Swan Songs: The Singles 1976-1981

Dave Edmunds had already been a rock star as a member of Love Sculpture, then a solo artist with a hit single, 1970s "I Hear You Knockin," by the time he hooked up with Nick Lowe in Rockpile and signed a solo deal with Swan Song Records. The result of his paring with Lowe and the rest of Rockpile was a series of excellent retro rock and pop albums that featured Edmunds’ choirboy, sweet vocals, his fleet guitar picking, and loads of reverb-heavy production -- less than on his early solo records but certainly more than most artists working during the late 70s. Swan Songs: The Singles 1976-1981 cherry picks the best songs from those albums, featuring many where Edmunds positioned himself as a rocker with a knowing grin. Tracks like "Crawling from the Wreckage," "The Creature form the Black Lagoon," and "A.1. on the Jukebox" are delivered with strait-laced earnestness by Edmunds, with the band backing him with all the pub rock energy they could muster. When hes not cutting up and cutting a rug, Edmunds proves capable of putting over a sad ballad in fine style, whether its old school countrypolitan ("What Looks Best on You") or nostalgic pop-flavored (Im Gonna Start Living Again if It Kills Me.") While none of these songs apart from the U.K. Top Five "Girls Talk" were hits, they all sound like they could have been if the record-buying public suddenly wanted to hear echoey, good-natured retro pop. Hearing them all gathered like this -- for the first time ever -- is eye-opening and makes a strong case for Edmunds as one of the premier pop stylists of a too-short stretch when he was firing on all cylinders. ~ Tim Sendra