Brinsley Schwarz - Nervous On The Road - 1972

As the undisputed kings of the British pub rock movement, Brinsley Schwarz rank among the most influencial bands to emerge from the UK during the early 1970's.

Named after lead guitarist Brinsley Schwarz, but lead largely under the direction of bassist/songwriter Nick Lowe, the Brinsleys were a back to basics R&B outfit keen on reminding the world of just how thrilling straight forward rock and roll could be. A novel concept at the time, the band acted as Britain's alternative to the prog and glam rock that ruled FM radio during the early 70's.

Opening with "It's Been So Long", a thrilling Buddy Holly-esque power pop gem penned by guitarist Ian Gomm, Nervous On The Road takes all of two minutes and seven seconds to provide it's thesis statement. This is an album of purity, built on a foundation of smart songwriting, stellar musicianship, and the laid back deliverance that would come to define the pub rock movement.

As the author of seven of the album's ten tracks, Nervous On The Road marked a creative breakthrough for Nick Lowe, who's songwriting talents prove to be staggeringly strong throughout. A versatile musician with an uncanny knack for whimsical lyricism, Lowe provides the album with drunken pub sing-a-longs ("Happy Doing What We're Doing"), gorgeous ballads ("Brand New You, Brand New Me"), and a handful of rock n' roll barn burners (namely the title track and the masterful "Surrender To The Rhythm", which may be rock's great lost anthem ).

What's perhaps most remarkable about Brinsley Schwarz, is their purely American musical approach. Whether it be the the Chuck Berry influenced title track, the doo-wop inflections on the heartbreaking album closer "Why, Why, Why", or a joyous romp through Allan Toussaint's "I Like It Like That", the Brinsley's attack both original material and covers with an energy that often matches that of their American influences. A startling achievement for a band that only two years earlier had been written of by the American press as merely an over-hyped CSNY copy act.

The album's centerpiece lies in one of Nick Lowe's all time greatest ballads, "Don't Lose Your Grip On Love". Boasting a soulful and direct vocal delivery, with a piano line lifted from "The Weight" (a tip of the hat to their Canadian heroes in The Band), the performance has an ethereal quality that is at once fragile and warm. Years later, Lowe would record a series of albums written largely in this style during his artistic revival of the mid-nineties. By that time, however, the songs would be sung with the wisdom of an aging troubadour, a far cry from the innocence of a 23 year old pub rocker.

Brinsley Schwarz would become synonymous with the term "pub rock", a genre that is often credited for pioneering the back-to-basics approach that would achieve universal recognition through the punk rock explosion of the late seventies. You'd be hard-pressed to find anything on Nervous On The Road that could fit on an album by the Clash, The Sex Pistols, or even the Nick Lowe-produced Damned, but then again, punk was an attitude long before it became a sound, making the Brinsleys punk rockers in the truest sense of the term.

Note On Availability: Nervous On The Road was released in the UK on United Artists, and on the Liberty imprint in the US. There are likely far more UK copies in circulation than there are American pressings, as The Brinsley's were a much loved cult act in the UK and barely known by US audiences until long after their demise. The album is available on CD through the small Beat Goes On label, as a two-on-one CD with the Brinsley's swan song "New Favourites Of Brinsley Schwarz" (featuring the original-and-best version of "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding.) Good luck hunting!

Sharks - First Water - 1973

The fact that today, Sharks' debut album is rarely spoken of as anything more than a footnote to the plethora of hard rock bands spawned by the British blues scene of the late 60's, is a rock and roll crime of the highest order. Formed in 1973 by bassist Andy Fraser (formerly of Free), and British guitar god Chris Spedding, Sharks only managed to release two proper albums during their brief existence, but the ability they show on their debut album is that of a truly remarkable rock and roll band.

Fronted by Snips, who's vocal style sounds something like a young Joe Cocker with a bad case of bronchitis, Sharks blend the aggressive energy of The Who with the loose swagger of the Faces, all the while steeped in the muddy sounds of Peter Green era Fleetwood Mac.

Side one begins with"World Park Junkies", featuring a strut-like groove anchored by Spedding's deep-in-the-pocket riff, and offset by drummer Marty Simon's nearly unbound approach to the kit. This magical combination is what gives Sharks their charm as an unapologetic rock act. When half the band is unified and tight, the other half are just barely with them, and eligible of falling off the wagon at any moment. This is in no way due to a lack of musicianship on the band's part, it stands rather, as proof of just how capable they were. Finding the groove just behind the back beat is no walk in the park, but Sharks had that ability in spades, and the nine cuts on their debut album stand as living proof.

Though the bulk of the material on First Water is penned by Andy Fraser, it's Snips that shows the most promise as a tunesmith. He clearly knew how to write with his voice in mind, as he delivers a bone chilling performance on "Ol' Jelly Roll", moving from a near-ballad delivery to a gut-churning growl by song's end. His "Snakes And Swallowtails" stands as the album's highlight, with a hook that could have garnered the band a hit single, had anyone been paying attention at the time.

By all accounts, a band less than a year in to their existence shouldn't sound this unified or capable. Sharks had all the parts in place to become a truly great rock and roll band, but for one reason or another, they couldn't keep it together. By the time of their second record, Jab It In Your Eye, Fraser had left and been replaced by Busta Cherry Jones, and though it has its moments of enchantment, it falls short of the power portrayed on First Water.

The AllMusic review for First Water labels the band as "son of Bad Company", which may be fair in terms of the groups lineage, but is an inaccurate portrayal of their stature as a rock band. Sharks have found a special home in my record collection over the years, and when in need of a good old fashion rock and roll album to accompany a case of ale, I'll turn to them long before the thought of Bad Company crosses my mind.

Note On Availability: To my knowledge First Water has never been re-issued on CD. Since the album was never a major success, vinyl copies tend to be scarce too. That being said, they remain unknown to most, making those copies that do exist affordable after a little bit of hunting. Good luck!

Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane - Rough Mix - 1977

In the land of side projects and one-off collaborations, lightning seldom strikes as strongly as it it does in the rock and roll real world. As devout followers of our favourite bands or artists, the side project can be seen as artistic breathing room, and often sheds a revealing light on the meandering musicians involved. That is to say that a rock god's musical vacation is never quite as interesting as his or her day job.

Pete Townshend and Ronnie Lane's sole 1977 collaboration, however, stands as a major exception to this age old generalization.

Recorded during a lull in the respective drinking buddies' careers, Rough Mix lands between The Who's booze fueled Who By Numbers and their should-have-been swan song Who Are You. For (Small) Faces co-founder Ronnie Lane, the project came after a string of underappreciated albums made with his astutely named backing group, Slim Chance, and 4 years after leaving the Faces (who would ultimately disband in the wake of his departure).

An odd couple indeed, the Townshend/Lane collaboration doesn't make much sense on paper. It would be hard to imagine the Who leader; worshiped for his sprawling rock operas and pop masterpeices; getting on that well with Ronnie Lane, who's jagged, folk inspired songwriting often took a backseat to his flashy bandmates in the Faces. Yet it's this precice contradiction that makes Rough Mix such a successful collaboration. At no point do you hear either artist stepping on his partner's toes, in fact, it's quite clear that the Lane songs are Lane songs, and the Townshend songs are undoubtedly ruled by Townshend. The end result is what could have been half a solo record by either party, with the other sitting in as a prominent guest musician.

With a list of players that includes Charlie Watts, Eric Clapton, John Entwhistle, Ian Stewart, and Who sideman John "Rabbit" Bundrick, Rough Mix has no shortage of talent and prime musicianship. The opening "My Baby Gives It Away", is the prototypical Townshend love song, where at times it's hard to discern whether the lyric is one of worship, or simply a dig at his lover. Driven by a highly syncopated Charlie Watts beat, the rocker moves at a brisk, paranoid speed before clocking in just under the 4 minute mark. As if to excentuate the contrast in the two tunesmith's styles, the barnburning opener is followed by the breazy Lane-penned "Nowhere To Run", keeping Townshend's excentricity in check from the get go.

This formula of artistic personality ping-pong is the winning quality of Rough Mix. That is, whenever Townshend's genius edges towards excess, as it does in "Keep Me Turning", a radiant ode to his mentor Meher Baba; Lane steps in and levels out the playing field with his no-frills approach, evident in both his ballads ("Annie"), and the New Orleans inspired "Catmelody" that brings side one to a close.

The album's second side contains two of Townshend's strongest songs in years, the brash "Misunderstood", and the epic "Street In The City", (the latter featuring an orchestral score as grand as anything found on Quadrophenia). While Lane's "April Fool" features some exquisite dobro playing by Slowhand himself.

In the end, what sets Rough Mix apart from countless other one-off albums, is not only how well Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend compliment each other's styles, but that the material is of such a high calibre. Every track stands on it's own, and even the most quaint moments (the album closing "Til The Rivers All Run Dry") stand tall beside the grandiose. An absolutely thrilling listen for fans of either artist's former bands, and a fitting introduction to two fantastic musical personalities.

Note On Availability: Rough Mix was remastered and re-released by Hip-O select in January 2007 with 3 non album bonus tracks. By all accounts the remastering is outstanding (though I have not heard a copy). Vinyl copies should be easy to find and inexpensive, for the true collector, seek out an original UK copy with the artwork seen above in a gatefold jacket, as apposed to American versions that feature a photo of Ronnie and Pete obscuring most of the album art, and no gatefold!

Phil Seymour - "Phil Seymour" -1981

Phil Seymour's story is one of great talent and promise, cut short by alcohol, illness, and his eventual death at the age of 41. A native of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Seymour is best known as the other half of late 70's power pop duo The Dwight Twilley Band, who's 1975 single "I'm On Fire" became an overnight top 20 hit for Denny Cordell's doomed Shelter Records. After 4 years and two stellar albums together, Shelter folded, and Seymour and Twilley went their separate ways.

An immense talent and multi-instrumentalist, Seymour's early resume included playing bass, drums, and guitar on the two Dwight Twilley Band albums, aswell as guesting on albums by 20/20 and Shelter labelmates Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (that's Seymour's backing vocal that you hear on the original versions of "Breakdown" and "American Girl".)

Phil Seymour's debut solo album arrived in January of 1981 on Neil Bogart's newly formed Boardwalk Records. Sporting what is essentialy a cleaned up version of the early Dwight Twilley sound, Phil Seymour is a true lost gem of late 70's/early 80's power pop. An even mix of original material, cover songs, and contributions from Twilley and longtime collaborator Bill Pitcock IV, the album's lean, punchy production is certainly a reminder of the times, but never prevents it from sounding artistically viable today.

Opening track "Precious To Me" is an earnest midtempo love song that plays like an updated version of George Harrison's "I Need You" for the new wave generation. The Seymour-penned lead single became his only solo hit, reaching number 22 on the Billboard top 200, and strangely reaching number 3 in Australia. With a music video and several television apearances to support it, it's strange that no follow up single was released, leaving Phil Seymour to slowly fall down the charts, and eventually land in record store delete bins.

The album's standout tracks are the energetic "I Found A Love", and the pure pop gold that is "Baby It's You", another Seymour original. Seymour's ability as a lead vocalist is astounding, considering that in the past he had only sung harmony with Twilley and Petty, yet he sounds like a seasoned pro on his debut. His emotional range from sensitive ("Precious To Me"), to desperate ("Love You So Much"), and cocky (a deadly cover of Bobby Fuller's "Let Her Dance"), is an impressive feat for somebody previously known only as a backing musician.

For fans of power pop, or anyone that apreciates great performance and clever writing, Phil Seymour is an aboslute must. A true masterpiece of pure pop music, and the only album that seemed fitting to start this blog, which i hope will turn other music lovers on to some of my favourite lesser known classics.

Note on availability: Phil Seymour was reissued in 2005 on the Collector's Choice label with 3 bonus tracks, including a previously unreleased version of the Dwight Twilley Band classic "Looking For The Magic". Vinyl copies shouldn't be too hard to find if you're patient and don't mind doing a little digging.