Listen: Girls Talk / Dave Edmunds DaveEdmundsGirlsTalk.mp3

And there are some things you can’t cover up with fancy production and expensive marketing campaigns. Like a bad song. Not the case here.

I was a Love Sculpture fan, followed Dave Edmunds Rockpile, and was as surprised as the next guy when ‘I Hear You Knocking’ became a US hit. I liked a bunch of those ’73 – ’74 singles too, when he dropped the Rockpile tag, ‘Born To Be With You’ a particular gem.

Then that whole Dave Edmunds / Nick Lowe partnership, also called Rockpile (sometimes) often resulted in soundalike singles and albums released way too frequently, and my interest drifted more often than not. But when these guys recorded a scorcher, regardless of who’s name it was issued under, there was no competing. ‘Girls Talk’ case in point.

Listen: Get Down / Gilbert O’ Sullivan GilbertGetDown.mp3

One of the enthralling things about the music business: your luck can change on a dime. That of course can be good and bad. But hey, life’s a crap shoot so may as well drive in the fast lane.

Type cast as a ballad/soft pop staple, Gilbert O’ Sullivan’s luck changed when he took a chance and basically rock and rolled out. I remember this one getting rock radio play. Suddenly he was cool. Well, after all, he was on MAM, London’s imprint famous for Dave Edmunds’ Rockpile. So by my standards, he already had an out of jail free card. The electric piano made for a nice groove, almost Stevie Wonder-ish. Years later, Ben Folds Five could pull this out and make it work.

One of life’s guilty pleasures.