"Singled Out" by BILLY BREMNER (October 2018 RPM Records CD Compilation - Simon Murphy Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Fire In My Pocket..."

Like those other British songwriting geniuses with swinging dicks and fabulous bedroom techniques - Mickey Jupp and Nick Lowe - BILLY BREMNER has been a go-to guy for a witty boogie-woogie tune for absolute decades now. And it's about bleeding time that someone within the enclaves of music recognised his rather fab contributions to our R&B wellness. So up steps RPM Records.

A little history first – Scotland's Bremner owes his biggest claim-to-fame as one of the lead guitarists with England's supergroup ROCKPILE (although he's also played session guitar for The Pretenders, Carlene Carter and many more). Rockpile's lone album "Second Of Pleasure" from 1980 on F-Beat Records is the kind of British Rock 'n' Roll platter that will elicit an unsightly tearful blub of yesteryear nostalgia from men of a certain age and Pub Rock persuasion. And don't get me started on that fantastic Everly Brothers EP that was attached to the front sleeve either. And while this little beauty has none of those songs - its musically in the same ballpark. In fact when you play the opening number on this delightful hour-and-a-half CD compilation - "I'm Dying (To See You Again)" – Billy's vocal is so akin to Dave Edmunds (one of the other guitarists in Rockpile along with Nick Lowe) – you may indeed double take (the other new 2018 song is "Shoot Myself").

For collectors there's Tracks 15 to 18 - four Previously Unreleased Demos of "Loud Music In Cars", "The Creature From The Black Lagoon", "Trouble Boys" and "Stuck in The Fog". In fact the Bremner link with Edmunds goes back further than 1980 and Rockpile – Dave covered "Trouble Boys" on his "Tracks On Wax 4" album on Swan Song Records in 1978 and "The Creature From The Black Lagoon" on his "Repeat When Necessary" album – also on Swan Song Records – but in 1979. A call to arms then - here are the yes, buts, ifs and whys...

UK released 19 Oct 2018 – "Singled Out" by BILLY BREMNER on RPM Records RPM 542 (Barcode 5013929554221) comes in a card digipak offering a 16-page booklet annotated by NICHOLAS JOHN (with a further Producer’s Note by MARK STRATFORD on the rear page). The inner flap of the digipak pictures ten singles (labels and sleeves) stretching from 1977 to 2005 and offers discography info beside each. RPM’s resident audio guy SIMON MURPHY has done the mastering for its 21 tracks (65:25 minutes) and everything sounds lickety-splitly fresh and up for grabs. In fact if anything, the audio bounces off the speakers at you regardless of the decade – Seventies or Noughties (the only exception being a 1974 recording called "54" 40' Or Fight" about the Alamo that sounds like its been lifted from a wobbly cassette and is no doubt included for rarity's sake). All tracks by Billy Bremner except as noted below...

1. I'm Dying (To See You Again)

2. Shoot Myself

3. No If, But Maybe

4. I See It In Your Eyes

5. I Get Enough

6. Mona Lott - BILLY BREMNER & FASTBUCK

7. Shatterproof

8. Look At That Car

9. Fire In My Pocket

10. Meek Power

11. Yes Please

12. Tired And Emotional (And Probably Drunk)

13. Loud Music In Cars

14. The Price Is Right

15. Loud Music In Cars (Demo)

16. Creature From The Black Lagoon (Demo)

17. Trouble Boys (Demo)

18. Stuck In The Fog (Demo)

19. Heart And Stone - BILLY MURRAY

20. Downtown Hoedown - BILLY MURRAY

21. 54" 40' Or Fight - BILLY MURRAY

This is the kind of comp that feels like a long time coming and it won't surprise me a jot if it ends up being a tasty little seller. 21 tracks gather together long-forgotten 7" singles from 1977's "Party Hoedown" on Polydor Records 2058 881 right through to 2005's "No If, But, Maybe" on WEA 5050467-8386-5-9. In-between we get "Heart And Stone" from 1978 on State Records STAT 72 and on to the super cool and super catchy "Loud Music In Cars" on Stiff Records BUY 125.

Smart choices include a slew of obscure and unfairly forgotten flipsides - "Tired And Emotional (And Probably Drunk)" - a B-side to "Laughter Turns To Tears" on Stiff BUY 143 in 1982 and "Fire In My Pocket" from 1984 - a B-side to "When Love Goes To Sleep" on Arista ARIST 566. Another flipper is the setting-you-free "Mona-Lott" – B-side to "Endless Sleep" from 1985 on Rock City RCR 6. I also liked "Meek Power" from 1982 on Demon Records and the keep-up-the-payments chrome monster "Look At That Car" - but I wasn't too enamoured with the slightly forced "Shatterproof" - trying too hard to be a hit. But it’s a small complaint on an otherwise big fat yes.

A job well done and not before its time – kudos to all involved...

"Yesterday’s Sunshine: The Complete 1967-1968 London Sessions" by GRAPEFRUIT (2016 RPM CD Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Elevator Going High..." 

Famously associated with Apple Publishing and therefore the orbit of Paul McCartney and John Lennon (they produced "Lullaby") – London's swinging Pop-Psych kids GRAPEFRUIT had the wickedly good songwriter George Alexander at its four-piece core and should have been big. But instead they managed a cluster of largely failed 7" singles and one posthumous LP before going Hard Rock with their second platter "Deep Water" in 1969 (outside the remit of this CD). Well along comes quality reissue label RPM and they’re determined to reassess and re-define. And after decades of fruitless searching for mastertapes (they located them in 2015) - I think they have more than a point. Here are bittersweet details...

UK released 20 May 2016 – "Yesterday's Sunshine: The Complete 1967-1968 London Sessions" by GRAPEFRUIT on RPM Retro 977 (Barcode 5013929599772) is a 20-track CD compilation of Remasters and plays out as follows (57:21 minutes):

1. Dear Delilah

2. Dead Boot

3. Breaking Up A Dream *

4. Lullaby (Sped-Up Stereo Version) **

5. Another Game

6. Elevator **

7. Yes **

8. Ain't It Good **

9. Sweet Little Miss No Name */**

10. Round Going Round (aka "Round And Round")

11. Someday (Alternate Version) **

12. Somebody's Turning On The People */**

13. Trying To Make It To Monday

14. C'mon Marianne **

15. Theme For Twiggy (aka "Theme For A Lonely Queen")

16. This Little Man

17. Do What You want To (aka "Learn To Love Me") */**

18. Yesterday's Sunshine **

19. Someday Soon

20. One More Try */**

NOTES:

* = Previously Unreleased in Any Form

** = New Tape Transfer/Multi-Track Mix

GRAPEFRUIT was:

GEORGE ALEXANDER, JOHN PERRY, PETE SWETTENHAM and GEOFF SWETTENHAM (ex The Sugarbeats who had two 45s on Polydor)

Produced by MARK STRATFORD and STEFAN GRANADOS - the 16-page booklet has superlative and informative liner notes from band expert STEFAN GRANADOS that includes input from surviving band members, pictures of Advision Tape Boxes, trade adverts for RCA (one with a photo of McCartney) and Stateside/Dunhill, several EMI Apple Acetates, Sheet Music for "Dear Delilah", UK Press reviews and various publicity photos. It's well done and very detailed. Much is made of the only-recently located master tapes - and rightly so. The experienced SIMON MURPHY did the Transfers and remasters at FX Sound and Another Planet and the Audio is superb - very clean yet full of atmosphere and presence (only "Trying To Make It To Monday" is from a restored Acetate as the master tape couldn't be located).

This CD compilation will allow fans to sequence their first five 45s as follows:

1. Dear Delilah [1] b/w Dead Boot [2]

January 1968 UK 7" single on RCA Records RCA 1656 - USA 7" single on Equinox 70000

2. Elevator [6] b/w Yes [7]

April 1968 UK 7" single on RCA Records RCA 1677 - USA 7" single on Equinox 70005

3. C'mon Marianne [14] b/w Ain't It Good [8]

July 1968 UK 7" single on RCA Records RCA 1716 - USA 7" single on Equinox 70008

4. Someday Soon [19] b/w Theme For Twiggy [15]

December 1968 UK 7" single on Stateside SS 8005 (no US release)

5. Round Going Round [10] b/w This Little Man [16]

March 1969 UK 7" single on Stateside SS 8011 - USA 7" single on ABC Dunhill 4178

Stateside in the UK and ABC/Dunhill in the USA issued a posthumous debut album in April 1969 called "Around Grapefruit" that took nine of the ten single sides and threw in three new songs recorded in 1968 ("Another Game", "Yesterday's Sunshine" and "Lullaby"). This CD will allow fans to sequence the LP as follows [5] = Track 5 etc...

Side 1:

1. Another Game [5]

2. Yesterday's Sunshine [18]

3. Elevator [6]

4. Yes [7]

5. C'mon Marianne

6. Lullaby

Side 2:

1. Round Going Around [10]

2. Dear Delilah [1]

3. This Little Man [16]

4. Ain't It Good [8]

5. Give It One More Try [20] * see Notes

6. Someday [19]

Tracks 1 to 12 is the debut LP “Around Grapefruit” – released April 1969 in the UK in Stereo on Stateside SSL 5008 and in the USA on ABC/Dunhill DS- 50050. The song “Give It One More Try” is “One More Try” renamed and makes its CD debut here.

At the heart of the group was prolific melody songwriter George Alexander who apart from "Yes" by John Perry and a cover of The Four Seasons "C'mon Marianne" - penned all 18 of the other songs. There's Psych in the swirl of "Dear Delilah" and the mellotron-drenched "Someday Soon" (a slowed down re-write of "Someday") - but stuff like "Round Going Round" is more Kinks-pop. They go Move-pop for the catchy "Elevator" which features Status Quo's "Pictures Of Matchstick Men" type-guitar. Of the unreleased tracks - "Breaking Up A Dream" is a well-recorded instrumental that feels like it badly needs lyrics - better is the bopper "Sweet Little Miss No Name" where the band could be 1966 Monkees chalking up another Top Ten smash. One of the unreleased gems is surely "Somebody's Turning On The People" where they sound like embryonic Badfinger.

It's not all genius by any means - and the lack of out and out killer singles probably did for the band in the end - but when you sequence that album as I've done above - it's a very cool and impressive listen. Well done to RPM and all involved...