Radio Songs: 1977 Recordings from Radio Bremen

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Recording information: Post-Aula, Bremen, Germany (02/20/2010); The Theater Unter Tage, Bochum, Germany (02/20/2010); Post-Aula, Bremen, Germany (07/15/1983); The Theater Unter Tage, Bochum, Germany (07/15/1983); Post-Aula, Bremen, Germany (10/24/1977); The Theater Unter Tage, Bochum, Germany (10/24/1977). Photographer: Charly Plinke. Phillip Goodhand Tait's ability to avoid the big time is one of those odd little mysteries with which rock history abounds, all the more so since Jackson Browne, his nearest living likeness, was at the peak of his powers at the same time. To dismiss PGT as a British Browne, however, is more than a disservice; it also overlooks the sheer incompetence of a record company that had so little idea of what to do with him that his best chance at a U.K. hit single, 1977's "Jewel," was scuppered when it was granted wall to wall television exposure -- as the soundtrack to an especially grisly drunk-driving informercial. The song, oddly, is not included here; oddly because the bulk of this 16-track CD was taped in 1977, before a live radio audience for German radio. Other cuts date from similar performances in 1983 and 2010, and all catch PGT in glorious form. Songs like "Laundry," "One More Rodeo," and "The Lady Lives in England" all illustrate PGT's greatest strengths as both a wordsmith and tunesmith, while his own liner notes highlight the other advantage Radio Songs has over his studio albums: stripped of arrangements and other accouterments, the songs are as naked as the sentiments that went into their original composition. He compares his live performances to his demos, and the ensuing intimacy offers Radio Songs a warmth and majesty that establish it among his most important collections. ~ Dave Thompson