Mount Lofty Rangers conduit for many 1970s Adelaide musicians (including stars) led by Peter Head's creativity
The Mount Lofty Rangers, started in Adelaide by pianist and singer/songwriter Peter Head (fourth from right) in main image, featured a procession of musicians, including later stars such as Robyn Archer (also pictured). Head later was musical director Archer's hit show A Star in Torn. With Rob George, Head wrote the music for the 1977 Lofty – An Epic From The Annals of Country Rock, featuring a five-person version of the Rangers.
The Mount Lofty Rangers, started in Adelaide by Peter Head (Beagley) in 1974, after his progressive rock blues group Headband broke up, became an ever-changing conduit for musicians including those who went on to greater fame such as Bon Scott (AC/DC), Jimmy Barnes (Cold Chisel) John Swan, Glenn Shorrock (The Twilights, Little River Band) Robyn Archer and Vince Lovegrove (Valentines).
Singer/songwriter Head, who started playing piano professionally at 13, studied art in Adelaide and, pre-Headband, worked in England with bands linked to Georgie Fame, Alan Price, The Foundations and King Crimson, was the early creative continuum for the Mount Lofty Rangers.
The Rangers featured mainly Head’s compositions but the band, with its own theme song, but the “the purpose of the band was for songwriters to relate to each other and experiment with songs so it was a hotbed of creativity". Members of Headband and Fraternity, who were under the same Adelaide manager Hamish Henry and split up at the same time in 1974, were in the first combines of the Rangers but more than 200 musicians were involved in its sometimes odd blends that built a reputation for producing good original music. The musicians ranged from designer Vytas Serelis to welder and mechanic Barry Smith with Dave Colvill as an organiser.
In 1978, Head was honoured by Adelaide radio station 5KA for his contribution to the music industry through the Rangers. Head went on to make an impact in his own right. He was resident Piano Bar artiste for five seasons at the Adelaide Festival and was musical director for a wide array of plays including Young Mo and Hamlet on Ice.
While touring with Young Mo, Head and script writer Rob George collaborated on a bushranger musical Lofty – An Epic From The Annals of Country Rock, staged in 1977 at Adelaide’s Her Majesty's Theatre. Head was the show’s musical director, composed the score and performed it with a five-piece version of the Mount Lofty Rangers. An original Bon Scott composition, "I've Been Up in the Hills Too Long", was featured.
In 1978, Head wrote the music for children's musical Fun and Games and he toured nationally as musical director for Robyn Archer’s musical, A Star is Torn. Head moved to Sydney in 1980, performing at Kinselas and Kings Cross nightclubs such as Round Midnight, Bourbon & Beefsteak, Paradise and Springfields, both solo and with Doug Williams, Wendy Saddington, Lucky Starr and Jeff St. John.
Head's King of the Cross recording was rumoured to be based on Abe Saffron. Head composed soundtrack music for Bob Elli’s 1992 film, The Nostradamus Kid and for Les Patterson Saves The World. In 2003, Head released In the Key of Night solo piano/voice album, recorded to recreate the feel of one of Head's late night piano bar performances at the urging of Big Beat Music' records. It hightlighted songs like “I Don't Believe” and “Everything Is Everything” and interpretations of songs from some of his heroes like Tom Waits, Randy Newman and Ray Charles.
Head collaborated with three musical family members: daughter Leone Carmen, son Joshua Beagley, and granddaughter Holiday Sidewinder.