SAVVAS – Studio/Live

The story behind this Australian album from 1974 is long and involved, as is the tale behind this special edition of Savvas’ music, so let’s try to keep it as brief as possible…

Savvas Christodoulou was born in Cyprus in 1949 and moved to Melbourne in 1950 as part of the great wave of Greek immigration following WW2. A young law student and budding composer and musician, he recorded and released the Savvas studio LP in 1974 in an edition of 300 copies, and enjoyed such a strong local following that he sold out the 2,000-seat-capacity Dallas Brooks Hall two years later. The album has long been a collector’s item for its unique and beguiling mix of Greek and Middle Eastern sounds, bouzouki jams, modal jazz and especially the cult synth-funk track, ‘A Dream of Zeus’. Golden Debris was set to reissue the LP as it was, but surprisingly came across the original reels from the Dallas Brooks Hall show and decided that mixing the best of the studio and live material was a better option.
Some of the live material are tracks previously unreleased, like the cosmic synth wonder of “UFO”, the quirky electronica of “Can You Remember” and the extended piece, “Space Dream”, which slowly and beautifully evolves into a spacious, hypnotic jazz jam, and yes, there are THREE versions of “Zeus” here, the original studio version, reprise and live one, but they’re all wildly different and all worth hearing.

The 4-page booklet is beautifully designed with exclusive photos and an extensive interview with Savvas telling his life story. The studio material features contributions from a young Nicholas Aitkin AKA Wilbur Wilde on saxophone, and Celeste Howden of Lygon Street punk rock n rollers, Stiletto, on bass.
A very special slice of Australian music history is reborn! 
50 copies of the blue-vinyl edition pressed for indie retail.