Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
The Len Bright Combo
The Len Bright Combo Present…
(Empire Nice 1, 1986; reissued on Southern Domestic, 2003)
Wreckless Eric teams up with two Milkshakes on lost ’80s garage gem. Made in Chatham.
“I’d stopped drinking and I didn’t give a fuck anymore,” states ‘Wreckless’ Eric Goulden, recalling the recording of the first Len Bright Combo album. Goulden’s heavy drinking had characterised most of his adult life. Following the release of The Whole Wide World 45 in the summer of ’77, the then-23 year-old embarked on the Stiff’s Live Stiffs tour alongside the likes of Ian Dury, Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe. The tour, coupled with his subsequent inability to replicate his initial success, served only to exacerbate his insecurity, driving him further to drink. At odds with the ’80s, he relocated to Kent, aware that the Medway Towns had spawned their own ‘60s-inspired garage scene. Recruiting Russ Wilkins (bass) and Bruce Brand (drums) – both Billy Childish acolytes and ex-members of The Pop Rivits and The Milkshakes - Goulden cranked out this debut LBC outing in the less-than-salubrious confines of Upchurch Village Hall. The result is akin to Joe Meek recording The Kinks. In a cave.
Acerbic opening track You’re Gonna Screw My Head Off ends with a wall of juddering reverb, setting the lo-fi tone for the seven tracks that follow. Goulden’s wry, lyrical humour and kitchen-sink pop nous combine to glorious effect with the Wilkins/Brand sense of crash-bang-wallop dynamism, powering a set that rails against consumerism (Selina Through The Windscreen), Yuppie-dom (Young, Upwardly Mobile… And Stupid) and drudgery of modern life (The Golden Hour Of Harry Secombe). While the infectious Something Must’ve Nailed Us Together was accorded Single Of The Week in the NME in February 1986 and received the healthy patronage of Andy Kershaw at Radio 1, the album itself went on to sell “less than 2000 copies”. Something of a pyrrhic victory; nevertheless, The Len Bright Combo allowed Eric Goulden to reconcile himself with his pop star past. Twenty-two years on, he’s re-signed to Stiff and remains eternally Wreckless.
Phil Alexander
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 07/08/2008
Further Listening
Wreckless Eric – Greatest Stiffs (Metro, 2001)
The Milkshakes – 20 Rock’n’Roll Hits Of The ‘50s And ‘60s (Big Beat, 1991)
The Hitsville Houseband – 12 O’Clock Stereo (Humbug, 1996)
SUGGEST YOUR OWN DISC OF THE DAY ON OUR MESSAGE BOARD HERE, OR, MORE PRIVATELY, HERE!
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