Toast Vale George Young

[RussellEbertHandball]

One of the most influential people on the Australian music scene George Young has passed away.

Lead guitarist and chief song writer for the Easybeats, old brother and mentor of Angus and Malcolm Young, and along with fellow Easybeat member Harry Vanda was a key songwriter and producer at Alberts for so many Aussie bands, starting off with AC/DC before they left and were produced by Americans

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-23/george-young-dies-easybeats/9077274
George Young, a pioneer of Australian music as a member of The Easybeats and producer for AC/DC, the band fronted by his brothers Angus and Malcolm, has died. Young "created a new sound for the Australian music industry," the production company Alberts, where he spent many years producing hits for other acts, said in a statement on its website. Young co-wrote Friday On My Mind, an enduring hit that charted around the world, with Harry Vanda, who became his long-time song-writing partner. The pair were such a powerhouse songwriting partnership they were inducted in the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1988, and have a highly regarded song-writing award named for them.

Love Is In The Air, the disco number Young and Vanda penned for John Paul Young, was another chart success, reaching number seven in the US. Vanda and Young also wrote songs for Meatloaf and Stevie Wright, their former Easybeats colleague, including the latter's acclaimed Evie, Parts 1, 2 and 3. The cause of death has not been announced and the family has requested privacy.

Young a 'trailblazing' producer
"A consummate songwriter, trailblazing producer, artist, mentor and extraordinary musician, George was above all else a gentleman who was unfailingly modest, charming, intelligent and loyal, a man with a wonderful sense of humour," Alberts CEO David Albert said in a statement."He will be missed.".............................
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-23/george-young-dies-easybeats/9077274

 

[bomberclifford]

Amazing talent.

Heard an interview once with Vanda talking about Young’s long nights in the Alberts studio experimenting with splicing tapes together smoking packets of durries. He would walk around with tape segments draped around his shoulders and somehow seemed to always knew which splice was which.

I posted this in the music thread but probably should go here as well.

 

[bomberclifford]

Also covered by Grace Jones a year after it was released by Flash and the Pan

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

The ABC 2015 Doco, Blood and Thunder - The Sounds of Alberts was a great doco that showcased how important Harry Vanda and George Young and Albert Productions were to Australian music in the 1960's thru to 1990 when Ted Albert died. Below is part 1 of 2 x 1 hour parts, which covers the Youngs from The Easybeats to AC/DC.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Watching ABC's Easybeats drama Friday On My Mind part I on Sunday followed by a replay of part I of Blood and Thunder - The Sounds of Albert, just reinforced what a genius George was, as was his partnership with Harry Vanda and a massive impact on the Oz music scene.

Malcolm's public funeral today is a reminder of how private George was. When his passing was announced there was no announcement of where he was living when he passed away and obviously the funeral was a very private affair. He had lived in Portugal for most of his last 30 years, but I have no idea if that's where he was living when he passed away.

This story last week about Friday On My Mind and British actor Will Rush, talks about how he got to know George via email as he never got the chance to met him and George never got to see the final product. George was initially reluctant to get involved in the show but once he decided to back it he became an enthusiastic supporter and just like his perfectionist attitude to his music, he was determined if this was going to be done at all, it should be done right.

http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...t/news-story/135d308a6da2969819622da9abe52149

Rush never got to meet Young face-to-face — and there were precious few interviews with the media-shy guitar wizard — but he had access to some of the people who knew him well, plus priceless email contact from the man himself.

“He was always going to go into something with it being the best or nothing at all; that’s probably why he was so heavily involved in this project,” says Rush. “He wanted himself to be portrayed in the right way.

“So I would say that the George Young I managed to portray is an accurate one because he was there on email, he was there guiding us through and giving us tips and stories. You get a real feel for the man through that. He didn’t have to do that — he was a guy in his 70s who lived on the other side of the world — yet he still went out of his way to write pages and pages and pages of stories and certain words and how he would phrase things and what he’d call his mother.

“He would give us almost a breakdown of his relationships with different people and that to me as an actor was priceless.”

http://www.news.com.au/entertainmen...t/news-story/135d308a6da2969819622da9abe52149

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Flicked thru this month's Rolling Stone on Christmas Eve. A couple of long stories about Malcolm and George Young. Malcolm was on the cover and I put it in his thread.

They don't have the full article on George on line but this link has part of it.

http://rollingstoneaus.com/music/post/inside-the-issue-794-january-2018/7580