DANCING ABOUT ARCHITECTURE PRESENTS THE DESERT ISLAND LP SERIES (in no particular order)

ROCKPILE-SECONDS OF PLEASURE

For starters, this is not even the best Rockpile album. For that you have to take Nick Lowe’s “Labour Of Lust”, combine it with Dave Edmunds’s “Repeat When Necessary” and hit shuffle. I guarantee the best two record set experience never released. 100% pure beat, no filler.

However, since that dream LP has to be cobbled together by the listener, “Seconds Of Pleasure” wins out by default. It certainly is no slouch. Now considered to be somewhat of a rock and roll classic, it’s release in 1980 fell on the deaf ears of the record buying public, both in England and here in the United States. It charted as high as #27 during it’s brief five week stay on the Billboard album charts.

Looking back on what was popular back then, it’s easy to see how the record never had a chance. “Glass Houses” by Billy Joel, The “Urban Cowboy” soundtrack, “Voices” by Hall And Oates, “Women and Children First” by Van Halen. The list goes on. Suffice to say that there was nothing else in 1980 that sounded remotely like Rockpile.

Not that the ‘pile were looking to cow tow towards any trends or fads. In Nick Lowe’s own words, the band “specialized in playing Chuck Berry music four times faster than anybody else”. This was a band that played shows night after night essentially burning themselves out on the road between 1977 and 1980.

Strangely enough, by the time the band recorded it’s “debut” , Rockpile had effectively run it’s course. The fact that “Seconds Of Pleasure” did basically nothing sales wise didn’t help matters either. Lowe and Edmunds had outgrown each other, and in Lowe’s words “There was no more fun to be had”.

As stated previously, the record over the years has grown in stature. It is nothing less than a fierce uncompromising take on rock and roll in the truest sense of the phrase. Elements of Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and The Everly Brothers permeate each and every track. The most ironic twist here is that by being steadfastly loyal to the music they loved, Rockpile's sound actually ran contrary to the corporate rock leanings of the era.

Lowe and Dave Edmunds would continue their solo careers independently of each other, occasionally crossing paths and reconvening on a record or two here and there. Billy Bremner played sessions, most notably providing a spot-on James-Honeymann-Scott imitation on The Pretenders’ hit “Back On The Chain Gang”. Terry Williams was snared up by Mark Knopfler , who employed him during his most successful incarnation of Dire Straits.

However, for one brief moment in October 1980, the absolute truth was laid down on some 43 minutes worth of black plastic. “Seconds Of Pleasure” lives on as a testament to the true heart of rock and roll. To paraphrase David Byrne, this ain’t no Huey Lewis.