Essential [Import]

Daddy Cool (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 26, 2007)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Import
• Label: Sony Australia
• ASIN: B000WC8Q9I
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #247,201 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Formed in 1970, the legendary daddy cool went on to become one of this country's biggest bands ever and the good news is that they have reformed and will be touring with the beach boys in november. 'the essential daddy cool' includes every hit the band has ever had - 'eagle rock', 'come back again', 'hi honey ho', 'i'll never smile again', '60 minute man', 'baby let me bang your box', 'bom bom', 'cherry pie', 'daddy rocks off' and many more. For collectors, the set includes the long version of 'come back again' which has never before been available on cd, 3 tracks from the 1994 sessions and live concert recordings from 1972.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When Daddy rocks off with you, August 21, 2008

By 

James D. Morrow "Hey Now!" (Omaha,NE USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Essential (Audio CD)

A great little band that only had two albums in America, both of which were little jewels. They mix a fifties doo wop style with a 70's rock swagger and come up winners. "Eagle Rock" and "Come Back Again" alone would make this worth picking up, but there are many other great tunes. The second disc has a rather perfunctory live performance that totally stumped me. I saw these guys (in a high school gym) in 1972 and they were blazing. Had the whole place jumpin'by midway through their set. There are a few decent new tunes at the end but I only listened to the live set once. Pretty tame. Overall, I'd still recommend that you pick up this or another best of set by Daddy Cool. Buried Treasure.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Daddy rules!!, September 2, 2009

By 

Barry McGloin "Baz" (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Essential (Audio CD)

This is the definitive Cool. Grab it and run. You won't find a better compilation. Remixed and including notes by Mr Cool himself, Ross 'The Boss' Wilson, it sounds better than you'll ever remember. The 'hits' are on side 1 and include the extended version of 'Come Back Again'. Side 2 has live performances and some rare studio stuff. This, together with the impressive 2004 release ''The New Cool'', might be all you'll ever need to realign your swagger and cool, unless they release another.

I first saw Daddy Cool when they played support for the Everly Brothers in Sydney in the early 70s. I suspect that most of the audience went to catch the Everlys and put up with yet another upstart hyped band from Melbourne - the inter city rivalry was rife. Ross Wilson strolled on stage, baggy trousers, sandshoes, long hair and beard, and kicked the mic lead out of the way. The lanky Ross Hannaford sported trousers held up by braces and his ridiculous cap with the spinning propeller. This was a band which looked like fun. They were superb and the crowd went wild.

The vocal arrangements with all four singing on most numbers were intricate and loose, and soooo cool. Wilson with his lazy throwaway delivery, steeped in the rock 'n roll, doo wop, and r 'n b oeuvres, was capable of falsetto and shout. Hannaford with his comic bass vocal bits, and Gary and Wayne doing fine parts were a knockout and the band could really rock. Hannaford's lead playing was inventive and incisive. Listening to the second side's live tracks I was reminded of his attack and clever use of the bass strings. The rhythm section was tight and swinging like Ned Kelly's last gig, this was dance music. Who was it who said it's easy to rock but not so easy to roll - Keith Richards? This unit could roll. The space between the beats is food for the feet. So much so that when the Everlys played, the audience yelled for Daddy Cool. The tuxedoed Everlys were the epitome of professionalism, note perfect in fact, but contrasted dramatically with the Cool, and when Don, or was it Phil, told us that they had just come from Las Vegas, it went down like a lead balloon.

It was somehow ironic that Daddy Cool kicked off with That'll Be The Day, from the pen of the Everly's friend Buddy Holly. I think Holly would have really dug Daddy Cool. This band is yet another example of Australians immersing themselves in Americana - check out Oz blues artists C.W.Stoneking, Hat Fitz, and Collard, Greens and Gravy. These are not slick cartoon stylists but artists who find expression in their genre. But, why would C.W. Stoneking and Hat Fitz sound like they'd been down to The Crossroads, and Collards born in a Louisianan swamp? Just quirky Aussie offspring perhaps.

Disc 1 has many gems, Eagle Rock of course - I've heard it too often but the opening notes still move you to the dance floor - I recall that it inspired Elton John to do Crocodile Rock. Cool's version of The Penguins' Baby Let Me Bang Your Box is awesome and has always been a great dance party favourite. I'll Never Smile Again is a penultimate doo wop classic, taking the Mills Brothers' version to the stratosphere, Daddy Rocks Off is a blues boogie romp. My favourite is the raunchy Hi Honey Ho. Enough said.

The first two tracks on side 2 are a Gary Young single - Cadillacin' is a ripper - and the third is Hanna's first composition, satirical perhaps, at least tongue in cheek. Then there are nine live tracks from the double LP The Last Drive In Movie Show from 1972, mainly standards but done with flair, certainly not perfunctory, and three from a 1974 reunion gig. The side finishes with the excellent 1974 self produced single 'Boogie Man'' (check the lead break) and three songs recorded in 1994 and released on 'The New Cool'.

Daddy Cool together with Skyhooks and Jo Jo Zep and The Falcons made a great triumvirate of rocking fun Aussie bands of the seventies. These were not sludgy pub grinders but inventive artists with different styles. Ross Wilson had a hand in each, song writing and producing, and also had a string of hits with his pop rock band Mondo Rock. The bloke should be lacquered onto Ayers Rock as an aspiration to us all. Buy The Essential, and smile.