Seconds of Pleasure; Hours of Bickering

Rockpile : When I Write The Book

[Purchase]

On October 7 1980, Rockpile released the US#27  Seconds of Pleasure, a collection that showed there was still a place of catchy rock'n'roll in the 1980's. As the New York Times put it in 1982, "Rockpile was probably the best traditional rock-and-roll band in the world, and when it broke up, fans howled."  But before Rockpile broke up they recorded some of the best albums in my collection: Nick Lowe's Jesus of Cool/Pure Pop For Now People and Labour of Lust, Edmunds' Get It and Repeat When Necessary as well as Carlene Carter's Musical Shapes. 

Despite the pleasure listeners would get from these albums, there was often bickering in the studio. Lowe earned his nickname "Basher" from recording quickly, going more for feel than perfection. Edmunds was a student of rock and more of a perfectionist. 

As long as they were playing on each other's album, someone always had the final say. But when they finally recorded as Rockpile, the bickering became too much for both. "He's not the most loveable creature in the world," Lowe says of Edmunds.

"Now that Nick and I are out with our own bands, people are starting to realize that we really did break up over musical differences," said Edmunds. " The fact that he produced his albums and I produced mine for so long was really the only thing that held Rockpile together.'' 

But before the break up they gave us Seconds of Pleasure. Lowe wrote six of the twelve tracks, though two of the songs are revivals of Brinsley Schwarz's "Fool Too Long" and "Play That Fast Thing (One More Time)." Billy Bremner sings lead on Lowe's  "Heart." Best of all, I'd argue is Lowe's :"When I Write The Book". At east that was always my go-to on my college radio show. Of the covers "Teacher, Teacher." was the near hit. It reached #51 on the Billboard Hot 100. The remaining covers include Chuck Berry's little-known "Oh What a Thrill," Joe Tex's "If Sugar Was as Sweet as You," and Kip Anderson's "A Knife and a Fork." 

Early pressings included a bonus EP of four Everly Brothers remakes, which the CD version also has. Hard to believe two men who could harmonize like this, could wind up hating each other's guts.