I Knew the Bride....
Let me explain to you the associative-thinking process that lead to this post. I’m on my way to work this morning and see a “Jesus” bumper sticker. That got me thinking about Kid Rock’s new album, Rock N Roll Jesus. Which made me wonder about the change in American thinking that makes that title OK, while Nick Lowe got his chops busted back in 1978 for calling his debut album Jesus of Cool (it was released in the U.S. as Pure Pop for Now People).Once I started thinking about Nick Lowe, the process went rapidly to Rockpile, then to Suzy LaMarca. So let me back up a little. Rockpile, in case you don’t know, was the backing band for three Dave Edmunds albums, two Nick Lowe albums, and an album of their own, Seconds of Pleasure, which was released in 1980. Suzy LaMarca, I’m sure you don’t know, was a sweet young lady I was friends with in high school. She came to mind because she was a major Rockpile fan, and was very disappointed that I had gone to see Rockpile live and hadn’t asked her along. Such was the life of a painfully shy 17-year-old.
Twenty-five or so years later, I have no idea what became of Suzy, but for some reason I always think of her when I hear “I Knew the Bride.” Rockpile’s fate, on the other hand, is a little better documented. Following their one official album, they played together on a Carlene Carter album (she was Nick Lowe’s wife at the time), and did a few more live performances. Ultimately, tension between Lowe and Edmunds led to the band's dissolution in 1981. As Lowe put it, “We got together for fun and when the fun had all been had we packed it in.” (See the band’s Wiki entry for Rockpile’s entire history.)This recording – as best as I can determine, anyway – comes from a March 1978 show in New York City. Sound quality is good; it was originally an FM broadcast. On the down side, I don’t think this is the complete show.
Down Down Down.mp3
I Knew the Bride.mp3
Deborah.mp3
I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass.mp3
Trouble Boys.mp3
Let it Rock (with Keith Richards).mp3
I Hear You Knockin’.mp3
Heart of the City.mp3
Labels: classic rock, live music, rock
posted by aikin @ 9:28 PM
4 Comments:
There's a good entire concert of Nick Lowe at npr.org under all songs considered... not to mention quite a few others. I really like "All Men Are Liars," hilarious... it's so obvious that rhyming "Rick Astley" with "ghastly" but I almost drove off the road I was laughing so hard. Never heard that song before. Go check that out. In an unrelated matter, Jeezus, are you STILL watching that Emily Haack movie? I couldn't wait to get that fucking thing out of my DVD player and into the mail slot. Yecch! (Though the broom handle sequence had a certain panache...)
I would like to point out that "Teacher Teacher" by Rockpile was written by two members of the Creation. Which is awesome.
Chris - I'll definitely check out that Nick Lowe video. I'm not still watching that movie! I sent it back to Blockbuster. It just hasn't rotated out of that list yet.
idea - Thanks - I don't think I knew that.
You're not the only Rockpile fan, I just didn't get around to checking your blog until today. Thanks for the music and strangely enough, I found this earlier tonight:
http://snuh.livejournal.com/177695.html
Both of you were on the same wavelength apparently.
Rob
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