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The Savages



Band Members :
Joe Alvares – Lead Vocals
Hemanth Rao – Lead Guitars
Prabhakar Mundkur – Keyboards / Vocals
Remo Fernandes – Vocals / Guitars
Russel Periera – Guitars
Ralph Pais - Bass

Bashir Sheik – Drums / Vocals




The Savages is a Rock N Roll band from Bombay (now Mumbai), formed in 1960 and the starting point in tracing the history of rock music in India was of course the musicians that they have played with and watched concerts of. Strangely enough, they kept ending up at Rock Machine/Indus Creed. Everyone story led back to, "It all began with Rock Machine..." There were passing statements along the lines of, "Of course, there were bands before that but they did covers. They played club gigs but no one remembers." Founded in 1967 by Bashir Sheikh, the Savages went beyond playing cover versions, and started writing their own material. Back in the days, there were earlier variants of the rock competitions that we see today. One of these was the Simla Beat contest, sponsored by Simla cigarettes, an ITC brand. The Savages won the 1967 edition of the Simla Beat contest. Another prestigious Bombay festival was the Sound Trophy. The Savages won the Sound Trophy for Best Composition and Best Band in 1968, and in the process snagged a recording deal with Polydor India Ltd. The most consistent and well-remembered line up of the band was stabilizing at this point of time with Bashir Sheikh (drums and vocals), Ralph Pais (bass guitar), Hemant Rao (lead guitar), and Prabhakar Mundkur (keyboards and vocals). Various line up changes happened in the years after this with Hemant Rao leaving for Dubai and replaced by Russell Perreira. However, one of the crucial line-up changes featured the inclusion of a young architecture student, originally from Goa, named Remo Fernandes. Remo played with The Savages for a year and a half during his architecture course in Bombay. Featuring some of the first few original compositions by Remo, the album sounds like a delicate blend of retro rock, folk rock, and early acid rock. After Remo left the Savages, another line-up shuffle found Joe Alvares singing for the band. Notable for his booming tenor voice, Joe sang on the next Savages album, titled Black Scorpio. Though the album itself was mostly populated by cover versions, Prabhakar Mundkur had also taken to songwriting and the Savages frequently performed 7-8 instrumental originals, and 3-4 originals with vocals in the many shows that they played during these years. Joe Alvares left the band in 1974 for personal reasons and the band briefly tried to recruit another vocalist. At about the same time, Nandu Bhende's band, The Brief Encounter, was also faced by the prospect of some members leaving. Sensing an opportunity, the two combined to form The Savage Encounter.




Making Proud : The Savages EP "Black Scorpio" is up for sale for EUR 3199 ie. approximately $ 6350 which makes the most memorable item of Indian Rock history. 




Singles 'The Savages' 1968 Track List :


1. Girl Next Door
2. Pain (ft.Asha Puthli)





Album 'Black Scorpio' 1973 Track List :


1.. I Want To Be Free  YouTube 
2. Plan Your Revolution  YouTube 
3. 40,000 Headman  YouTube  
4. Everything I Own  YouTube  
5. Trouble No More  YouTube  
6. 10. Bossa Roo
7. I  YouTube 
8. Whipping Post
9. Southern Man
10. You've Got A Friend






Album 'Live' 1975 Track List :

 
1. Venus
2. Midnight Confession
3. Time Is Tight
4. As I Went Out
5.(Sittin' On) The Dock of The Bay
6. Long Time Sally
7. Proud Mary
8. Soul Finger / Sixteen Tons
9. Pio
10. Born To Be Wild  YouTube
11. Corrina
12. Knock On Wood

Download The Album





EP 'Old Turkey Buzzard' 1975 Track List :


1. Old Turkey Buzzard
2. Montego Bay
3. Ode To Messiah
4. The Girl With Kaleidoscope Eyes




12 comments:

  1. Web Surf websurff@gmail.comDecember 29, 2010 at 9:45 AM

    The Savages reunited for a few songs at Hemant Rao's daughter's wedding in Dubai on 28 Dec 2010.

    The wedding guests were regaled by Basheer Sheikh on Drums, Ralph Pais on Bass, Prabhakar Mundkur on guitar. Hemant Rao briefly took the stage to sing "Midnight hour". Dolly Rao also graced the ocassion with a romantic dance on stage.

    It was history in the remaking as the first Indian Rock band to record an EP took to the stage to honour Hemant's daughter Meghna.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good Lord...we have such a history and yet the so called Rock lovers of today are utterly clueless of such priceless piece of history that we have in our own backyard. I think it is time someone came up with either a book or a movie about their entire journey.

      Delete
    2. It's happening. It's coming soon.

      Delete
  2. Dear Friends,

    I am glad to have come across this blog. I heard this LP back in 1972. I was in Singapore and it was a Polydor LP. Their Whipping Post impressed me. It was a difficult song to cover. So too their You Got A Friend. Pity this cannot be released on CD.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Mr. Hemant is a truly amazing person. So glad that i had a opportunity to getting to know him.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mr.Hemant is a truly amazing person!!

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  5. http://www.4shared.com/get/sk95QCii/The_Savages-Black_Scorpio.html


    I am posting this link 4 the 1's tryin' to dwnld BLACK SCORPIO.The 1 given here is not workin anymore 4 sm reason or anotha.

    ReplyDelete
  6. hi,
    could you give me the link, i need to download these songs,,
    thanks,

    desmond silveira
    dsdl50@yahoo.co.uk

    ReplyDelete
  7. Thanks for these. I've had a bit of a challenging time trying to sort out the correct track listing for the Black Scorpio album - many of the tracks are mis-titled, and one is missing.
    Here's what I've worked out [track as titled > actual track title]:
    I > I Want To Be Free
    Whipping Post > correct
    Southern Man > 40,000 Headman
    You've Got A Friend > Everything I Own
    I Want To Be Free > Trouble No More
    Plan Your Revolution > correct
    40,000 Headman > I(?) [by process of elimination as Bossa Roo is an instrumental by The Shadows]
    Everything I Own > Whipping Post [worse sound quality]
    Trouble No More > Southern Man
    Bossa Roo > You've Got A Friend

    So out of the 10 tracks, Bossa Roo appears to be missing and Whipping Post appears twice.
    I haven't listened through the live album yet to see if it has the same problem with mis-0titling, but it is immediately aparent that the album is supposed to have 12 tracks and there are only 9 included here.

    ReplyDelete