Friday, March 24, 2017

Nick and Dave Channel Phil and Don

In 1979 and 1980, Rockpile were on fire. Dave, Nick, Billy and Terry followed up albums 'Repeat When Necessary' and 'Labour of Lust' with 'Seconds of Pleasure,' the only official release under the Rockpile name. If you bought 'Seconds of Pleasure' early on, the album included the bonus four-song 7" "Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds Sing the Everly Brothers." All four lo-fi numbers were done with care and affection, and you can really feel the love for the Everlys in these performances.

Nick and Dave opened with the melancholy prison ballad "Take a Message to Mary," but they really got your toes tapping by the flip side. "Poor Jenny" has always been one of my all-time favorites. In 1959, Phil and Don burned through this thing like their lives depended on it. Did Nick and Dave find the energy to pull this one off? I think they did. "When Will I Be Loved?" is all about the harmonies, and the voices from both of these duos melt into each other beautifully.

It would be many years before I loved two voices together as much as Nick and Dave singing the Everly Brothers. I considered asking you to guess, but that's too cruel. When I discovered Mark Olson and Gary Louris singing together on the Jayhawks' album 'Hollywood Town Hall,' I knew I was listening to something special.

The Everly Brothers - "Take a Message to Mary"
The Everly Brothers - "Poor Jenny"
The Everly Brothers - "When Will I Be Loved?"

Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds - "Take a Message to Mary"
Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds - "Poor Jenny"
Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds - "When Will I Be Loved?"

5 comments:

FurryBootsCityBoy said...

I'd never heard of Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds' covers of the Everly Brothers so thanks for that.

My favourite ever recording of "When Will I Be Loved" by a bunch of English folk-rockers with Sandy Denny and Linda Peters (aka Linda Thompson, former wife of Richard Thompson) on vocals:


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

drew said...

Great stuff Brian

Brian said...

Right back at you, FurryBootsCityBoy. That was a really nice take by the ladies.

Charity Chic said...

Both Rockpile and the Jayhawks deserved to be bigger than they were

The Swede said...

A fine doff of the cap from Nick and Dave.