TASTE

In 1970, guitarist Ken Murdoch and bassist Michael Tortoni formed Cloud 9 (aka Cloud Nine) while still at high school. Cloud 9 issued a debut single on Warner Records, called "Say Goodbye" produced by Ian Molly Meldrum in 1973. In 1974, drummer Virgil Donati and vocalist Tony Farrimond joined, and the band signed to RCA. Cloud 9 released the album 'We're Just Good Friends So Rock On' and the singles "Summertime Blues" and "Take My Hand". In 1975, guitarist Joey Amenta replaced Farrimond and the band changed their name to Taste. At the end of the year, the band signed to the Bootleg label.

Taste was a magnificent heavy rock band which featured the dual guitar attack of Ken Murdoch and Joey Amenta. They seemed to have had a pop image which now seems ridiculous - both LPs reached the top twenty in the Australian charts and are absolutely fantastic hard rock classics. At the peak of their career, they played to crowds as large as 13,000 people and owned 7 Marshall stacks!

 They appeared on every major concert and TV show including Countdown, Hey Hey its Saturday, The Don Lane Show etc. and toured with Suzi Quatro, Sweet, Skyhooks, Sherbet, TMG and Hush. They were much admired by English rockband Queen (who played Taste's "Boys will be Boys" every night on tour before they went on stage). Unfortunately, due to management problems and bad marketing Taste never achieved the success they deserved. They were asked to tour America with Queen and signed to Sire Records in USA but broke up before releasing anything. Released in 1976, The LP 'Tickle Your Fancy' is a tight batch of quirky hard rock songs brimming with a unique melodic point of view. Considering the young age of the band, a lot of the material here is surprisingly accomplished, both in performance and songwriting.

Though the hooks are very subtle, the entire album taken as a whole is a rewarding listening experience through and through. Richard Guillianti reviewed the band in December's RAM #48 (1976) Taste - Tickling the Star's Fancy by writing: "Taste have been pulling some pretty neat reviews for their LP Tickle Your Fancy and for their new single 'Boys Will Be Boys'. But its not only yer hack cub reporters who've been taking notice of 'em''.

In Sydney, they performed at the Bondi Lifesaver with none other than Sherbet, the All-Stars, Rockwell T James and Kevin Borich in attendance. Afterwards, (Sherbet's) Tony Mitchell congratulated the group on the 'tightest set he had seen from a band for years'. Adelaide was also good to them, there, they broke the attendance record for one of the dances they played. The band re-formed in the mid 2000s and recorded album 'Rock is Dead'. Damian Corniola joined the group and together the group released 'Life On Earth'.In 2020, they released the EP 'Brothers Vol 1' which included "We All Stand Up" which garnered over 136 radio station add lists and the single "2020s Gone" which charted at No.6 in Madrid.

Members

Joel Witenberg (drums, vocals), Ken Murdoch (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Joey Amenta (guitar, vocals), Michael Tortoni (bass, vocals), Virgil Donati (drums), Damian Corniola (drums)

SINGLES

Tickle Your Fancy

7 JUN '76

#49

Boys Will Be Boys

13 DEC '76

#33

A Little Romance

11 APR '77

#53

Rebecca

19 SEP '77

#92

References

http://rockonvinyl.blogspot.com.au/2009/11/taste-tickle-your-fancy-1976.html

http://top100singles.blogspot.com.au/