Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs - More Arse than Class (Australia 1973)

Fronted by one of the most powerful voices in Australian history, Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs were a musical force to be reckoned with. Few Australian bands since have matched the fury or volume of Billy & his Aztecs during the 1970's. The conundrum of playing in a fearsome live band is that it is often difficult to record a studio album that translates that same level of quality. More Arse Than Class undoes this theory. It was the most favoured studio album by all band members, and also provides a slice of Australian musical history being the last album recorded with the Sunbury Aztecs alongside Billy Thorpe. More Arse Than Class was released in June 1974 and featured an inner-gate fold sleeve photograph of the band members' bare backsides. Filled with blues boogie rock tunes, More Arse Than Class reached #12 on the national charts and stayed in the Top 20 for three months.
With their landmark LPs The Hoax is Over and More Arse Than Class and a breakthrough gig at Melbourne Town Hall in 1970, supporting Daddy Cool, the 'new' Aztecs accrued a considerable reputation in the southern states and became known as one of the loudest acts on on the local concert circuit.

In 1972, the Billy Thorpe and The Aztecs played two of their most famous gigs. A show at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl during the Moomba Festival resulted in 250,000 people filling the park to catch the Aztecs' set, and forcing police to close the roads around the venue. Later in the year, The Aztecs released a live recording of their show at the Sunbury Music Festival, which featured the debut of one of Thorpe's most famous anthems "Most People I Know Think That I’m Crazy", which took him back into national prominence.

In 1975, the third version of the Aztecs broke up, and in 1976, Thorpe relocated to Los Angeles in the United States. (previously...)

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