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Pop Rock Nation

Author: David Middleton

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #23: Pimp Who’s Talking

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    IAN GOMM  “Hold On” b/w “Another Year” (Stiff/Epic Records #50747, Fall 1979)

    September ’79.  School was back in session, and everyone but me had grown a foot taller.  I didn’t care.  I was the only kid in class with tickets to the Dire Straits concert, thee hottest bill in town.  I’d gladly sacrifice a foot of height to have Knopfler & Co. melt my face off from the 3rd row, hands down.  What’s that you say?  You don’t care what I was thinking or feeling or listening to back in junior high 30 years ago?  OK, well fuck you, then.  Just click this link & let the opening chords of today’s 45 RPM platter set you adrift on a sea of memory bliss.

    Play \”Hold On\” by Ian Gomm

    Warming up for the Sultans Of Swing that chilly Fall night 3 decades ago was Ian Gomm, the former Brinsley Schwarz bassist, Nick Lowe cohort, and co-writer of the everlasting power-pop classic “Cruel To Be Kind.”  Touring in support of his Summer Holiday LP (from which “Hold On” was pulled, punnily retitled Gomm With The Wind stateside), Gomm brought along an all-star pub-rock who’s-who to flesh out the material, including Andrew Bodnar on bass and Martin Belmont on guitar.  Twenty-four hour service, in-deed!

    A lush & lovely ballad celebrating out-with-the-old/in-with-the-new mentality (a market once cornered by the likes of Guy Lombardo), B-side “Another Year” would’ve sounded right at home at the tail-end of any of Squeeze’s post-East Side Story LPs, as would just about any tracks off the brilliant Summer Holiday.  “Hold On” climbed to #18 on the US singles charts, and still pops up on AM radio now & then, sounding brilliant as ever.  Still active, Gomm’s current whereabouts can easily be tracked via the ever-rhyming Ian Gomm Dot Comm.

    NEXT WEEK: The greatest garage-rock single of all time?

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #22: Texas If You Can

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    FLESHTONES  “Ride Your Pony” b/w “Roman Gods” (I.R.S. Records #IR-9905, 1981)

    Way before Jack & Meg White called attention to America’s gurgling underground garage-rock movement, New York City’s Fleshtones were brewing a heady concoction of farfisa-driven proto-punk and Stax/Volt-style soul dubbed Super Rock.  After being wowed by their fine perfomance in a late-night screening of Urgh! A Music War, I high-tailed it to my local record shop to buy up all the Fleshtones records I could find.  Sadly, this lone 7-inch was all they had in stock at the moment.  It would have to suffice, but oh what a great little party-platter it is.

    Listen to a sample of \”Ride Your Pony\” by The Fleshtones on Last.FM

    A faithful, almost-live-sounding remake of Lee Dorsey’s Naomi Neville-penned classic, “Ride Your Pony” wasn’t exactly what I was expecting from these CBGB denizens whom I’d just witnessed going head-to-head with The Police and DEVO in Urgh! , but it did rock nonetheless, and it was pretty super.  So there you have it. (As a sweet bonus, check out this performance by Dorsey himself before it gets unceremoniously yanked.)

    The flipside is a remix of the instrumental title-track from the ‘Tones’ I.R.S. debut, Roman Gods, featuring layers of horns, handclaps, gated snare, Bootsyesque bass pops and “ya ya-ya ya-ah” gang-vocals.  A sure-fire dancefloor filler at the nightclub in my brain.  There’s no vids available for this track, but grab a cocktail and swing, you lovers, to this spectacular clip (from a 1980’s Detroit-area public access cable show, mind you) of the boys performing \”Right Side Of A Good Thing\” from their 1983 LP, Hexbreaker.  If that don’t make you miss the ’80’s (or sorry you missed them.  Or glad you missed them), nothing will.

    The Fleshtones still make great records, and still put on the greatest live show on earth, to this day.  Keep up with their dastardly doings at The Fleshtones Hall Of Fame.

    NEXT WEEK: Hold on to another year of English pub-rock.

  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #21: Crone Street Challenge

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    JONATHAN EDWARDS  “Sunshine” b/w “Emma” (Capricorn Records #C-8021, 1971)

    I’ve never considered the “One-Hit Wonder” label to be necessarily a bad thing.  Some of my favorite songs fall into that category.  Hell, most of my favorite artists are NO hit wonders, so having any sort of hit at all seems like a miracle in my eyes.  Consider this two-minutes-and-change quickie by little-known folksinger Jonathan Edwards.  He may only be known for this track, but oh what a track it is.  And to think it more-or-less came about by accident.

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    Legend has it that during the 1970 recording sessions for what was to become Edwards’ Atco (later Capricorn) debut LP, one of the tracks got erased, prompting Edwards to fill in the space with a fresh composition.  “Sunshine,” a short ‘n’ catchy ‘Nam protest song, quickly caught fire and spent 12 weeks on the US singles charts, peaking at #4.  I was just a kid at the time, so I didn’t fully comprehend the draft-card-burning sentiment behind the lyric, but the urgency of this track, driven home by Edwards’ pummelling  acoustic guitar and up-close-&-dry vocal,  was so captivating that I played the A-side over & over ’til it hissed.  Of course, it didn’t hurt that my mom liked the song too, so there was plenty of singing along (and no complaining) at my house.

    See a \’74 Olds lip-sync Jonathan Edwards\’ \”Sunshine\” on YouTube

    You gotta love the internet.  I tell ya, I used to search desperately for surreal moments, but now I desperately try to avoid them.  Anyway, you can also catch some quality live footage of Edwards himself performing the track, in both a solo folk-rock rendition from ’06 here, and in a very recent (we’re talkin’ 2009) speed-bluegrass performance here.  Any way you slice it, though, this song is so incredibly powerful that it never loses its steam in any setting, as evidenced by the thousands of cover versions out there.    Even a Jeep ad couldn’t damage its credibility.  If you’re gonna be a one-hit wonder, buddy, THIS is the kind of hit to have, for certain.  And talk about timelessness:  when he hits that last lyric couplet, how current does that feel?!

    Pulled also from the eponymous debut, B-side “Emma” provides a haunting tale of lost romance, possibly with a ghost, in a Gordon Lightfoot-meets-John Denver setting, replete with a pedal steel guitar and Edwards’ high-lonesome tenor front & center.  Not as urgent or anthemic as “Sunshine” (few songs are), this B-side showcases the artist’s versatility, which is, sadly, something few performers carry with them anymore.

    In fact, it’s that versatility that keeps Jonathan Edwards still going to this day.  He’s worked in rock, folk, country, bluegrass, and even Broadway musicals.  His playing chops and gorgeous singing voice remain captivating and stunning as when you first blasted “Sunshine” over your car’s AM radio.  No matter if it was back in ’71, or just yesterday.

    NEXT WEEK: 5 Roman Gods  ride someone’s pony.  Probably yours.