Classic Album: Sex, Dope, Rock’nRoll: Teenage Heaven

Billy Pinnell

DADDY COOL SEX, DOPE ,ROCK ‘N’ ROLL: TEENAGE HEAVEN

Original Label: Sparmac Records - Released January 1972

When Ross Wilson’s musically adventurous Sons Of The Vegetal Mother metamorphosised into Daddy Cool late in 1970, the plan was to shelve their ‘head music’ in favour of ‘feet music;’ and have fun. Comprised of Wilson (guitar/lead vocals,) Ross Hannaford (lead guitar/vocals), bass guitarist Wayne Duncan and drummer Gary Young, Daddy Cool released Daddy Who? Daddy Cool on July 2, 1971 hot on the heels of their number one single ‘Eagle Rock.’ The album was full of good time exuberant Wilson songs such as ‘Eagle Rock’, ‘Come Back Again’, ‘At The Rockhouse’, ‘Bom Bom’ and a sprinkling of doo-wop and R&B favourites that included Chuck Berry’s ‘School Days’, The Ray’s ‘Daddy Cool’, The Chordettes’ ‘Lollipop’ and Skip & Flip’s ‘Cherry Pie’. The album would top charts around the nation on its way to selling more than 80,000 copies. By year’s end Daddy Cool were Australia’s most popular band. Never before had Wilson achieved this level of commercial success; in fact, his only previous visit to the charts was in 1965 when his first band The Pink Finks scored a moderate hit with their cover of Richard Berry’s ‘Louie, Louie’ If Wilson had decided to repeat the formula on Daddy Cool’s follow-up release it would have surprised no-one; however, he wasn’t prepared to paint himself into a corner by recording another album of vintage rock and roll. Smart enough not to risk alienating his massive new audience he settled on a compromise drawing on influences that shaped the first Daddy Cool album on some songs, referring to innovations he’d put into place in his earlier bands The Party Machine and Sons Of The Vegetal Mother for others. With an additional member - saxophonist/pianist Jeremy Kellock aka Jerry Noone (ex Company Caine) - Daddy Cool released the controversial Sex,Dope,Rock ‘n’ Roll-Teenage Heaven in January 1972. The first single ‘Hi Honey Ho’, an ‘Eagle Rock’ soundalike that would have fitted comfortably on the first album kickstarted the new release on its way to a top five hit. Driven by Hannaford’s guitar (he uses every second of the song’s 3.40 duration to riff, solo and harmonise with Noone’s sax) the song offered no hints to the direction later songs would take. Ditto the second track ‘Daddy Rocks Off’ a boogie highlighted by the infectious vocal harmonies from both the Rosses. The doo-wop influence on the previous album makes its first appearance on ‘Please, Please America’, Wilson’s satirical comment on the band’s relatively unsuccessful tour of the U.S. West Coast in 1971 when they played a week of dates at Los Angeles’ famous Whiskey A-Go-Go and later supported acts that included Linda Ronstadt, Captain Beefheart, Little Feat and Fleetwood Mac. The R&B covers chosen for the new release were somewhat ‘meatier’ than those on the first album. Billy Ward And The Dominoes’ ode to a long distance lover, ‘Sixty Minute Man’, with a lead vocal from Hannaford, and The Penguins’ raunchy ‘Baby Let Me Bang Your Box’ (about a piano), featuring the multi-talented Noone tickling the ivories, were both U.S.hits in the ‘50’s but unknown in Australia. Courtesy of the Daddy Cool restoration service they found a new audience, albeit one who, in many cases, mistook the songs for Wilson originals. While the first half of the album found the band travelling a familiar path, the remaining tracks saw them make a sharp left turn. Unwilling to pursue the same theme to its conclusion, Wilson cleverly fused adventurous musical elements and dynamic arrangements with the rock and roll ingredients of the album’s earllier songs. When the new album’s title was initially revealed, moralists, politicians and church groups were outraged. I can only imagine their indignation had they hung in long enough to hear the nine-minute suite ‘Teen Love’. ‘Drive-In Movie’ and ‘Love In An F.J’. A musical mosaic about teenagers coming of age, Wilson merged an American Graffiti theme (the film wasn’t released until the following year) with falsetto vocals, doo-wop harmonies, honking sax and a Frank Zappa styled vocal delivery on the first song, a tough repetitive guitar line for the second and an exhilarating finale featuring Noone’s electric piano filling in the gaps between Hannaford’s guitar parts. ‘Donna Forgive Me’, a teen ballad with more doo-wop vocals, sustains the subject matter a little longer before Wilson charges off in another direction to tackle the title’s remaining theme, drugs, with the cheeky ‘Make Your Stash’ previously recorded in 1971 by Spectrum on their Spectrum Part One debut. Borrowing once again from Frank Zappa, Wilson’s arrangement pushes the brilliant Jerry Noone headlong into the spotlight, allowing for high powered interplay between his sax and Hannaford’s guitar. This musically innovative track clocking in at over six minutes emphasises the vision and scope of Wilson’s songwriting, a talent he’d kept under wraps to a degree on the first Daddy Cool album. Mention should also be made of the contributions provided by Young and Duncan who had worked with Wilson in at least one of his pre-Daddy Cool bands. Their discipline on the R&B songs and flair on the more complex material is exemplary. While ‘Eagle Rock’ and Daddy Who? Daddy Cool are the high points of the band’s commercial success, Sex,Dope,Rock ‘n’ Roll-Teenage Heaven, one of the great rock albums of its time is undoubtedly the band’s creative zenith.