Dave Edmunds: Information

Dave Edmunds: Information

1983

Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Slipping Away  2. Don't You Double  3. I Want You Bad  4. Wait  5. The Watch on My Wrist   6. The Shape I'm In  7. Information  8. Feel So Right  9. What Have I Got to Do to Win?  10. Don't Call Me Tonight  11. Have a Heart


The critical consensus is that this is the moment Dave Edmund's creative output went down the drain...Man, fuck the critics...This is one of my favorite albums, not just by Dave Edmunds, but by anybody... I know there's some school of thought that if a record has identifiable 80's production values, then it automatically sucks, but what if the producers aren't total hacks? What if the songs are well written, well performed and suit the production beautifully?

This is the record where Dave teams up with another studio perfectionist (Jeff Lynne) and maxes out the popometer...This is the Dave Edmunds album for those drawn to the power pop aspect of his sound, since the overt rockabilly trappings are dialed down in favor of slick keyboards, vocoder vocals,  and pumped up drums...There's still a few tracks that leave the synthetic sheen behind ("Wait," "What Have I Got to Do to Win" and "The Shape I'm In" which takes on zydeco) and stick with the tried and true method of simply rockin' out...

The song selection is absolutely killer...Cherry picking the catchiest moments from relatively obscure artists like Moon Martin, Paul Kennerley and NRBQ...Brilliant songs that I would have no idea existed without Dave...Plus we get a couple of Dave's all-time best singles..."Slipping Away," is the usual, massive, machine-tooled Jeff Lynne rock...You always hear the legends of Dave overdubbing dozens of guitars on a single track and this is where that story rings most true...Huge tidal waves of twanging guitars wash over the motorized beat...I know Jeff Lynne production is usually considered a love it or hate it proposition, but I think Dave is well-suited for it...It doesn't totally swallow him up like it seems to do for other artists, probably because you're used to hearing studio perfectionism on a Dave Edmunds album...He matches the gloss with more gloss...

And "Information" might be one of the most insidiously catchy tracks I've ever heard, with its fluttery synths and immaculate harmony arrangements...I swear that when I first heard it, it stayed lodged in my head for about a year...For the best example of Dave's harmonies, look no further...

I can't convey to you how many drunken Friday nights I've spent, poring over every inch of this record...Staying up until 3 am, while the mechanical voices on "The Watch on My Wrist" ring into the endless night..Friday nights would be an empty place without this record...This gets the highest possible thumbs up from me, but if you have an aversion to 80's production you might get less out of it than I do..Still, if you value the art of power pop whatsoever, you cannot miss this..So energetic, effervescent and packed with sharp hooks...

Here's "I Want You Bad" by Dave Edmunds...