The largely under-referenced (online anyway)
Brakes were a London quartet, falling several few notches shy of punk. Think more along the lines of pedestrian power pop and pub rock with slightly more enlightened songwriting. The closest comparison I can draw on their home turf might be The Flys, and stateside they bore a sonic resemblance to oft overlooked contemporaries the Tuff Darts and A's. Speaking of all things North American,
For Why You Kicka My Donkey? never enjoyed the light of day in the U.S., but was somehow deemed fit for a Canadian audience. Some of the better songs here border on phenomenal, not the least of which, "The Way I See It," emanating a glorious pop acumen. "Blame it on the Brakes" bleeds shades of Cheap Trick's "Auf Eiedersehen," managing to insert some faint glammy tinctures in the process. "Last Man at the Station" is equally effective, and their reading of Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," if not wholly innovative, puts a spicy spin on things.
01. What Am I Gonna Do?
02. I Don't Know Nothing About Hollywood
03. Doing Life
04. Who's That Man
05. Like a Rolling Stone
06. Blame it on the Brakes
07. The Way I See It
08. Last Man at the Station
09. Strange Man in the City
10. Yesterday's Arrival
11. It's a Shame
Hear
9 comments:
This is cool stuff. Nothing exceptional, just nice, solid power pop.
they're pretty good. bit samey vocal delivery but good chiming power pop and energy. nothing to be embarrassed about except the name of the album
This is great! The best thing I've discovered in months.
I've had one of these songs in my digital collection for years that came from a comp. Never knew about this album.
Ya did it again. Any time that I think I saw pretty much everything from this era, you unearth another one and, not only that, a little bit 'o treasure. STILL the coolest blog around after all these years...
A group of us used to go and see this band in London back in the late ‘70s. They played venues like the Nashville, Red Cow and the Marquee (always the best place to see them, the sweat used to drop off the ceiling on you). They were always enjoyable playing live but the recordings somehow lost that edge they had, it’s all a bit watered down and over produced. That said I still love it when it comes up on one of my shuffle playlists.
I have a lot of photos of them that I took at the time, I met Keith about 10 years ago and gave him a large print I had of him, he was delighted.
A group of us used to go and see this band in London back in the late ‘70s. They played venues like the Nashville, Red Cow and the Marquee (always the best place to see them, the sweat used to drop off the ceiling on you). They were always enjoyable playing live but the recordings somehow lost that edge they had, it’s all a bit watered down and over produced. That said I still love it when it comes up on one of my shuffle playlists.
I have a lot of photos of them that I took at the time, I met Keith about 10 years ago and gave him a large print I had of him, he was delighted.
A group of us used to go and see this band in London back in the late ‘70s. They played venues like the Nashville, Red Cow and the Marquee (always the best place to see them, the sweat used to drop off the ceiling on you). They were always enjoyable playing live but the recordings somehow lost that edge they had, it’s all a bit watered down and over produced. That said I still love it when it comes up on one of my shuffle playlists.
I have a lot of photos of them that I took at the time, I met Keith about 10 years ago and gave him a large print I had of him, he was delighted.
A group of us used to go and see this band in London back in the late ‘70s. They played venues like the Nashville, Red Cow and the Marquee (always the best place to see them, the sweat used to drop off the ceiling on you). They were always enjoyable playing live but the recordings somehow lost that edge they had, it’s all a bit watered down and over produced. That said I still love it when it comes up on one of my shuffle playlists.
I have a lot of photos of them that I took at the time, I met Keith about 10 years ago and gave him a large print I had of him, he was delighted.
Could you please reup.
Thank you very much, Riccardo.
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