''Hard Road'' is the debut solo album from Australian singer

Stevie Wright Stephen Carlton Wright (20 December 1947 – 27 December 2015) was an Australian musician and songwriter who has been called Australia's first international pop star. During 1964–69, he was lead singer of Sydney-based rock and roll band the E ...

. The album's first single " Evie (Part 1)" was hugely successful and the title track was later covered on Rod Stewart's 1974 album '' Smiler''. The album itself reach #2 on the Australian albums charts in 1974 was the 16th highest selling album in Australia that year. The compact disc is currently out-of-print and has become quite rare. A digital edition was available on iTunes as of June, 2014.

Background

In 1973,

Harry Vanda Johannes Hendrikus Jacob van den Berg (born 22 March 1946), better known as his stage name Harry Vanda, is a Dutch Australian musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as lead guitarist of the 1960s Australian rock band the Easy ...

and George Young returned to Australia after a period working in London paying off debts incurred while working as the

Easybeats The Easybeats were an Australian rock band that formed in Sydney in late 1964. They enjoyed a level of success that in Australia rivalled The Beatles. They became the first Australian rock act to score an international hit, with the 1966 sing ...

. They renewed their partnership with

Albert Productions Albert Productions, a division of music publishing and recording company Albert Music, is one of Australia's longest established independent record labels to specialise in rock and roll music. The label was founded in 1963 by Ted Albert, whose ...

and as in-house producers began assembling a roster of artists for the label, among them their former

bandmate Stevie Wright. Work soon commenced on an album with Wright, with Vanda and Young assembling a backing group that included themselves, pianist Warren Morgan of

The Aztecs The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...

, and

Malcolm Young Malcolm Mitchell Young (6 January 1953 – 18 November 2017) was an Australian musician who was the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, backing vocalist and songwriter of AC/DC. Except for a brief absence in 1988, he was with the band from its beginn ...

, George's younger brother and the rhythm guitarist for

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

, on guitar.Tait, John (2010). ''Vanda & Young''. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press. . p. 144 Wright wrote six songs for the album, while Vanda and Young wrote the remainder, including the title track and the three part "

Evie Evie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Evie (given name) * Evie (singer), American contemporary Christian music singer Evelyn Tornquist (born 1957) * Evie (wrestler), ring name of New Zealand female professional wrestler Cheree Crowl ...

Alternative covers

There are four different album covers for the album: The original Australian release, the Polydor release, the Atco release and the Australian compact disc reissue cover (which also serves as the artwork for the digital edition).

Re-issued vinyl

''Hard Road'' was scheduled to be re-released worldwide on high quality, 180 mg vinyl for maximum dynamic and authenticity, April 19, 2014 through

(Alberts). Renowned mastering expert Don Bartley converted the original analogue tapes to new vinyl masters, on vintage and retooled analogue gear.

Track listing

Side 1

# "Hard Road" (Harry Vanda - George Young) - 3:02 # "Life Gets Better" (Stevie Wright) - 3:10 # "The Other Side" (Stevie Wright) - 2:32 # "I Got You Good" (Stevie Wright) - 3:16 # "Dancing in the Limelight" (Stevie Wright) - 2:36 # "Didn't I Take You Higher" (Harry Vanda, George Young) - 5:57

Side 2

# "Evie" - 11:01''
Part 1 (Let Your Hair Down) (Harry Vanda, George Young)
Part 2 (Evie) (Harry Vanda, George Young)
Part 3 (I'm Losing You) (Harry Vanda, George Young)'' # "Movin' On Up" (Stevie Wright) - 3:16 # "Commando Line" (Stevie Wright) - 3:58

Personnel

- vocals * George Young - bass *

- guitar *

- guitar *John Proud - drums *Warren Morgan - piano

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hard Road (Stevie Wright Album) 1974 debut albums Stevie Wright albums