Rockpile - Live at Rockplast

by Tommy Gunnarsson

published: 8 / 4 / 2014

Label: Repertoire Records
Format: CD

Appealing live CD/DVD recorded at a show in Germany in 1980 from Rockpile, the late 1970s/early 1980s supergroup of Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds

Review

On the back of a punk record from the late 70's (sadly, I can't remember which one), there is a line that says ”NOT produced by Nick Lowe”. This might seem like a weird thing to say, but Nick Lowe really seemed to be all over the place on the British punk/new wave scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was the in-house producer at legendary Stiff Records (and his solo debut single 'So It Goes' was the first release on that very label), where he helped spawn the careers of the Damned and Elvis Costello, and also produced records by the Pretenders, Dr Feelgood and Johnny Cash (he was married to Cash's daughter Carlene Carter in the 1980s). And before his successful career as a producer, he was a member of several bands, most notably Brinsley Schwarz (named after the band's guitarist), which helped launch the British pub rock movement in the mid 1970s. They recorded some really great songs, too, and I can recommend the compilation 'Surrender to the Rhythm' for a glimpse into their world. When Brinsley Schwarz broke up in 1974, Lowe and the band's latest producer, Dave Edmunds, continued working together, and put together a four-piece band called Rockpile, and even though they really recorded four albums together ('Second of Pleasure', Edmunds' 'Tracks on Wax 4' and 'Repeat When Necessary', and Lowe's 'Labour of Love'), only one of them, 'Second of Pleasure', was released under that name. The rest of the albums were released under either Lowe's or Edmunds' name, as they were both tied to their individual record contracts. When the aforementioned Rockpile album was released in 1980, the band was something of a supergroup in rock, and they toured extensively in Europe and the US (they earned a reputation as “the world's greatest opening act”) before disbanding in 1981. The concert on this release was originally broadcast on German TV show Rockpalast on January 12th 1980, and among the eighteen songs played we get to hear familiar tunes like 'I Knew the Bride', the aforementioned 'So It Goes', 'Girls Talk', 'Switchboard Susan' (made famous in Sweden by Per Gessle, of Roxette fame, and his former band Gyllene Tider, as 'Marie I Växeln') and 'Queen of Hearts'. When listening to this release (and watching the DVD) you can't help but notice the furious pace with which the band plays through their set. Just listen to 'I Knew the Bride', and you'll know what I mean... The audio quality on this album is quite good, and the DVD is not bad either. It's certainly not HD quality, but for me it's definitely watchable. I don't think you can expect a lot more from an almost 35 year old TV show. With that said, I think this CD/DVD package is for the already converted. If you have never heard of Rockpile before, I would recommend finding any of the four albums first.

Track Listing:-

1 Sweet Little Lisa
2 So It Goes
3 I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock And Roll)
4 Switchboard Susan
5 Crawling From The Wreckage
6 Trouble Boys
7 Girls Talk
8 Three Time Loser
9 Born Fighter
10 You'll Never Get Me Up In One Of Those
11 Promised Land
12 Queen Of Hearts
13 They Call It Rock
14 Juju Man
15 Singing The Blues
16 Let It Rock / Let's Talk About Us
17 Down Down Down (aka Feel Like I'm Goin' Down)