Ever heard Rockpile?

Of course I listened to Dave Edmunds’ Rockpile in the late 70’s! At that time I also had Nick Lowe’s Pure Pop For Now People LP on CBS -  a real gem! I went down to Greenwich Village to Bleeker Bob’s in the hopes of finding a UK pressing of Jesus of Cool - the British title. No luck there!

I actually like the Little Village album! 

 I have most of the mentioned titles, big fan of Dave back in the day.  He also produced the Stray Cats first album...

Switchboard Susan is a real rocker. Speaking of pub rock been doing some listening to Dr Feelgood lately, another band that could really rock.

+1..on liking the Little Village album!

I recall when "Crawling From the Wreckage" was an FM hit.

I guess I (and @slaw) need to give the Little Village album another spin! I loved them live.

@sns: Another Pub Rock album to give a listen to is Taxi To The Terminal Zone, produced by Dave Edmunds.

I'm a huge Rockpile fan and have seen them a number of times; got some great photos of them when they opened for Elvis Costello at Winterland in SF. Also recently been in contact with a fellow in England who puts out music under the name of 'Rockerati' and he sounds just like Rockpile, but playing different songs; he's such a big fan I sent him off some photos. 

@bdp24

I’ve listened to their studio stuff you’ve recommended in the past and to be honest, while I’ve recognized the talent, the music hasn’t really grabbed me. This live performance is more raw, direct and powerful. This I like!

I wish the studio recording was less polished.

@sns: Oops, I forget to include the fact that the Taxi To The Terminal Zone was an album by Ducks Deluxe.

I saw Rockpile live only once (at The Country Club on Sherman Way in Reseda California), and they were fantastic. Moon Martin was the opening act, and he and his band were also mighty fine.

Here’s a mildly amusing story, one probably sure to irritate poor ol’ rpeluso:

Sometime in the 90’s my woman presented me with a signed concert poster from the Rockpile show at The Hollywood Palladium, which I put away and quickly forgot about. When I moved from Palm Desert up to the Northwest in 2016 I of course had to pack up everything, and while doing so I came across the poster. What I saw came as a surprise, one that gave me a laugh. If you want to find out why, read on. rpeluso might want to stop here.

The poster also listed the opening act, which was Pearl Harbor & The Explosions. Pearl was a woman who entered show business as a dancer for The Tubes, the San Francisco band. She eventually started a band of her own, and got a record deal with Columbia Records. In England she was signed to Stiff Records, and she and her band spent a lot of time there, touring with all the UK Punk and New Wave bands. She met and eventually married Clash bassist Paul Simonon; it didn’t last.

After her deals expired, she sold her house in San Francisco, the proceeds of which enabled her to buy a cool Craftsman house in Los Angeles. In the early-2000’s I got a call from a guitarist I gigged with (we had both played on Evan Johns’ album Moontan), who told me he had received a call from Pearl. He had been recommended to her from someone whose opinion she valued, and she told him she was looking to put together a band to accompany her in her new musical direction. He asked me if I was interested. You bet!

He and I met her at a rehearsal studio in Hollywood, and though the meeting went well musically, my expectation was realized when she asked me if I minded cutting my hair (). As I said, I expected she wouldn’t go for my mop, which went halfway down my back. I said sure, no problem. Though I look like a hippie, I’m actually a greaser at heart. I went to the barber shop in Hollywood that she recommended (I hadn’t been in one since my senior year in high school), and asked the guy for a 1960’s Waylon Jennings hairdo. Pearl loved it! She didn’t ask me to cut off my sideburns. Good thing, as THAT I would not do.

Anyway, at that point I hadn’t seen the Rockpile poster in quite a while, and didn’t remember she was also listed on it. If I had, I woulda brought it to her house and had her sign it! By the way, Pearl is quite a dresser, and she had turned one of the bedrooms in her 2-bedroom house into a walk-in closet. It was full of those metal clothes racks on wheels you see in large department stores, and everyone one of them was stuffed full of vintage dresses, skirts, blouses, jackets and coats, etc. And she had decorated her house with 1950’s posters of burlesque dancers and strippers. Entering her house was like stepping into a Noir film! The guitarist and I regularly went to her house to work on material. I found a bass player, and Pearl a pianist. A few full band rehearsals, and we were ready to gig.

We debuted at The Lava Lounge on Sunset Blvd. in Hollywood, and the place was packed. Pearl introduced me to her friend PJ Harvey (she introduced her as Polly), who appeared to be just as sweet a girl as is Pearl (Pearl was a joy to be around). The band went nowhere, but it was fun while it lasted.

End of story, hope you enjoyed it. Oh, and my hair eventually grew back.

Another fan of Little Village.  Had it on the player just last night.  To paraphrase Ry, It might run cold for you, but it runs hot for Me.  😁

I have my original LP of Seconds of Pleasure, but also the CD version.  I was delighted that they chose to fill the unused space on the CD with a number of Edmunds/Lowe acoustic performances.  If you haven't listened to the extended CD, I highly recommend it.  Cheers.

@bdp24 

You should write a book about your life...and I'm not kidding. I would buy it.

Rockpile's show at the Hollywood Palladium was one of the best live performances I've ever seen.

I'm a huge Rockpile fan. Saw them live in Maryland late 70's with Blondie. Have seen Nick and Dave a number of times since. Terry Williams is a phenomenal drummer. 

I just had a flashback to college where I was introduced to Rockpile. Good thing I was sitting down. Great band and album. Love Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe. I saw Nick Lowe open for Elvis Costello last year. He sounded great after all these years.

I'm old, but not poor.  But still, nice to be remembered!

I found an old pressing of Nick Lowe's Pure Pop for Now People in my garage and it still sounds fantastic.  Took bad that one seems out of print.  It's a great album and much better than Lowe's Lust for Life..

Rockpile is great! If you like them, you should also check out Webb Wilder, who counts the members of Rockpile on his list of fans. A similar artist with some interesting offerings I recently stumbled upon is Leon Laudenbach. He's listed on Qobuz and has some offerings on YouTube. Webb Wilder is also well represented on both sites.

I would buy a copy of your book too, OP!!

Get on it ....

Maybe @bdp24 ‘s book could come with video links from his experiences.

😀

@bigboypete - 'Pure Pop For Now People' was originally released in England as 'Jesus of Cool', but they didn't think that would go down well in the US. I don't know if that's also out of print or not. 

I liked the idea of Rockpile more than I liked the actual band. After seeing them live, I’ve had the lasting impression that all their songs kinda sounded the same, and of a time, and now, rather dated.

@jaybe - I also think that most of their songs have a very similar sound, at least in a live setting; more variety on studio records. But I really like that sound a lot and love the songs that they write (or cover) in that genre.

I was not familiar with Rockpile. Good stuff!

Some comments on above posts:

@jasonbourne71: I shopped at Bleeker Bob’s when I briefly lived in New York (Flushing, Queens) in ’83. Quite an ornery fella! Later in the decade he opened a shop on Melrose Street in Los Angeles, and brought his orneriness with him.

I have two UK pressings of Nick’s Jesus Of Cool LP, one on Radar Records, the other on Demon. The covers are different from each other, the six pics of Nick on each having him playing different guitars and basses.

@bigtwin: The four acoustic performances of Dave and Nick included on the original CD of the Rockpile album were included on a 7" EP in the first pressing of the Rockpile LP (on F Beat Records in the UK, Columbia in the USA). The four songs aren’t random, they are all songs originally done by The Everly Brothers (Nick and Dave are huge fans of theirs. So am I). The EP has a picture cover, and is entitled Nick Lowe & Dave Edmunds Sing The Everly Brothers.

A later version of the CD was issued with not only those four songs, but an additional three live performances of other songs. The Rockpile album was reissued on Demon Records (UK), this version with a different cover and without the EP.

@dickieboy: I couldn’t agree more about Terry Williams---a fantastic drummer! I read an interview with either Nick or Dave (can’’t remember which), in which Nick or Dave made the point about Terry being a great Rock ’n’ Roll drummer. Playing Rock ’n’ Roll well is a talent not all drummers possess.

Speaking of Little Village, here they are on the Tonight Show:

https://youtu.be/vw1SCbpwnwE?si=cyKupoP6owh76E8o

 Speaking of Nick Lowe,   Nick Lowe and Los Straitjackets are doing 2 nights at Levon Helm studio in Woodstock in August.

I’ve seen the Straitjackets live only once, opening for Tom Petty. Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell is a fan, and arranged the gig for them. Straitjackets bassist Pete Curry is an old friend and former bandmate of mine, and he told me Mike came to their dressing room to ask if they had everything they needed and wanted, and a while later Tom opened the door, looked at them, and closed the door without saying a word. Weird.

Pete and I both liked Nick Lowe right away, but while I preferred his second album (Labour Of Lust) to his first (Jesus Of Cool), Pete felt the opposite. The second album has the full Rockpile membership playing, the first Nick’s old gang from Stiff Records. The Straitjackets serve as Nick’s band on his new album.

Solo stuff and Rockpile are great.