line up 1 (1962)

- Athol Guy -- vocals, bass

- Keith Potger -- vocals, guitar, banjo

- Ken Ray -- vocals, guitar

- Bruce Woodley -- vocals, rhythm guitar, banjo

  line up 2 (1962-65)

NEW - Judith Durham (aka Judith Cock) (RIP 2022) -- vocals

  (replaced Ken Ray)

- Athol Guy -- vocals, bass

- Keith Potger -- vocals, guitar, banjo

- Bruce Woodley -- vocals, rhythm guitar, banjo

  line up 3 (1965)

- Athol Guy -- vocals, bass

- Keith Potger -- vocals, guitar, banjo

NEW- Ellen Wade -- vocals (replaced Judith Durham)

- Bruce Woodley -- vocals, rhythm guitar, banjo

  line up 4 (1965-75)

NEW - Judith Durham (aka Judith Cock (RIP 2022) -- vocals

  (replaced Ellen Wade)

- Athol Guy -- vocals, bass

- Keith Potger -- vocals, guitar, banjo

- Bruce Woodley -- vocals,  rhythm guitar, banjo

  line up 5 (1975-77)

- Athol Guy -- vocals, bass

- Keith Potger -- vocals, guitar, banjo

NEW- Louisa Wisseling -- vocals, guitar (replaced Judith Durham)

- Bruce Woodley -- vocals, rhythm guitar, banjo

  line up 6 (1977-78)

- Athol Guy -- vocals, bass

NEW- Buddy England -- guitar, vocals (replaced Bruce Woodley)

- Keith Potger -- vocals, guitar, banjo

NEW - Cheryl Webb -- vocals (replaced Louisa Wisseling)

  line up 7 (1978-81)

- Buddy England -- guitar vocals

- Keith Potger -- vocals, guitar, banjo

NEW - Pete Robinson -- vocals, bass (replace Athol Guy)

- Cheryl Webb -- vocals 

  line up 8 (1981-86)

- Keith Potger -- vocals, guitar, banjo

- Pete Robinson -- vocals, bass

NEW- Rick Turk -- vocals, guitar, piano (replaced Buddy England)

- Cheryl Webb -- vocals 

  line up 9 (1988-90)

NEW - Julie Anthony -- vocals

NEW - Athol Guy -- vocals, bass

- Keith Potger -- vocals, guitar, banjo

NEW - Bruce Woodley -- vocals, rhythm guitar, banjo

  line up 10 (1988-90)

- Athol Guy -- vocals, bass

NEW- Karen Knowles -- vocals

- Keith Potger -- vocals, guitar, banjo

- Bruce Woodley -- vocals, rhythm guitar, banjo

  line-up (1992-2019

NEW - Judith Durham (RIP 2022) -- vocals, piano

- Athol Guy -- vocals, bass

- Keith Potger -- vocals, guitar, banjo

- Bruce Woodley -- vocals, rhythm guitar, banjo

- Julie Anthony (solo efforts)

- Judith Durham (solo efforts)

- Buddy England (solo efforts)

- The Escorts

- Ray Hoff and the Offbeats (Peter Robinson)

- The Hot Jazz Duo (Judith Durham)

- Karen Knowles (solo efforts)

- The Mixtures (Buddy England)

- Keith Potger (solo efforts)

- The New Seekers

- The Original Seekers

- The Settlers

- The Strangers (Peter Robinson)

- The Thunderbirds (Peter Robinson)

- Cheryl Webb (solo efforts)

- Bruce Woodley (solo efforts)

- Young Talent Time (Karen Knowles)

Genre: pop

Rating: 3 stars ***

Title:  Seekers Seen In Green

Company: EMI

Catalog: SCX 6193
Year: 1967

Country/State: Melbourne, Australia

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: --

Available: 1

Catalog ID: --

Price: $15.00

Judging by Robert Whitaker's cool cover art and the nifty psych lettering, 1967's "Seekers Seen In Green" seemed to show The Seekers had jumped into the "Love Generation".   Rest assured it was just an EMI marketing gimmick.  Your parents and grandparents could sleep comfortably knowing The Seekers remained a clean-cut group of folkies.  They were normal, good-looking, anti-war (as we should all be) and deeply sensitive beings (as we all should be).  No need for a parental warning notice on this album.  Musically these twelve tracks featured prime Seekers folk material,  Produced by Keith Grant, from a marketing standpoint, the focus was clearly on the attractive Ms. Durham and her pure, crystal clear voice. The cover was daring, but tracks like the single 'Love Is Kind, Love Is Wine ', 'The Sad Cloud' and 'Colours of My Life' were safe, warm-yourself-by-the-fireplace tunes that were not going to cause generational confrontation.  Quite commercial, tracks like 'Chase a Rainbow (Follow Your Dream)' and 'Angeline Is Always Friday' actually came close to outright pop.  Fans would have to wait for The New Seekers to break that door down.  Listening to the album the biggest surprise was the fact these folks wrote most of their own material.  I I have vague memories of them being played on the radio and I always thought they were a faceless cover band.  Unlike earlier, cover-heavy albums, the twelve songs band members were responsible for writing, or co-writing nine selections. And at the zenith of their commercial recognition, in early 1968 Durham announced she was going to go solo,  The quartet finished some dates in England, including a BBC Special "Farewell the Seekers" and that marked the end of this chapter of their story.

For some reason Capitol Records decided to modify the track listing for the US market. The innocuous ballad 'On the Other Side' was replaced by Kenny Young's 'When Will the Good Apples Fall' which happened to be the group's last big UK hit.

"Seekers Seen In Green" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Love Is Kind, Love Is Wine (Bruce Woodley) - 2:21 rating: *** stars

Penned by guitarist Woodley, 'Love Is Kind, Love Is Wine' certainly reflected a '60s zeitgeist (always wanted to used that word in a review), while capturing the group's classic folk sound - gentle harmonies, strumming guitars and above all, the late Judith Graham's crystal clear voice.  It wasn't rock.  It wasn't even pop, but a lot of folks loved it.  YouTube has a black and white clip of the group performing the song as part of their 1968 BBC farewell concert: The Seekers - Love Is Kind Love Is Wine(1968) - YouTube   The track was released as a single in the US and throughout the world:

- 1968's 'Love Is Kind, Love Is Wine' b/w 'All I Can Remember' (Capitol catalog number 2122)

2.) The Sad Cloud (Bruce Woodley - Clive Westlake) - 3:00  rating: *** stars

'The Sad Cloud' was a patented Seekers ballad with some nice acoustic guitar. Woodley wrote it and handled lead vocals.  With so much attention focused on Durham it was easy to overlook the fact he was a pretty good singer.  

3.) The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy) (Paul Simon) - 2:19   rating: *** stars

I'd argue the Simon & Garfunkel original remains the classic version, followed by the Harper's Bizarre take.  The Seekers version has more of a jazzy arrangement with Durham's voice coming and going - kind of a Free Design vibe going on.  Nice enough, but I'd probably listen to one of the others before this version.

4.) If You Go Away (Jacques Brel - Rod McKuen) - 4:02  rating: * star
Personally I find Jacque Brel's work to be near insufferable.  It's emotionally overwrought and just plodding and dull.  Their over-orchestrated version of 'If You Go Away' (translated from the original 'Ne me quitte pa') ,doesn't do the ballad any favors.  Sure, Durham's performance was professional, but so were versions by Barbara Streisand and Dusty Springfield.  Perhaps this was the inspiration for her to subsequently step out into a solo career ...

5.) All I Can Remember (Keith Potger) - 1:55 rating: *** stars

Guitarist Potger's 'All I Can Remember' came close to pushing them into pop territory.  Shame it was over in heartbeat.

6.) Chase a Rainbow (Follow Your Dream) (Bruce Woodley) - 2:28  rating: **** stars

And bless their souls, with an elaborate Bobby Richards orchestral arrangement, 'Chase a Rainbow (Follow Your Dream)' pushed them into the pop arena. Nice example of their harmony vocals.   They even filmed a promotional clip for the song: The Seekers Chase a Rainbow (Follow Your Dream) (Stereo) 1967 - YouTube

(side 2)
1.) Angeline Is Always Friday (Bruce Woodley - Tom Paxton) - 2:40    rating: *** stars

I read someone's review of this album where they described somewhere the lines of being The Seekers' version of Sgt. Pepper.  The comparison, was off the mark by a million miles. That said, Woodley's collaboration with Tom Paxton 'Angeline Is Always Friday" actually injected a wee touch of Toytown-pop into their patented folk mix.  Taken from a 1968 Australian television special "At Home with the Seekers", YouTube has an interesting clip for the song: The Seekers - Angeline is always Friday (HQ Stereo, 1967/'68) - YouTube

2.) On the Other Side (Bob Sage - Gary Osborne - Tom Springfield) - 2:11   rating: *** stars

Wow, getting daring multi-tracking Durham's voice and adding a bit of percussion ... 

3.) Cloudy (Bruce Woodley - Paul Simon) - 2:19    rating: *** stars

Having grown up on the Simon and Garfunkel version (off their "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme" LP, I didn't realize Woodley had co-written it with friend Paul Simon.  Musically the two aren't that different leaving you to decide do you like Durham's crystalline voice, or Simon and Gafunkel's supremely laid-back version.  Simon and Garfunkel by a narrow margins ...

4.) Can't Make Up My Mind (David Reilly - Judith Durham) - 2:18   rating: **** stars

The ballad 'Can't Make Up My Mind' was one of the few tracks where Keith Potger and Durham shared lead vocals.  Have to admit their voices blended beautifully.

5.) Rattler (Bruce Woodley) - 2:51    rating: **** stars

One of the rare tracks where Durham was relegated to the background, 'Rattler' featured Woodley on lead vocals.  Have it was catchy and I even liked the flute accompaniment.  YouTube has another live performance from their 1968 BBC Farewell Concert: The Seekers - Rattler - YouTube 

6.) Colours of My Life (David Reilly - Judith Durham) - 2:35

The ballad 'Colours of My Life' was essentially another Durham solo effort.  No surprise this was another hyper-sensitive, orchestrated ballad.  For some reason on this one her voice reminds me a little of the late Sandy Denny.  This clip was taken from their 1968 Australian television special "The World of the Seekers": The Seekers - Colours of my Life (HQ Stereo, 1967/'68) - YouTube  

The song was released as a UK single:

- 1967's 'Colours of My Life' b/w 'Rattler' (Columbia catalog number DB 8609)