Customer Reviews

From Small Things: Best of Dave Edmunds

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

 

 

Forget all you have heard about other rock gods, they constantly leave out one of the greats. And by that, I mean Dave Edmunds. Maybe he didn't have the flair of Hendrix or the breeze of Clapton, but this Welshman understood basic riff rocking better than anyone this side of Carl Perkins. He could sling Chuck Berry energy and 60's psychedelia (sadly, his hit with Love Sculpture is not here) in the same song and not miss the honesty of either. That his style barely changed over near 30 years, nor ever lost its purity speaks volumes (and volume!) about Edmunds' work.

And finally, a single disc that covers the majority of it. The criminal deletion policies of record companies have moved almost the entirety of Edmunds' solo output to out of print status. "From Small Things" collects work from the Columbia and Swan Song tenure plus a few other oddities for almost an hour of great rocking. It also shows that, when it came to picking songs and writers, Edmunds was a genius. Be it Graham Parker's "Crawling From the Wreckage" or Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk" (performed live here), he made them sound perfect next to John Fogerty's "Almost Saturday Night" and the Everly Brothers' "Let It Be Me." He was such an admired player and artist that Robert Plant hand picked Edmunds to his fledgling Swan Song label (right after Bad Company, no less) and Bruce Springsteen tailored one of his unreleased songs ("From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)") for his Columbia debut "DE7th." And if you listen closely, you'll hear Jeff Lynne formulating the Traveling Wilburys concept around the "Information" and "Riff Raff" album selections.

If there are any minuses here, it's that a couple great cuts could have easily fit onto this CD without bouncing any songs. I would have liked to have seen "Sabre Dance," "Close To The Flame," "Queen Of Hearts" and "High School Nights (From Porky's Revenge)" here to sweeten the deal. But that's just a quibble. This is, next to Rockpile's "Seconds Of Pleasure," as good as Brit pub rock ever got.

Looking back, the rock era produced few artists of originality and excellence. Edmunds didn't invent the twangy guitar or rockabilly, but he honed them to perfection. For the most part, he had a knack for choosing quirky and interesting songs. His production was second to none, as was his guitar work. Since he often played all of the instruments, it must be said that he was skilled on all of them. Dave also possessed one of the best rock voices. Despite being Welsh, he sounded quintessentially American while singing quintessentially American music. I recommend this set in addition to the Anthology because the latter doesn't contain Dave's version of Chuck Berry's Run Rudolph Run, my favorite Christmas song, and one that captures the essence of Dave Edmunds as well as any other song he recorded. How unfortunate that Dave has stopped recording; he was one of the best.

Forget all you have heard about other rock gods, they constantly leave out one of the greats. And by that, I mean Dave Edmunds. Maybe he didn't have the flair of Hendrix or the breeze of Clapton, but this Welshman understood basic riff rocking better than anyone this side of Carl Perkins. He could sling Chuck Berry energy and 60's psychedelia (sadly, his hit with Love Sculpture is not here) in the same song and not miss the honesty of either. That his style barely changed over near 30 years, nor ever lost its purity speaks volumes (and volume!) about Edmunds' work.

And finally, a single disc that covers the majority of it. The criminal deletion policies of record companies have moved almost the entirety of Edmunds' solo output to out of print status. "From Small Things" collects work from the Columbia and Swan Song tenure plus a few other oddities for almost an hour of great rocking. It also shows that, when it came to picking songs and writers, Edmunds was a genius. Be it Graham Parker's "Crawling From the Wreckage" or Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk" (performed live here), he made them sound perfect next to John Fogerty's "Almost Saturday Night" and the Everly Brothers' "Let It Be Me." He was such an admired player and artist that Robert Plant hand picked Edmunds to his fledgling Swan Song label (right after Bad Company, no less) and Bruce Springsteen tailored one of his unreleased songs ("From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come)") for his Columbia debut "DE7th." And if you listen closely, you'll hear Jeff Lynne formulating the Traveling Wilburys concept around the "Information" and "Riff Raff" album selections.

If there are any minuses here, it's that a couple great cuts could have easily fit onto this CD without bouncing any songs. I would have liked to have seen "Sabre Dance," "Close To The Flame," "Queen Of Hearts" and "High School Nights (From Porky's Revenge)" here to sweeten the deal. But that's just a quibble. This is, next to Rockpile's "Seconds Of Pleasure," as good as Brit pub rock ever got.

Dave Edmunds was a fine songwriter and a capable interpreter of rockabilly classics, but this hodgepodge really doesn't do him justice. A single-disc best-of assortment is easy to assemble from The Dave Edmund Anthology (which I recommend), but beyond his excellent original hits (about half of this album), most people will have little interest in listening to lackluster covers, movie tracks, and Christmas music.

This CD is a great single disc overview of Dave's career. I would have liked to have seen more stuff from his Swan Song days, but beggars can't be choosey. It's a great repesentation of the different types of music Dave has done over the 30+ years he's been doing it. And be sure to pick up Nick Lowe's best of as well as the one Roickpile CD if you lke this one. Both of those collections get 4 stars as well.

Dave Edmunds has his own, distinct style and it's nice to listen to. My favorite song by him had always been "I hear you knocking", but I found that there is so much more to him, than that one song. His songs are like a hybrid of the 50's and 70's, very unique and very good. I loved his cover of The Everly Brother's "Let it be me". All of the songs on this disc are very well done, Dave Edmunds has a real talent for taking older-sounding songs and giving them a fresh, updated sound. I think he's quite underrated as an artist. I would very much recommened this disc to anyone who loves music, in general.

This is so refreshing. You'll go a long way to find something catchier than "Girls Talk" or "Almost Saturday Night". It's what rock and roll was in its heyday. I miss it. Thank you, Dave Edmunds.

Thank you very much for the quick service & quality product. I will be sure to shop with your company again in the future and recommend you to anyone !

Dave Edmunds is a great player who had a number of strong cuts, but like an earlier reviewer said, you're better served by assembling your own disc from the Dave Edmunds Anthology. My big wish would be for every cut that Dave Edmunds self-produced to be re-engineered. I find most of his vocal parts mixed way, way too nasal. For all that, at the same time, I find it impossible to stop shakin', movin' & groovin' to his late 70's-mid 80's work, and I think I'm going to dig out my Rockpile bootleg as soon as I'm done here.

Excellent collection of songs. I would recommend this CD to anyone who likes traditional rock and roll. My only regret is I never saw Dave perform when he was on the tour.