Aztec Records continues its Digitally Remastered CD reissue programme of classic Australian albums. It's rare these days to find an album that has never been officially reissued on CD. A case in point is the legendary 1967 milestone from The Id Featuring Jeff St. John - Big Time Operators. This highly regarded artefact is another album from the glory days of the Australian 1960s scene to finally attain a new lease of life in the modern digital age.
The Id Featuring Jeff St. John was Sydney's premier soul/R&B combo on the discotheque circuit of the mid-1960s. Rock writer David 'Dr Pepper' Pepperell praised Jeffrey St. John's voice for its limitless power, its precise and meaningful phrasing and its sweetness "like honey dripping from the hive". Glenn A. Baker made no secret in his praise for St. John's "roaring, finely controlled voice". Indeed, throughout the 1960s and 1970s Jeff St. John was Australia's finest rock vocalist.
As befits their chosen style, Big Time Operators has everything you'd want from an album of brassy, funky Southern soul and gritty R&B with early psych moves. The dynamic cover of Zoot Money and the Big Roll Band's 'Big Time Operator' was a major hit single, elevating The Id into the 'Australian Top Band' bracket of the day. Further covers of 'Papa's Got A Brand New Bag', 'In The Midnight Hour', 'You Got Me Hummin', 'If I Had A Ticket', 'Parchman Farm' and 'Devil Got My Woman' plus the group original 'Watch Out' round out an outstanding album.
With 10 non-LP single sides and a live track added, this expanded edition is the real deal. Digitally Remastered by Gil Matthews, featuring colour booklet with liner notes by noted Australian Rock writer Ian McFarlane.
![WINSTON HIGHTOWER - WINSTON HYTWR [LP]](http://strypt.com/5500571_150.jpg "WINSTON HIGHTOWER - WINSTON HYTWR [LP] (K RECORDS)")
