G'day,
Hot on the heels of the blogaroo I did about the Brothers Young first studio experience and the resulting album thereof, I thought it only fair to give Jeremy Clarksons favourite rockin revhead Brian "Jonno" Johnson a guernsey....I actually had a Geordie album, courtesy of a shopping trip to Utopia records when they were in Martin Place in Sydney...Have I mentioned them before ? ;)
Geordie was a hard rock/ boogie band from Newcastle in England, Geordie is mostly known because their lead vocalist, Brian Johnson, who would later join AC/DC after Bon Scotts passing...I've heard some say they were fairly Slade like...dunno about that, but they was alright
In 1972 and 1973, they had a few hits in the U.K., including the number six single "All Because of You" and "Can You Do It," which reached number 13. Their sound was influenced by British rock bands of the day such as Led Zeppelin, as well as some glam stompers, with Johnson's distinctively abrasive singing strongly in evidence.
The original (from February, 1972) line-up included: Vic Malcolm (lead guitar), Tom Hill (bass guitar), Brian Gibson (drums) and Brian Johnson (lead vocals).
Their first single, "Don't Do That" broke into the UK Top 40 in December 1972.[1] In March 1973, Geordie released their debut album, Hope You Like It on EMI label. Trying to compete with such British glam rock outfits as Slade and Sweet (Geordie supported the former on a UK tour, as well as the latter at a concert at the Rainbow Club, London in March 1973), they achieved U.K. Top 10 status with "All Because Of You" (April 1973) and had a U.K. Top 20 hit with "Can You Do It" (July 1973). They also had several appearances on BBC Television including 15 appearances on Top of the Pops, one of which was in November 1972.
Their second album, Don't Be Fooled By The Name (1974), including a rather rousing version of the "House Of The Rising Sun", but sadly it didnt yield a hit. Brian Johnson played "House of the Rising Sun" by Geordie on his debut BBC Radio 2 show on 31 Sept 2012. Amongst his other reminiscences during the debut show were his days in Geordie, appearing with them on TV in Belgium, and meeting Freddie Mercury of Queen.
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After their 1976 album Save The World, frontman Johnson left for a solo project. The band's final album, No Good Woman, in 1978 consisted of three unreleased tracks with Johnson and new material recorded by Malcolm with future Dire Straits keyboardist Alan Clark, vocalist Dave Ditchburn, bassist Frank Gibbon, and drummer George Defty. Johnson had meanwhile begun to perform as Geordie in a new line-up in which he was the only original member. The band signed a recording contract in 1980, but finally folded that Spring when Johnson became a member of AC/DC to replace the late Bon Scott.
After AC/DC's lead singer Bon Scott died in February 1980, AC/DC chose Brian Johnson (whose vocal talent had previously been praised by Scott) to take over lead vocal duties. Johnson first appeared with AC/DC on their album, Back In Black.
In 1982, Geordie, re-grouped as a quintet and went on to record an album titled No Sweat in 1983 with new singer Rob Turnbull and additional guitarist David Stephenson. The album was released on heavy metal independent record label, Neat Records, Critically acclaimed but with no major success. Malcolm left, and they later changed their name to Powerhouse, to release an eponymous album in 1986, before disbanding indefinitely
At the end of 2001, during an AC/DC hiatus, Johnson had a one off reunion, for a short UK tour, with Geordie's 1977-1980 line-up, performing largely hard rock cover versions. They were known as Geordie 2.
In 2014, Vic Malcolm formed a new band, Dynamite, with Rick Mort and they have recorded a studio album of original songs written by Vic and it will be released in July 2014 by Graham Sclater's UK indie label, Tabitha Records. It will be available to download or in CD format. www.tabitharecords.webs.com
GEORDIE-OGRAPHY
Studio albums
(as Geordie)
Hope You Like It (1973) (Red Bus)
Don't Be Fooled by the Name (1974) (Red Bus)
Save the World (1976) (Red Bus)
No Good Woman (1978) (Red Bus - Landmark)
No Sweat (1983) (Neat records)
Studio album (as Powerhouse)
Powerhouse (1986) (Ambush/EMI)
Compilation albums
Geordie - Masters of Rock (1974) (EMI)
Geordie featuring Brian Johnson (1980) (Red Bus)
Strange Man (1982) (compilation) (Red Bus)
Keep on Rocking (1989) (remix album) (Anchor)
Rocking with the Boys (1992) (Australian compilation) (Raven)
A band from Geordieland (1996) (compilation - 24 tracks) (Repertoire)
The very best of Geordie (1997) (compilation) (CMC/Play records)
The best of Geordie (1998) (compilation) (Platinum)
Can you do it? (1999) (compilation) (Delta)
The Singles Collection (2001) (compilation) (7T's records)
No Sweat (2002) (re-release compiled with 4 live sessions recorded at the BBC) (Castle Records)
Can you do it (2003) (compilation) (Pickwick - Holland)
Unreleased Tapes (2005) (12 rare tracks) (OVC Media - Russia)
The very best of Geordie - The original versions (2009) (compilation) (Spectre/Universal records)
Keep on Rockin' - The very best of (2009) (compilation) (Spectre/Universal records)
Singles on EMI
"Don't do that" b/w "Francis was a rocker" (EMI, September 1972) - UK No. 32
"All because of you" b/w "Ain't it just like a woman" (EMI, February 1973) - UK No. 6
"Can you do it" b/w "Red eyed lady" (EMI, June 1973) - UK No. 13
"Electric lady" b/w "Geordie stomp" (EMI, August 1973) - UK No. 32
"Black cat woman" b/w "Geordie's lost his liggie" (EMI, November 1973)
"She's a teaser" b/w "We're all right now" (EMI, August 1974)
"Ride on baby" b/w "Got to know" (EMI, October 1974)
"Goodbye love" b/w "She's a lady" (EMI, 1975)
Band members
1972-1977 line-up:
Brian Johnson (vocals)
Vic Malcolm (guitar, vocals) 1972-1975
Tom Hill (bass)
Brian Gibson (drums)
1978–1980, 2001:
Dave Ditchburn (vocals)
Vic Malcolm (guitar)
Alan Clark (keyboards)
Frank Gibbon (bass)
George Defty (drums)
1982-1985
Rob Turnbull (vocals)
Vic Malcolm (guitar)
David Stephenson (guitar)
Tom Hill (bass)
Brian Gibson (drums)
Line-up as Powerhouse
1985-1988
Rob Turnbull (vocals)
Martin Metcalf (guitar)
Tom Hill (bass)
Brian Gibson (drums)
