The Black Diamonds hailed from Lithgow, in the Blue Mountains of NSW, west of Sydney, and their name denoted those origins, Lithgow being a prominent coal-mining town. Alan Oloman and Alan Keogh first worked together in the Lithgow rockabilly band Johnny Kett's Black Diamonds, which evolved into The Black Diamonds in 1965.
Their musical excellence and striking originality were evident from the start -- the group reportedly had a repertoire of more than 30 original songs, and three of their first four sides were composed by band members. Managed by 2LT Lithgow DJ Bob Jolly, they played widely around the state, remaining based in Lithgow, but as the local newspaper article below relates, they found it inceasingly hard going in the face of repeated promoter rip-offs and the various physical hazards of life on the road in country NSW, and they eventually decided to relocate to Sydney during 1967.
In late 1966 they achieved a remarkable feat when they signed a recording deal with Festival, making them the first pop band from the NSW Central West to get a record deal, and one of the first regional bands anywhere in Australia to be signed to a major label contract without becoming established in a capital city. Festival issued the band's two brilliant singles, which were happily both produced by Festival's new house producer Pat Aulton. By this time they had a strong following in the Central West and their own fan club, based in Orange, started by local girls Bernadette Kelly and Clelia Calvo.
Their debut, released in December 1966, could scarcely have been more impressive or more original. The A-side is the ebullient, surf-tinged \"See The Way\", which sounds like the grandaddy of The Church's \"Already Yesterday\" although it precedes it by more than a decade. It's also vaguely reminiscent of The Troggs \"A Girl Like You\", but in this writer's opinion it's superior in almost every way, and Olly's guitar solo is a real corker.
The ball-tearing B-side is their indelible 'garage' classic \"I Want, Need, Love You\", which easily ranks alongside any contemporary track by overseas groups, such as The Yardbirds' \"Happpenings Ten Years Time Ago\". Its frenetic power sets it apart from almost anything else committed to record in Australia at the time, except The Missing Links' \"Drivin Me Insane\" and The Wild Cherries' \"Krome Plated Yabby\". Both these Black Diamonds tracks have appeared on various vinyl and CD anthologies. A letter to Go-Set from a fan in Bathurst (published in the 18 Jan. 1967) revealed that the single had reached #15 on the local Top 40 on Bathurst station 2BS, and that no less a band than The Easybeats had named the Black Diamonds as the best support act they had ever played with.
