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"...We Sang The Songs We Loved..."
Ah
Pub Rock - I was a devotee and truth be told - still am.
Sean
Tyla's wonderful and fondly remembered DUCKS DELUXE signed to RCA Records in
1973 and promptly pumped out two Seventies Rock 'n' Roll/Pub Rock albums one
year apart - the superb and criminally overlooked "Ducks Deluxe"
debut in February 1974 followed the next year in February 1975 by the Dave
Edmunds Produced "Taxi To The Terminal Zone" - a title taken from a
lyric in Chuck Berry's 1964 classic "Promised Land" - a song Edmunds
had covered himself back in 1972 on his Regal Zonophone LP
"Rockpile". And that's where this wicked little British Beat Goes On
twofer CD set comes swaggering in. Here are the boppin' beers and barstools...
UK
released January 2002 - "Ducks Deluxe/Taxi To The Terminal Zone" by
DUCKS DELUXE on Beat Goes On BGOCD 539 (Barcode 5017261205391) offers 2 albums
Remastered onto 2CDs and plays out as follows:
Disc
1 "Ducks Deluxe" - 44:24 minutes:
1.
Coast To Coast [Side 1]
2.
Nervous Breakdown
3.
Daddy Put The Bomp
4.
I Got You
5.
Please, Please, Please
6.
Fireball
7.
Don't Mind Rocking Tonite [Side 2]
8.
Hearts On My Sleeve
9.
Falling For That Woman
10.
West Coast Trucking Board
11.
Too Hot To Handle
12.
It's All Over Now
Tracks
1 to 12 are their debut album "Ducks Deluxe" - released February 1974
in the UK and USA on RCA Victor LPL1 5008. Produced by DAVE BLOXHAM - it didn't
chart. Tracks 1 and 5 written by Nick Garvey, Tracks 3, 6, 9, 10 and 11 written
by Sean Tyla, Tracks 4 and 8 written by Martin Belmont with Track 7 co-written
by Martin Belmont and Nick Garvey – Track 2 is an Eddie Cochran cover version
while Track 11 is a cover of a Valentino's 1964 single written by Bobby Womack.
Disc
2 - "Taxi To The Terminal Zone" - 38:10 minutes:
1.
Cherry Pie [Side 1]
2.
It Doesn't Matter Tonite
3.
I'm Crying
4.
Love's Melody
5.
Teenage Head
6.
Rio Grande [Side 2]
7.
My My Music
8.
Rainy Night In Kilburn
9.
Woman Of The Man
10.
Paris 9
Tracks
1 to 10 are their second studio album "Taxi To The Terminal Zone" -
released February 1975 in the UK on RCA Records SF 8402. Produced by DAVE
EDMUNDS (he also plays Pedal Steel Guitar on "Rio Grande" and Rhythm
Guitar on "Paris 9") - it didn't chart. Tracks 2, 6, 9 and 10 written
by Sean Tyla, Track 1 co-written by Martin Belmont and Sean Tyla, Tracks 3 and
7 written by Nick Garvey, Track 4 written by Andrew McMasters and Track 5 is a
Flamin' Groovies cover version.
DUCKS
DELUXE was:
SEAN
TYLA - Lead Vocals, Rhythm and Wah Wah Guitar and Keyboards
MARTIN
BELMONT - Lead Guitar and Lead Vocals
NICK
GARVEY - Bass Guitar and Lead Vocals
TIM
ROPER - Drums and Backing Vocals
ANDREW
McMASTER - Keyboards and Vocals for the "Taxi To The Terminal Zone"
LP only
The
8-page inlay may look like a slight affair but with liner notes from original
band member MARTIN BELMONT illuminated the history of almost every song - it's
actually a hugely informative read. There’s a black and white photo of the
four-piece band beneath the text and see-through CD trays – but not a lot else.
As with so many of these early BGO releases - there is no mastering credits but
with the material licensed from BMG - I'm suspecting these are quality ANDREW
THOMPSON Remasters because the audio on this is Ace. The Dave Edmunds Produced
second LP in particular sounds fabulous (the plaintive ballad "I'm
Crying" for instance) - done at his own Rockfield Studios in Wales in late
1974.
The
"Ducks Deluxe" self-titled debut is a winner I return to again and
again - the kind of album you play to death - side after side. It even gets
better as the years-pass and the grey hairs accumulate while the grey matter
dissipates. A count-in asks if the kids are ready to Rock 'n' Roll in
"Coast To Coast" - a snotty number that is a huge fave amongst fans.
It was an obvious kick-ass single so RCA rush-released Nick Garvey's punky
rocker in November 1973 (RCA 2438) with the non-album "Bring Back That
Packard Car" on the flip-side. Damn shame someone didn't think to include
that rarity as a Bonus Track here. There follows a truly cool version of Eddie
Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown" - another show-stopper and one the
blessed Eddie would surely have approved of. The bare but utterly brilliant
"Daddy Put The Bomp" is the kind of simplistic tune about Rock 'n'
Roll that eats its way into your heart - Texas and Swamps and Ladies and Eddie
singing "Summertime Blues" again. Belmont admits to a Stax Records
obsession in the decidedly Otis-sounding "I Got You". He rightly
acknowledges the horn section 'The Sons Of The Jungle' who were George Larnyah
on Tenor Sax, Peter Van Der Puij on Baritone Sax and Eddie Quansah on Trumpet -
they play also on "Falling For That Woman" and are also on the Toots
and The Maytals classic "Funky Kingston". Side 1 comes bopping to a
finish with the 1964 Beatles strum of "Please, Please, Please" and
probably their most popular raver - "Fireball" - Belmont revealing
that the chordal guitar is probably based on "Sweet Jane" from the
Velvet's 1970 "Loaded" album.
Side
2 opens with another snotty roar - the manic "Don't Mind Rocking
Tonite" - another American homage that also features Bob Andrews of
Brinsley Schwarz on keyboards (he also contributes the same to "West Coast
Trucking Board" and "Too Hot To Handle"). Belmont gives short
shift to his own "Hearts On My Sleeve" but I like its Rockpile feel.
A cigarette being lit opens the second big ballad - the slow and soulful
"Falling For That Woman" - the kind of great Soul-Rock song you want
a band to play in a pub with a just few pints taken and the emotions oiled
enough to flow like a river as the singer digs in - recalling his foolish fall
for a lady that return the compliment. I love this song and the Remaster is
great. The side comes to an end with three goodies - the very Band-sounding
"West Texas Trucking Board" where Bob Andrews anchors the story-song
with a superb swirling organ sound. It's followed by the slightly out-of-place
clavinet-funk of "Too Hot To Handle" where Ducks Deluxe have been
listening to too much Ace and not absorbing Paul Carrack's knack for Soul
properly. But it ends on a high - a cover of the 1964 Valentino's classic
"It's All Over". Written by Bobby Womack - it is of course more
closely associated with The Rolling Stones who sort of made it their own. Great
album, great finish...
I
can still remember the sting of LP number 2 - somehow it felt flat compared to
the debut - lack of good song. It's actually hard to nail down why it doesn't
quite lift off - but being Ducks Deluxe - there are plenty of moments well
worth owning. Nick Garvey used to roadie equipment for the American Rock 'n'
Roll ravers The Flamin' Groovies so DD's cover of their "Teenage
Head" was a perfect fit. Tyla does his best Bob Dylan Texas Outlaw voice
for "Rio Grande" aided and abetted by Edmunds who plays a mean Pedal
Steel behind that 'Blonde On Blonde' organ throughout (saddle up boys). At last
we get what feels like some half decent Pub Rock in "My My Music" –
the great piano boogie (Andrew McMaster) matching the lyrics about a band that
rocks all night playing the music he wants to hear. Trivia fans should note
that Wilco Johnson of Dr. Feelgood is apparently amidst the hand-clappers – not
that you'd recognise it! Belmont doesn't rate his ballad "Rainy Night In
Kilburn" but I actually like the music – with a different vocalist it
might have lifted off better. McMaster's lone contribution "Love's
Melody" is insanely catchy - predating by a good two to three years the
New Wave sound of '77 and '78 that would dominate literally hundreds of English
45s in those explosively creative years.
Both
Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster would jump ship after album number two failed -
leaving to form The Motors who would go on to have a huge hit with
"Airport" in June 1978 on Virgin Records. The band hired in Mick
Groome on Bass to replace the lost boys and recorded one final Four-Track EP
called "Jumping" for the French label Sky Dog in 1975 - and again a
damn shame it wasn't included here as obvious Bonus Tracks material on Disc 2
when there was plenty of room. Tyla would of course form Tyla's Gang and pump
out more Rock 'n' Roll/Punky tunes – often providing winners for Dr. Feelgood
(check out the Tyla retrospective "Pool Hall Punks: The Complete
Recordings 1976-1978" on Esoteric Recordings from August 2016) - while the
Ducks Deluxe sound legacy would lead on to Elvis Costello and The Attractions,
Graham Parker and The Rumour and the Nick Lowe/Dave Edmunds vehicle Rockpile to
name but a few.
For
sure the second platter lets the side down somewhat as does the absence of
Bonus Cuts on both CDs that would have lifted this release so high. But as I
re-listen to "It Don't Matter Tonite" on "Taxi" and
"Fireball" on "Ducks Deluxe" - I'm reminded of and
transported back to sweaty heaving pubs and Dr. Feelgood and The Kursaal Flyers
and Brinsley Schwarz and of course Ducks Deluxe.
And
that's the kind of Teenage Nervous Breakdown I like. Thanks for the memories
boys...
