The 1980 Listening Post - Rockpile - Rockpile

 Rockpile - Rockpile

#423

by Paul Zickler

October 1980

Rockpile

Seconds of Pleasure

Genre: Pub Rock     

Allen’s Rating: 5 out of 5

Paul’s Rating: 5

Highlights: 

Teacher Teacher

Play That Fast Thing (One More Time)

Wrong Again (Let’s Face It)

When I Write The Book

Fool Too Long

           

This is the only official release by these musicians under the name Rockpile, but of course it’s not the only album these musicians all worked together on. They’d been playing together for much of the previous decade, releasing records with Dave Edmunds’ or Nick Lowe’s name on them, touring as a band, even appearing at the Concerts for Kampuchea with Robert Plant on vocals. But this was the one that got the Rockpile name, which meant that Nick and Dave split time in the spotlight, alternating lead vocals on 10 tracks, with lead guitarist Billy Bremner picking up the other two (as well as some really tasty solos here and there). 

It could have come off sounding like half an album each by Lowe and Edmunds, but instead it hangs together as the work of an actual band, and a really good one at that. The songwriting is uniformly great of course. It helps to include some choice covers (Chuck Berry’s “Oh What a Thrill,” Joe Tex’s “If Sugar Was As Sweet As You,” and zydeco singer Rockin’ Sidney’s “You Ain’t Nothin’ But Fine”), to ask their buddies Difford & Tilbrook to kick in a song (the wonderfully infectious “Wrong Again (Let’s Face It)”) and to include guest writers on the catchy lead track, “Teacher Teacher” (Kenny Pickett and Eddie Phillips from the English band Creation).

The rest of the tunes are credited to the whole band, and really, there’s no filler. It’s all pure pop for now people (if you’re a Nick Lowe fan) or some really sweet tracks on wax (if you prefer Dave Edmunds). “Heart” sounds like an Elvis Costello B-side. “Now and Always” could easily be a latter day Everly Brothers tune. “Play That Fast Thing One More Time” lives up to its title, both in tempo and in repeatability. “Pet You and Hold You” has the audacity to sound even more like Squeeze than the Squeeze-written tune that precedes it. “When I Write the Book” and “Fool Too Long” are back to back slices of pop perfection. It’s all gold, people! 

And lest I forget, drummer Terry Williams is outstanding, as his work with Dire Straits clearly showed. Here he knows when to lay back and when to push the beat, finding a new wave groove on some tracks, a rockabilly shuffle on others, and a pub rock thump on the rest.  If you don’t already own this album, I’d recommend you remedy that fault. It’s goodtime music, well played and sung. It’ll put a smile on your face and get your toes tapping, and really, what more could you ask? 

https://open.spotify.com/album/6MbRBLPdl9IqLpTVgI2WEB?si=8YASZRR_Sa2nqUZgXGOZIw