Dr Poo and the Psychic Koala's: The Universe is Big 12" Mini-Album, 1985 Chase Custom Records CLP7 SIDE 1 1. Introduckshin 2. Dr Poo is a Wonderful Guy 3. Cat on a Hot Tin Riff SIDE 2 1. People Say I'm Stupid (Dana's Theme) 2. The Universe is Big "I first met the guys in about 1978," composer Criston Barker told us in 2008. "I had recently moved to Sydney looking for work as a bass player and was invited to share a house with a bunch of friends of my younger brother" - one of whom was Lance Curtis. "Their employ at JJJ was almost out of time as the station was moving in a new direction, so I suggested that the best send off would be an album and eveyone immediately jumped in on the idea. I approached a label manager I knew at the time and convinced him that due to their huge following thousands of albums would be sold. Of course he didn't believe me but he thought it was a worthy enough project so he jumped on board as well." That manager was Sebastion Chase, now one of the biggest record distributers in Australia. "I had just joined a band called Air Supply who were also making an album called Lost In Love which ended up selling about 25 million albums around the world, so we had to record the Poo album in between those sessions. We were very fortunate to have hired an English recording engineer for the Poo sessions who had done his internship at Abbey Road and we were probably his first Australia session after arriving in the land of OZ. His name of course was Steve Bywater. We must have totally freaked him out because I haven't heard or seen him since..." The album was recorded and mixed over three nights which equated to about 24 hrs studio time in total - a very fast turnaround indeed. ("Ahh those were the days!") The Introduckshin was a short speech by Kevin the announcer, set to appropriately dramatic chords and in full echoey stereo - a novelty for those who had been listening to the muffly, mono radio shows! Track 2, Dr Poo is a Wonderful Guy, was described by one contemporary reviewer as a "merry jig", and is very much in the style of Monty Python's (or indeed any old English pantomime's) songs. Cat On a Hot Tin Riff gave the meowing Denis a duet with an electric guitar: a match made in radio heaven, and a sound that has to be heard to be believed! People Say I'm Stupid, a Spanish Flamenco, had a male chorus echoing and responding to the wonderfully empty headed Dana, and the album rounded off with a grand symphonic track (taking the mickey out of prog-rock album finales) with lyrics no more poetic than the title. Producer: Criston Barker Vocals: Lance Curtis, Geoff Kelso & Steve Johnson Guitars: Dennis Wilson Bass: Criston Barker Keyboards: Steve Doran Vocals: All Ward, Dan Johnson, Jaqui Reeve, Ken Matthews Engineer: Steve Bywater Lyrics by Lance Curtis, Geoff Kelso, Steve Johnson, & Ken Matthews Music Composed by Criston Barker. Muchos Gracios to everyone involved especially Criston Barker & Sebastion Chase. Thanks for being so patient with us Psychic Koala's. Cover Design by Russell Barker This record is dedicated to Lance Curtis who died on June the 9th 1985. From 1979 to 1981 Lance played the character of "Dr Poo" in the 2JJJ serial of the same name. Recorded at Trafalgar Studios Annandale NSW Australia 1981. Recently Criston Barker has established his own website and MySpace page - the latter featuring mention of the Dr Poo record as well as a downloadable version of 'The Universe is Big'! Right click here to download it. Click on the above image for a press review by Tony Cooke.