Seconds of Pleasure

by

Rockpile

Edit

Rockpile was formed as a backing band for Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds' solo records and as an outlet for the two the hit the road and play live. Along with Billy Bremmer on guitar and Terry Williams on drums, the unit played on great albums like Lowe's Jesus Of Cool & Labour Of Lust and Edmunds' Tracks On Wax & Repeat When Necessary which were essentially Rockpile records. Seconds Of Pleasure is the only official release under the Rockpile moniker. The album kicks off with a great one-two punch. First is an ode to teenage lust "Teacher Teacher" and then moves into an old Joe Tex rave up "If Sugar Was As Sweet As You". The third song is "Heart", which is probably more familiar in its later incarnation as a slowed down reggae song on Lowe's Nick The Knife album, is a fast-paced power pop tune, which is superior to the remake. Other standout cuts include "When I Write The Book", "Play That Fast Thing", "Now & Always" and the humorous "A Knife & A Fork". The original album contained a bonus 45 with 4 Everly Brothers remakes and they are included as the last four tracks on the disk. The best of the four is "Crying In The Rain". This remastered version has a great crisp and clean sound as great production is what Mr. Lowe is known for. The set includes three live tracks, "Back to Schooldays" and "They Call It Rock" which are from a 1977 BBC radio session and "Crawling From The Wreckage" which is from the live album Concerts for The People of Kampuchea which has sadly never been released on CD. All three songs give a glimpse into the band's live prowess. Unfortunately after this album and a supporting tour, Rockpile never recorded as a unit or played live again. They only sporadically worked on Lowe & Edmunds' solo recordings. Too bad we couldn't have had a few more albums from this fine band.

To me, the highlight of this re-release of the 1980 vinyl LP is the inclusion of the 4 bonus tracks that originally comprised a 6-inch EP that accompanied early copies of this recording. Entitled "Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe Sing the Everly Brothers", these were such faithful and loving covers of songs by Don and Phil that I was saddened to lose my original copy in a house fire.

Inasmuch as this band (Edmunds, Lowe, Billy Bremner, Terry Williams), played together on virtually all of Dave and Nick's solo recordings from '77-'80, there are, IMHO, far better examples of Rockpile's output then what is otherwise found here. I suggest either Edmunds "Get it", "Tracks on Wax 4", and "Repeat When Necessary" or Lowe's "Pure Pop for Now People" (known in the UK as "Jesus of Cool").