Y?4 at the Beat Basement

An evocative photograph of a beat group revving it up at the Beat Basement, a club at the eastern end of Rundle Street. The image shows singer Colin Ford and guitarist Rick Coburn of Y?4. Bassist Bob Harris and drummer John Phillips are obscured. The group's other guitarist, Roy Clayton, is out of shot. Noted for their excellent harmony work, they toured Melbourne. Their singles Ability/Evergreen Tree and Keep A Hold Of What You've Got/Honey And Wine were both released by Columbia Records in 1966. They also won the 1966 Battle of the Bands. Note the names of other Adelaide groups written on the walls: The Southern Gentlemen, The Rhythmen and the D'Coys.

The other photograph shows the Y?4 at Parliament House.

Rick Coburn, who donated his musical career archive to the State Library, was born in Liverpool in 1945. He took up the guitar in 1959 and was a member of bands, The Young Ones and later, The Coins. He played at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, contemporary with the Beatles. He arrived in South Australia in 1966 and within three days, was in a group with other recently arrived migrants from the UK. He was a professional musician for some time, working in Adelaide and Melbourne at the same time as the Twilights, Normie Rowe and others. He plays bass guitar for the Second Wind Ensemble in Adelaide and jazz guitar for A Little Bit of Sax and Squeeze.

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