The Generation label is home to some Australia’s rarest blues and progressive rock albums, but the very first album they released is altogether different. The Garry Hyde Tradition were a quartet led by Garry on vocals drums and percussion, with Bob Venier on brass, Don Lambert on piano/keys and Leon Healle on bass. All the members of the group sing as well, which isn’t always a good thing, but it seems to work well. The choice of covers is pretty good in my opinion, and even the more sedated numbers still have a nice strong rhythm sound throughout. The Turtle’s ‘Happy Together’ gets covered and ends sounding like it’s by Simon and Garfunkel! They do really nice versions of ‘I Wish I were a Child’, By the Time I get to Phoenix’ and Wichita Lineman’ to round out the first side. Side 2 is where the heat is though. ‘Hurt So Bad’ has great drums throughout, although the 4 guys singing doesn’t quite work as well for me as Nancy Holloway’s version, for example. The killer is a Latin funk number called La Tosita that also sees the guys put down the microphones except for the occasional chanted ‘La Tosita’ that really sounds fresh! Really nice percussion and brass on this number, and there’s a great breakdown halfway through that spices things up. And yes, this cut is worth the price of this album.
