Bakery was
formed in Perth at the start of 1970. Regarded as one of the leading
"underground" groups of their day, they are remembered for their superb
debut album Momento, the innovative Rock Mass for Love LP and the
powerful single "No Dying In The Dark".The original lineup was John
Worrall, "wild-haired guitarist" Peter Walker (ex-Jelly Roll Bakers),
Mal Logan (ex-The Rebels), Eddie McDonald and Hank Davis. McDonald and
Davis were both ex-members of the NZ Avengers. Bakery released only two
singles, but both were impressive heavy rock efforts. The first,
released on the RCA label, was "Bloodsucker" / "Leave Scruffy Alone"
(February 1971). By the time they released their second single in July
1971, Bakery had signed with the Melbourne-based Astor label, who issued
"No Dying in the Dark'" / "Trust in the Lord". Both singles displayed
the band's main stylistic influences, primarily the new wave of "heavy"
bands spearheaded by British groups Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Deep
Purple. "Bloodsucker" was in fact a Deep Purple cover, sourced from
their In Rock LP. "No Dying in the Dark" was very successful in Perth,
peaking at #9 on the local chart, and it's the track for which they are
now best remembered.The B-side of the single was a track from their Rock
Mass For Love LP. This unusual project was a significant thematic
departure from Bakery's usual progressive/hard rock style. Recorded live
at a mass at St George's Cathedral, Perth on 21 March 1971, it was one
of the first Australian musical musical works of its kind, preceding the
first Australian production of Jesus Christ Superstar by almost a year.
Rock Mass For Love tapped into the current interest in what became
known as "God Rock" or "Jesus Rock", in which composers sought to
communicate the Christian message to young people by setting
religious-oriented lyrics in rock or pop music arangements. In large
measure, this movement was a direct reaction to the calamitous fall in
church attendances that had begun in the Sixties, and the concurrent
massive upsurge in the popularity of rock and pop music. Little is known
at this stage about how the Bakery album came to be recorded, but we
hope to be able to add more to this part of the story in the future.The
beginnings of the "Jesus Rock" genre can be traced back to the folk
movement of the early Sixties. In 1963 "The Singing Nun", Sister
Luc-Dominique (Jeanine Deckers) released a folksy single called
"Dominique", which extolled the virtues of St Dominic, founder of the
Dominican order. Sung in English and French, "Dominique" became the
surprise international hit of the year and famously kept The Kingsmen's
classic "Louie Louie" out of the #1 spot on the US charts. "Jesus Rock"
came to the forefront of popular attention around 1970 with the release
of the original LP version of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus
Christ Superstar. The album was a huge success and stage productions
were soon playing to packed houses in major cities; JCS also spawned
imitators like the successful American musical Godspell and the
Australian production Man Of Sorrows. In Australia, one of the pioneers
of this genre was Adelaide nun and music teacher Sister Janet Mead, who
staged a number of "pop mass" events in Adelaide in the early Seventies
and scored a massive international hit in 1974 with her million-selling
pop arrangement of "The Lord's Prayer". Bakery, meanwhile, was
undergoing its first round of lineup changes. By mid-1971, both Worrall
and Logan had departed, with Worrall briefly joining Ssarb before
forming Fatty Lumpkin in 1972. They were replaced by Tom Davidson
(vocals) and Rex Bullen (keyboards); Bullen had been a member of '60s
Canberra beat group The Bitter Lemons. Rock Mass for Love was issued in
August 1971, narrowly missing the national Top 20, and it was also
issued in the USA on the Decca label. After the LP came out, Mark
Verschuer (ex-Barrelhouse) replaced Davidson on vocals. Verschuer sang
lead vocals on their fantastic second album, the studio LP Momento
released a year later in August 1972. Ian McFarlane lauds it as "a fine
example of European-influenced, heavy progressive rock" and Vernon
Joyson reserves particular praise for the track "The Gift", written by
Peter Walker, which he describes as "an eight-minute barrage of
bombastic riffs, arse-kicking solos and swirling Hammond organ in the
mould of acts like Deep Purple and Leaf Hound". Regrettably, like most
of Astor's locally-recorded output, neither of the Bakery albums has
ever been officially reissed on CD, which is a great shame, as Momento
certainly ranks as one of the strongest and most accomplished Australian
rock albums of the period. Line-up changes continued into 1972, with
Steve Hogg (bass, vocals; ex-Juke, King Biscuit Company, Nostra Damus)
and Paul Ewing (organ, vocals) replacing McDonald and Bullen
respectively; Verschuer also left, with Davis, Walker, Hogg and Ewing
sharing vocal duties. Bullen moved on to Natural Gas before reuniting
with John Worrall in Fatty Lumpkin. Line-up / Musicians John Worrall/vocals,flute Tom Davidson/vocals Eddie McDonald/bass Rex Bullen/keyboards Hank Davis/drums Discography(Album) Momento 1972
1.Holocaust 2.Pete for Jennie 3.Living With a Memory 4.S.S. Bounce 5.The Gift 6.When I'm Feeling 7.Faith to Sing a Song
