. I was never a massive Chopin fan, although some pieces I liked; nor Schubert; nor Ludwig Van...my dad would not thank me for saying that, cos he's a musician and has always informed me that the late Beethoven quartets are the acme of musical perfection.

I knew I forgot someone. Patsy Cline.I had a unique up bringing.My mom loved country music and my dad r&b and big band , and jazz.I played classical so my first favorite composer was and is Beethoven.I have a love-hate relationship with Mozart, you would too if you played Eine Klein Nachmusik as many times as I have.I hit my teens and i got my rock n roll heart. And about 10 years ago, I saw this movie, Impromptu and I fell madly for the music of Chopin. In fact of all the composers I listed , there are two that take my breath away, John Barry and Chopin.If you get the chance, rent Impromptu. It is the love story of Chopin and George Sand, a total chick flick, but listen to the music.Most of his great pieces are in the film.

I love Patsy Cline. I always said she bridged the gap between Country and Pop; but then she had great songs, such as "Crazy", written for her by Willie Nelson. I've seen "Impromptu". Hugh Grant played Chopin in pre-superstar days (Judy Davis as G. Sand); I liked it alot. But my favourite ever movie biog of a composer is "Immortal Beloved" about Beethoven. The music is glorious; yes I know I'm not a Ludwig fan, but, I made an exception for this fabulous film. There are other OK composer biogs of the cinema, but this is my fave by far. I really recommend it if you haven't seen it.

My musical upbringing was not dissimilar. My mother ( a former singer) loved Classical, Opera, Classic Popular, Vocal Jazz, Musical Comedy; my dad loved Classical, Jazz, Swing, Vocal Jazz...but also Country, Folk, World music, before it had a name. My mother was fine with the best Rock, my dad played it professionally, but preferred his old musics. Still does.

I just saw Immortal Beloved last year. It was good. I think I wasn't sure I would like Gary Oldman as my Beethoven but he was great as always.If you like this film , you would like The Music Lovers. It is a bio pic about Tchaikovsky.It was made in the 70's and stars Richard Chamberlain.

My dad didn't like country but mom did. Before she died, I was getting Mom to listen to Led Zeppelin.I thought she would like it because they have a blues feel and she loved blues.My dad died before I had my rock and roll heart so I am not sure he would have like rock or not. I assume not but that's a guess.

"The Music Lovers" I saw I think maybe in the 70s. It was directed by Ken Russell, who directed quite a few music-bios including of Mahler, Lizst; and he directed a few before he became a directing star too, on TV, notably English composers, a pet love of his. A brilliantly gifted director, "The Music Lovers" was probably his best music-bio, despite occasional serious lapses: some scenes are a bit unnecessary. Oh yeah the Zep updated the Delta Blues and then some. They emerged out of the British Blues Boom; Page had been a session musician before joining the Yardbirds; the New Yardbirds became Led Zep. Page made his first TV appearance aged 14 playing something called Skiffle. You can see it on youtube. Type in Jimmy Page skiffle; it's fun. Such a charming young man! They were my favourite band as an adolescent boy; but I don't listen to them anymore. It's not that I don't like the music; part of me does...but it's a part I put to bed years ago. For my dad, entertainment spelled escape from a troubled childhood and adolescence...he couldn't understand the angst and anger of Rock...maybe your dad would have been the same? My dad has made his peace with some Rock.

I lost my dad when I was 12 and I didn't star listening to rock until a year later. When I remember him, I don't think he would have liked rock. He was too conservative.

I loved the Music Lovers as is. I can't think of a scene that needed to be cut.My favorite is the letters that were written between Tchaikovsky and the Countess, or was she a Baroness, forgive me it has been too long.

It was certainly beautiful in parts, visually so definitely. It got me interested in the "Pathetique", which I went crazy for and had bought me for Christmas by my parents. The director Ken Russell, who incidentally went to the same military college as me, was and is very gifted, a true artist. But he acquired a "bad boy" reputation for himself; not too much in evidence in "M Lovers", but which eventually compromised his genius somewhat. There is one scene involving Madame T. which was intended to shock, and surely did. Russell's work wass intentionally outrageous, and it's what made his international reputation. His biog at Wikipedia.org is very interesting.

Which scene with Madame T? My age is showing again. I saw The Music Lovers and I thought it was a good PG movie. I am used to more racy films.

I think you may have seen a censored cut, I mean a PG release of an R-rated movie. When "The Music Lovers" first came out it was rated "X", which meant no one under 21 back then could see it. Even now it's rated "18" in the UK, and according to imdb, "R" in the US. There are several scenes involving Madame T. which still shock today.

Do you mean the last scene Glenda is in? I can see where everybody was a little upset.

Have you seen Sweet Dreams, the bio pick of Patsy Cline?

Yes, that is the main scene; but I'll admit it's tame by today's standards. No, I haven't seen PC's film-biog. Who played Patsy?

Jessica Lange. But all the singing you hear Is Miss Patsy.Do you like Loretta Lynn?Have you seen her bio pic Coal Miner's Daughter?In this film, Sissy Spacek plays Loretta and does All her own singing.In this film Patsy is beeing played by Beverly DeAngelo and she does her own singing. And she does a very good job.

Patsy Cline had so much charm and charisma; Jessica Lange is an underrated actress, and very powerful when she chooses to be. I can imagine she'd have been good. Both she and Beverley d'A. somewhat ressemble her. I do like Loretta Lynn, but haven't seen her movie biog. Patsy Cline had one of the greatest female popular music voices of the 20th Century I think, with a voice that came straight from the soul! Mind you, she had wonderful songs given her, such as Willie Nelson's masterpiece "Crazy", which was closer to Jazz/Swing than Country perhaps.

Yes, Willie songs have a little swing and blues to them.Rent Coal Miner's daughter and let me know if you like it.

I surely will...

They were pretty big in the US in the 80s...not bad for a bunch of lads from Basildon, Essex.

They're still major all over the world! You just have to know where to look. Our whole family loves the albums and the concerts... we were in on the ground floor of the new International Depeche Mode Day (nov.10... be ready next fall!), we have fan pages, forums... musically, this country is too shallow to appreciate anything for more than 10 minutes... most of what we have out there is covers and garbage. I like my music original.

Me too. On the whole, I dislike covers intensely, unless they improve on the original. This can happen.

I can't think of any... and many songs that have been 'updated' just come out desperate...

Beethoven has certainly stood the test of time; it remains to be seen whether Elvis and Michael Jackson will do so also.

It would certainly seem so. The level of interest still created by the Beatles at such immensely popular internet sites as imdb, and youtube seems to span the generations,
with the children/grandchildren of original fans declaring their love of the Beatles, and their favourite Beatles.

I can always listen to The Beatles...all day long...:)

They really did create some wonderful songs. I prefer the innocent 63-65 period I have to say, the Beatlemania years.

I've been listening to "Kind of Blue" this last day or so an album I've never really gotten into until now; just how much Jazz/Rock Fusion, Smooth Jazz and so on owes to that album and others Miles Davis created from '59 onwards has become clear to me for the first time. I'm gonna listen some more!

Definitely ahead of his time...
Muthikal Geniuth...

Agreed!

I'm not too familar with Metallica, although I'm aware of their influence. I love the Carpenters; Karen's voice was absoluteley unique, and what a charming performer she was, just lovely.

Talented, undeniably.

But like you, I'm not a fan.