Singled Out

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Singled Out is the first compilation ever assembled on Billy Bremner, the pub rock stalwart who is best known as the guitarist in Rockpile but who had a long career outside of the confines of Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds. The compilers of Singled Out take pains to challenge a listener's preconceptions of Bremner, opening the 21-track collection with 2000s music from the guitarist and wrapping it up with singles he released under the name Billy Murray in the '70s. That was the name that was credited on "Trouble Boys" and "The Creature from the Black Lagoon," two songs recorded by Edmunds during the Rockpile days. These songs, as much as his 1984 Stiff single "Loud Music in Cars," summarize Bremner's aesthetic: straight-ahead rock & roll performed with vigor and sly smile. Throughout his career, Bremner adhered to that aesthetic, and while the recording quality shifts -- as does the strength of his voice -- his commitment to three chords and clever quips never wavered. While it's true his best work arrived during the pub rock heyday -- beginning with the unreleased 1974 track "54 40 or Fight," then wrapping up with his 1984 album; highlights included a clutch of demos and "Heart and the Stone," a Billy Murray single that would later be re-appropriated by Rockpile and Nick Lowe as "Heart" -- the recordings of 2000s vintage are fun and sharp, which means Singled Out makes a case for Billy Bremner as being an unheralded true rock & roll believer. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine