Dave Edmunds: Various Greatest Hits Albums

Alright, I'm going to finish off the Dave Edmunds section with a look at two of his greatest hits albums...

Dave Edmunds: The Best of Dave Edmunds

1981

Swan Song Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: Deborah  2. Girls Talk  3. I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock & Roll)   4. A.1. On the Jukebox  5. The Race is On  6. Here Comes the Weekend  7. Almost Saturday Night  8. Queen of Hearts  9. Crawling From the Wreckage  10. Trouble Boys  11. Ju Ju Man  12. Singing the Blues  13. The Creature from the Black Lagoon


Let's say I was forced to toss out a few thousand records and narrow my collection down to one hundred or so.....What would end up in the trash bin (spoiler alert: the Peter Criss solo album and my extensive collection of "The Rapist Wit of  Bill Cosby" albums) and what would earn a spot in the golden crate?

One of my first picks for the golden crate would be "The Best of Dave Edmunds," which was my introduction to his work,  (via the FYE cheapola record bin) and it's seriously one of the most-played records in my collection...A greatest hits album that only covers what is hands down the best period for Dave Edmunds, the Swan Song years....

 When I blindly bought it, I knew of Daved Edmunds but I hadn't yet heard him...He was always mentioned in the same breath as Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe Joe Jackson and Graham Parker, so I was expecting something a little more acerbic and pub-punk... At first I was taken aback by the good-natured twanginess of it all, but good God, did "Girls Talk" floor me, so I put it on again and the next time around, "It's Almost Saturday Night" floored me, and the next time I played it "Crawling From the Wreckage" floored me, and so on and so forth...

I mean, yea...It would be great if they could have gone outside the Swan Song era and included "I Hear You Knocking"...And I would gladly replace "Singing the Blues" for "Never Been in Love," "It's Been So Long," or his take on "Heart of the City" but those are some minor-ass gripes...There's so much fun contained on these two sides, that it puts any other "Greatest Hits" packages to shame...If you're not planning on splurging on Dave's entire Swan Song discography, then get this...

Here's "Ju Ju Man" by Dave Edmunds...

Dave Edmunds: From Small Things: The Best of Dave Edmunds

2004

Legacy/Columbia Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock And Roll)  2. I Hear You Knocking  3. Born To Be With You  4. Let It Be Me  5. Crawling From The Wreckage  6.Almost Saturday Night  7. Warmed Over Kisses (Left Over Love)  8. From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)  9. Girls Talk (Live)  10. Information  11. Slipping Away  12. Something About You  13. Stay With Me Tonight  14. Ju Ju Man (Live)  15. Do You Wanna Dance  16. Run Rudolph Run



I'm glad this wasn't my introduction to Dave Edmunds...This is one of those weird Greatest Hits packages hampered by licensing issues...Apparently the Swan Song era (by FAR his best stuff) was mostly off limits and to compensate, the compilers rely on live takes, that while enjoyable, are no match for the studio originals (remember, Dave was a studio perfectionist)...

Ultimately, it makes Dave Edmunds career sound wildly inconsistent, which is oddly accurate in a big-picture sense, but betrays the fact that Dave had a very large run of ultra-consistent albums...So yea...Too much Phil Spector stuff, too much live stuff, too many 80's soundtrack cover songs...There's nothing bad on here at all, but if you're unfamiliar with Dave's work, you;ll probably walk away from this wondering, "What the hell kind of music does this guy do exactly?"

I think I originally bought this as a five dollar CD from Amazon...I needed an extra five bucks to get the free shipping, and I didn't feel like buying a 3 pack of Scotch Tape, so I went for this CD...

And it is nice to have some Dave Edmunds that I can listen to in my discman at work...And I personally appreciate all the soundtrack and rarity stuff, since I don't have any of it, but I just can't recommend it as anyone's first Dave Edmunds purchase... Again, it's not bad, it just doesn't leave the correct impression...

Here's "I Hear You Knocking" by Dave Edmunds...Enjoy...

The Dave Edmunds Band: I Hear You Rockin' -Live

The Dave Edmunds Band: I Hear You Rockin' -Live

1986

Columbia

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Girls Talk  2. Here Comes The Weekend  3. Queen of Hearts  4. Paralyzed  5. The Wanderer   6. Crawling from the Wreckage  7. Slipping Away   8. Information  9. I Hear You Knocking   10. I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll)  11. Ju Ju Man



Oh, man. I have a vacation for the next two weeks...I'm so psyched for this...Not a single alarm clock in sight for the next 16 days...I'm just holing myself up in my apartment, with a buncha beer and my goal is to not see sunlight for two weeks straight...My goal is by the end of vacation, is to look like this...

...only with glasses...and fatter...

Alright, so let's kick off the hermitage with a blog post...Here we go...

Dave released an album in 1984, called "Riff Raff" that I haven't been able to find...Whenever I hit a record store, I always make a beeline to the "E" section and look for it, but I haven't had much luck...So whenever I do manage to find it, I'll post a review of it...



"I Hear You Rockin'," released a couple of years after "Riff Raff," (but not containing any of its songs)  is an ultra-pro, studio enhanced live record from Dave Edmunds,who unsurprisingly doesn't subscribe to the whole "raw, ragged" live thing...Essentially, it sounds like a Dave Edmunds studio album with less harmonies and crowd noise dubbed in...

 Dave plays his most well-known songs, using the exact arrangements that appeared on the record, with a band of well-seasoned studio musicians... As a result, it's hard not to simply lump this in as a greatest hits package...Which might have been his intention, since this marked the point where his studio output would be reduced to a  sloooow crawl (2 albums in the last 16 years)...There's a couple of tracks that sweeten the deal, as they never appeared on a proper studio album..

 Notable Track #1: A cover of Elvis Presley's "Paralyzed," and thankfully Dave doesn't ham it up with some hammy Vegas-y Elvis impersonation...It just sounds like a Dave Edmunds song...Ah, the undeniable power of restraint...

Notable Track # 2: A cover of  Dion's "The Wanderer"...It goes against Dave's predilection for obscure gems, but it's hard not to view "The Wanderer" as the template for a lot of Dave's career...From the opening, "WEEELLLLLL..." to the precarious balance between pop and rock that results in one side never taking precedence over the other...A totally obvious, but well chosen cover...If you had to explain Dave Edmunds' recorded output to someone who was unfamiliar with his work, "A new wave version of "The Wanderer'" wouldn't be too far off..

.

 Sure, it would have been great if Dave's first live album would have been with Rockpile, but we have to take what we can get...And what we have here is just a slick little recording full of hits and a surprise or two...

Here's "The Wanderer" by Dave Edmunds...Enjoy....

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...

Dave Edmunds: D.E. 7th

Dave Edmunds: D.E. 7th

1982

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)  2. Me And The Boys  3. Bail You Out  4. Generation Rumble  5. Other Guys Girls  6. Warmed Over Kisses (Left Over Love)  7. Deep In The Heart Of Texas   8. Louisiana Man  9. Paula Meet Jeanne   10. One More Night  11. Dear Dad



Now we're in the post-Rockpile era, where the albums are still great just a bit different...First off, all the Nick Lowe penned tracks are gone...Additionally, Dave's studio perfectionism comes more into play, giving the album a thinner, more tightly-wound, less scrappy character...

Dave also completely abandons songwriting on this album and relies on covers and donated material from outside songwriters, most notably, the Bossk himself, Bruce Springsteen with "From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come).

 Let it be said, that Dave never squanders an outside contribution, giving "From Small Things" a proper, heartfelt-stand runthrough resulting in it becoming his signature song to a lot of folks... For a Welsh dude he's pretty damn good at this hamburger stuff...

Another interesting development is a sudden bluegrass influence and its accompanying instrumentation (banjos, mandolins, general twanginess) on songs like "Warmed Over Kisses (Left Over Love)" and "Bail You Out." Turns out he's really good at that genre too, coming up with a sort of pop-bluegrass hybrid...I think he should have pursued this muse a bit more, since some of the more standard rockabilly stuff sounds notably diminished this time around...But when he goes outside is ususal go-to genre he hits a homerun every time...

His power pop chops are still strong as fuck though, check out the chunk of bubblegummy pop, "Other Guys Girls" and his cover of NRBQ's "Me and the Boys" (oh, yea...Dave Edmunds covering
NRBQ is a no-brainer...They're poppier material is so well-suited for him)...

 It's definitely not my go-to Dave Edmunds album (in fact, it's probably the one I listen to the least), but  there's still a lot of great stuff and you can never go wrong with straight-up, well-played fun...

 Here's "From Small Things" by Dave Edmunds...Enjoy...

Dave Edmunds: Twangin...

 Dave Edmunds: Twangin...

1981

Swan Song Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Something Happens  2. It's Been So Long  3. Singing the Blues  4. (I'm Gonna Start) Living Again If It Kills Me  5. Almost Saturday Night  6. Cheap Talk, Patter and Jive   7. Three Time Loser  8. You'll Never Get Me Up (In One of Those)  9. I'm Only Human  10. The Race Is On   11. Baby Let's Play House

This one usually gets written off as a letdown after the masterpiece "Repeat When Necessary"...Most commonly attributed to the crumbling of Rockpile and a reliance on covers and outtakes from previous albums...But I think it's a testament to the streak that Dave was on at this time, that this album is as great as it is... To me, this is roughly as good as "Repeat When Necessary"...The best stuff on it is some of his best material ever but where I think this album falters a bit is in the secondary material (which, while listenable,  falls short of the filler on his previous albums)...

Here are the high, high, highlights:

"It's Been So Long" is one of his best power pop tracks...Hands down...The hooks are massive and his lightning speed guitar picking is outta control...A perfect pop single as well as an impressive technical achievement....

 Add to the list, his cover of John Fogerty's "Almost Saturday Night," which is another example of Dave's impeccable arranging skills...I like Old Fogerty's original just fine, but there's a certain Creedence-ness that it's lacking that you kinda fill in with your own imagination when you hear it..And Dave nails that missing spirit, turning it into the greatest Creedence song that never was (complete with  harmonies that are among the most glorious thing I've ever heard)...Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant...

Alright, here's a true story about the power of "Almost Saturday Night"...This song became thee weekend song at the Friday night record parties...It was mandatory...You come home from work, you crack a beer, you toss "Almost Saturday Night" on the turntable...It was an unspoken rule (Hell, it even happened last night (note, I'm writing this on Saturday morning )...Well, one Monday morning I was on the morning bus to work and decided to listen to the "Twangin..." album...When "Almost Saturday Night" came on, in the stark daylight, without a Saturday night pr a beer in sight, tears suddenly started to well in my eyes...I was so wracked with grief that this beautiful slice of weekend-ness was so far from its natural habitat...I had to shut it off immediately and now I know better than to play this song anytime during the work week...Its the exclusive property of a Friday Night or Saturday afternoon...

I also consider "(I'm Gonna Start) Living Again If It Kills Me"to be one of Edmunds/Lowe's best Everly Brother tributes...It's beautiful, harmonized stuff with a real life-affirming edge...This is the song you play after you accidentally hear "Almost Saturday Night" on a Monday morning...It makes you bite your bottom lip, hold your head up (despite that tear in your eye) and make a defiant fist at the capricious Gods in the heavens above...

"Cheap Talk, Patter and Jive" also strikes me as should-of-been single...Nothing innovative about it, but it strikes me as a really solid example of Dave doing what he does best...And although I don't consider it a highlight, I should probably mention the notable collaboration with the Stray Cats on a cover of George Jones' "The Race is On"...I'm not a fan of the Stray Cats (they cross some invisible line for me that Dave has always managed to avoid...They turn rockabilly into some grotesque Sha Na Na-esque caricature...) but this song is alright...

The remainder of the album does have a bit of an Edmunds-by-numbers feel of obscure old rock n' roll and country...Not bad at all...A lot of it's fun, like "You'll Never Get Me Up (In One of Those)" (which I find absurdly relatable), but I doubt it'll blow anyone out of the water or anything...Just good, fun old time rock n' roll...All in all, another solid release...A must-buy if you find it in a used record bin somewhere...And the cover is beautiful in its full-size...

 Here's "Almost Saturday Night" by Dave Edmunds.. Enjoy...

Dave Edmunds: Repeat When Necessary

 Dave Edmunds: Repeat When Necessary

1979

Swan Song Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Girls Talk  2. Crawling from the Wreckage  3. The Creature from the Black Lagoon  4. Sweet Little Lisa  5. Dynamite  6. Queen of Hearts  7. Home in My Hand  8. Goodbye Mister Good Guy   9. Take Me for a Little While  10. We Were Both Wrong  11. Bad Is Bad


This is the Dave Edmunds album people usually single out as his best work...And I can't argue with that assessment...It's pretty great...For the first time, he has a really eye-catching album sleeve (all new wave red, blues and pinks) and some of his greatest performances are contained within...If I had to pick a definitive Edmunds album, I'd probably have to say Side Two of "Tracks on Wax 4" and Side One of "Repeat When Necessary"...

My God, I can still remember the night I first heard "Girls Talk." Back when I first discovered the (now closed) FYE and brought home a crates worth of cheap records and was slowly working my way through them all...I was sitting on the floor of my bedroom (where my record player used to be, before I dragged it into the living room to inflict my musical tastes on everybody else), drinking the usual Bud Light and Chelada...

 When "Girls Talk" came on...I swear to you there was an immediate electricity in the air as soon as that guitar came in with those big, chiming strums and the band quietly chugged behind him...And when he started singing that melody (which twisted and turned like a good mystery novel) I decided then and there to devote the rest of my life to the worship of that song...The greatest thing I had ever heard...

...and what made all this remarkable is that I had heard the song before...As written and performed by the song's author and one of my favorite artists of all time...Elvis Costello...

But Elvis' version, despite its awesomeness, couldn't hold a candle to Dave's...Listen for yourself if you don't believe me...

(Dave's version)

(Elvis' version)

(Even Linda Ronstadt (of the Ronstadt Center fame) got in on the action with a version that closely follows the Edmunds arrangement)

This was the moment I realized that Dave improves every song he touches...It's kinda his thing...And after the monumental opening of "Girls Talk" the rest of the album must be a massive disappointment, right?

NO! Next up is a song Graham Parker donated to Dave's cause called "Crawling From the Wreckage" and it's nearly as staggering...Just fast, simple rock n' roll, played so precisely and acutely attuned to every hook...

After that comes the bizarre pop horrorshow homage, "Creature from the Black Lagoon," which sounds sorta like Dave is trying to get airplay on Dr Demento, but its repetitive hook has a way of growing on you after the 20th repetition...

If I was a bit less of a Creature from the Black Lagoon fan (big ups, 3-D presentations on WNEM in the early 80's!!!) it might annoy me, but as it stands I have a huge fondness for it...It's definitely earned a coveted spot at the top of my Halloween playlist...

The remainder of Side One finishes with a couple of rockabilly tracks that on the surface appear to be the usual Dave Edmunds fare, but "Sweet Little Lisa" has so much power pop in its DNA that it can't help but distinguish itself...

When I first put on Side Two I was in for a huge surprise...WTF? IT'S THAT JUICE NEWTON "QUEEN OF HEARTS" SONG THAT PLAYED ENDLESSLY ON EARLY 80'S COUNTRY MUSIC STATIONS (nestled next to Eddie Rabbitt's "I Love a Rainy Night)....

But wait...This album came out in the 70's...I know that Juice Newton track didn't come out until the 80's...It turns out Dave was the first artist to record the song...His version is a few clicks faster and a little less Nashville perfect, but otherwise Juice copied the arrangement wholesale...Which was a wise choice...You can't improve Dave Edmunds...Only Dave Edmunds can improve you.....It's a cosmic law...

Anyway, she racked up the hits with her version and Dave did not...Which might be attributable to the Juice version being aimed at the correct audience...Dave was usually lumped in with the new wave/pub/punk rock thing, where hits are hard to come by and  a finely crafted country-pop number might be a bit lost....After hearing the Juice Newton version again recently, I was taken aback by how sluggish it seemed in comparison, despite it being an undeniably uptempo number...Then it struck me, that's another reason it probably resonated so well with country fans...See, country fans like shit slooooowww...Even fast country material is slow when you start comparing it to new wave tempos...You just can't tuck yer tight-fittin' jeans into yer boots and line-dance to the Dave Edmunds version...I mean, you could, but you might have to drink a cup (or two) of coffee beforehand...

(Miscellaneous Note: I use that brief overdriven fast-acoustic strum of the Edmunds version as a barometer of my record needle's health...If it crackles and cuts out, then I replace my needle...If it sounds fine, then I'm still good for awhile...)

The remainder of Side Two is your standard Edmunds popabilly...Good fun, but nothing too Earth-shaking (which is why I maintain that if you replace this side with Side Two of "Tracks on Wax 4" you'd have a flawless record) but there's another big surprise at the end...

IT"S THAT "BAD IS BAD" SONG FROM THAT HUEY LEWIS & THE NEWS "SPORTS" ALBUM!!!!

But wait...This album came out in the 70's...I know that Huey Lewis track didn't come out until the 80's...It turns out that although Huey Lewis wrote the song, Dave was the first artist to record it...Who cares, really...Song ain't that great either way...

So yea...As with any Dave Edmunds album from this  period, I recommend it very highly...Up there with his best stuff due to the appearance of  some of his best tracks...

 Here's "Crawling from the Wreckage" by Dave Edmunds...Enjoy...

Dave Edmunds: College Radio Network Presents Dave Edmunds and Rockpile

Dave Edmunds: College Radio Network Presents Dave Edmunds and Rockpile

1978

Swan Song Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Introduction  2. Pause  3. Quotes  4. It's My Own Business  5. Interview  6. Deborah  7. Interview  8. Never Been In Love  9. Interview  10. A. 1. On The Jukebox  11. Interview  12. I Hear You Knocking


I live for odd vinyl releases like this...It's a ready-made radio show designed for stations hungry to fill an empty half hour and promote Dave Edmunds in the process...As far as I can tell, there was only one other entry in the "College Radio Network Radio Presents..." series, and that was for...

drumroll...

The one and only Carillo...

Wait...Who's Carillo?  

Ah, it doesn't matter...You wouldn't know it by talking to me these days, but I looooove the pre-Clear Channel era of radio...I can't tell you how many nights I spent glued to the dial, listening to King Biscuit, Metal Shop and other radio programs...And even though I had never heard this before (I'm not even sure it ever aired on radio), it takes me right back to those days...The infinitude of old radio...

This contains an exclusive live take of "I Hear You Knocking" (as loudly proclaimed on the sticker on the front cover), four tracks from "Tracks on Wax 4" and a smattering of introductions and interviews...One interesting interview segment consists of Dave discussing some game where you have to spend a pound for every minute that you're in the pub...I'm sure this game was much more difficult back in '78...An order of wings and a pitcher of beer will buy you a couple hours these days...

It's also interesting to get some insight intn the working relationship between Dave and Nick Lowe...My favorite track however is a brilliant piece of experimental musique concrete provocatively titled "Pause,"  which manages to convey the existential angst of modern living utilizing nothing but deafening silence between segments...A masterpiece of minimalist profundity that says more in a scant three seconds than most albums can say in an hour...Bravo!

I can really only recommend this to fans of radio curiosities and the hardest of hardcore Dave Edmunds fans who will probably cherish the interviews and the cool live version of "I Hear You Knocking"...I always have a hell of a good time listening to this...

You can listen to the whole thing here... Enjoy...

Dave Edmunds: Tracks on Wax 4

Dave Edmunds: Tracks on Wax 4

1978

Swan Song Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Trouble Boys  2. Never Been in Love  3. Not a Woman, Not a Child  4. Television  5. What Looks Best on You  6. Readers Wives  7. Deborah  8. Thread Your Needle  9. A.1. On the Jukebox   10. It's My Own Business  11.Heart of the City


I might actually finish up the Dave Edmunds section over the next few days before doing the annual reboot to "A"... I don't think the new A-D's will take as long as 2015's, which took up...well...the whole year...Anyway, let's get on to today's records, "Tracks on Wax 4"...Here, I'm going to give this one a proper Dave Edmunds introduction...

"WEEEEE-E-E-E-E-L-L-L-L-L..."

Listening to "Tracks on Wax 4" back to back with "Get It," points out what was missing on that prior album...It's the glorious power-pop! Listen to "Never Been in Love"! Now that's some sweet, sweet stuff...Or the boppy Buddy Holly-isms of "Deborah"...Pop heaven, I'm telling you...

 And the overall tempo is upped as well, resulting in some pretty ferocious punk on his take of Nick Lowe's "Heart of the City" and the whiplash rockabilly of "Readers Wives"...Probably his most bracing material...And I'm giving Dave the nod for best version of "Heart of the City," since his take rocks so hard that it just about blows the pomade outta your quaff, Teddy...We also get the usual array of popabilly singles in "A1 on the Jukebox" and "Trouble Boys"...I can't praise his melding of pop, new wave and 50's rock enough...It really was a refreshing antidote to punk's nihilism, new wave's coldness and country's clean-boots professionalism...He ironed out some kinks in a few different genres and melded them into one...Hats off...

There's a couple of "meh's" here and there..."Not a Woman, Not a Child" is kinda dopey unless you like dopey-ass blues, and "Television" is merely okay, but for the most part this album is pure fun...Just a bunch of fast-paced, old-timey rock n' roll that never fails to get me boppin' around...They don't make music like this anymore...That's fer damn sure...

Here's "Never Been in Love" by Dave Edmunds...Enjerr...

 

Dave Edmunds: Get It

Dave Edmunds: Get It

1977

Swan Song Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listin': 1. Get Out of Denver  2. I Knew the Bride  3. Back To School Days  4. Here Comes the Weekend  5. Worn Out Suits, Brand New Pockets  6. Where or When  7. Ju Ju Man  8. Git It  9. Let's Talk About Us  10. Hey Good Lookin'  11. What Did I Do Last Night?  12. Little Darlin'  13.My Baby Left Me


Yes! "Get It"marks the beginning of one of my favorite run of album's ever...Dave picks up a band, rather than recording every instrument himself, which shoots the energy through the roof (although the spike in energy is also possibly attributable to the new genre of punk that emerged in the wake of "Subtle As a Flying Mallet"). And the band he assembles (Rockpile (minus a member at this point))  features fucking brilliant songwriter Nick Lowe who also has a knack of improving everything he touches...And to top off this transformation, the Phil Spector recreations are (mostly) shelved in favor of high-speed  R n' R, Everly Brothers harmonies and a splash of country here and there...

 (Oh man...I've always been fascinated by the Swan Song label graphics...On one hand, the lack of genitalia is disturbing, but on the other hand I'm thankful the angel isn't jutting  his junk right in my face...And the wings originate from an odd place on his back...Sort like a tramp stamp becoming a real set of wings...

 Also, is the angel supposed to be Robert Plant? I think it might be...)

This is where you find  those fast and tight classics, "JuJu Man," "I Knew the Bride," and an incredibly ass-kicking  cover of Bob Seger's "Get Out of Denver" where he just revs the engine until the wheels nearly fall off (You have to use an automobile metaphor when you're discussing Bob Seger right?)

(Ooo...Look at those big wheels bounce...)

(I know this is blasphemous talk for a Michigander, but I don't usually care for Bob Seger...It seems like he doesn't rock as much as he should...Although whenever anyone covers Bob Seger, I usually love it (see also Thin Lizzy's "Rosalie" (do NOT see Metallica's "Turn the Page" (ah, man...I hate the song "Turn the Page," forget my mixed feelings on Bob Seger...The memory of that irritating sax squonk in "Turn the Page" makes me hate every possible aspect of Bob Seger...)))

I don't think "Get It" is quite as great as what would follow  ("Hey Good Lookin'" is still a little too familiar, even in this rockabillied-up version, and "Back To School Days" is nowhere near the league of Dave's second Graham Parker interpretation, "Crawling From the Wreckage") but it's pretty close...And "Here Comes the Weekend" is one of the best Friday Night songs ever written...Not to mention everything here clocks in at right around the 2-minute mark, so if a song's not doing it for you, it'll pass soon enough..I still give it a hearty recommendation if you're looking for straight-up rock n' roll...

Here's "Here Comes the Weekend" by Dave Edmunds...Enjoy...

Here's 

Dave Edmunds: Subtle As a Flying Mallet

Dave Edmunds: Subtle As a Flying Mallet

1975

RCA Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Baby, I Love You  2. Leave My Woman Alone  3. Maybe   4. Da Doo Ron Ron  5. Let It Be Me  6. No Money Down  7. A Shot of Rhythm and Blues  8. Billy the Kid  9. Born to Be with You   10. She's My Baby  11. I Ain't Never  12. Let It Rock



The true measure of how good a record store is lies in how many Dave Edmunds records line its cheap bins... That's what's so great about Dave Edmunds...He put out some of my all-time favorite records, yet they're always cheap and plentiful...I can't recall ever paying more than $3.00 for one...Score!

If you're not familiar with his work, he's best known as an interpreter of 50's rock...The albums are mostly covers or donated songs so it's a good thing he's probably the world's best cover artist of all time...I've never heard a song that he hasn't improved...This is a guy who does his own versions of Bruce Springsteen, Nick Lowe, John Fogerty and Elvis Costello and always betters them...He's a studio obsessive making sure every screw is tightened, every harmony is in place, but his best records somehow sound effortless until you start paying too close attention to their moving parts...Keep in mind, I loved his stuff this much at a time I didn't especially care for per-British Invasion 50's-early 60's rock...He does such a good job on this genre that I couldn't help but finally see why that era was so special...He usually speeds it up a bit, makes it  a bit more modern and punchy and improves the melodies and harmonies...He often succeeded in turning old timey rock n' roll into shimmering power pop...I honestly believe that everyone on planet Earth should own at least 7 Dave Edmunds albums...

That said, "Subtle As a Flying Mallet" is probably my least favorite Dave Edmunds album I own....It's his second solo album (he had a previous band called Love Sculpture), I don't have the first one, so I'm starting here...When you think of the standard Dave Edmunds sound (tightly wound rockabilly power it's mostly missing here...

This is one of those albums that is more remarkable for its technical achievement than the music contained within...Not that there's anything wrong with the music...Y'see, Dave spent his time holed up alone in a studio, working around the clock to re-create uncanny renditions of Phil Spector Wall of Sound classics that are virtually indistinguishable from the originals...This was probably huge news in 1975! If you wanted that Wall of Sound for you own album, you could now contact Dave Edmunds to produce your next record and there was virtually no chance that you would get a gun pointed at you and no B-movie accesses would wind up dead!

Here are my two problems with the album:

1. The thing that draws me into a Dave Edmunds album is the differences...He tends to improve every song he touches, so when he merely copies a song note for note, a lot of the magic is lost...

2. The song selection, though awesome, is a tad over-familiar...Another big draw is how deep and obscure his cover choices usually are...He usually succeeds in turning you on onto a bunch of time-lost treasures, but I've heard most of these...I can imagine though, if you were as unfamiliar w/ Phil Spector as I'm unfamiliar with 50's rock there might be some surprises here...I dunno...

That said, it's a very listenable album, it's just not what I'm looking for when I'm looking for a fix of Dave Edmunds...That's why I rarely play this album...That said, there's a few things of interest here: "A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues" is pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. Trebly, tightly wound rock n; roll...There are a few other songs ("Leave My Woman Alone," "No Money Down," "Let it Rock") that foretell the bulk of his career (hell, he even teams up w/ Nick Lowe for a couple tracks) but they're noticeably lacking in the live-wire excitement he would gain once punk and new wave came around to kick him in the ass...

For these reasons, I say skip it, unless you've already used up the other Dave Edmunds classics and need something new to listen to or if you're a die-hard Wall-of-Sound fanatic that used up all the Phil Spector classics and need something new to listen to...I feel kind of bad not recommending it since it really is a remarkable achievement and everything here is good...Eh...Find it cheap...

Here's  "A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues" by Dave Edmunds...Enjoy...