It seems like assembling a compilation on a
roots rocker
like
Dave Edmunds
would be an easy task. While his backing bands and production styles have changed, his musical aesthetic has remained essentially the same since he bolted from
Love Sculpture
and started a solo career in 1971 -- no matter what he did, he remained a passionate, devoted fan of old-time
rock & roll
,
rockabilly
country
Chuck Berry
the Everly Brothers
, and
Phil Spector
. At first, he did this literally on his own, laying down every track himself for his first two records, and he did this to acclaim and success, including the surprise Top Ten hit
"I Hear You Knockin'."
By the mid-'70s, he hooked up with
Nick Lowe
and the two formed the core of
Rockpile
, a
retro-rock
new wave
outfit that provided support on
Dave
and
Nick
's solo albums and toured as its own entity. During this time,
Edmunds
was a rare thing -- an interpretive
singer. He had an exceptional ear for songs, whether it was oldies or newer material by such contemporaries as
Lowe
Elvis Costello
Graham Parker
; he made the new songs sound like classics from the days before
the Beatles
, yet he and
performed them with an energy and vigor that made them fit the
.
had a nasty split after recording their lone album, and
went through two enjoyably patchwork albums (
Twangin'
D.E. 7th
) before hooking up with
ELO
main man
Jeff Lynne
for 1983's
Information
. Like
Lynne
is also a lover of old
-- at their core, such early '80s hits as
"Rock & Roll Is King"
"Hold On Tight"
are
Jerry Lee Lewis
tunes -- but he had no compunctions about embracing the production of the time, down to the drum machines, phased guitars, and layers of synths. Perhaps since
was once a studio geek himself, this appealed to him, and he submitted to a makeover that made him sound like
and brought him hits, both on
MTV
and radio, leading to his first American Top 40 hit since
"I Hear You Knockin'"
with
"Slipping Away."
While they gave him success, these records hurt him with his cult following and he never quite recovered -- he's only made two solo albums since -- and they make compiling a hits compilation difficult because they stand out like a sore thumb next to his prime '70s work. There's also the problem that
recorded for several different labels, so licensing becomes a problem.
Rhino
's 1994 double-disc compilation
Anthology
solved that, but it was hurt by too much
material and too much
(cut off the first six and last six songs and it'd be a perfect compilation). Ten years later,
Columbia/Legacy
took their shot with the single-disc, 16-track
From Small Things: The Best of Dave Edmunds
, which also spans several labels, stopping when he left the label in the late '80s. The compilers recognized they had a problem with the
material, so they've limited it to the two hits, but they're hamstrung by licensing, which dictates that they could only have two
Swan Song
-era cuts featuring
. Which means that big, big songs --
"I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll),"
"Ju Ju Man,"
and the hit
"Girls Talk"
-- are here in latter-day live versions, which are pleasant but not a patch on the originals. To compensate, a few
soundtrack
-only rarities are hauled out --
"Stay With Me Tonight"
from the 1987
to
Light of Day
"Do You Wanna Dance"
from 1985's
Porky's Revenge!
"Run Rudolph Run"
from
Party Party
-- and while these are nice for collectors to have, they don't compensate for the lack of classic '70s and early '80s cuts. So,
From Small Things
winds up being less than the sum of its parts. It's an entertaining listen -- nothing here is bad; it's all good -- and its scope and ambition are admirable. It's just hard not to wish that the execution was a little better. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine