This is Edmunds second solo album, and, it is the paragon of his love for American music.
Edmunds never hid his love of American music and, importantly, given some of the music of his countrymen, he never tried to disguise it.
Even when he inserted English thematic concerns, he never suggested he was playing anything other than American rock ‘n’ roll and was happy to do so.
Other English (yes, okay, Edmunds is Welsh not English) acts add a little to the basic structure, put in some local references and think they have invented something new.
They haven’t.
It doesn’t mean the music isn’t any good but why the concern with “inventing” something.
Perhaps, because inventing gives the music some legitimacy?
Perhaps because they can’t accept that this was invented in the USA?
Perhaps because they aren’t happy the US had a revolution and overthrew the British?
Perhaps it is arrogance?
Who knows?
Well, the news is rock, and roll and rock, and rock and pop is American music.
Deal with it.
Any number of English journalists would have an issue with that but then again they can’t help themselves, the arrogance is deep rooted and long standing.
And this is perhaps why Dave Edmunds is not as well respected (he is respected but not “up there”) as he should be in the UK.
Old school rockers and Teddy Boys love him but they aren’t ashamed of their infatuation with American music and fashion either.
In a country which hasn’t had an mainstream popular identifiable musical genre this may be too much.
Classical music was Vienna and continental Europe generally, opera was Italy and France, Celtic music was Ireland, electronica was Germany and the continent, rock, jazz, modern folk, rap and country was the US …
Sure, England contributed to all those musics to varying degrees (especially when they are sung in English) but they had their origins elsewhere.
It’s a rub. They hate that because it shows up the roots of the music which they are often trying to downplay or hide.
And Edmunds music is a reminder of those roots (the roots he loves).
Look, it’s not hang-up for a lot of English musicians but it is something that annoys English journalists, the English music intelligentsia (if that’s not an oxymoron), and the pretentious and tedious Anglophiles.
Whilst his English countrymen (okay, did I say he is Welsh) just tweak the old to give everything a new look Edmunds doesn’t bother … he just adds his personality to the mix.
Sure the arguments against Edmunds run along the lines of: he is not adding anything new, why would I listen to his music when I can listen to the originals, he just does covers of oldies, his original songs sound like oldies etc.
All valid criticisms though they miss the point.
His recreations of classic rock ‘n’ roll songs is not so much an affectation but a constant dominant strain through all of his work.
His covers are so reverential and precise that they become, perhaps, redundant. Where he shines is where he takes the spirit of the old and adds it to the new.
And that seems to be the criticism of this album, an album of covers.
Everything is too similar to the originals.
This review from allmusic sums up the common opinion: “Taking the one-man band aesthetic to an extreme, Dave Edmunds recorded nearly all of his second album, Subtle as a Flying Mallet, on his own, hiring a bassist and a drummer for only a pair of tracks. Edmunds took several years to complete the record, probably because it took a considerable amount of effort to re-create these songs so thoroughly — he spends so much attention on detail that he refuses to change the sex on "Da Doo Ron Ron." Alternating between Spector classics, the Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, and a variety of R&B, country, and pop numbers, Edmunds hits on all the styles of the late '50s and early '60s, but he spends so much time on duplicating the sound that he sucks the joy out of the music; it is positively eerie to hear these songs performed by one man, who spent weeks overdubbing himself to sound like his own wall of sound. And the main problem with Subtle as a Flying Mallet is that these are not reinterpretations; they are re-creations, and there's little point in hearing a one-man version of rock classics if he offers no new ideas. When Edmunds works with obscure material, like the Chordettes' "Born to Be with You," or with newer items like Nick Lowe's "She's My Baby," the results are better, because the songs are less familiar, which makes his painstaking production exciting, but his isolation makes Subtle as a Flying Mallet sound less like a revival and more like a creepy science experiment”. https://www.allmusic.com/album/subtle-as-a-flying-mallet-mw0000036187
Valid, but not correct.
I concede that I’m a firm believer in “why see a new copy of the old when I can go to my turntable and put on the original”, but, I apply that to lacklustre covers or to acts who have dusted down and rewritten the old songs and passed it off as theirs.
Such musical dishonestly always leaves me bored.
And, importantly a lot of English musicians in the mid 1970s were revisiting and covering the American songs (or the sounds) that turned them on as kids. John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Roy Wood, Alvin Stardust, Gary Glitter, Mud, Showaddywaddy, Suzi Quatro (based in England), Alvin lee, Albert Lee were all faithful to or glamming the 50s, in their music at the time.
Their enthusiasm, for the most part, was honest.
Edmunds never made a secret of his love of the "rock 'n' roll" and it this and his personality and enthusiasm that makes the music shine.
He isn’t hiding his influences (check the album title again), but is becoming part of them.
He walks the line between Robert Gordon (a traditionalist) and John Fogerty (a new traditionalist) … and that’s not a bad place to be.
The music should be enjoyed for what it is, even if it has been done before, than what it should be.
And, to be fair, an often missed point is that, when this album was released a lot of these songs were hard to find in their original versions, so they wouldn’t have been as familiar as they are now. No internet you know.
Actually, some of the songs are still a little obscure … and if you haven’t heard the originals before then it is new music. Right?
In fact you could release this today and most people would still bang on about the songs being covered even though they haven’t heard the originals (until going on to youtube to compare the covers … like I did with a couple of tunes!)
Edmunds first solo album, “Rockpile”, was released in 1972 and this is an extension (and narrowing) of that. That album was a mix of old and new covers. Here, Edmunds sticks to the old (all bar one) but he genre hops all the dominant American sounds of the late 50s and early 60s: doo wop, rock n roll, R&B, country, girl group pop (!) (three of them!).
The songs seem to have been recorded over a three period with the live tracks recorded live in Cardiff with Brinsley Schwarz (who he was friends with and had produced in 1974). Two songs, "Let it Be me" and "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues" were used in the (great) David Essex film, "Stardust" (1975) and two were (UK charting) singles from 1973. So the album is even old school in its structure and harkens back to the 50s and 60s when they would collect all the loose ends from an pop artist and package them together on an album. That's not a problem here because Edmunds style has been remarkably consistent.
Edmunds production, and he is a good (great) producer, is a little murky throughout. It's as if he was trying to, not, recreate the sound of the songs themselves but recreate the sound of the songs if they were heard through a radio in the living room of some English terrace house.
This affects the songs adversely (too my ears) but some still shine and they are all listenable.
Do any of these tracks top the originals?
I don’t want to answer that but I can say that they do sound good, even when they fall short of the mark.
Produced and engineered by Dave Edmunds.
Side One
- Baby, I Love You – (Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry) – strangely underwhelming. The production is too murky and the voice too far back as if Edmunds didn't trust his vocal chords.
- Leave My Woman Alone – (Ray Charles) – this is more like it. A firm, fun rocker and cover of the Everly Brothers, with a touch of English 60s beat.
- Maybe – (Richard Barrett) – a ballad. Edmunds tries and this is quite good but a little flat, even though he has nailed the 50s sound of the original.
- Da Doo Ron Ron – (Spector, Greenwich, Barry) – Edmunds seems to do better with the upbeat tunes. This is fun.
- Let It Be Me – (Gilbert Bécaud, Mann Curtis, Pierre Delanoë) – a ballad that works
- No Money Down – (live) – (Chuck Berry) – excellent.
Side Two
- A Shot of Rhythm and Blues – (Terry Thompson) – a good version
- Billy the Kid – (arranged by Dave Edmunds) – Edmunds tackles this country song well in a way Albert Lee would, perhaps.
- Born to Be with You – (Don Robertson) – wall of sound, but not a very high wall. Still, it is pleasant.
- She's My Baby – (Nick Lowe) – a new song by Edmunds friend Lowe and a ballad done in the "old" style, naturally enough.
- I Ain't Never – (Mel Tillis, Webb Pierce) – a toe tapping country hoot.
- Let It Rock – (live) – (Berry) – I'm not sure what Dave knows about working in the sun in Alabama but he sings and plays the hell out of this song.
Song archaeology
- Baby, I Love You – (Phil Spector, Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry) – The Ronettes hit from 1963 (#24US, #1 UK). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby,_I_Love_You
- Leave My Woman Alone – (Ray Charles) – the Ray Charles song from 1956, also released on his influential “Yes Indeed!” album in 1958, this version owes more to The Everly Brothers as recorded by them for their 1958 debut, self-titled LP.
- Maybe – (Richard Barrett) – The Chantel’s hit from 1957 (#15US Pop, #2 R&B US) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maybe_(The_Chantels_song)
- Da Doo Ron Ron – (Spector, Greenwich, Barry) – The Crystals hit from 1963 (#3US , #5UK) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Doo_Ron_Ron
- Let It Be Me – (Gilbert Bécaud, Mann Curtis, Pierre Delanoë) – done by a lot of people byut The everly brothers 1960 hit (#7 US Pop) seems to be the inspiration here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Be_Me_(The_Everly_Brothers_song)
- No Money Down – (live) – (Chuck Berry) – Chuck’s great 1956 single (#8 US R&B) which was also included on his influential After Schoool session” album from 1957. It ahs been covered a lot including a version by Humble pie in 1974. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Money_Down_(Chuck_Berry_song)
-
A Shot of Rhythm and Blues – (Terry Thompson) – Arthur Alexander’s 1961 song which has been well covered including by UK rockers Johnny Kidd and the Pirates (1962) and The Beatles (live on the
- Billy the Kid – (arranged by Dave Edmunds) – a traditional done by Marty Robbins in 1959 on his incredible influential "Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs" (#6 US Pop) and by Ry Cooder on his "Into the Purple Valley" album from 1972
- Born to Be with You – (Don Robertson) – The Chordettes hit from 1956 (#5 US Pop) the song has been often covered. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Born_to_Be_with_You_(song)
- She's My Baby – (Nick Lowe) – the only song of recent (1975) vintage written by Edmunds friend and Englishman with similar tastes (and Brinsley Schwarz guitarist) Nick Lowe who also plays bass on (some of) this album
- I Ain't Never – (Mel Tillis, Webb Pierce) – co-written by American country music artists Webb Pierce and Mel Tillis, each released the song, years apart, but both had hits Pierce in 1959 (#2 US Country, #24 US Pop) recording and Tillis in 1972 (#1 US Country) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ain%27t_Never
- Let It Rock – (live) – (Berry) – Chuck's single from 1960 (#64 US Pop) was also on his influential "Rockin' at the Hops" album (1960). He song was released as a single in the UK in 1963, where it went to #6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Rock_(Chuck_Berry_song)
And …
Not perfect but great fun … I'm keeping it.
Chart Action
US
nothing
England
Singles
1973 Baby, I Love You #8
1973 Born to Be with You #5
Album
—
Sounds
Baby, I Love You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVRWktdnODg
Leave My Woman Alone
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPejL-Sve-c
Da Doo Ron Ron
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jp3JATQT7E
Let It Be Me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9Nu5KWtw4s
A Shot of Rhythm and Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeV408Q8vkg
Billy the Kid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Fn7Wpv498
Born to Be with You
Live 1973
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7xCCn3Ibgk
She's My Baby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjYHjV8ONEA
Let It Rock
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1pJzVq0LUk
with Rockpile in 1979
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu996rc97eI
live recently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuOT7-h1bLA
mp3 attached
Others
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTwJr2NJmJQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4TzjRFfsJs
Review
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtle_as_a_Flying_Mallet
http://www.allmusic.com/album/subtle-as-a-flying-mallet-mw0000036187
https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=Dave+Edmunds
Bio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Edmunds
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/dave-edmunds-p4167/biography
http://www.rockabillyhall.com/DaveEdmunds1.html
http://www.inmusicwetrust.com/articles/07f01.html
Website
https://www.facebook.com/DaveEdmundsRPM
Trivia
- Personnel: Dave Edmunds – vocals, all guitars, bass, keyboards, drums / Nick Lowe – bass / Pick Withers – drums / Bob Andrews – piano / Brinsley Schwarz – backing band on "Let It Rock" and "No Money Down" (live in Cardiff) Bob Andrews – piano, Ian Gomm – guitar, vocals, Nick Lowe – bass, Billy Rankin – drums, Brinsley Schwarz – guitar
- Album cover design by Hipgnosis
RIP: Oliver Dragojevic – (1947 – 2018)
