This one took no thinking: Get It by Dave Edmunds, released in 1977. Dave is not much of a songwriter, so all his albums contain lots of songs written by others. That might sound like a major shortcoming, but Dave regularly delivered versions of songs better than the originals (compare his blistering hot Rockabilly re-imagining of "I Hear You Knocking" to the original Blues by Smiley Lewis). His recording of the classic song "Queen Of Hearts" (written by his good friend Hank Devito) was the first to appear on record, and is (imo) far superior to the cover version by Juice Newton
His 1972 debut solo album Rockpile (the album title, though he later used it as the name of his group with Nick Lowe, Billy Bremner, and Terry Williams) and it’s 1975 follow-up Subtle As A Flying Mallet are also fantastic, but on those two albums he plays and sings almost all the parts (recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales). On the Get It album Dave is provided accompaniment by Nick Lowe, Terry Williams, Billy Rankin (drummer in Nick Lowe’s early group Brinsley Schwarz), and Bob Andrews and Steve Goulding of Graham Parker’s backing band.
Get It was the first album I heard from Edmunds, after reading a story on him (and The Dwight Twilley Band) in 1977 in Bomp!, the great Rock ’n’ Rock fanzine written and published by Greg Shaw. After hearing the album, I searched out his first two albums, and was blown away. I had tuned out most Rock music in the early-1970’s (Led Zeppelin? Black Sabbath? Aerosmith? The Doobie Brothers? Queen? David Bowie? Pink Floyd? ELP? Deep Purple? The Moody Blues? Alice Cooper? Heart? Boston? Santana? Chicago? OMG, Kiss?! Uh, no thanks.), and had set out on a journey to discover the roots of Rock ’n’ Roll, following the breadcrumbs back to the Hillbilly and Jump Blues music the original Rockabillies had combined to create the music I DID love.
I had also been hired to play drums in a Jump Blues/Swing Band that performed around the Bay Area and down to Monterey. A white male singer, a black female singer, a guitarist (a Gibson ES-175), a pianist (upright acoustic. Weighed a ton!), a bassist (a Fender Telecaster, basically a copy of the original 1950’s P-Bass), two sax players (tenor and baritone), and my Gretsch kit with a 26" bass drum.
On Get It, Dave performs songs either written or already recorded by:
- Nick Lowe ("I Knew The Bride")
- Bob Seger ("Get Out Of Denver"). Dave’s version leaves Bob’s in the dust.
- Graham Parker ("Back To Schooldays" transformed into Rockabilly)
- Rodgers & Hart (a dreamy version of "Where Or When")
- Lolly Vegas---of the Native American band Redbone ("Ju Ju Man")
- Bob Kelly (who?)---("Get It") A new Rockabilly classic.
- Otis Blackwell ("Let’s Talk About Us", originally by Jerry Lee Lewis). Blackwell also wrote "Fever", "All Shook Up", "Don’t Be Cruel", "Return To Sender", "Great Balls Of Fire", "Breathless", and "Handyman", to name just a few. Wow.
- Hank Williams ("Hey Good Lookin’"). This version really displays the Hillbilly influence in Rockabilly music.
- Another by Nick Lowe ("What Did I Do Last Night")
- Arthur Crudup ("My Baby Left Me"). One of Elvis’ Sun Records singles. An amazing recreation, with killer slap-back echo.
- Plus a coupla songs credited to Dave and Nick Lowe ("Here Comes The Weekend"--- 1:59 of pure Everly Brothers-style music, and "Little Darlin’", full of acoustic guitars and sweet harmonizing)
- And lastly one song credited to Dave alone ("Worn Out Suit, Brand New Pockets"). A gen-u-ine Country & Western classic.
Get It is in my Top 10 all-time favorite albums list, and if you haven’t yet heard it, used copies are plentiful and cheap. On Swan Song Records, Dave personally signed by Robert Plant, who was a big fan of Dave’s. Dave is now retired and back home in Wales, turning 81 in April. Thanks for all the great music Dave.
