Just before ascending to rock & roll greatness in 1974 as the voice of
AC/DC,
Bon Scott spent four years singing with the multifaceted and ever-shifting Australian rock collective
Fraternity. The band released two albums and a few singles between 1970 and 1974, starting out modeling themselves after
the Band but quickly growing to incorporate flirtations with prog, rootsy blues-rock, and boogie into their sound. The group took on different forms and changed names after
Scott's departure, and their under-circulated records quickly became record collector esoterica, being sought after to the point where they were bootlegged.
Seasons of Change collects everything the band recorded, including 1971 debut Livestock, 1972's Flaming Galah, and an album's worth of unreleased material. It's been noted often that despite
Scott's involvement,
Fraternity was worlds removed from
AC/DC's brawny hard rock. More striking than the recontextualization of
Scott's iconic vocals in an unfamiliar setting is the ambitious stylistic range
Fraternity showed from their earliest days. The title track from Livestock opens the collection with a shuffling rhythm and vocal harmonies borrowed directly from
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As the track listing goes on, there's gritty country-fried rock,
Moody Blues-influenced prog, and songs like "Jupiter Landscape" and "Cool Spot" that sound informed by the exploration of Bay Area psychedelia.
Fraternity sound like
the Small Faces on one song and
Santana on the next, and that eclecticism continues throughout
Seasons of Change. Oddly, much of second album Flaming Galah reworks earlier songs that appeared in different versions on Livestock. The final third of
Seasons of Change is comprised of unreleased material, much of which was recorded after both of the formally released studio albums. Like the rest of
Fraternity's output, it's a mixed bag of styles and experiments. Goofy blues ramble "Hogwash" finds
Scott singing in a sly, conversational sing-speak, an early version of the winking, up-to-no-good narrator persona he'd hone further on
AC/DC's more mischievous tunes. ~ Fred Thomas