Bachelors from Prague

History

They called themselves Bachelors from Prague. The original members were Henry Maas on lead vocals, who had previously played with the Busby Berkleys and the Buddy Lowenstein Big Band; Bruce Haymes on keyboards, formerly of the Richard Clapton Band and Russell Morris and the Rubes; Chris Minko and Jeff Raglus on trumpets, with Raglus coming from the Escalators; Andrew Philipp on saxophone; Tom Roberts on guitar; Justin Stanford on percussion; George Friml on bass guitar; and Russell Cook on drums.

It was recorded live in the studio the previous December, with David Williams producing. To get the word out, they performed on SBS-TV and on the Nine Network's Hey Hey It's Saturday. A reviewer for The Canberra Times, Kathryn Whitfield, called "Go" a brassy, energetic track that was a bit jazzy, a bit bluesy, and reminiscent of the band The Bureau. The experience showed them there was a demand for fresh original music and convinced them they needed to set up a base there.

At that point, the group had shrunk to seven members: Cook and Minko had left, and Friml had been replaced by Thiery Fossemalle on bass guitar. Their last album, Great, had found particular success in France and Italy. Musicologist Ian McFarlane described their music as a stylish, infectious mix of 1940s jazz, 1950s R&B, 1970s funk, and salsa. He noted they never achieved huge commercial success but always met the high expectations of their fans.