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The Singles

by Top Secret

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1.
In The Arms Of My Baby 04:32
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2.
It Was Hard (When I Kissed Her Goodnight) 04:34
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3.
You Play Your Game (I'll Play Mine) 04:04
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4.
Coming Home Blues (part 2) 03:00
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5.
Guesswork 03:33
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about

A popular live act throughout the central and lower North Island of New Zealand during the late '80s and early '90s, Top Secret are still remembered for their colourful and entertaining live performances and their single "Guesswork'. In addition to 'Guesswork', Top Secret left a legacy of perhaps two dozen live and studio recordings. Here, available for the first time as digital downloads, are 3 studio tracks and two live to tape rehearsal room recordings lifted from this collection.

The download album also features 3 Live Bonus Tracks.

Band Bio:

Top Secret, from Wanganui, New Zealand, comprised of Grant Boddington (drums), Barry Arthur (guitar), Gavin Burgess (bass guitar), and Scott Morpeth (vocals).

Beginning in 1989 with a repertoire of basic covers, Top Secret’s first performances were at Wanganui’s various workingmen's clubs and the occasional community event.

Quickly tiring of this market they began dressing up in bizarre costumes, added a show aspect to their performances, heavied up their sound, put together a repertoire of cut down rock standards (which they termed ‘Goodtime Rock’), and established themselves on a regular circuit around the lower North Island. They played venues from New Plymouth to Wellington on a monthly rotation gigging up to four times a week, kept in touch with their home-town fans through the occasional free outdoor gig, and made side trips through Hawkes Bay, the volcanic plateau, and Waikato.

With their bizarre stage act, Morpeth’s natural ability to draw in even the most reluctant audience, and a repertoire of relatively recognisable covers the band became increasingly popular with the punters, and with venue owners who appreciated their business-like approach. The band was unashamedly more interested in entertaining their audience than in producing a performance of consistent musical quality – an approach which sometimes brought them scorn from other musicians, but which proved a hit with their growing fan-base.

As their popularity increased so did the frequency of gigs. By late 1990 the four had formed their own management company, quit their day jobs, and taken to the road full-time. They also began writing and recording their own material. Several singles were pulled from the band’s original repertoire, including ‘Guesswork’, which received significant regional radio play and airtime on national radio.

Their Christmas eve 1992 gig at Majestic Square (from which three live recordings are included as bonus downloads with this EP) marked the beginning of the end for the original line-up of Top Secret. Within a few months both Arthur and Burgess had left the band, leaving Morpeth and Boddington to audition a new bass player and continue as a three piece. The new Top Secret continued as a pub covers band for several years but the original material was dropped and the days of songwriting and recording were over.


Production Notes:

Recorded between 1990 and 1992.
Audio quality varies due to the recording equipment and media available at the time.

credits

released December 30, 1992

re-released in digital format June 19, 2018

Top Secret were:
Scott Morpeth - rhythm guitar and vocals
Barry Arthur - lead guitar and backing vocals
Grant Boddington - drums and backing vocals
Gavin Burgess - bass guitar and backing vocals

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Gavin Burgess New Zealand

Gavin Burgess is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, studio engineer and producer who divides his time between his home in Thailand and his native New Zealand. He has performed and released music with bands including ‘Top Secret’, ‘The Gavin Burgess Band’, and as a solo artist. He records and releases through his own independent ‘Gavland’ label. ... more

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