News

Throughout a career spanning six decades, Dave Edmunds never strayed far from the primal power of genuine rock-and-roll.  After stints in various bands – most notably, Love Sculpture – the Welsh singer-guitarist struck out on his own and scored a U.K. Christmas chart-topper in 1970 with a cover of Dave Bartholomew’s “I Hear You Knocking.”   In January 1972, he released his first solo album: Rockpile.  Its title would figure prominently in Edmunds’ future as he co-founded a band of that name with his former Love Sculpture bandmate Terry Williams, singer-songwriter Nick Lowe, and songwriter-guitarist Billy Bremner.  Between 1976 and their official dissolution in early 1981, Rockpile recorded roughly five albums together (three for Edmunds, one for Lowe, and one as a band) plus LPs by Carlene Carter and Mickey Jupp, and assorted odds and ends.  Now, two of those Dave Edmunds albums featuring Rockpile are returning to vinyl from 7a Records.

On August 25, 7a will reissue Tracks on Wax 4 (1978) and Repeat When Necessary (1979) on deluxe 180-gram vinyl as newly remastered for vinyl from the original master tapes by Roger Béchirian, the original engineer for both albums.  Both albums, originally released on Led Zeppelin’s Swan Song label, bridged the gap between pub-rock and new wave.  Edmunds and his bandmates shunned pop trends and emphasizing a stripped-down, high-energy sound that paid homage to the past while smartly and subtly updating it for the present.

Tracks on Wax 4, its title nodding to the fact that it was Edmunds’ fourth solo album, was the first Edmunds LP to feature all four members of Rockpile together.  Edmunds penned some of the material with friends – “What Looks Best on You” and “Deborah” with Lowe, “A1 on the Jukebox” with The Records’ Will Birch – while other contributions came from both Billy Bremner, writing as Billy Murray (“Trouble Boys,” the Ray Peters collaboration “Not a Woman, Not a Child”) and the prolific Lowe (“Heart of the City,” the band co-write “Never Been in Love”).  “Heart of the City” was first recorded by its author as a single in 1976; a Rockpile live version was then included on Lowe’s solo debut, Jesus of Cool.  Edmunds’ recording uses the same track as Lowe’s but features Dave’s own lead vocal rather than Nick’s.    handful of covers, including Chuck Berry’s “It’s My Own Business” and R&B duo Dean and Jean’s “Thread Your Needle,” were peppered throughout the LP.  Tracks on Wax 4 “bubbled under” the U.S. chart and fared well in Europe including a top 20 placement on the Swedish charts.

Neither Edmunds nor Lowe contributed any original songs to Repeat When Necessary, but two artists who had been produced by Lowe did: Elvis Costello with “Girls Talk” and Graham Parker with “Crawling from the Wreckage.”  Dave’s rendition of Elvis’ tune went to the top five of the U.K. Singles Chart and crossed over to the Billboard Hot 100, inspiring a cover by Linda Ronstadt very much in the mold of Edmunds’ original.  (Elvis released his own recording of the song, produced by Nick, in 1980.)  Billy Bremner brought in a trio of new compositions, and Hank DeVito of Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band was tapped for two more.  Edmunds enlisted one of own guitar heroes, Albert Lee, to add guitar to DeVito’s “Sweet Little Lisa,” but it was “Queen of Hearts” that became a hit single in the U.K. and Ireland.  Juice Newton earned the U.S. hit with her faithful version.  Still other songs came from Huey Lewis (“Bad Is Bad,” featuring Huey on harmonica), Ian Samwell (his 1959 Cliff Richard hit “Dynamite”), Trade Martin (“Take Me for a Little While,” introduced by Evie Sands in 1965), and rockabilly singer Ronnie Self (“Home in My Hand”).  Repeat When Necessary (recorded and released concurrently with Nick Lowe’s Labour of Lust) made it to the top 40 of the U.K. Albums Chart and No. 54 in the U.S.; it also fared well in Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia.

Both of these reissues are pressed on 180-gram colored vinyl – yellow for Tracks on Wax 4 and red for Repeat When Necessary – and housed in a gatefold sleeve with lyrics and new liner notes.  Drawing on new recollections from Roger Béchirian, Alan Robinson has authored the notes for Tracks on Wax, and TSD’s Joe Marchese has written them for Repeat.

Look for both of these seminal Dave Edmunds classics on August 25 from 7a Records at the links below!

Dave Edmunds, Tracks on Wax 4 (Swan Song SS 8505, 1978 – reissued 7a Records 7A063LP, 2023) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Deep Discount – U.S.)

Side One

1. Trouble Boys
2. Never Been in Love
3. Not a Woman, Not a Child
4. Television
5. What Looks Best on You
6. Readers Wives

Side Two

1. Deborah
2. Thread Your Needle
3. A1 on the Jukebox
4. It’s My Own Business
5. Heart of the City

Dave Edmunds, Repeat When Necessary (Swan Song SS 8507, 1979 – reissued 7a 7A062LP, 2023) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Deep Discount – U.S.)

Side One

1. Girls Talk
2. Crawling from the Wreckage
3. The Creature from the Black Lagoon
4. Sweet Little Lisa
5. Dynamite

Side Two

1. Queen of Hearts
2. Home in My Hand
3. Goodbye Mr. Good Guy
4. Take Me for a Little While
5. We Were Both Wrong
6. Bad Is Bad​