Stylus Over Substance (Volume 1) - Les Dudek, Bay City Rollers, Smith, The Inmates & Sniff n' the Tears

A new year and the whole Five for Fighting thing was fun but it's run it's course. I still like the idea of shorter blurbs so I'll do the same thing with a different name and see how it goes. After all who doesn't love it  when you repackage the same old shit and give it a new name? Given the volume of stuff I have on my desk I may end up doing this more often ... or not. 

Let's under promise and over deliver.

• Les Dudek - Les Dudek (1976)
• Bay City Rollers - Bay City Rollers (1975)
• Smith - A Group Called Smith (1969)
• The Inmates - First Offence (1979)
• Sniff n' the Tears - Fickle Heart (1978)
  

Les Dudek - Les Dudek (1976) The dollar bin giveth, and the dollar bin taketh away. Today it was in a giving mood, and I stumbled upon cover that just screamed "LOOK AT ME!" Good lord, who doesn't want to hear an album where the guy is playing a wicked looking Gibson Goldtop with P90s that had a parrot perched on the headstock? What sealed it was a scan of the back cover, where the musicians were listed. This was back in '76 and Jeff Porcaro, David Hungate and David Paich were all over this. Heck even David Foster played the Fender-Rhodes on a track. With the whole thing being produced by Boz Scaggs. The latter wasn't a draw for me to be honest as I was never really much into Boz, but there's no denying what the guy could do.

I figured I give the album a spin before doing any digging, and the first time through it was a bit of southern rock and some bluesy rock with a little extra spank on the rhythm guitar. Les knew his way around a a guitar, as his work was really tasty, and my his slide work divine and right in the pocket. I figured it was worth looking the guy up, and some of those Allman Brothers type riffs made sense as he had spent some time playing with them. Notably on "Ramblin' Man" and then there's a whole page dedicated to their instrumental "Jessica" where there's an ongoing debate as to how much credit, if any is due to Mr. Dudek.

Still, with respect to this here effort, and this one is really a grower. I've spun this a few times now, and each time it just gets a bit better. One track that really blows my mind is the instrumental "Don't Stop Now" that's a weird discoesque jazz fusion thing that is crazy - heck there's even a lyracon. Not to mention stellar drum work by Mr. Porcaro. The drums on this album are just awesome. A gut punch with the kick, and the snare is fat and hard. Hard to imagine this is 1976 as this drum sound is so crisp. It's kind of tempting to go through the songs and give a little nod as there is really a lot to digest. The great thing about Les' playing is that he's not trying to play all the notes at once, he'll bend and sustain a note rather than try and bury the listener in a flurry on unnecessary business. As a singer, Les is an amazing guitar player. This isn't to say he's not a good singer, he knows his lane, and he actually packs an emotional wallop when he's in the zone like on the mid-tempo burner "Each Morning" that closes out the first side. That is a great song. "What a Sacrifice" closes out the album, and yes it is the same "Sacrifice" that appears on Steve Miller's 1977 album Book of Dreams. Les plays lead on both versions.

Too bad my dollar record had so many clicks and pops. Thankfully this one is out there to stream if you're so inclined.

Bay City Rollers - Bay City Rollers (1975) This was the North American debut released in 1975 that unleashed the tartan wave across the pond. The band had already released three albums in the UK in quick succession, and was building up an audience. Clive Davis who was now heading up Arista records actively groomed the band and oversaw the compilation that would break the band wide open in North America and then the rest of the world. 

The songs were pure bubble gum, with a heaping dollop of '60s pop magic with the band covering songs like "Bye Bye Baby" and "Be My Baby" and putting their own spin on things. Of course this was loved by the girls and demonized by the boys. I wouldn't have been caught dead listening to this shit as a kid. Even though there was always a begrudging appreciation for "Saturday Night" I mean, that song was pretty bloody catchy. Still is.

Nostalgia is a weirdly wonderful thing. I find myself sitting here bobbing my head and tapping my foot. This was not meant to be anything but a good time, and to that end those five lads from Edinburgh delivered the goods. 

Smith - A Group Called Smith (1969) I picked this up because it looked like fun. There were no liner notes or anything, but I wasn't complaining as the vinyl and jacket looked really good and considering this was on Dunhill I assumed it was an original pressing. Not that it matters. I recognized some names on the back. Mainly Jimmie Haskell, who arranged the horns, and Bill Schnee who was one of the engineers. 

The album opened with "Let's Get Together" fronted by Gayle McCormick, which was a cover of the old Youngbloods classic "Get Together" and was a pretty cool version. The band had three vocalists, Jerry Carter, James Richard Cliburn and Gayle McCormick. The guys are really good singers and in just about any other setting they'd be killer vocalists, but it's Gayle McCormick who really stands out. "Tell Her No" another cover, this one written by Rod Agent for The Zombies is delivered in a voice that should be as well known as Janice Joplin. The first side closes out with "Baby, It's You" with vocals by Gayle and co-written by Burt Bacharach. This was a pretty big hit and went as far as number 5 on the US charts. I'd not heard it, but then again I've not heard of a lot of stuff. I'd not heard The Beatles version either, I have the album, but I can't remember their version. Go figure. 

The album was all covers, and the band managed to put their own spin on the songs which was good fun. If you're going to cover something make it your own. There were a couple of Stones songs that were well done, "Last Time" which was a scorcher, and "Let's Spend the Night Together" was decent. The guys were solid behind the mic and had the swagger you have to have if you're going to cover Mick and Keith. The album wisely closes with Gayle singing "I'll Hold Out My Hand" a mid-tempo song with a great horn arrangement (thank you Mr. Haskill) and the vocals are just sublime. Smith would release a follow up in 1970 and then Gayle McCormick would go solo. The album was good, but it was an album of covers, and there so many bands doing the same thing, Smith just got lost.

The Inmates - First Offence (1979) the iNMaTES rode that first wave of new wave back in '79 and along with a boatload of English imports were making a pretty big splash over here. A while back I had found a copy of this one in the dollar bin, but it was fairly beat to shit, so I passed ... and then lo and behold I was flipping the albums looking for treasures and it popped up again. Thinking it was the same copy I kept going, but something seemed different. I picked it up and sure enough it was a different copy, and bow howdy this one was pristine.

The big draw here was their cover of "Dirty Water" a song I probably heard maybe once or twice, but I really liked it and I never forgot it. The album leads off with the killer, and the rest of the album was a blend of classic party rock with hints of rockabilly and the guitar twang of Chuck Berry. The band may have been bundled up with the new wave acts, but they were a good old fashioned R&B infused rock and roll band who managed to have a foot in each camp. Love live rock and roll.

Sniff n' the Tears - Fickle Heart (1979) Yeah, this is the one with the song. "Driver's Seat" is as killer as it was back in '78. This has been an interesting experience as my first real exposure to the band was with their 1980 follow up, and I spent quite a bit of time listening to that one, and my recollection is that was a really solid album. This is the album that often gets smushed in with the disco nonsense that was dominating the landscape at the time. I suppose there is a sideways argument to be made that "Driver's Seat" was disco ... in the same way one can call Pringles potato chips. 

Regardless, this was a really solid album, and while I'll never be able to tell what my teenage self would have thought of the album, I can at least claim to have an affinity to the single. Paul Roberts had a really interesting way of writing and singing. It was quite different than so much of what was out there. He was also a pretty good artist as he did the cover painting. The album was produced by Luigi Salvoni who was also the band's drummer. Score one for the drummer, although it would appear that after the album dropped he would soon leave the band. Speaking of the band, the guitar playing duo of Mike Dyche and Loz Netto were the perfect foils for Paul's music. Those two were so tasty throughout the album, and would be the sonic core on the band's 1980 follow up The Game's Up.