Words Fail Me (An Occasional Series): The Present Day Antipodean Refuses to Die

From Australian TV in July of 1966, please enjoy The Easybeats and a blistering who-cares-if-it's-lipsynched? version of their self-penned hit "Sorry."



The show this clip is from -- a legendary special I'd read about but assumed (until yesterday) lost to the mists of time -- was designed as a farewell from the fans to the Easys, who would shortly head off to London to record for the first time with Who/Kinks producer Shel Talmy, and we all know how that turned out. Which is to say this was taped pre-"Friday On My Mind," and at this point in the band's career they already had a boatful of great singles (almost all written by their genius songwriter/guitarists Harry Vanda and George Young) behind them in the Australian charts. (BTW, YouTube has the rest of the show, with a bunch of equally cool performances of the aforementioned singles.)

In any case, watching this it's fairly obvious these guys were a truly world class band.

The Beatles/Stones of Australia? Not hyperbole at all, I think.