1980
Sounds of Pleasure by Rockpile
The history of Rockpile is short and a wee bit confusing. They were essentially a backing band – Billy Bremner (guitar) and Terry Williams (drums) who played behind two separate iconic frontmen – Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe. But they put out one album as a completely unified band. Rockpile featured songs from both Edmunds and Lowe (who played bass on the album), as well as covers from the likes of Joe Tex and Chuck Berry.
The album opens with the pure jangly pop glory of “Teacher, Teacher,” sung by Lowe. Then Edmunds rocks out on the Joe Tex song “If Sugar Was as Sweet as You.” Next, Bremner sings “Heart,” which Lowe would release two years later on his Nick the Knife album. Later, we get flat-out rockers like the Difford/Tilbrook song “Let’s Face It,’ “You Ain’t Nothing but Fine (with another vocal from Bremner), and Lowe’s insatiably shimmering “When I Write the Book.”
Rockpile’s live shows were legendary blow-outs and that overwhelming energy is not captured on their one and only studio release. That led fans and critics at the time to consider the album a failure. But if you listen today, free from expectation or preconception, you get a sensational collection of pure pop rock that holds up better than most similar efforts that came after it.
The Correct Use of Soap by Magazine
Howard Devoto left the Buzzcocks in 1978 and joined up with guitarist John McGeoch to form Magazine. Their first album, 1978’s Real Life, introduced the epic song “Shot by Both Sides.” Two years – and two albums – later, they released The Correct Use of Soap, which offered a more consistent group of songs, all with Devoto’s sharp delivery and McGeoch’s inventive guitar.
Dave Formula’s swirling keyboards get more run, broadening the sounds Magazine could explore. But that barely softened the attack on songs like “Because You’re Frightened” and “Sweetheart Contract.” They crank up the funk on “Philadelphia” but then subdue it in their quirky, spacy cover of Sly’s “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin.)”
They conclude with the dramatic “A Song From Under the Floorboards.” Then McGeoch would leave for Siouxsie and the Banshees. Magazine released one more album before Devoto ended things, embarking on a solo career.
Searching for Young Soul Rebels by Dexy’s Midnight Runners
Sitting on the left side of the Atlantic, I feel the need to say yet one more time that Kevin Rowland’s new wave soul outfit did more than just “Come On Eileen,” the monster hit they released a few years after their debut in 1980. That was indeed their only single to achieve major chart success in the States, but Searching for Young Soul Rebels featured “Geno” and “There There My Dear,” both of which married horns and organs with new wave to find a ska-rock hybrid that predicted the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Reel Big Fish not long after.
Searching … opens with literal searching – a staticky radio scrolling through a range of sounds before Rowland pleads, “For God’s sake, burn it down.” The song “Burn it Down” swoops in to establish pop with an edge. And a lot of horns. They can go jazzy on the instrumental “The Teams That Meet in Caffs” or soulful in “I Couldn’t Help It if I Tried.”
And they are simply glorious on “Seven Days Too Long.” Even Rowland’s falsetto on “Thankfully Not Living in Yorkshire It Doesn’t Apply,” which never should have worked, somehow works. I like “Come On Eileen,” but it essentially confined Dexy’s to being a punchline in a Simpsons’ episode. They were a lot more than that.
Angel Witch by Angle Witch
Keith Heybourne’s melodic heavy riffing is the first thing you hear on the first song on Angel Witch’s first album. (The song and album are both called “Angel Witch.”) Kevin Riddles’ bass and Dave Hogg’s drum come roaring in and we are in classic metal country. Angel Witch could have been Iron Maiden had they been able to get along. As it was, they split up a few years after the debut and multiple attempts at restarting the band never seemed to last. But at least we are left with a great example of what might have been.
After the opener, the hyper drama of “Atlantis” comes on like a tank, plowing over anything in its path. That lasts through all ten tracks, peaking with “Angel of Death” near the end. “Devil’s Tower” sends us off on a somewhat quieter note, though Heybourne’s guitar never stops riffing.
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