The Master's Apprentices
Formed in Adelaide, Australia, in 1964, the Masters' early music
was raw R&B with echoes of The Rolling Stones and
The Animals,
but by 1965 the band had begun to carve out its own sound with the
help of Jim Keays' gritty vocals and guitarist Mick Bower's
compositions.
 Entering the Adelaide heat of the national Hoadley's
Battle Of The Sounds talent quest, the band came third and
recorded a number of tracks including an original composition
called Undecided. It was sent to Astor who released it as a single.
It went Top
10 in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne and the band moved to
Melbourne to capitalise on the thriving live music scene there.
The Masters Apprentices debut self-titled album was a mixture
of R&B covers and Bower originals - but by 1967 pop had been
overtaken by psychedelia and the album did not fare well.
The band
responded to the change in styles by releasing the evocative
psychedelic ballad Living In A Child's Dream, which went
Top 10 and won Song Of The Year in 1967.
When songwriter Mick Bower left the band following a nervous
breakdown, the band released a Brian Cadd song, Elevator
Driver. Still faintly psychedelic, the song helped the
popularity of the band to grow further, and in 1968 they were
voted most popular group in the Go-Set pop polls.
 By this time their line-up had stabilised and Glenn Wheatley
(who eventually went on to become the manager of John
Farnham)
joined the band as bass player, with Doug Ford on guitar and Colin
Burgess on drums.
In the 1968 Battle Of The Sounds the Masters ran a close second
to The Groove, and won boat tickets to England. A second album (Masterpiece)
followed, and in 1970 the band embarked for England.
Their most
remembered single was released just prior to their departure. Turn
Up Your Radio, a raucous tribute to rock & roll, remains
an Australian classic to this day.
England was to prove a disappointment for the Masters. Unknown,
out of touch musically, and impoverished financially by the
meanness of their record company, the band contented themselves by
absorbing the new sounds around them. Their first release
embodying these new influences was the single Because I Love
You, recorded at Abbey Road.
 Returning to Australia, the band reinvigorated their popularity
and released the album Choice Cuts. Hailed by music
critics overseas - especially in Britain in the NME and Melody
Maker - the album sold well and the band hastily
re-boarded the boat again to return to London.
But again success was to elude them, although the new album
recorded during their stay in the UK, A Toast To Panama Red,
was one of the most remarkable and progressive albums ever made by
an Australian band. Once again lauded by the English music press,
the album was also released in Australia, where sadly it
disappeared without trace.
Both Jim Keays and Glenn Wheatley left the band, with Keays
embarking on a solo career with the concept album The Boy From
The Stars.
Keays briefly reformed the band in 1988 and 1997 with various
line-ups.
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