Company Caine, also styled as Co. Caine and Company Kane, were an Australian

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band. They were formed in March 1970 by

Ray Arnott Ray Arnott is an Australian rock drummer, singer-songwriter, he was a member of Spectrum (1970–1973), which had a number one hit with " I'll Be Gone" .Spencer et al, (2007Arnott, Rayentry. Retrieved 31 January 2010. NOTE: Used for Australian Sin ...

on drums (ex-Chelsea Set, Browns,

Cam-Pact Cam-Pact was an Australian soul and psychedelic pop band which formed in April 1967. Originally they performed as The Camp Act but soon changed to Cam-Pact (or CamPact). Although little known outside Melbourne at the time, the various lineups of ...

), Cliff Edwards on bass guitar (ex-Cam-Pact), Jeremy Noone (aka Jeremy Kellock) on saxophone and keyboards (ex- Leo and Friends), Gulliver Smith on lead vocals (ex-Little Gulliver and the Children, Dr Kandy's Third Eye) and Russell Smith (no relation) on guitar and vocals (ex-Cam-Pact).McFarlane
'Company Caine'
entry. Archived fro
the original
on 15 June 2004. Retrieved 3 June 2016.

Recordings

In July 1970 Arnott left and was replaced by Eric Cairns (ex-Somebody's Image, Image, Heart'n'Soul) on drums and was replaced, in turn, two months later by John McInerny. At that time Edwards was replaced by Tim Partridge (ex-Clockwork Oringe) on bass guitar. In 1971 the line up of McInerny, Noone, Gulliver Smith and Russell Smith were joined by Arthur Eizenberg on bass guitar (ex-Square Circle, Dr Kandy's Third Eye, Heart'n'Soul) and Ian Mawson on keyboards. In June that line up recorded their debut single, "Trixie Stonewall's Wayward Home for Young Women" (September) and, in July, their first album, ''A Product of a Broken Reality'' (November) on Generation Records. They used the TCS Studio in Richmond, it was produced by Gus McNeil and engineered by John French. The album reached the top 40 on the

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music enthusiast David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July ...

Albums Chart. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing th ...

(ARIA) created their own

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabul ...

in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974. Australian musicologist,

Ian McFarlane Ian McFarlane (born 1959) is an Australian music journalist, music historian and author, whose best known publication is the '' Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop'' (1999), which was updated for a second edition in 2017. As a journalist ...

, described the album as "a milestone of the early 1970s progressive rock era" as their "music was more expansive, more 'out there' than just about every band of the day." Noone left in August 1971 to join King Harvest, and later that year Mal Capewell joined on saxophone and flute (ex-Phil Jones and the Unknown Blues, Dr Kandy's Third Eye). The group relocated to Sydney and were promoted as Co. Caine. Early in the following year Dave Kain joined on rhythm guitar (ex-Dr Kandy's Third Eye, Space) and they issued another single, "Dear Caroline". They disbanded in October 1972, Gulliver Smith continued his solo career and released his debut album, ''The Band's Alright but the Singer Is...'', in the following year. Russell Smith had joined Duck and then became a member of

Mighty Kong Mighty Kong were an Australian 'supergroup' successor to Daddy Cool, which broke up in August 1972. It was also the fifth (and technically the last) in the line of groups that featured singer-songwriter Ross Wilson and guitarist Ross Hannaford, ...

, which later included Arnott. In 1975 Gulliver and Russell Smith formed Metropolis before being renamed, Company Caine, with returning member John McIverney, Geoff Burstin on guitar (ex-Gutbucket, Rock Granite and the Profiles), John Power on bass guitar (ex-Foreday Riders), and Shirley Smith (Russell's wife) as co-lead vocalist (ex-Lizard). McFarlane felt that the "new line-up was superior in some respects to the original, and played the Melbourne and Sydney concert/dance circuit for a year before calling it quits again." In September that year they recorded studio tracks for one side of their second album, ''Dr. Chop'' (1975), three tracks were produced by Ross Wilson, the rest were extended versions of previously issued singles recorded with McNeil. The other side had live tracks, with McFarlane describing the album as "excellent and ultra-rare." Company Caine inspired fellow Australian artists: the Church,

the Sports The Sports were an Australian Rock music, rock group which performed and recorded between 1976 and 1981. Mainstay members were Stephen Cummings on lead vocals and Robert Glover on bass guitar, with long-term members such as Paul Hitchins on dru ...

and

John Farnham John Peter Farnham Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 1 July 1949) is a British born Australian singer. Farnham was a Teen idol, teen pop idol from 1967 until 1979, billed then as Johnny Farnham, but has since forged a career as an Adu ...

. Gulliver Smith died in November 2014 after a long illness.

Personnel

*Gulliver Smith — lead vocals (March 1970-October 1972; 1975-1976) *Russell Smith — guitars, backing and lead vocals (March 1970-October 1972; 1975-1976) *Jeremy Noone — saxophone, keyboards (March 1970-August 1971) *Cliff Edwards — bass (March-September 1970) *

— drums (March-July 1970) *Eric Cairn — drums (July-September 1970) *John McInerny — drums (September 1970-October 1972; 1975-1976) *Tim Partridge — bass (September 1970-Early 1971) *Ian Mawson — keyboards (Early 1971-October 1972) *Arthur Eizenberg — bass (Early 1971-October 1972) *Mal Capewell — saxophone, flute (Late 1971-October 1972) *Dave Kain — rhythm guitar (Early 1972-October 1972) *Shirley Smith — lead vocals (1975-1976) *Geoff Burstin — guitars (1975-1976) *John Power — bass, backing vocals (1975-1976)

Discography

Studio albums

References

;General * Note: Archived n-linecopy has limited functionality. ;Specific {{reflist Australian progressive rock groups