WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.279 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. I'm your host, 00:00:02.379 --> 00:00:05.719 and I am just so thrilled you decided to spend 00:00:05.719 --> 00:00:07.440 some time with us today. And I'm your resident 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:10.000 music expert, really excited to dive into this 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:12.419 one. Because we are heading into some, you know, 00:00:12.419 --> 00:00:15.320 truly uncharted territory today. Have you ever 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:17.039 found yourself falling down one of those late 00:00:17.039 --> 00:00:19.079 night internet rabbit holes? Oh, absolutely. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:21.480 All the time. Right. You click one link, then 00:00:21.480 --> 00:00:23.339 another, and suddenly it's like two in the morning, 00:00:23.460 --> 00:00:25.640 and you are staring at a completely forgotten 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:28.960 corner of history that just absolutely captivates 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:32.179 you. Yep. The classic Wikipedia spiral. Exactly. 00:00:32.200 --> 00:00:34.899 And that is the exact energy of today's deep 00:00:34.899 --> 00:00:38.939 dive. Our entire focus is based on a single Wikipedia 00:00:38.939 --> 00:00:43.539 article about a completely obscure... basically 00:00:43.539 --> 00:00:46.920 lost musical duo from the 1970s. And honestly, 00:00:47.060 --> 00:00:49.000 it really is a remarkable little document. When 00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:50.539 you strip it down, it's just a few paragraphs 00:00:50.539 --> 00:00:53.119 of text. But hidden inside those paragraphs is 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:55.859 this entire universe of artistic struggle. It 00:00:55.859 --> 00:00:59.820 is a story about fierce ambition, the often harsh 00:00:59.820 --> 00:01:02.020 realities of the music business, and the lengths 00:01:02.020 --> 00:01:04.260 people will go to in order to protect their art. 00:01:04.420 --> 00:01:07.239 It's one of those rare glances into a world that 00:01:07.239 --> 00:01:08.900 almost completely slipped through the cracks 00:01:08.900 --> 00:01:11.200 of history. I mean, before we even start, I want 00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:13.760 to validate your time here as a listener, because 00:01:13.760 --> 00:01:16.200 while this duo only existed for a very brief 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:19.939 window, about three years, from 1972 to 1975, 00:01:20.659 --> 00:01:24.359 their short run is a brilliant case study in 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:27.340 musical ambition and defying local trends. Which 00:01:27.340 --> 00:01:29.500 brings us to the core mission of today's deep 00:01:29.500 --> 00:01:32.840 dive. We are exploring a fascinating, really 00:01:32.840 --> 00:01:36.359 universal question. What happens when your creative 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:39.540 vision is completely, entirely out of sync with 00:01:39.540 --> 00:01:41.799 the world around you? Right. It's the ultimate 00:01:41.799 --> 00:01:43.640 dilemma. When everything you want to make goes 00:01:43.640 --> 00:01:46.120 against the grain of what society actually wants 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:49.140 to consume, what do you do? Do you bend your 00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:51.260 art to fit the mold, or do you just double down 00:01:51.260 --> 00:01:53.390 and play your harpsichord louder? It really is 00:01:53.390 --> 00:01:55.510 the ultimate dilemma for any creator. You are 00:01:55.510 --> 00:01:57.790 always balancing commercial viability against 00:01:57.790 --> 00:02:01.030 uncompromising artistic integrity. Though, as 00:02:01.030 --> 00:02:03.810 we will see, rarely does anyone face that dilemma 00:02:03.810 --> 00:02:06.849 as dramatically as our subjects today. Or as 00:02:06.849 --> 00:02:11.050 stubbornly. So, let me introduce you to the subjects 00:02:11.050 --> 00:02:14.310 of this whole crazy story. We are talking about 00:02:14.310 --> 00:02:17.430 an Australian folk music duo called Madden and 00:02:17.430 --> 00:02:20.270 Harris. They formed in Sydney, New South Wales 00:02:20.270 --> 00:02:23.849 back in 1972. Okay, let's unpack this. Let's 00:02:23.849 --> 00:02:25.949 do it. Before we get into the wild music they 00:02:25.949 --> 00:02:28.590 actually made, who were David Madden and Peter 00:02:28.590 --> 00:02:30.889 Harris, and how did they even end up in a room 00:02:30.889 --> 00:02:32.669 together? Well, the foundation of their partnership 00:02:32.669 --> 00:02:36.000 is uniquely intimate. There was no grand audition 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:39.419 process, no record label executive artificially 00:02:39.419 --> 00:02:41.379 pairing them together to, you know, manufacture 00:02:41.379 --> 00:02:44.599 a hit group. David Madden was simply a guy taking 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:47.139 guitar lessons, and his music teacher was a man 00:02:47.139 --> 00:02:49.259 named Peter Harris. A student and his guitar 00:02:49.259 --> 00:02:51.680 teacher. That just changes the entire dynamic 00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:53.360 of a band right from the start. You have that 00:02:53.360 --> 00:02:56.000 built -in mentorship, that inherent power structure 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:58.120 of the teacher imparting knowledge to the student. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:00.000 Exactly. And then they just decide to throw that 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:01.699 out the window and step onto a level playing 00:03:01.699 --> 00:03:04.240 field as creative partners. But when you actually 00:03:04.240 --> 00:03:06.860 look at the division of labor in this so -called 00:03:06.860 --> 00:03:09.719 duo, that level playing field starts to look 00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:12.580 pretty tilted. Oh, very tilted. What did each 00:03:12.580 --> 00:03:15.400 of these guys actually do in the band? This is 00:03:15.400 --> 00:03:18.180 where their story immediately veers off the path 00:03:18.180 --> 00:03:21.500 of a traditional folk act. Let's start with David 00:03:21.500 --> 00:03:24.729 Madden, the student. His contributions were exactly 00:03:24.729 --> 00:03:27.969 what you would expect from one half of a 1970s 00:03:27.969 --> 00:03:30.590 folk duo. Okay. He handled vocals, he played 00:03:30.590 --> 00:03:32.569 the guitar, and he played the bass. Which is 00:03:32.569 --> 00:03:35.210 a completely respectable workload. You have the 00:03:35.210 --> 00:03:36.830 rhythm, you have the melody, you have the voice. 00:03:37.030 --> 00:03:39.389 Yep. If you are sitting in a coffee shop watching 00:03:39.389 --> 00:03:41.710 a folk duo, that is what you expect one of the 00:03:41.710 --> 00:03:43.979 guys to be doing. Precisely. It is perfectly 00:03:43.979 --> 00:03:45.840 standard for the genre. But then we look at the 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:49.360 teacher, Peter Harris. Oh boy. Yes. His list 00:03:49.360 --> 00:03:52.280 of contributions is staggering. In addition to 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:54.319 providing vocals, guitars, and bass himself, 00:03:54.599 --> 00:03:57.879 Harris brought in a bassoon. A bassoon? A bassoon. 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:00.500 He brought a cello, he brought a harpsichord, 00:04:00.539 --> 00:04:03.639 a mandolin, a mellotron, a piano, an organ, a 00:04:03.639 --> 00:04:06.039 saxophone, and a zither. I just have to stop 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:09.710 you there. A bassoon. A zither. I mean... What's 00:04:09.710 --> 00:04:12.250 fascinating here is the sheer undeniable contrast 00:04:12.250 --> 00:04:15.189 between the concept of a simple two -man folk 00:04:15.189 --> 00:04:18.529 duo and the massive, almost unhinged orchestral 00:04:18.529 --> 00:04:21.110 ambition of Peter Harris. It is a phenomenal 00:04:21.110 --> 00:04:23.790 list of instruments, and we really have to consider 00:04:23.790 --> 00:04:26.620 what these instruments actually are. A zizzer, 00:04:26.720 --> 00:04:29.879 for anyone unfamiliar, is this obscure flat wooden 00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:32.259 sound box with numerous strings stretched across 00:04:32.259 --> 00:04:35.180 it that usually play flat on a table. Not exactly 00:04:35.180 --> 00:04:37.680 a campfire instrument. Not at all. And a bassoon 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:40.360 is a massive, incredibly complex woodwind instrument 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:43.509 that belongs in a classical symphony. Not a local 00:04:43.509 --> 00:04:46.069 pub gig. Just imagine you were a local venue 00:04:46.069 --> 00:04:49.689 owner in Sydney in 1972. You book a folk duo 00:04:49.689 --> 00:04:52.290 for a Tuesday night. You expect two guys in denim 00:04:52.290 --> 00:04:54.230 jackets to show up with a couple of acoustic 00:04:54.230 --> 00:04:57.149 guitars. Yeah, standard gig. And then Peter Harris 00:04:57.149 --> 00:04:59.810 pulls up to the back alley and starts unloading 00:04:59.810 --> 00:05:03.610 a cello, a bassoon, a delicate classical harpsichord, 00:05:03.670 --> 00:05:06.250 and a literal Mellotron out of the back of a 00:05:06.250 --> 00:05:09.050 moving van. It's like a weekend hobbyist showing 00:05:09.050 --> 00:05:11.589 up to a casual gig with a full symphony orchestra. 00:05:12.089 --> 00:05:15.079 in their van. The logistics alone are hilarious. 00:05:15.439 --> 00:05:17.800 How do you even move a Mellotron around in the 00:05:17.800 --> 00:05:20.939 70s? That logistical nightmare is exactly what 00:05:20.939 --> 00:05:24.000 highlights their incredible dedication. A Mellotron 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:26.980 is not a modern, lightweight synthesizer. It 00:05:26.980 --> 00:05:29.860 is a notoriously heavy, temperamental beast of 00:05:29.860 --> 00:05:33.019 a keyboard that uses actual physical loops of 00:05:33.019 --> 00:05:35.759 magnetic tape to simulate the sound of an orchestra. 00:05:36.079 --> 00:05:38.420 If you bump it too hard, the tapes can tangle. 00:05:38.540 --> 00:05:41.279 So incorporating a Mellotron alongside a fragile 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:44.319 harpsichord into a local gigging folk act is 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:47.779 not an accident. It is a very deliberate, uncompromising 00:05:47.779 --> 00:05:50.139 artistic choice. It tells you that Peter Harris 00:05:50.139 --> 00:05:52.420 had a sound in his head, and he was not going 00:05:52.420 --> 00:05:54.439 to compromise that sound for the sake of convenience. 00:05:54.680 --> 00:05:57.079 Definitely not. But that uncompromising vision 00:05:57.079 --> 00:05:59.779 walks them right into a massive culture clash. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:02.160 Let's look at the environment they were trying 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:04.560 to survive in. Right, the local scene. The Australian 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:08.060 local music scene in the early 70s was not exactly 00:06:08.060 --> 00:06:11.079 a gentle, welcoming place for a guy playing a 00:06:11.079 --> 00:06:13.939 zither. We have a perspective from an Australian 00:06:13.939 --> 00:06:16.600 musicologist named Ian McFarlane, who points 00:06:16.600 --> 00:06:19.240 out that the local scene at that time was completely 00:06:19.240 --> 00:06:22.319 dominated by pop and what he calls blues and 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:24.459 boogie. You really have to visualize the atmosphere 00:06:24.459 --> 00:06:27.339 of that scene to understand what Madden and Harris 00:06:27.339 --> 00:06:30.319 were up against. Blues and boogie implies loud, 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:34.360 driving, pub -oriented rock and roll. Sweaty 00:06:34.360 --> 00:06:37.879 rooms. Exactly. Think about the venues. Sweaty, 00:06:37.920 --> 00:06:40.420 crowded rooms filled with people drinking heavily. 00:06:41.290 --> 00:06:43.490 Music that succeeds in that environment is aggressive. 00:06:43.829 --> 00:06:46.810 It's highly rhythmic and it relies heavily on 00:06:46.810 --> 00:06:49.170 overdriven electric guitars and pounding drum 00:06:49.170 --> 00:06:51.529 kits just to cut through the ambient noise of 00:06:51.529 --> 00:06:53.250 the crowd. And right into the middle of that 00:06:53.250 --> 00:06:55.910 sweaty, loud, beer -soaked boogie scene walks 00:06:55.910 --> 00:06:58.769 Peter Harris carrying a bassoon and asking the 00:06:58.769 --> 00:07:01.350 crowd to quiet down so they can hear the delicate 00:07:01.350 --> 00:07:04.410 strumming of a mandolin. Quite the picture. McFarlane 00:07:04.410 --> 00:07:06.949 specifically notes that Madden and Harris' sound 00:07:06.949 --> 00:07:09.149 was fundamentally at odds with prevailing trends. 00:07:09.509 --> 00:07:11.449 They categorize... themselves as progressive 00:07:11.449 --> 00:07:14.970 folk. And the critic Richie Unterberger from 00:07:14.970 --> 00:07:17.350 AllMusic observed that their specific brand of 00:07:17.350 --> 00:07:20.250 mild folk rock was heavily influenced by British 00:07:20.250 --> 00:07:22.920 folk rock and British progressive rock. If we 00:07:22.920 --> 00:07:25.079 connect this to the bigger picture, this is a 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:27.240 crucial takeaway for you listening right now. 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.660 It takes an incredible amount of courage or perhaps 00:07:30.660 --> 00:07:34.600 just sheer blind stubbornness to play delicate 00:07:34.600 --> 00:07:38.500 British -inspired classical prog in a local scene 00:07:38.500 --> 00:07:41.100 that just wants to hear loud blues. Yeah, they 00:07:41.100 --> 00:07:42.939 were swimming against a massive cultural tide. 00:07:43.139 --> 00:07:45.420 Absolutely. British progressive rock is characterized 00:07:45.420 --> 00:07:48.980 by complex time signatures, pastoral, nature 00:07:48.980 --> 00:07:51.639 -based themes, and classical instrumentation. 00:07:51.949 --> 00:07:54.050 It is music that demands your full attention. 00:07:54.149 --> 00:07:57.389 It demands quiet, focused listening. And trying 00:07:57.389 --> 00:07:59.689 to deliver that to an audience primed for loud, 00:07:59.790 --> 00:08:02.430 aggressive boogie rock is a monumental challenge. 00:08:02.730 --> 00:08:04.790 It's the ultimate test of artistic belief. It 00:08:04.790 --> 00:08:06.850 really is the ultimate test. It's like trying 00:08:06.850 --> 00:08:08.889 to serve a delicate, multi -course whispering 00:08:08.889 --> 00:08:11.430 tea service right in the middle of a monster 00:08:11.430 --> 00:08:13.810 truck rally. That is exactly what it's like. 00:08:13.949 --> 00:08:16.709 The crowd just isn't there for it. But here's 00:08:16.709 --> 00:08:19.949 the wild twist to the story. Despite being these 00:08:19.949 --> 00:08:23.560 total undeniable outliers, they actually started 00:08:23.560 --> 00:08:25.879 to gain some real traction. Which is the most 00:08:25.879 --> 00:08:28.939 surprising part of their trajectory. The historical 00:08:28.939 --> 00:08:32.559 record shows that in 1974, they managed to issue 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:35.799 their debut single, a track called Remember Me. 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:37.799 And they didn't just press it themselves in a 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:40.360 garage. No, it was released on the Albert Music 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:42.600 label. Getting signed to a label like Albert 00:08:42.600 --> 00:08:46.000 Music in that era is a huge deal. It means somebody 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:48.570 with a budget. looked at this bizarre heavily 00:08:48.570 --> 00:08:51.830 orchestrated folk duo and said yes there is a 00:08:51.830 --> 00:08:54.490 market for this yep but it gets even weirder 00:08:54.490 --> 00:08:56.789 they didn't just release a single they actually 00:08:56.789 --> 00:08:59.789 scored three separate appearances on a very popular 00:08:59.789 --> 00:09:03.870 music series on abc tv called gtk gtk which stood 00:09:03.870 --> 00:09:06.490 for get to know was a major cultural touchstone 00:09:06.490 --> 00:09:08.909 for australian music at the time Exactly. And 00:09:08.909 --> 00:09:11.190 they were on this national show once in September 00:09:11.190 --> 00:09:13.789 of 1974, and then they were invited back twice 00:09:13.789 --> 00:09:16.730 in November of that same year. Now, I have to 00:09:16.730 --> 00:09:19.450 ask you, is it really that impressive to be on 00:09:19.450 --> 00:09:22.269 a TV show three times in three months? Or was 00:09:22.269 --> 00:09:24.769 it just a slow news month for Australian television 00:09:24.769 --> 00:09:28.090 in 1974? It is incredibly impressive, especially 00:09:28.090 --> 00:09:32.190 for an act so far outside the mainstream. Television 00:09:32.190 --> 00:09:34.970 appearances, particularly recurring ones on a 00:09:34.970 --> 00:09:38.409 show like GTK, offer a massive platform. Yeah, 00:09:38.470 --> 00:09:40.570 that makes sense. It suggests that while they 00:09:40.570 --> 00:09:43.029 were completely out of step with the sweaty pub 00:09:43.029 --> 00:09:46.169 scene, there was an undercurrent of genuine interest 00:09:46.169 --> 00:09:48.980 in their highly refined approach. The television 00:09:48.980 --> 00:09:51.279 producers clearly saw something visually and 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:54.059 musically compelling about them. Seeing a band 00:09:54.059 --> 00:09:56.659 utilizing cellos and Mellotrons on a national 00:09:56.659 --> 00:09:59.460 broadcast would have been striking. It definitely 00:09:59.460 --> 00:10:01.500 provided them with the crucial momentum they 00:10:01.500 --> 00:10:04.039 needed for their next and ultimately final major 00:10:04.039 --> 00:10:05.899 step. Here's where it gets really interesting. 00:10:06.080 --> 00:10:08.000 They took all that momentum from the television 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:11.200 appearances and parlayed it into recording their 00:10:11.200 --> 00:10:14.059 debut album. Their one and only album together. 00:10:14.570 --> 00:10:17.330 Right. It was recorded in 1974 and officially 00:10:17.330 --> 00:10:20.250 released in May of 1975 on the Jasmine Records 00:10:20.250 --> 00:10:22.929 label. The album was called Fool's Paradise. 00:10:23.509 --> 00:10:26.590 And honestly, given how completely out of place 00:10:26.590 --> 00:10:29.309 they were in the Sydney music scene, naming their 00:10:29.309 --> 00:10:32.490 album Fool's Paradise feels like a moment of 00:10:32.490 --> 00:10:35.080 incredible, almost painful self -awareness. It 00:10:35.080 --> 00:10:37.759 is a perfectly evocative title for their situation. 00:10:37.980 --> 00:10:39.960 And when they finally got into the studio to 00:10:39.960 --> 00:10:42.200 record Fool's Paradise, they didn't just rely 00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:45.220 on Peter Harris's one -man orchestra skills to 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:47.860 carry the entire project. They actively sought 00:10:47.860 --> 00:10:50.100 out collaborators to round out their complex 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:52.419 sound. They brought in session musicians, which 00:10:52.419 --> 00:10:54.659 makes sense. They had Paul Baker join them on 00:10:54.659 --> 00:10:57.679 bass guitar. But then, and this is the detail 00:10:57.679 --> 00:10:59.720 that absolutely stops me in my tracks, they brought 00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:02.360 in drummers. Three of them. Three drummers. Nick 00:11:02.360 --> 00:11:04.960 Churkin, Doug Gallagher, and Ross Rignell. Three 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.080 different session drummers for an album of delicate, 00:11:07.220 --> 00:11:09.379 progressive, British -style folk. How does that 00:11:09.379 --> 00:11:11.720 even work? Are they all playing at once in some 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:14.379 massive drum circle? How do you fit three drummers 00:11:14.379 --> 00:11:17.509 into a fragile folk song? It is a deeply strange 00:11:17.509 --> 00:11:20.070 detail that speaks volumes about their recording 00:11:20.070 --> 00:11:22.169 process. They almost certainly weren't playing 00:11:22.169 --> 00:11:25.230 simultaneously. Okay. Using multiple session 00:11:25.230 --> 00:11:28.029 drummers on a single album usually implies a 00:11:28.029 --> 00:11:30.570 highly fragmented, drawn -out recording schedule. 00:11:30.789 --> 00:11:33.889 Or, more likely for a progressive band, it implies 00:11:33.889 --> 00:11:36.929 a desperate attempt to capture very different, 00:11:37.029 --> 00:11:39.549 highly specific rhythmic feels for different 00:11:39.549 --> 00:11:41.730 tracks. So they were choosing a very specific 00:11:41.730 --> 00:11:45.090 sound. Exactly. It shows that Madden and Harris 00:11:45.549 --> 00:11:47.610 but likely Harris in particular, were striving 00:11:47.610 --> 00:11:51.090 for a meticulously constructed, almost perfectionist 00:11:51.090 --> 00:11:54.230 sound on Fool's Paradise. They were hunting for 00:11:54.230 --> 00:11:57.129 the exact right groove for every single classical 00:11:57.129 --> 00:11:59.549 folk hybrid they wrote. That level of perfectionism 00:11:59.549 --> 00:12:01.870 is exhausting just to think about. So the ultimate 00:12:01.870 --> 00:12:04.110 question is, after all that effort, all those 00:12:04.110 --> 00:12:06.409 instruments and all those drummers, did they 00:12:06.409 --> 00:12:08.730 actually achieve a masterpiece? Well, that depends 00:12:08.730 --> 00:12:11.679 on who you ask. Right. We are incredibly lucky 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:14.919 to have some fantastic retrospective dueling 00:12:14.919 --> 00:12:16.879 reviews from the critics we mentioned earlier, 00:12:17.100 --> 00:12:19.299 which really helps gain a picture of what this 00:12:19.299 --> 00:12:21.840 lost album actually sounds like. Let's start 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:24.759 with the glowing praise from Ian McFarlane. He 00:12:24.759 --> 00:12:27.580 absolutely loved it, didn't he? McFarlane's assessment 00:12:27.580 --> 00:12:30.200 is about as high a praise as a progressive folk 00:12:30.200 --> 00:12:33.399 band could ever hope to receive. He described 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:36.480 Fool's Paradise as a carefully crafted song cycle 00:12:36.480 --> 00:12:39.580 full of fragile, refined songs. But the really 00:12:39.580 --> 00:12:41.779 important part of his review is the heavy -hitting 00:12:41.779 --> 00:12:43.919 comparisons he makes. He does not hold back. 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:46.980 He compares their sound to UK folk, acts like 00:12:46.980 --> 00:12:50.059 Nick Drake and Mellow Candle. Huge names. For 00:12:50.059 --> 00:12:52.360 anyone who might not know, Nick Drake is legendary 00:12:52.360 --> 00:12:54.980 for these incredibly intimate, melancholic acoustic 00:12:54.980 --> 00:12:57.980 masterpieces that feel like they are being whispered 00:12:57.980 --> 00:13:00.470 directly into your ear. And Mellow Candle was 00:13:00.470 --> 00:13:03.289 this brilliantly obscure Irish folk rock band 00:13:03.289 --> 00:13:06.470 famous for their haunting, complex vocal harmonies. 00:13:06.490 --> 00:13:08.549 Those are massive cultural touchstones for folk 00:13:08.549 --> 00:13:10.769 music, but McFarlane pushes it even further. 00:13:10.950 --> 00:13:13.289 He compares Fool's Paradise to the softer side 00:13:13.289 --> 00:13:15.470 of the Moody Blues and the quieter pastoral moments 00:13:15.470 --> 00:13:18.649 of early King Crimson. King Crimson, the Moody 00:13:18.649 --> 00:13:22.370 Blues. We are talking about the absolute titans, 00:13:22.370 --> 00:13:25.649 the founding fathers of progressive rock. To 00:13:25.649 --> 00:13:29.149 have your obscure 1975 Australian folk album 00:13:29.149 --> 00:13:32.190 compared to the quiet genius of early King Crimson, 00:13:32.230 --> 00:13:35.049 that suggests Madden Harris actually pulled off 00:13:35.049 --> 00:13:37.590 a miracle. It paints a vivid picture of this 00:13:37.590 --> 00:13:40.789 album as a lush, lost masterpiece of pastoral 00:13:40.789 --> 00:13:43.769 beauty. It certainly does. But as with all art, 00:13:43.889 --> 00:13:46.830 subjective experience varies wildly and history 00:13:46.830 --> 00:13:50.730 isn't always unanimous. We have to contrast McFarlane's 00:13:50.730 --> 00:13:53.210 deeply romantic assessment with Richie Unterberger's 00:13:53.210 --> 00:13:56.169 review for all music. Unterberger offers a much 00:13:56.169 --> 00:13:58.669 more grounded perspective. He does. Unterberger 00:13:58.669 --> 00:14:00.909 is definitely more measured. He gives the album 00:14:00.909 --> 00:14:03.049 three and a half stars, which is certainly respectable, 00:14:03.129 --> 00:14:05.629 but his description is far less glowing. He straight 00:14:05.629 --> 00:14:07.830 up calls it a decent, if somewhat derivative, 00:14:08.049 --> 00:14:10.570 British folk rock style album. Derivative is 00:14:10.570 --> 00:14:12.570 a strong word there. Yeah. He notes that it went 00:14:12.570 --> 00:14:14.909 in a slightly less pop oriented direction and 00:14:14.909 --> 00:14:16.929 was heavily colored by classical music and progressive 00:14:16.929 --> 00:14:20.389 rock. It is a fascinating critical divide, and 00:14:20.389 --> 00:14:22.970 it hits on a tension that still exists in music 00:14:22.970 --> 00:14:26.309 today. Where McFarlane hears a carefully crafted 00:14:26.309 --> 00:14:29.370 song cycle that is fragile and refined, Unterberger 00:14:29.370 --> 00:14:31.470 hears something that is decent, it's somewhat 00:14:31.470 --> 00:14:33.889 derivative. Right. Unterberger is pointing out 00:14:33.889 --> 00:14:37.009 a harsh reality. By heavily borrowing the sounds 00:14:37.009 --> 00:14:40.009 of British, Prague, and folk, Madden and Harris 00:14:40.009 --> 00:14:42.470 were essentially imitating a style that had already 00:14:42.470 --> 00:14:44.970 been established thousands of miles away in the 00:14:44.970 --> 00:14:47.710 UK, rather than innovating something genuinely 00:14:47.710 --> 00:14:50.389 new in Australia. It is the classic debate of 00:14:50.389 --> 00:14:54.120 originality versus execution. you, the listener, 00:14:54.179 --> 00:14:55.940 into this for a second. Think about your own 00:14:55.940 --> 00:14:58.580 favorite playlists right now. When you discover 00:14:58.580 --> 00:15:02.000 a new band, what stands out to you? That's a 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:03.879 great question to consider. Does it bother you 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:05.879 if a band sounds exactly like your favorite artist 00:15:05.879 --> 00:15:08.419 from the 1970s? Are they creating a beautiful, 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:11.559 loving homage that captures the magic of their 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:14.200 influences? Or are they just a derivative copy? 00:15:14.440 --> 00:15:16.799 Is it the allure of discovering fragile, refined 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:19.399 music? Or do you worry about the danger of listening 00:15:19.399 --> 00:15:21.399 to something that is just a lesser version of 00:15:21.399 --> 00:15:24.080 King Crimson? That tension is exactly what makes 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.279 exploring lost media so rewarding. You have to 00:15:27.279 --> 00:15:29.379 listen for yourself and decide whether the artist 00:15:29.379 --> 00:15:32.639 achieved true transcendence or just skilled replication. 00:15:33.820 --> 00:15:35.960 But the tragic part of the Madden and Harris 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:38.039 story is that they didn't stick around long enough 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:40.639 to debate their own critical legacy. No, they 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:42.620 absolutely did not, because the end of the road 00:15:42.620 --> 00:15:45.799 for this duo came incredibly fast. It is an abrupt, 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:49.120 almost jarring end to the narrative. The duo 00:15:49.120 --> 00:15:52.429 officially disbanded in 1975. And what is so 00:15:52.429 --> 00:15:55.450 crazy about that timeline is that 1975 is the 00:15:55.450 --> 00:15:58.149 exact same year their album Fool's Paradise was 00:15:58.149 --> 00:16:00.460 finally released in May. It is a surprisingly 00:16:00.460 --> 00:16:03.059 common yet always heartbreaking phenomenon in 00:16:03.059 --> 00:16:05.919 music history. The sheer physical and psychological 00:16:05.919 --> 00:16:08.899 effort of writing, recording with an arsenal 00:16:08.899 --> 00:16:11.379 of instruments and multiple drummers, and finally 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:13.500 fighting to release an album that goes against 00:16:13.500 --> 00:16:16.500 the grain of the entire local music scene. It 00:16:16.500 --> 00:16:18.879 can completely exhaust a band's creative and 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:21.139 interpersonal resources. Yeah, the burnout is 00:16:21.139 --> 00:16:23.750 real. Often, by the time the record is actually 00:16:23.750 --> 00:16:26.549 pressed and on the shelves, the energy that brought 00:16:26.549 --> 00:16:28.370 the musicians together in the first place is 00:16:28.370 --> 00:16:31.350 completely gone. Burnout is a very real thing. 00:16:31.570 --> 00:16:34.110 It makes total sense. You spend all this time 00:16:34.110 --> 00:16:37.190 building your elaborate fool's paradise, hauling 00:16:37.190 --> 00:16:39.909 your bassoon into hostile pubs, you finally get 00:16:39.909 --> 00:16:42.490 the record pressed on Jasmine Records, and then 00:16:42.490 --> 00:16:45.549 the tank is just empty. It's over. But importantly... 00:16:46.009 --> 00:16:48.049 This was not the end of music for Peter Harris. 00:16:48.190 --> 00:16:50.389 No, not at all. He pivoted almost immediately. 00:16:50.649 --> 00:16:55.149 In that exact same year, 1975, Peter Harris... 00:16:55.370 --> 00:16:58.110 Released a solo album. Yes, he released a solo 00:16:58.110 --> 00:17:01.049 record called Ruby. And this wasn't some tiny 00:17:01.049 --> 00:17:03.330 independent release that he sold out of his trunk. 00:17:03.629 --> 00:17:06.869 He put Ruby out via Ritz Gramophone, which was 00:17:06.869 --> 00:17:09.069 distributed by Festival Records. Which is a big 00:17:09.069 --> 00:17:11.690 deal. A major established player in the Australian 00:17:11.690 --> 00:17:14.849 music industry. Clearly, even after the duo collapsed, 00:17:15.130 --> 00:17:17.190 Harris still had the relentless drive and the 00:17:17.190 --> 00:17:19.289 industry connections to keep pushing his vision 00:17:19.289 --> 00:17:21.710 forward. And what did that vision sound like 00:17:21.710 --> 00:17:23.970 now that he was operating without his student? 00:17:24.509 --> 00:17:27.470 david madden we have a really insightful review 00:17:27.470 --> 00:17:30.630 from a radio program called back to vinyl hosted 00:17:30.630 --> 00:17:34.150 by music presenters jordy and david kilby they 00:17:34.150 --> 00:17:37.069 reviewed ruby and highlighted a fascinating evolution 00:17:37.069 --> 00:17:40.480 in harris's sound The Kilbys noted a major shift. 00:17:40.700 --> 00:17:43.000 Hare started mixing his established progressive 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:46.339 folk sounds with synthesizers. Wow. He is taking 00:17:46.339 --> 00:17:49.259 the classical foundation, the harpsichords and 00:17:49.259 --> 00:17:52.740 woodwinds of Fool's Paradise, and he is injecting 00:17:52.740 --> 00:17:55.630 early electronic instruments into the mix. And 00:17:55.630 --> 00:17:58.150 the Kilbys emphasized just how radically unique 00:17:58.150 --> 00:18:00.930 this approach was, stating plainly that Ruby 00:18:00.930 --> 00:18:03.390 was unlike anything else being made in Australia 00:18:03.390 --> 00:18:05.390 at the time. Unlike anything else being made 00:18:05.390 --> 00:18:07.990 in Australia at the time. That quote just perfectly 00:18:07.990 --> 00:18:10.690 encapsulates Peter Harris. Even after his band 00:18:10.690 --> 00:18:13.369 broke up, he was still out there stubbornly refusing 00:18:13.369 --> 00:18:15.970 to conform to the blues and boogie scene. Totally. 00:18:16.009 --> 00:18:18.430 He remained completely committed to being a musical 00:18:18.430 --> 00:18:20.849 outlier. He was still swimming against the tide. 00:18:20.970 --> 00:18:23.109 He just swapped out some of his acoustic instruments 00:18:23.109 --> 00:18:26.269 for synthesizers. It is a testament to an absolutely 00:18:26.269 --> 00:18:29.950 unyielding artistic compass. He knew what he 00:18:29.950 --> 00:18:32.410 wanted to hear, and he chased it regardless of 00:18:32.410 --> 00:18:34.730 the prevailing winds. But what about the legacy 00:18:34.730 --> 00:18:38.109 of the duo itself? Did Fool's Paradise just vanish 00:18:38.109 --> 00:18:40.309 into the ether, completely forgotten by time? 00:18:40.490 --> 00:18:42.450 This is perhaps the best part of the whole story. 00:18:42.589 --> 00:18:44.970 There is a final, beautiful piece of vindication 00:18:44.970 --> 00:18:47.930 for Madden and Harris. It took almost two decades, 00:18:48.190 --> 00:18:51.519 but in 1994, Fool's Paradise was resurrected 00:18:51.519 --> 00:18:54.400 from the ashes of obscure music history. A long 00:18:54.400 --> 00:18:56.839 wait, but worth it. It was officially reissued, 00:18:56.859 --> 00:18:59.460 complete with bonus tracks, by a record label 00:18:59.460 --> 00:19:02.140 that has quite possibly the greatest name I have 00:19:02.140 --> 00:19:05.480 ever encountered in my life. Vicious Sloth Collectibles. 00:19:05.640 --> 00:19:08.220 Vicious Sloth Collectibles. It is a phenomenal 00:19:08.220 --> 00:19:11.079 name, and it is perfectly evocative of that very 00:19:11.079 --> 00:19:14.819 specific, deep, crate -digging, obscure record 00:19:14.819 --> 00:19:17.160 -collecting subculture. Yeah. That is a culture 00:19:17.160 --> 00:19:20.380 that exists. solely to champion exactly this 00:19:20.380 --> 00:19:23.579 kind of lost idiosyncratic music. They are the 00:19:23.579 --> 00:19:26.200 archivists of the weird and the wonderful. They 00:19:26.200 --> 00:19:28.819 really are. So what does this all mean? We've 00:19:28.819 --> 00:19:30.900 gone from simple guitar lessons in a room in 00:19:30.900 --> 00:19:34.160 Sydney to hauling delicate zithers into sweaty 00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:37.599 rock pubs, to utilizing three different drummers, 00:19:37.619 --> 00:19:40.440 to dueling critical reviews, to an immediate 00:19:40.440 --> 00:19:43.500 breakup, and finally to a reissue by a vicious 00:19:43.500 --> 00:19:46.400 sloth. What is the big takeaway from all of this? 00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:50.140 To me, Madden and Harris serve as a powerful, 00:19:50.259 --> 00:19:52.599 enduring testament to the importance of following 00:19:52.599 --> 00:19:55.359 your own peculiar muse. They were completely 00:19:55.359 --> 00:19:57.839 unapologetically out of step with their time 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:00.259 and their place. They certainly never conquered 00:20:00.259 --> 00:20:02.500 the blues and boogie shards of 1970s Sydney, 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:04.980 and their partnership barely lasted three years. 00:20:05.200 --> 00:20:07.920 But their unwavering commitment to their unique, 00:20:08.079 --> 00:20:10.859 multi -instrumental, progressive folk vision 00:20:10.859 --> 00:20:13.559 ensured one very important thing. What's that? 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:16.220 They weren't just another generic bar band. that 00:20:16.220 --> 00:20:19.000 faded away into total anonymity. That stubbornness 00:20:19.000 --> 00:20:21.420 earned them that 1994 reissue, and it secured 00:20:21.420 --> 00:20:24.099 them a permanent, genuinely fascinating footnote 00:20:24.099 --> 00:20:26.519 in music history. They created something distinct 00:20:26.519 --> 00:20:28.799 enough to still be debated, analyzed, and loved 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:31.480 decades later. That is a victory for artistic 00:20:31.480 --> 00:20:34.500 integrity. I love that perspective. They built 00:20:34.500 --> 00:20:37.269 their highly specific weird little fool's paradise, 00:20:37.670 --> 00:20:40.450 and eventually enough time passed that the rest 00:20:40.450 --> 00:20:43.009 of the world found the map to get there. Precisely. 00:20:43.069 --> 00:20:45.450 And this raises an important question for you 00:20:45.450 --> 00:20:48.309 listening to us right now. If a highly trained 00:20:48.309 --> 00:20:51.029 music teacher and his guitar student could manage 00:20:51.029 --> 00:20:54.809 to create a lost masterpiece of fragile, classical 00:20:54.809 --> 00:20:58.109 -infused folk right in the middle of a loud, 00:20:58.269 --> 00:21:01.329 boogie -obsessed 1970s Australian rock scene, 00:21:02.349 --> 00:21:05.250 What hidden, entirely out -of -place gems are 00:21:05.250 --> 00:21:07.630 being created in your own city right now, just 00:21:07.630 --> 00:21:09.250 waiting for the rest of the world to catch up? 00:21:09.390 --> 00:21:11.230 Oh, that is such a phenomenal thought to leave 00:21:11.230 --> 00:21:13.509 on. Keep your ears open for the quiet weirdos 00:21:13.509 --> 00:21:15.490 in your own neighborhood, folks. Thank you so 00:21:15.490 --> 00:21:17.710 much for joining us on this deep dive. We absolutely 00:21:17.710 --> 00:21:19.990 loved unpacking the strange, beautiful, and stubborn 00:21:19.990 --> 00:21:22.369 story of Madden Harris with you today. Until 00:21:22.369 --> 00:21:24.650 next time, keep exploring, keep questioning what 00:21:24.650 --> 00:21:26.569 you listen to, and we will catch you on the next 00:21:26.569 --> 00:21:27.109 deep dive.