A brief history of The Executives
1968: Building upon success

The band’s next single, ‘It’s A Happening World’ b/w ‘Moving In A Circle’, was released in February 1968.

Keith sings lead on The Executives’ upbeat cover, which, again, takes the original and improves upon it with rich harmonies and layered instrumentation.

The flipside, ‘Moving In A Circle’, was penned by Dudley and Brian, making it the first original composition to be released commercially by the band. Rhys was holidaying back home in Auckland at the time ‘Moving In A Circle’ was recorded, so the drums were aptly handled by fellow Kiwi drummer Ray Mulholland of The Dave Miller Set.

While making the prediction lists of many radio stations across the country, ‘It’s A Happening World’ failed to repeat the band’s earlier successes, reaching only #24 in Sydney (22 March) and #34 in Brisbane (4BC – 6 April). It did, however, become the band’s biggest success in Hobart, reaching #28 on the 7HO chart (24 April). It also performed admirably in Perth, where it reached #29 on the 6KY chart (8 March); a notable achievement given the band’s exposure in the west being otherwise limited to a few appearances on Brian Henderson’s Bandstand.

There is no explanation for the single’s lack of success; ‘It’s A Happening World’ was no more out of place than top ten hits ‘Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)’ by Johnny Farnham or ‘The Rain, The Park And Other Things’ by The Cowsills.

February would also see the band’s first line-up changes. Pat felt that The Executives needed to evolve both musically and vocally in order to achieve the success he believed they deserved, so he, Harry and Brian agreed to replace Dudley Hood and Keith Leslie with musicians who would better fit Pat’s vision.

Dudley was the first to leave, replaced at the beginning of the month with Brian Patterson. Brian was born in Kempsey, NSW. He was by all accounts an accomplished guitarist, having joined The Laurel Lea Ensemble as a 17-year-old in 1964, followed by The Blue Beats in 1965. He was with The Blue Beats when they supported tours by Normie Rowe and The Rolling Stones. In August 1966, he joined the remnants of The Vince Maloney Sect after Vince left, briefly backing singer Peter Doyle. Two months later, he joined singer Tony Worsley’s new backing group, The New Blue Jays.

Towards the end of February, Keith was replaced with Gino Cunico. Gino was born in Sydney, NSW. He commenced his musical career as a boy vocalist at nine years old and by 15 had appeared on most of Australia’s top television music shows. As a 13 year old in 1962, he graced the cover of Teenagers’ Weekly and in August 1962 released his first single, ‘Aw Please Daddy’ b/w ‘Eeny Meeny Miney Moe’. He had most recently formed The Gino Affair in 1967.

In April, Festival Records released the band’s debut album, simply titled The Executives. The album featured all eight singles sides plus ‘Fly, Through This Happening World’, a track written by Pat for QANTAS. To round out the album, three new tracks were included. ‘Dedicated To The One I Love’—a Bandstand favourite—was given a strong rendition by Carole, with multi-tracked vocals and exquisite harmonies by the band. Herb Hancock’s jazz standard ‘Watermelon Man’ appears to have been given a new arrangement by Pat rather than relying on one of the many covers of this popular track. It was recorded before the line-up change.

Perhaps the highlight of the album is the moody ‘Friday’s Child’, originally written by Lee Hazlewood and made popular by Nancy Sinatra in 1966. Here, Carole is backed by a soulful-bluesy piano and haunting organ that gives the track a more powerful feel than either Hazlewood’s or Sinatra’s versions.

The album was reviewed favourably in most printed media, going on to become a platinum seller.

The band released its next single, ‘Windy Day’ b/w ‘This Town Ain’t The Same Anymore’, in June.

With Carole singing over music performed entirely by session musicians, ‘Windy Day’ is a near note-for-note copy of the light, old-time sounding original, complete with slide whistle at the end. The only noticeable difference was the addition of ‘ocker’ background vocals, multitracked seamlessly by Pat Aulton.

‘This Town Ain’t The Same Anymore’ is a more serious folk-rock number sung by Gino, lamenting his return to a town long since changed.

‘Windy Day’ would see the band back in the upper levels of the Sydney charts, reaching #8 in Sydney (2UW – 6 September). Again though, it would be largely ignored in other states, reaching only as high as #32 in Canberra (2CA – 19 July) and #49 in Hobart (7HO – 17 July).

Also in June, Gino, Brian Patterson, Gary and Rhys made their collective acting debut, appearing as special guests on TCN9’s Skippy The Bush Kangaroo, in an episode titled The Bushrangers. Brian and Carole did not appear as the casting called only for four members. The four Executives plus actor Fred Sims played the pop group in the episode, which had been recorded three months earlier in March.

In the last week of June, The Executives made their next line-up change. Brian Patterson’s love for the blues would simply prove too strong, so, with no hard feelings, he left the band. He was replaced with Ray Burton, ex-lead guitarist and vocalist with The Questions (along with ex-Kingwoods bassist Les Young) and, most recently, The Dynasty.

Born into a family of entertainers, it is no surprise that Ray’s musical career began at a very young age. By 16, he was touring with The Dave Bridge Quartet. After the quartet split at the beginning of 1963, Ray formed The Telstars and started writing his own songs. His first hit song was a surf instrumental released in December 1963 titled ‘Reef Ride’, which, while not setting the local charts on fire (despite favourable reviews), managed to become a hit in, of all places, Switzerland!

After a stint touring outback Australia with The Laurel Lea Ensemble (which also included a young Brian Patterson), Ray joined the masters of harmony, The Delltones, and soon became known for his top tenor voice.

After perfecting harmonies with The Delltones, he replaced Billy Green in The Questions in January 1968, where he immediately found himself playing support to The Who, Small Faces and Paul Jones, who were in Australia for a national tour. When The Questions disbanded the following month, Ray joined Bill Fleming in his new group, The Dynasty.

Ray, with his honed harmony skills, fit the bill perfectly. In addition, he brought exceptional guitar playing and songwriting skills, providing just the injection that The Executives needed.

He introduced the band to the works of the great American songwriter, Jimmy Webb, known for songs such as ‘Up, Up And Away’, ‘By The Time I Get To Phoenix’ and ‘MacArthur Park’. Jimmy’s songs would soon feature prominently in the band’s repertoire.

The Executives headed south in September for another attempt at cracking Melbourne. This time they added top Melbourne nightspots such as the renowned Berties and Catcher to their venue list. Alas, however, again they received a lukewarm reception.

By now, the band had introduced some subtle changes to their image in parallel with the evolution of their music. The trademark conservative suits still featured, but had become largely confined to cabaret and lounge performances. A more contemporary, casual image had been adopted for discos and “teenybopper” performances. The band was also taking special care to tailor the music they played at each performance to suit the audience, with the sophisticated music kept for adult audiences and the more upbeat, pop numbers played for the younger audiences.

In November, The Coca-Cola Company, in conjunction with EMI Australia, produced a promotional EP comprising, on side one, four one minute recordings of the ‘Things Go Better With Coca-Cola’ jingle—one each by The Executives, Johnny Farnham, The Twilights and The Groove—with The Executives’ latest recording, ‘Summerhill Road’, on side two. The Executives’ jingle was one of six or so recorded back in May, when Brian Patterson was still in the band.

‘Summerhill Road’ was an Australian composition, written by Ray Burton and Garry Paige. ‘Summerhill Road’ was classic whimsical psych-pop, deftly arranged and produced by the band, with Ray on lead vocals and the band providing backing vocals that seamlessly blended into the music. It was recorded at EMI Studios, Sydney, in October specifically as the flip side to their Coca-Cola jingle. A disagreement between Pat and Harry over vocal credits had led Harry and the band to record without him, becoming one of the first Australian bands to produce independently their own recordings.

With the promotional package given away freely at performances and other Coca-Cola sponsored events, it didn't take long for radio stations to notice ‘Summerhill Road’, so much so that the track made hit prediction lists in both Sydney and Melbourne!

Encouraged by this accidental popularity, Harry and Festival Records decided to release the track commercially, coupled with another Burton/Paige track, recorded during the same EMI recording session that produced ‘Summerhill Road’. ‘Christopher Robin’ b/w ‘Summerhill Road’ (titled ‘Summer Hill Road’ on the single) was released in December.

‘Christopher Robin’ was two minutes and 43 seconds of pure perfect harmony and instrumentation; perhaps one of the most technically proficient pop songs written and recorded in Australia up to that point.

The single became a double-sided hit, reaching #32 in Sydney (2UW – 23 January 1969), although it had more success in Perth where ‘Summerhill Road’ reached #17 (6PR/6KY – 31 January). It is quite possible that the freely available Coca-Cola EP affected sales of the single.

Summarised extracts from the book "The Executives: Their Aim Was To Please You" (P)(C) 2015 Jaesen Jones. Buy the book for the full story!

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