SAMUEL D. RICH - Theme Of Discontent LP

Never heard of Canberra's Samuel D. Rich, who rocked our nation's capital for approximately a mere 18 months circa 1973-74? No? That's OK. Up until about a year ago, nor had we.

They played with a host of luminaries of the day - everyone from The Aztecs, Stevie Wright, Buffalo, Hush and Bakery to Mackenzie Theory and beyond, recorded this album then split up. Through a rather bizarre chain of events, these unreleased recordings landed in Eminent's lap from band member Geoff Rosenberg, and now we have this incredible LP.

The group's sound was caught somewhere between the Oz-Prog of Spectrum, Mackenzie Theory and Kahvas Jute, mixed with the acid-rock guitar flash of Santana and the psychedelic funk groove of early Chicago (minus the brass, and substitute it with a whole lotta flute, thanks).

The band had some serious chops and an abundance of terrific original material, so they went into a studio in early 1974 and laid down an hour of tracks. By later in the year, they were no more, though the music was kept on a Betamax(!) tape and transferred to CD a couple of decades ago. Had they stuck around, they would have slotted into the Mushroom or Infinity stables nicely.

Eminent took the best 45 minutes of songs, had them remastered by Mikey Young and housed the release in an incredible package, complete with an informative 4-page booklet designed by Luke Fraser.

Fun fact: Canberra resident and law student, Peter Garrett, was such a big fan of the band that he tried out as their singer (he didn't get the job, but subsequently did pretty well in other pursuits).

Theme Of Discontent is a remarkable discovery for lovers of Australian rock of yore: completely unknown '70s music from the nation's capital ripe for listening in 2026.