BILLY THORPE AND THE AZTECS PERFORMING 'MOST PEOPLE I KNOW' LIVE ON GTK

Priceless australian rock'n'roll! Billy Thorpe was actually considered to be the very first aussie punk rocker, along with his band the Aztecs, i guess you could say his mixture of late 60`s english blues, rock'n'roll and prototype pub rock had the same brutal impact of recognised punk rock.


I have always put Billy Thorpe in the same bracket as another under recognised australian rock act of the 70`s, the psychedelically tinged stoner rockers BUFFALO, who cut two legendary albums VOLCANIC ROCK and ONLY WANT YOU FOR YOUR MONEY.


Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs were always better to listen to live, the band's studio output tended to subdue the improvising prowess of Thorpe, live they always sounded more bluesey and genuinely heavy. LIVE AT SUNBURY, which chronicled the band's famous performance at the one off open air Woodstock-like festival in 1972 is a great aussie rock album, even though the muddled production let it down badly.


Thorpe was meant to play stoner rock, when he stuck to that formula he was at the top of his game, when he tried his hand at blues, he was less convincing but he still was a great entertainer. This live TV performance of his definitive song MOST PEOPLE I KNOW is absolutely brilliant, a great extended jam that leaves the studio version for dead. To me Billy Thorpe was the one who invented pub rock.