The gift of song from Elvis to Edmunds results in a fully-realized production I'm wondering if Costello ever envisioned. Then, Linda tries to de-throne Chrissie Hynde & Patti Smith as New Wave Queen!
Cool article, diving into a scene that included many of my favorite artists of that era. I had the luck to catch some of them (Nick Lowe, Graham Parker, Aynsley Dunbar) when they made a swing through California back in the mid 80's. They weren't using the Rockpile or Rumour name but just touring under their own names. Bunch of us found out by accident that they were converging in a tiny venue in Santa Cruz, and on impulse we just went. It was a phenomenal evening for sure. Would have loved it if Edmunds had been there. He was as emblematic of that sound as any of them--straddling punk and new wave on a classic rock foundation.
Thanks for the cool anecdote, Charles! I met Aynsley about a decade+ before you saw him! He was with a pre-Perry Journey circa '75, and their 1st Columbia album. I was at the U of Houston radio station, and well, they gave me a present!.........here's the story: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/behind-the-mic-a-personal-peek-into
I was into Nick, Elvis and that whole scene, late '70s, but researching this piece, and spending more time listening to Dave, I've developed a whole new appreciation for his talent...songwriting, producing, and arranging! You're spot on about him being a kingpin of the movement, but more than that, he helped "grandfather" (if you will) the kids into a direction that was more grounded in trad rock'n'roll, and not just all blather, spitting, and safety pins!
Whether you do it here or at home, I'll be dropping a new GROW BIGGER EARS Sat (9/10) at 9am CT, and if you're game, it might be fun to take a stab at which songs I chose! The 5-song Playlist will be focused (hee-hee) on "eyes," with songs all featuring that word in their titles! It'll be a sight for sore ears! Hint: Alan Parsons Project just missed the cut with their, "Eye in the Sky" (and not because "eye" was singular)! Thanks again, Charles, and stay tuned!🎼🎶🎵😊👍
Oh, man, so many threads here. I have the first two Journey albums, but I didn't like the direction they were headed with "Next" and then they really lost me when they hired Perry. Not a fan of him or the sonic direction they took after he joined, though I do think Neal Schon is one of the great underrated guitarists ever (way better than Santana, IMO). I would have loved an all-instrumental Journey--they had the chops to do it. Agreed, the stuff that stands the test of time has to be grounded in something, and classic rock is fertile ground. I think the best New Wave drew on rock, punk, disco and emergent electronica. Re. "eyes", gotta say, I didn't have to think about it: Kim Carnes' version of "Bette Davis Eyes".
I think Columbia got tired of Journey 1.0 being Weather Report 2.0, and it was "Gimme some hits, guys! And, what's with the meandering 6-minute songs?" Journey became my favorite band on which to dump most of my record biz loathing (Bon Jovi's the other, which leads me to refer to this phenomenon as Bon Journey)....radio played them ad infinitum, hence sales skyrocketed, leading John and Jane Q. Record-Buying Public to equate multi-million dollar sales with stellar musicianship.
Which is fine, we can have that debate (no question Schon is a beast), but at the other end of the "I beg your pardon" spectrum is the logical (however misguided) extension of, "Gee, Stephen Michael Schwartz only sold 15,000 copies of his '74 debut RCA album, and nobody's heard of Starjets or (outside of Australia, despite worldwide Sire Records release) Taxiride (1999)...I guess they're not any good!" Nothing could be further from the truth, yet that's the prevailing perception amongst the public!
Which is why I proudly fly the flag of the unheard, unsung, and under-sung---see my many "Audio Autopsy" series posts, with each of the above 3 featured...all three, BTW, include exclusive interviews with the artists themselves available nowhere else! Starjets' Paul Bowen and Taxiride's Jason Singh were both kind and generous enough to give me lots of time and info (on FB DM) to answer my Qs, and give me exclusive material!
I find it hard to believe Steve Perry or Bon Jon Bovi would give me the time of day, much less tell me what day it was!!
And, of course, as YOU know, Stephen has been providing astounding, first-hand accounts of his '70s days in and amongst the greatest in the '70s and '80s rock biz on FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE since February!
Didn't mean to lapse suddenly into shameless self-promotion, but once I get started........!
As for GROW BIGGER EARS and our "Eyes" post for tomorrow morning, certainly Kim made the original long list of what was whittled to five. But, if you check my past GBE posts (and see my paragraphic rants above!) you'll detect a marked disdain for the obvious, with an eye toward (again) avoiding the billion-dollar-selling artists who need no help from me, and spotlighting artists for whom airplay back in the day was as rare as oxygen on Pluto (or any other Disney character)!
Plus, I call my Playlists "Power Pop Playlists," and while not every song will be specifically in that sub-genre, it signals my desire for dynamic, melodic, harmony-filled tuneage, generally speaking. And, while Kim did a marvelous job with "BDE," it...well, it just didn't make the cut! BTW, Kim worked the sessions for, and sang back-up on, Stephen's RCA album, and can be heard on his "Get it Up For Love" track, featured last week here: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/inside-tracks-3-ned-doheny-get-it
Wow, you were saying something about a lot of threads?!? Whew!!!😎👍
Sep 10, 2022·edited Sep 10, 2022Liked by Brad Kyle
Wow, lots there. First, my suggestion of Kim Carnes notwithstanding, I am completely with you re. focusing on the artists who don't get any airplay--or oxygen--here. In my case, the Sisyphian strategy is to focus mainly on foreign acts. Eastern European rock bands, Dutch opera singers, Scandinavian symphonic rock, Japanese metal, punk and jazz, and so on. I'm involved with some promoters working to bring Japanese bands to the U.S., and I've discovered that not only do the US music press actively refuse to cover these acts, but Uncle Sam is in on the game. The U.S. music mafia are more protected than the steel industry. Getting visas for foreign artists is a nightmare, and DHS seem to have a laser-sharp focus on fucking them over. I know of one band that had to cancel their appearance at a big rock festival here because their guitarist had more picks in his luggage than was listed on their travel manifest. But, as they say, I persist. BTW, completely share your love of melody and harmony--so even the metal I listen to is melodic and even beautiful. I'm probably more partial to the "power" and less to the "pop", but you may find some artists in my previous posts who fill the bill for you--I would be happy if you find a favorite or two and run with them. Check this out--they put Journey and Foreigner to shame: https://zapatosjam.substack.com/p/international-womens-day-the-greatest-22-03-08
I am a big fan of your ‘inside track’ articles, by the way! I love hearing the history of particular songs and the many iterations they’ve taken through the years
Wow! Really appreciate THAT, Steve.....thanks! We all can get all those little heart-y "likes," but it's helpful and cool to get a specifically-worded Like!! I've got a couple "IT"s already in the Q that I can't wait to plumb the depths of!
No titles or artists will I share, but a hint I can give you is that one song (original + 2 covers) starts out as a rocker by a UK rock band in '78, and quickly takes a teen boy pop turn, and then a female disco-diva raver....all within the span of ONE year!! A scream!
Thanks again, Steve, for your enthusiasm, support, and kind words....as always, stay tuned!😉
I hadn’t heard the Ronstadt version before, which is great. I am unsure if I heard Costello‘s version or Edmunds’ version first, but I know that I’ve played Elvis‘s version a lot more. From all accounts, he was definitely a bit of -- more than a bit of -- a jerk back then; he would probably agree with that assessment. He does seem very humble and musician supporting through his last couple decades.
I think all that's an accurate assessment. I think, in the day, Elvis probably thought he ought to be a bit of a jerk, to, if nothing else, "prove" he was holding up the bad boy punk ethos, especially because he looked so dorky! So much so, he made Donnie Iris look positively suave and sophisticated! Linda was smart to hire Peter Asher to produce, and get musicians with "new-wavey" cred to accompany!
I first heard Dave Edmunds during the early days of MTV. "Slipping Away" got a decent amount of airplay, and I like the music and the cars (had I been a little older, the woman in the video would've had my attention as well!). Nick Lowe soon followed with "Cruel to be Kind." I came into Rockpile, Costello, Graham Parker and the rest in that same orbit a few years later.
It's already been mentioned here, but I'll second the recommendation to check out Lowe's "I Knew the Bride When She used to Rock and Roll."
Brad, I loved this latest “Inside Tracks” article especially because it puts a spotlight on, in my humble opinion, one of the most innovative and daring songwriters in the history of rock music, Elvis Costello. Girls Talk is not my favorite Elvis Costello song but I see why it gets attention and gets covered. It’s well crafted in Costello’s inimitable style. Next to Dylan and Lennon I don’t know a better lyric writer.
I must confess and I’m sure this will put me in the penalty box with many of your readers but I am not familiar with Dave Edmunds music or his career. I've heard of him and Nick Lowe of course but never really sought out the music. This was my first rodeo with Dave thanks Inside Tracks.
I will say that his cover (sorry Dave) of Elvis’s Girls Talk is, for me, a bit lackluster compared to the songwriter’s original version (sorry again, Dave). Costello has a biting, sardonic vocal presence that Edmunds misses in the interpretation. His voice has a sweetness that somehow gets in the way of the intention of such poke-you-with-a-stick lines as:
“Don't come any closer, don't come any nearer
my vision of you can't get any clearer.”
Edmunds’ musical bed (the mix of guitars, drum, bass, and keys) is a bit grittier than his vocals and when he started singing it surprised me. Like I said I don’t know his work very well. I’m open to suggestions on what I should listen to that might make me a Dave Edmunds fan. Girls Talk didn't quite get me.
Then, of course, we have Linda Ronstadt’s version, which I really like a lot. Yes, her voice is sweet but she made the song about her with slight lyric deviations and I bought it. It worked. She convinced me. She’s clearly not punk or new wave just as she wasn’t really a 40’s torch singer or a Mariachi or Rancheros singer. But she can take a song like this and make it her own. She is simply a fantastic interpreter of song and style…like Sinatra.
I’m just glad Frank didn’t attempt a version of “Girls Talk”…although the Chairman Of The Board might have been able to pull it off.
As Brad showed with "I Hear You Knockin", I bet you're familiar with more of Dave's work than you think. "Crawling From The Wreckage" (Graham Parker), "From Small Things (Big Things Come)" (Bruce Springsteen), "Almost Saturday Night" (John Fogerty), "Slipping Away" (Jeff Lynne) and "Information" (Edmunds) all got pretty decent airplay. As you can probably tell, Dave's known more for recording other people's songs than his own - he's got a good rockabilly voice and plays a great guitar. The three LP's I feel represent prime Dave are "Get It", "Repeat When Necessary", and "D.E. 7th" - you can't go wrong with any of those, in my opinion (although be warned - one of them contains "Girls Talk"!). And I would be remiss if I didn't mention one of my other fave tunes: "Baby Ride Easy", a duet he did with Carlene Carter on her "Musical Shapes" LP.
Dave also recorded a number of songs before other, more commercially successful versions, like "I Knew The Bride When She Used To Rock & Roll" (a faster version than the one later released by Nick Lowe), and "Queen of Hearts" (recorded before Juice Newton had a hit with it). And, if you like NRBQ, he's also covered two of their tunes: "Never Take The Place of You" and "Me and The Boys".
Tom, I love getting introduced to an artist's work that I am unfamiliar with when it comes from someone who is a huge fan of that artist and can articulate why.
I love Dave's choices of songs written by other artists. especially Jeff Lynn and Graham Parker. The ones you gave me to listen to were really quite good. I like his rockabilly vibe a lot. I'll keep digging around the Edmunds treasure chest for more nuggets. He's clearly very talented. Thanks, Tom. Rock on!!!
Great comment, Stephen! Thanks! Readers, you heard your assignment: Offer Stephen some Edmunds tracks you'd recommend. Stephen, you might know of Dave's "I Hear You Knocking," an unlikely #4 US hit for him (#1 in UK) in 1970/71. Not my fave, as I'm not a huge rockabilly fan. But, it's clear Dave is a crack producer who's also certainly a student of rock history, and a nimble enough musician to create genre-spanning productions!
I knew you dug Elvis, Stephen, and I, too, have been in awe of his talent (and his SICK wordplay!) since Day 1. My fave line in this song is "You may not be an old-fashioned girl, but you're gonna get dated." To set up (and craft a suitable delivery/punch line) a deliciously groan-inducing pun like that takes a shrewd mind!
And, his use of homonyms is rare, rhyming his "hear" with the homonymically appropriate "here," with a call-back to his "hear" in the second line by using its aural organ ("ear") in the fourth! As a wordsmith myself who is dwarfed by EC's towering talent, his gift alternately astounds and confounds me!!!
"But I can't say
The words you want to hear
I suppose you're gonna have to
Play it by ear, right here""
As for Linda, I have grown to really enjoy her cover over the decades, after having been one to have chuckled, if not guffawed, at her nerve 42 years ago of "daring to tread" where my "hip" punker friends and I thought she trespassed, unauthorized! Hey, I was younger then! I also had a chance, this week, to really lean into Asher's production, including picking up those castanets, which was such an unexpected pleasure! Don't recall hearing those in '80!
But, you're so spot on about her superior musical dexterity. In fact, something I read while researching was that "Mad Love"s material lent itself, positively, to her strength, and allowed her to stretch out and really belt, instead of do her typical ballad readings which made her famous.
As for your Frank comment (see what I did there?) about "Ole Blue Eyes," interpretation was his strong suit (as was his traditional black tux!😊), and while likely pronouncing it in his Joisey-ese, "Goils Tawk," he'd-a scored a win with his take, I guarantee. After all, he wan't called The Chairman of the Bored!😎
Yes, I remember “I hear you knocking” and I actually really like that version of the song that Dave Edmunds did. I didn’t realize that was him. Love the slide guitar work on that production. But nobody can compare, in my opinion to fats domino‘s version.
An added note is the writer of that song, is also named Dave… Dave Bartholomew. A very creative and interesting person who is responsible for a lot of the work with Fats Domino including “ain’t that a shame”, “Blueberry Hill””Walk-in To New Orleans” and many others. Bartholomew recently died at the old age of 100. “Ain’t that a shame!!
No, that’s a life well lived !!!
I have to leave you with one of my favorite Elvis Costello lyrics. It’s from one of my favorite songs, “All The Rage”
“So don't try to touch my heart, it's darker than you think
And don't try to read my mind because it's full of disappearing ink”
I wish I had written that one!!
Ok, I got close with this one from my song, “THE LAST SONG” about writers block.
“It’s so hard to be patient without a guarantee.
My closest friend is my fountain pen but he’s run out on me”
Excellent! Diggin' the fountain pen riff! Good Elvis line I wasn't aware of. That's quite a legacy Bartholomew left behind; I would do well to get a peek of his life and work. Thanks for bringing him up.
Stephen, if you haven't discovered Matt Springer's Elvis-centric 'Stack, "That Fatal Mailing List," you and other Costello fans might want to take a look and subscribe (as I do)!
He's at https://tfml.substack.com/ and, as he says, TFML is "a regularly-scheduled publication devoted primarily to exploring the songs of Elvis Costello, one at a time, in random order. And there’s other EC stuff as well."😎✌
And in October of this year, nearly 40 years since the album was released, Costello - by now, of course, an elder in transatlantic singer-songwriting circles - admitted as much. He began an essay he wrote about Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice thusly: "In very different times, my reaction to having my songs recorded by other singers was downright suspicious, territorial and, at times even a little hostile. To say the least, I lacked grace.”
Cool article, diving into a scene that included many of my favorite artists of that era. I had the luck to catch some of them (Nick Lowe, Graham Parker, Aynsley Dunbar) when they made a swing through California back in the mid 80's. They weren't using the Rockpile or Rumour name but just touring under their own names. Bunch of us found out by accident that they were converging in a tiny venue in Santa Cruz, and on impulse we just went. It was a phenomenal evening for sure. Would have loved it if Edmunds had been there. He was as emblematic of that sound as any of them--straddling punk and new wave on a classic rock foundation.
Thanks for the cool anecdote, Charles! I met Aynsley about a decade+ before you saw him! He was with a pre-Perry Journey circa '75, and their 1st Columbia album. I was at the U of Houston radio station, and well, they gave me a present!.........here's the story: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/behind-the-mic-a-personal-peek-into
I was into Nick, Elvis and that whole scene, late '70s, but researching this piece, and spending more time listening to Dave, I've developed a whole new appreciation for his talent...songwriting, producing, and arranging! You're spot on about him being a kingpin of the movement, but more than that, he helped "grandfather" (if you will) the kids into a direction that was more grounded in trad rock'n'roll, and not just all blather, spitting, and safety pins!
Whether you do it here or at home, I'll be dropping a new GROW BIGGER EARS Sat (9/10) at 9am CT, and if you're game, it might be fun to take a stab at which songs I chose! The 5-song Playlist will be focused (hee-hee) on "eyes," with songs all featuring that word in their titles! It'll be a sight for sore ears! Hint: Alan Parsons Project just missed the cut with their, "Eye in the Sky" (and not because "eye" was singular)! Thanks again, Charles, and stay tuned!🎼🎶🎵😊👍
Oh, man, so many threads here. I have the first two Journey albums, but I didn't like the direction they were headed with "Next" and then they really lost me when they hired Perry. Not a fan of him or the sonic direction they took after he joined, though I do think Neal Schon is one of the great underrated guitarists ever (way better than Santana, IMO). I would have loved an all-instrumental Journey--they had the chops to do it. Agreed, the stuff that stands the test of time has to be grounded in something, and classic rock is fertile ground. I think the best New Wave drew on rock, punk, disco and emergent electronica. Re. "eyes", gotta say, I didn't have to think about it: Kim Carnes' version of "Bette Davis Eyes".
I think Columbia got tired of Journey 1.0 being Weather Report 2.0, and it was "Gimme some hits, guys! And, what's with the meandering 6-minute songs?" Journey became my favorite band on which to dump most of my record biz loathing (Bon Jovi's the other, which leads me to refer to this phenomenon as Bon Journey)....radio played them ad infinitum, hence sales skyrocketed, leading John and Jane Q. Record-Buying Public to equate multi-million dollar sales with stellar musicianship.
Which is fine, we can have that debate (no question Schon is a beast), but at the other end of the "I beg your pardon" spectrum is the logical (however misguided) extension of, "Gee, Stephen Michael Schwartz only sold 15,000 copies of his '74 debut RCA album, and nobody's heard of Starjets or (outside of Australia, despite worldwide Sire Records release) Taxiride (1999)...I guess they're not any good!" Nothing could be further from the truth, yet that's the prevailing perception amongst the public!
Which is why I proudly fly the flag of the unheard, unsung, and under-sung---see my many "Audio Autopsy" series posts, with each of the above 3 featured...all three, BTW, include exclusive interviews with the artists themselves available nowhere else! Starjets' Paul Bowen and Taxiride's Jason Singh were both kind and generous enough to give me lots of time and info (on FB DM) to answer my Qs, and give me exclusive material!
I find it hard to believe Steve Perry or Bon Jon Bovi would give me the time of day, much less tell me what day it was!!
And, of course, as YOU know, Stephen has been providing astounding, first-hand accounts of his '70s days in and amongst the greatest in the '70s and '80s rock biz on FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE since February!
Didn't mean to lapse suddenly into shameless self-promotion, but once I get started........!
As for GROW BIGGER EARS and our "Eyes" post for tomorrow morning, certainly Kim made the original long list of what was whittled to five. But, if you check my past GBE posts (and see my paragraphic rants above!) you'll detect a marked disdain for the obvious, with an eye toward (again) avoiding the billion-dollar-selling artists who need no help from me, and spotlighting artists for whom airplay back in the day was as rare as oxygen on Pluto (or any other Disney character)!
Plus, I call my Playlists "Power Pop Playlists," and while not every song will be specifically in that sub-genre, it signals my desire for dynamic, melodic, harmony-filled tuneage, generally speaking. And, while Kim did a marvelous job with "BDE," it...well, it just didn't make the cut! BTW, Kim worked the sessions for, and sang back-up on, Stephen's RCA album, and can be heard on his "Get it Up For Love" track, featured last week here: https://bradkyle.substack.com/p/inside-tracks-3-ned-doheny-get-it
Wow, you were saying something about a lot of threads?!? Whew!!!😎👍
Wow, lots there. First, my suggestion of Kim Carnes notwithstanding, I am completely with you re. focusing on the artists who don't get any airplay--or oxygen--here. In my case, the Sisyphian strategy is to focus mainly on foreign acts. Eastern European rock bands, Dutch opera singers, Scandinavian symphonic rock, Japanese metal, punk and jazz, and so on. I'm involved with some promoters working to bring Japanese bands to the U.S., and I've discovered that not only do the US music press actively refuse to cover these acts, but Uncle Sam is in on the game. The U.S. music mafia are more protected than the steel industry. Getting visas for foreign artists is a nightmare, and DHS seem to have a laser-sharp focus on fucking them over. I know of one band that had to cancel their appearance at a big rock festival here because their guitarist had more picks in his luggage than was listed on their travel manifest. But, as they say, I persist. BTW, completely share your love of melody and harmony--so even the metal I listen to is melodic and even beautiful. I'm probably more partial to the "power" and less to the "pop", but you may find some artists in my previous posts who fill the bill for you--I would be happy if you find a favorite or two and run with them. Check this out--they put Journey and Foreigner to shame: https://zapatosjam.substack.com/p/international-womens-day-the-greatest-22-03-08
I am a big fan of your ‘inside track’ articles, by the way! I love hearing the history of particular songs and the many iterations they’ve taken through the years
Wow! Really appreciate THAT, Steve.....thanks! We all can get all those little heart-y "likes," but it's helpful and cool to get a specifically-worded Like!! I've got a couple "IT"s already in the Q that I can't wait to plumb the depths of!
No titles or artists will I share, but a hint I can give you is that one song (original + 2 covers) starts out as a rocker by a UK rock band in '78, and quickly takes a teen boy pop turn, and then a female disco-diva raver....all within the span of ONE year!! A scream!
Thanks again, Steve, for your enthusiasm, support, and kind words....as always, stay tuned!😉
I hadn’t heard the Ronstadt version before, which is great. I am unsure if I heard Costello‘s version or Edmunds’ version first, but I know that I’ve played Elvis‘s version a lot more. From all accounts, he was definitely a bit of -- more than a bit of -- a jerk back then; he would probably agree with that assessment. He does seem very humble and musician supporting through his last couple decades.
I think all that's an accurate assessment. I think, in the day, Elvis probably thought he ought to be a bit of a jerk, to, if nothing else, "prove" he was holding up the bad boy punk ethos, especially because he looked so dorky! So much so, he made Donnie Iris look positively suave and sophisticated! Linda was smart to hire Peter Asher to produce, and get musicians with "new-wavey" cred to accompany!
I first heard Dave Edmunds during the early days of MTV. "Slipping Away" got a decent amount of airplay, and I like the music and the cars (had I been a little older, the woman in the video would've had my attention as well!). Nick Lowe soon followed with "Cruel to be Kind." I came into Rockpile, Costello, Graham Parker and the rest in that same orbit a few years later.
It's already been mentioned here, but I'll second the recommendation to check out Lowe's "I Knew the Bride When She used to Rock and Roll."
Brad, I loved this latest “Inside Tracks” article especially because it puts a spotlight on, in my humble opinion, one of the most innovative and daring songwriters in the history of rock music, Elvis Costello. Girls Talk is not my favorite Elvis Costello song but I see why it gets attention and gets covered. It’s well crafted in Costello’s inimitable style. Next to Dylan and Lennon I don’t know a better lyric writer.
I must confess and I’m sure this will put me in the penalty box with many of your readers but I am not familiar with Dave Edmunds music or his career. I've heard of him and Nick Lowe of course but never really sought out the music. This was my first rodeo with Dave thanks Inside Tracks.
I will say that his cover (sorry Dave) of Elvis’s Girls Talk is, for me, a bit lackluster compared to the songwriter’s original version (sorry again, Dave). Costello has a biting, sardonic vocal presence that Edmunds misses in the interpretation. His voice has a sweetness that somehow gets in the way of the intention of such poke-you-with-a-stick lines as:
“Don't come any closer, don't come any nearer
my vision of you can't get any clearer.”
Edmunds’ musical bed (the mix of guitars, drum, bass, and keys) is a bit grittier than his vocals and when he started singing it surprised me. Like I said I don’t know his work very well. I’m open to suggestions on what I should listen to that might make me a Dave Edmunds fan. Girls Talk didn't quite get me.
Then, of course, we have Linda Ronstadt’s version, which I really like a lot. Yes, her voice is sweet but she made the song about her with slight lyric deviations and I bought it. It worked. She convinced me. She’s clearly not punk or new wave just as she wasn’t really a 40’s torch singer or a Mariachi or Rancheros singer. But she can take a song like this and make it her own. She is simply a fantastic interpreter of song and style…like Sinatra.
I’m just glad Frank didn’t attempt a version of “Girls Talk”…although the Chairman Of The Board might have been able to pull it off.
As Brad showed with "I Hear You Knockin", I bet you're familiar with more of Dave's work than you think. "Crawling From The Wreckage" (Graham Parker), "From Small Things (Big Things Come)" (Bruce Springsteen), "Almost Saturday Night" (John Fogerty), "Slipping Away" (Jeff Lynne) and "Information" (Edmunds) all got pretty decent airplay. As you can probably tell, Dave's known more for recording other people's songs than his own - he's got a good rockabilly voice and plays a great guitar. The three LP's I feel represent prime Dave are "Get It", "Repeat When Necessary", and "D.E. 7th" - you can't go wrong with any of those, in my opinion (although be warned - one of them contains "Girls Talk"!). And I would be remiss if I didn't mention one of my other fave tunes: "Baby Ride Easy", a duet he did with Carlene Carter on her "Musical Shapes" LP.
Dave also recorded a number of songs before other, more commercially successful versions, like "I Knew The Bride When She Used To Rock & Roll" (a faster version than the one later released by Nick Lowe), and "Queen of Hearts" (recorded before Juice Newton had a hit with it). And, if you like NRBQ, he's also covered two of their tunes: "Never Take The Place of You" and "Me and The Boys".
Dig in and enjoy!
Thanks, Tom! Great to hear from you, and I know Stephen will appreciate the new tunes to unearth....quite a few are new to me, too! Thanks again!
Tom, I love getting introduced to an artist's work that I am unfamiliar with when it comes from someone who is a huge fan of that artist and can articulate why.
I love Dave's choices of songs written by other artists. especially Jeff Lynn and Graham Parker. The ones you gave me to listen to were really quite good. I like his rockabilly vibe a lot. I'll keep digging around the Edmunds treasure chest for more nuggets. He's clearly very talented. Thanks, Tom. Rock on!!!
Great comment, Stephen! Thanks! Readers, you heard your assignment: Offer Stephen some Edmunds tracks you'd recommend. Stephen, you might know of Dave's "I Hear You Knocking," an unlikely #4 US hit for him (#1 in UK) in 1970/71. Not my fave, as I'm not a huge rockabilly fan. But, it's clear Dave is a crack producer who's also certainly a student of rock history, and a nimble enough musician to create genre-spanning productions!
I knew you dug Elvis, Stephen, and I, too, have been in awe of his talent (and his SICK wordplay!) since Day 1. My fave line in this song is "You may not be an old-fashioned girl, but you're gonna get dated." To set up (and craft a suitable delivery/punch line) a deliciously groan-inducing pun like that takes a shrewd mind!
And, his use of homonyms is rare, rhyming his "hear" with the homonymically appropriate "here," with a call-back to his "hear" in the second line by using its aural organ ("ear") in the fourth! As a wordsmith myself who is dwarfed by EC's towering talent, his gift alternately astounds and confounds me!!!
"But I can't say
The words you want to hear
I suppose you're gonna have to
Play it by ear, right here""
As for Linda, I have grown to really enjoy her cover over the decades, after having been one to have chuckled, if not guffawed, at her nerve 42 years ago of "daring to tread" where my "hip" punker friends and I thought she trespassed, unauthorized! Hey, I was younger then! I also had a chance, this week, to really lean into Asher's production, including picking up those castanets, which was such an unexpected pleasure! Don't recall hearing those in '80!
But, you're so spot on about her superior musical dexterity. In fact, something I read while researching was that "Mad Love"s material lent itself, positively, to her strength, and allowed her to stretch out and really belt, instead of do her typical ballad readings which made her famous.
As for your Frank comment (see what I did there?) about "Ole Blue Eyes," interpretation was his strong suit (as was his traditional black tux!😊), and while likely pronouncing it in his Joisey-ese, "Goils Tawk," he'd-a scored a win with his take, I guarantee. After all, he wan't called The Chairman of the Bored!😎
Brad, your “bored” pun made me laugh.
Yes, I remember “I hear you knocking” and I actually really like that version of the song that Dave Edmunds did. I didn’t realize that was him. Love the slide guitar work on that production. But nobody can compare, in my opinion to fats domino‘s version.
An added note is the writer of that song, is also named Dave… Dave Bartholomew. A very creative and interesting person who is responsible for a lot of the work with Fats Domino including “ain’t that a shame”, “Blueberry Hill””Walk-in To New Orleans” and many others. Bartholomew recently died at the old age of 100. “Ain’t that a shame!!
No, that’s a life well lived !!!
I have to leave you with one of my favorite Elvis Costello lyrics. It’s from one of my favorite songs, “All The Rage”
“So don't try to touch my heart, it's darker than you think
And don't try to read my mind because it's full of disappearing ink”
I wish I had written that one!!
Ok, I got close with this one from my song, “THE LAST SONG” about writers block.
“It’s so hard to be patient without a guarantee.
My closest friend is my fountain pen but he’s run out on me”
♥️ Stephen
I
Excellent! Diggin' the fountain pen riff! Good Elvis line I wasn't aware of. That's quite a legacy Bartholomew left behind; I would do well to get a peek of his life and work. Thanks for bringing him up.
Stephen, if you haven't discovered Matt Springer's Elvis-centric 'Stack, "That Fatal Mailing List," you and other Costello fans might want to take a look and subscribe (as I do)!
He's at https://tfml.substack.com/ and, as he says, TFML is "a regularly-scheduled publication devoted primarily to exploring the songs of Elvis Costello, one at a time, in random order. And there’s other EC stuff as well."😎✌
Thank you for the tip. I will check TFML out.
TTFN...SMS
And in October of this year, nearly 40 years since the album was released, Costello - by now, of course, an elder in transatlantic singer-songwriting circles - admitted as much. He began an essay he wrote about Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice thusly: "In very different times, my reaction to having my songs recorded by other singers was downright suspicious, territorial and, at times even a little hostile. To say the least, I lacked grace.”