Customer Reviews

Beat/the Kids Are the Same

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Coming from the same L.A. milieu that launched Peter Case into The Plimsouls, Collins left their shared band (The Nerves, together with Jack Lee) to form The Beat, rechristened Paul Collins' Beat after The (English) Beat broke onto these shores. Their first album, simply titled "The Beat" is a bona fide 1979 power pop classic, matching the electricity of contemporaneous releases by The Records ("Shades in Bed") and Bram Tchaikovsky ("Strange Man, Changed Man") and the following year's debut by The Plimsouls ("Zero Hour").

Collins wrote the sort of post-teen angst-ridden love songs that defined the genre, and the band cranked out their harmony-laden guitar rock with terrific verve, punctuated by Michael Ruiz's punchy, up-in-the-mix drumming and Larry Whitman's guitar solos. Legendary engineer/producer Bruce Botnick (The Doors, Love) captured the simplicity of the band's four-piece energy with just the touch of polish needed to frame this as a studio recording, but without losing the underlying power of their DIY edge.

1982's follow-up, "The Kids Are the Same" features another good batch of Collins originals, but the band and their producer crafted a more produced mainstream sound. The added reverb is distracting and blunts the punch heard on the straightforward debut. Highpoints include the hard-rocking "Will You Listen," the power ballad "Met Her Yesterday," and the rambunctious teen anthem "The Kids Are the Same." The Beat: 5 stars. The Kids are The Same: 3-3/4 stars. [©2005 hyperbolium dot com]

The Beat (or Paul Collins' Beat, the moniker they eventually took on to avoid confusion with The English Beat, and in the UK, this album was called "The American Beat" for the same reasons) cut thier gem of a debut album in 1979, when it seemed every band in Los Angeles with a skinny tie and a jangle guitar got a deal. And like many of them, they got swept away in the backlash that formed around The Knack. Collin's fate was undeserved, because this album just bristles with energy and pop smarts.

There are a couple undiscovered classics here. "I Don't Fit In" captures the angst of an outsider looking in with British Invasion snap, and "Don't Wait Up For Me," the second single, was the kind of great rock and roll that made new wave such a blast. The catchy "Rock and Roll Girl" also generated some radio attention. Oddly enough, what has probably become the CD's most-heard song wasn't even on the original album. "There She Goes" was used for the movie "Caddyshack," and just as great as any of the album's original dozen selections.

Producer Bruce Botnik also understood The Beat perfectly, keeping the sound minimal and raw, perfect for loud playing. But, after almost 3 years, Paul Collins' Beat had both their name and sound homogenized. They now had more in common with the likes of Eddie Money than their smart pop of the first album, and the similarity between "The Kids Are The Same" and Bryan Adams' "The Kids Wanna Rock" is kind of sad. Another case of corporate record company takes another promising band and blands them out before dismissing them....

I'll still keep the review of this Paul Collins' CD to four stars, if only because the debut is still killer. If you miss the fun period of early eighties power pop (Dwight Twilley, Shoes, Producers, Knack, Motels, etc), this combo CD by The Beat is worth the bucks.

I won't add much to the previous reviews except to say that this just flat-out rocks! There are so many great songs and it's great to have the first two albums on one CD. If I had a band, I'd want it to sound just like this.

The new deluxe CD re-release of The Beat 1979/The Kids Are The Same is incredible. Not only is this release digitally remastered from the original master tapes, but it includes bonus tracks, such as the song 'There She Goes' from the Caddyshack Official Movie Soundtrack. The adventures of Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Rodney Dangerfield and Ted Knight were put to music with a great full-length soundtrack album that included Paul Collins' Beat, then known as The Beat. Whether you're a fan of Caddyshack, or just want to hear a great rock and roll band, I recommend this disc, which contains nearly 80 minutes of solid rock music.

great rock! i remember seeing paul collin's beat singing "on the highway" on mtv when they showed videos. was quite happy to find this cd. get it.

The only thing I can add is that "On The Highway" is one of the best car/driving songs I've ever heard. If that's Larry Whitman playing lead, well, Larry, thanks.

The other reviews are right - this is great power pop.

Had the Nerves called themselves Collins, Case and Lee they might have had a chance during the "me" decade. Instead they chose a name that was punk (at that time)and played pop. All three went on to put out some amazing music with other groups and solo. The Beat predates The Plimsouls by just a hair. Both groups are amazing. "Rock and Roll Girl" and "Don't Fit In" are pretty close to perfect. Like other power pop 90% of the songs are about a girl (longing for, Loving, and breaking up). Whether you pay $10 bucks or $20 bucks for this double cd you aren't going to lose.

The Beat is the most famous album by Paul Collins' Beat. A poster of The Beat's self-titled first album can be seen in the opening credits for the TV show "WKRP In Cincinnati". This album still gets good reviews from the rock critics and rock magazines, which isn't a bad thing. I used to see Paul Collins' Beat play on the Sunset Strip, when the live music scene was at its peak.

My favorite songs on this album are the loudest and fastest songs, Look But Don't Touch and Let Me Into Your Life, which Paul Collins co-wrote with classic rocker Eddie Money. This album includes the bonus track There She Goes, which was originally released on the Caddyshack Motion Picture Soundtrack and is available on CD for the first time in this package.

Thanks to encouragement from his longtime friend and fan Dee Dee Ramone, bass player of The Ramones, lead singer Paul Collins re-formed The Beat as Paul Collins' Beat during the 1990s and began work on new material for an all-new album CD. This new project was released worldwide as "Flying High."

Flying High

Including albums from 1979 and 1982, this compilation is loaded with early new wave and power pop tracks. Good stuff, but really, The Beat's power chord and melodic best would come from their 1983 and 1985 EPs, which are also compiled by Wounded Bird as a two on one. You don't want to miss that one if you love 80s music. Track list for this volume:


Rock N Roll Girl / I Don't Fit In / Different Kind Of Girl / Don't Wait Up For Me / You Won't Be Happy / Walking Out on Love / Work-A-Day-World / U.S.A. / Let Me Into Your Life / Working Too Hard / You And I / Look But Don't Touch / There She Goes / That's What Life Is All About / Dreaming / On The Highway / Will You Listen / Crying Won't Help / The Kids Are The Same / Trapped / It's Just A Matter Of Time / Met Her Yesterday / I Will Say No / Down

Paul Collins from NYC, went to San Francisco by the way of Los Angeles, California and formed The Nerves, with Peter Case and Jack Lee, they released a 4 song ep in 1976. After they broke up, Paul formed The Breakaways with Peter Case, they signed a record contract, but they never saw it released until last year The Breakaway sessions. Paul formed The Beat in 1979, the was made busy with other power-pop groups "The Knack" being the biggest of the bands, others were 20/20, The Plimsouls with Peter Case and Earthquake etc. At 25 Paul and the Beat came out with "The Beat", just some great pop-rock and good power-pop also. The power-poppers on this record were, "Rock 'N Roll Girl", Don't Wait For Me", Let Me Into Your Life", "Walking Out On Love", "Work-A-Day-World","Look But Don't Touch", "I Don't Fit In" and "You Won't Be Happy", should of hit the 100! The ramones influenced "U.S.A.", and a pretty ballad in "You And I". The bonus track is a real stunner "There She Goes".

The second album, "The Kids Are The Same", came out 2 1/2 years later, it was too late for The Beat, but again they put out more great music. This album had production than their 1st album. "That's What Life Is All About", is a Buddy Holly type song, catchy as hell, a top 40 hit on any other planet!
"Dreaming", another stunner, power-pop at it's best!
"On The Highway", A MTV video back in '82, a true rock masterpiece, crank this puppy up on the highway!
The 60ish "Crying Won't Help", "It's Just A Matter Of Time", a jaunty pop-rocker, some good bass by Steve Huff, the bouncy title track, the guitar on "Trapped", is first rate, the reflective "Met Her Yesterday", and the bonus track "Down", is just fantastic, Pauls vocals are something else.
Both albums failed to crack the 200, but this is just tremendous good time Rock "N Roll! Paul Collins is still performing today.