Saturday, December 9, 2023

The 1980 Listening Post - Roll-Ups, Low Dives for Highballs

 1980 Housekeeping

Roll Ups

Low Dives for Highballs

Genre: Power Pop Rock

4 out of 5



Highlights:

Blackmail

Last Night

Where’s the Money

Sammy


Pitifully little about this record of tight little rockers that eschew that 70s New York Pop Rock inflected sound. With delicious harmonies and interesting melodies, hooks a plenty as well.


Here’s what was written about this band on Rate Your Music: “Just another one of those stories that makes you understand why the music biz deserves to die an agonizing death. The Roll-Ups formed in the early 70s, kept getting dicked around by labels until finally recording their debut in 1979 - and then that debut never got released until 2005. Yes, you read that right. 26 years,. That's a long time to wait, and naturally this album of punky power pop (with a Cockney accent) couldn't live up to any fanboy shouts proclaiming it a lost classic - but what ever does? It wouldn't have changed the world in 1979, and it didn't make a dent in 2005, but it's rocking my living room right now. And really, that's enough.”



To me, they sound like an American version of The Boomtown Rats (“Last Night”) and, at times, Supertramp (“Where’s the Money”) and all the skinny tiers. 


Songwriter/Lead Singer Lea Hart would go on to replace Dave (Flogging Molly) King in Fastway


Damn shame that no one heard this thing in 1980. It was a great example of the genre. 


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtClWkifruI


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