From the cinders of two of Australia’s more important rock bands - Sydney’s TAMAM SHUD and the legendary SPECTRUM from Melbourne - rose ARIEL, an eclectic art-pop group that was the child of guitarist/singer Mike RUDD [born in New Zealand] and bassist Bill PUTT. Upon the dissolution of Spectrum, songwriting partners RUDD & PUTT formed the new band consisting of Nigel MACARA(drums), John MILLS(keys), and Tim GAZE(voice, guitar) in 1973. They secured support on EMI’s progressive label Harvest, producing debut ‘A Strange Fantastic Dream’ in November ‘73, probably their most consistent Prog rock album featuring complicated arrangements and spirited performances. Despite the controversial drug-tinged cover, the album reached #12 on the Aussie LP charts in 1974.
Their second, the till recently long-lost ‘Jellabad Mutant’, was intended to be a thoroughly ambitious prog opera with no spared expense described as «a John Whyndham-ish science fiction concept piece». But after much work and rehearsals, the final tapes were ultimately rejected by EMI with its overflowing vault of turgid and twiddly prog. Mike RUDD reflects:
«It’s interesting to speculate what might have happened had we been allowed to proceed with the Mutant with an intact budget {EMI slashed the budget for Rock'n Roll Scars adding to the pressure} and with the time to to reflect and be creative with the raw material you hear in the demos. I regret not going in to bat for it at the time. We had a fabulous opportunity with the best technical assistance any band could have wanted. But I didn’t sell the dream, even to myself».
In October 1974, the band recorded their follow-up ‘Rock ‘n Roll Scars’ at Abbey Road Studios with a much-altered line up. Upon returning to Australia from England, RUDD & PUTT recruited Glyn MASON [CHAIN,COPPERWINE] on vocals&guitar, drummer John LEE and guitarist Harvey JAMES. By mid-1975 Mike RUDD had become involved with New Zealanders DRAGON and after more member changes, ARIEL switched labels to CBS and released a third effort ‘Goodnight Fiona’ in 1976.
By 1977, the remnants of the band had stretched ARIEL’s potential as far as they felt possible and released the tongue-in-cheek ‘Disco Dilemma’ single just before the CBS contract expired. In August ‘77 a final concert was performed and later released as ‘Aloha Ariel’ and ‘Live:More From Before’.
ARIEL was a bold, sometimes flamboyant group of guys who knew what they wanted and became one of the hardest-working institutions in the Aussie artrock scene, producing an ever-surprising collection of inventive but unpretentious heavy progressive rock music in the vein of SUPERTRAMP, BABE RUTH and Australian cousins FRATERNITY.
