Edmunds, Dave: Tracks On Wax 4 CD Track Listing

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Edmunds, Dave Tracks On Wax 4 (1978)
Originally Released March 1978\nCD Edition Released March 5, 1991\nWounded Bird CD Edition Released October 25, 2005\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Tracks on Wax 4 is the first official Rockpile collaboration and its hard-driving, unified sounds make it one of Dave Edmunds' very best records. Like Get It, Tracks on Wax 4 relies primarily on originals and contemporary pub rock songs, leaving behind the classic oldies; the older songs on the record are obscurities like Chuck Berry's "It's My Own Business" and Jan & Dean's "Thread Your Needle." Built on such fine songs as the rockabilly tinged "Trouble Boys," the Everly-esque "Never Been in Love," "Television," "Readers Wives," and "Deborah," Tracks on Wax 4 is a tight, snappy rock & roll record that is only derailed by a version of Nick Lowe's classic "Heart of the City," where Lowe's original vocal is stripped away and replaced by a new take by Edmunds. Only then does the record recall Edmunds' perfectionist nature. -- Stephen Thomas Erlewine\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nThe pinnacle of Dave Edmunds' "solo" career, August 9, 2005 \nBy redtunictroll (Earth, USA)\nEdmunds had already found success twice by the time of this first full collaboration with the backing band that would be known as Rockpile. He'd first come on the scene with the blues-rock band Love Sculpture, and later as a solo artist with his debut album "Rockpile" and its hit-single cover of Smiley Lewis' "I Hear You Knockin'." His follow-up "Subtle as a Flying Mallet" produced two UK hits, but it was his blossoming relationship with Nick Lowe (who he'd befriended while producing the last LP of Lowe's band, Brinsley Schwarz) that would chart his future success. The two worked together on Edmunds next solo album, "Get It," and Lowe joined Edmunds touring band - also named "Rockpile." \n\nThis album is the first full LP by Rockpile (Edmunds, Lowe, Billy Bremner and Terry Williams), and everything that marks this foursome for greatness is here. Edmunds rock 'n' roll roots mesh perfectly with the loopier pub rock of Lowe's songs. The band, gigging constantly, is as tight as a drum. Their future efforts, including Lowe's "Labour of Lust," Edmunds "Repeat When Necessary" and the band's own "Seconds of Pleasure" would all bear the same hallmarks, but this first assemblage is the most vital. \n\nEdmunds lends superb rockabilly and blues stylings to the Lowe originals "Never Been in Love" and "Television," and the two exercise intricate Everly-styled harmonies on their own "What Looks Best on You." Edmunds' "A.1 on the Jukebox" is a fine two-step country-rocker, and the co-write "Deborah" is Nick Lowe styled power-pop at its best. Covers of Chuck Berry's "It's My Own Business," the obscure 1964 Dean and Jean B-side "Thread Your Needle," and a trio of songs by writers Billy Murray and N. Brown round out the album perfectly. \n\nSwan Song's 1991 CD reissue doesn't stand-up favorably to the original vinyl, sounding flat and unengaging. It's listenable, not least for the great material and performances, but it's time to apply some updated digital technology to the original masters! \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\n4 1/2 Stars: Rockpile's 1st, December 19, 2003 \nReviewer: A music fan\nTracks on Wax 4 hardens and intensifies Edmunds' attack, fully freeing him from the negative aspects of his nostalgic leanings. Give credit for that to the formation of Rockpile, a hard-working band composed of Edmunds, Nick Lowe on bass, guitarist Billy Bremner and drummer Terry Williams; over the following few years, Rockpile recorded both Lowe and Edmunds solo albums, then cut one under the group name before splintering. On Tracks on Wax 4, they drive Edmunds to new heights of rock'n'roll glory. -- Jon Young/Ira Robbins/Harold DeMuir, Trouser Press \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nRockabilly Redux, February 12, 2007 \nBy Zube "kile25" (Youngsville, NC United States)\nIt is one of the great ironies that Rockpile released all their best material and performances on albums credited to Edmunds or Nick Lowe (and sometimes others) due to contractual issues and record company jealousy. In fact, Rockpile only really released one album as Rockpile, and it was pretty much an afterthought. I'd even like to think that The Traveling Wilburys came about because a bunch of musicians looked around and said, "You know what would be fun? Let's make like Rockpile!" \n\nWith that said, let's get to the meat of things. This is, without a doubt, Rockpile's finest effort. Lowe's "Pure Pop for Now People" and "Tracks on Wax 4" make a pair of beautiful bookends. Don't own one without the other. \n\nOne of my favorites is "What Would Look Best On You", which is just shy of being outright Country parody. (I'm sure that the guys serenaded Carlene Carter with this when she and Lowe were dating. I've always wondered what it was like for Johnny Cash to come downstairs to breakfast, after Lowe married Carter, and find Nick Lowe at his breakfast table. He must have loved June Carter Cash a lot.) Even if you own the Edmunds Anthology, you are still missing a couple essential songs that appear on this album. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\n4 + 1/2 stars...Classic Dave Edmunds, October 29, 2005 \nBy Steve Vrana (Aurora, NE)\nExcept for his hard-core fans (of which I include myself), most people will only remember Dave Edmunds for his 1971 Top 10 cover of Smiley Lewis' "I Hear You Knockin'." But for more than three decades, Edmunds has made a career of being one of the music world's finest roots rockers. \n\nBy the late-Seventies guitarist Edmunds and basist Nick Lowe appeared on each other's solo albums along with second guitarist Billy Bremner and drummer Terry Williams. [They would record only one album under the moniker Rockpile--1980's SECONDS OF PLEASURE.] But for all intents and purposes, this 1978 album is a Rockpile album, and it is one of Edmund's best. \n\nHighlights include rockers like "Trouble Boys" and "Deborah" as well as songs like "Never Been in Love," which evokes the harmonies of the Everly Brothers (an obvious influnce on Edmunds and Lowe, who cut an EP of Everly covers as a bonus disc on the original release of SECONDS OF PLEASURE). \n\nIf you're a fan of rock 'n' roll from a two guitar-bass-drum band, you'll fall in love with this album. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED \n\n\nHalf.com N/A\n\nROLLING STONE REVIEW\nYou don't listen to this Welsh boy-wonder's fourth LP so much as cheer it on. Because it never comes across as a dispassionate aural guide to rock history, Tracks on Wax 4 preserves early American rock & roll traditions with real tenderness and stunning craftsmanship. Backed by Nick Lowe and the Rockpile, multiinstrumentalist / singer / songwriter / producer Dave Edmunds bashes and shouts his way through Chuck Berry's "It's My Own Business" as irresistibly and effortlessly as he quotes the Everly Brothers' delicate, seamless harmonies on the Edmunds / Lowe ballad, "What Looks Best on You."\n\nEdmunds' obsessive fascination with rockabilly, rock & roll and country music was perhaps better documented on last year's magnificent Get It, but Tracks on Wax 4 is just as valuable: it rocks harder and gathers increased strength from the startling clarity of its production. His voice both raspy and melodic, Dave Edmunds doesn't just sing the sexed-up "Readers Wives" and the violent "Trouble Boys," he wrestles them to the ground in much the same manner as Little Richard. Against a driving, restless piano that pays tribute to Jerry Lee Lewis, Edmunds has never sounded so tough and wild.\n\nThe album's tender moments reel you in with power and magic. Another Edmunds/Lowe collaboration, "Deborah," is hardly "Peggy Sue" (not with lines like "They crawl a mile over broken glass"), but the singer's innocent, lightheaded vocals lovingly echo those of Buddy Holly. As if to apologize for these satiric lyrics and for his sexual boisterousness on Lowe's "Heart of the City" (recorded live), Edmunds takes a room in Teen Heaven for "Never Been in Love," a chipper country-rock tune whose overdubbed harmonies amazingly recall the spirit of both the Everlys and the Gram Parsons-led Flying Burrito Brothers.\n\nDespite its preoccupation with the past; Tracks on Wax 4 sounds neither hopelessly nostalgic nor gratuitous (exactly the problem with the Flamin' Groovies' Edmunds-produced Now). Because his rock & roll is so pure, passionate and unaffected, Dave Edmunds practically makes you believe he actually invented all the musical styles he so proudly upholds here. No small accomplishment, that. (RS 279 -- Nov 30, 1978) -- MITCHELL SCHNEIDER
This rock cd contains 11 tracks and runs 34min 25sec.
Freedb: 9f080f0b
Buy: from Amazon.com

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