DRAGON

Fans of the Countdown period Dragon may be surprised to hear that they had already released two albums before they left New Zealand for Australia. With only the Hunter brothers – Todd on bass and Marc on vocals – lasting past 1975, the lineup and direction of the ‘classic’ early line up (Todd, Marc, Neil Storey on drums, Ray Goodwin on guitar and Ivan Thompson on keyboards) was markedly different to the one who dominated the Aussie charts. Universal Radio is archetypal progressive rock – right down to the cover art Todd’s remarkable bass playing dominates, ably assisted by Goodwin's fluid guitar and Thompson's swathes of keyboards. And, vocally, with contributions from Marc, Todd and Goodwin, there is little to suggest the latter pop style. The album was well received and by the end of 1974 Dragon had become the top live attraction in New Zealand. After one further Vertigo album (Scented Gardens For The Blind – out later this year through Aztec), Dragon made the move to Australia and – with more lineup changes, settled on the second stage of their careers. Universal Radio is packaged in a 6 panel digipak, with extensive liner notes from music journalist and author David Nichols (writer of ‘The GoBetweens’). The 24 page booklet has many previously unpublished photographs and the CD has been digitally remastered by Gil Matthews. There are 3 bonus tracks: a rare live version of the Peter Green classic ‘Black Magic Woman’ and the ever rarer preDragon Marc Hunter solo single ‘XRay Creature’ / ‘Dinghy Days’

Estimated despatch 14-20 days after ordering.