"...All
Your Lovin'...Thrills Me So..."
Frankly (Frank) - "All
Through The City" by Canvey Island's finest Pub Rockers is a bit of a box set barnstormer. Covering the Wilko
Johnson/Lee Brilleaux/John Sparks/Big Figure years - it features 4 full album's
worth and a large haul of previously unreleased studio outtakes and live cuts
from the time. There's even a lengthy DVD that (in itself) would make a superb
stand-alone release. And it's just dropped in price too to below £15!. Here are the finite
details...
Released 16 April
2012 in the UK - and taking its title from a track on their debut LP -
"All Through The City (With Wilko 1974-1977)" by DR. FEELGOOD is a 3CD + 1DVD box set
on EMI 5099955980524 (Barcode 5099955980524) and breaks down as follows:
Disc 1 (79:11
minutes):
Tracks 1 to 13
are their debut album "Down By The Jetty" - released in the UK in
January 1975 on United Artists UAS 29717
Tracks 14 to 24
are their 2nd album "Malpractice" - released in the UK in October
1975 on United Artists UAS 29880
Disc 2 (73:27
minutes):
Tracks 1 to 13
are their 3rd album - the live set "Stupidity" - released in the UK
in September 1976 on United Artists UAS 29990
Tracks 14 to 23
are their 4th album "Sneakin' Suspicion" (and last with original
guitarist Wilko Johnson) - released in the UK in May 1977 on United Artists UAS
30075
Disc 3 (72:41
minutes):
Tracks 1 to 13
and 18 to 20 are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
Track 14 is
"(Get Your Kicks On) Route 66" and is the non-album B-side of their
1st UK 7" single "Roxette" released November 1974 on United
Artists UP 35760
Tracks 15, 16 and
17 are "I'm A Hog For You Baby", "Stupidity" and "She
Said Alright" and are all album outtakes from the "Down By The
Jetty" sessions.
They were first
issued on the May 2006 2CD 'Collector's Edition' of "Down By The
Jetty"
Track 21 is
"Keep It Out Of Sight (Live)" and is a non-album B-side of their 4th
UK 7" single "Roxette (Live)" released October 1976 on United
Artists UP 36171
Original copies
of the live set "Stupidity" came with a free collector's 7"
single [FEEL 1] - two extra live tracks - "Riot In Cell Block No.9"
b/w "Johnny B. Goode".
They are Tracks
22 and 23 on Disc 3.
NOTES -
EXCLUSIONS - INCLUSIONS:
Even though the
catalogue number for "Down By The Jetty" uses the UA code for Stereo
(UAS) - the album was famously recorded and released in MONO - and that MONO
remaster is what's included on this box set (the 2006 version). The 'STEREO'
mix is on the 2CD "Down By The Jetty - Collector's Edition" released
in June 2006 - both versions remastered like this box set by PETER MEW at Abbey
Road Studios.
Track 13 on Disc
1 is a duo of cover versions "Bonie Moronie/Tequila" and was recorded
live in London's Dingwalls in July 1974. Six more tracks from that concert are
on Disc 2 of the 'Collector's Edition' of "Down By The Jetty" and are
NOT on this box set.
"Malpractice",
"Stupidity" and "Sneakin' Suspicion" have all been
available before on CD on Grand Records in the Nineties - but this 2012 box set
offers properly remastered versions of them for the first time.
PACKAGING:
Wilko Johnson had
always adored Johnny Kidd & The Pirates and especially their guitar player
Mick Green - and tucked away on the B-side of their 1964 hit "Always &
Forever" on HMV Records POP 1269 was an obscure cover version of a Piano
Red song from 1962 on Okeh Records called "Doctor Feelgood" (Red's
group was actually called Dr. Feelgood & The Interns). Wilko chose this apt
name for his new rockin' band from Canvey Island in Essex - and a kick ass
British Rhythm 'n' Blues legend was born. I mention all of this because the
single is pictured on Page 3 of the superb booklet centered in the hardback
pack - along with interviews with Wilko (December 2011), liner notes by HUGO
WILLIAMS, discography details that picture the albums, comic book strips, trade
adverts, 7" singles on United Artists, NME and Melody Maker reviews and
all the usual memorabilia associated with a retrospective like this.
A very, very
smart move is the inclusion of a non-region-coded 23-track DVD (22 songs and 1
interview). Recorded in England (20 cuts from 1974) and Finland (2 cuts from
1975) - the Concert/TV appearances show the full-on thrill of a Dr. Feelgood
live show in their prime. They were little short of sensational and regularly
annihilated most other bands in their path. Their manic no-nonsense fast and
furious songs were also beloved by Rock 'n' Rollers and even pre-dated Punk by
two years. I can't stress enough how the DVD adds so much to the 3CDs of
rocking mania - remastered to perfection by PETER MEW at Abbey Road.
MUSIC:
I know people
rave about the debut with "She Does It Right", "Roxette"
and so many more (and quite rightly so)
- but for me the follow-up "Malpractice" is the absolute balls
too. I wore out the 2nd track "Going Back Home" on my original vinyl
copy. Co-written with Wilko's guitar hero and mentor Mick Green - it has the
most fantastic Lee Brilleaux harmonica solo. I also love the Bo Diddley cover
"I Can Tell" and their menacing version of Bobby Parker's "Watch
Your Step". Original gems include "Another Man", the sleazy
"Don't Let Your Daddy Know" and the chugging "Because You're
Mine" (co-written with Big Figure and Nick Lowe). The remastered sound too
- what a punch. Love it...
It all came to a
frenzied head on the live "Stupidity" set when the British public
feel completely for their charms and put it on the Number 1 spot in October
1976. Again - I'd forgotten how good it is - frantic - urgent - "Walking
The Dog" and "I'm A Hog For You Baby" sounding so exciting and
huge. Following that pinnacle was always going to be difficult and I remember
at the time 1977's "Sneakin' Suspicion" was met with disappointment -
like the band was threading water - and their sound was now limiting instead of
being fresh. But relistening to the cracking title track (the only single off
the album), "Walking On The Edge" and especially what should have
been the follow up single "Paradise" (all Wilko originals) - they're
fantastic (lyrics above). I also so dig their take on the Eddie Fontaine hit
"Nothing Shaking (But The Leaves On The Trees)" with Lee's harmonica tearing
through your speakers. The Lew Lewis cover "Lucky Seven" and the
Willie Dixon/Howlin' Wolf take on "You'll Be Mine" are great fun too.
UNRELEASED:
I had expected
the unreleased stuff on Disc 3 to be workmanlike - and some of it is - but
there are shockingly good studio outtakes that will get fans animated in the
trouser area. It opens with a rough and ready take on Piano Red's "Dr.
Feelgood" which is very good - but it ups a whole different notch with
"Everybody's Carrying A Gun", "I'm A Hog For You Baby" and
"Time And The Devil" studio recordings from January and August 1976.
They're brill. Less successful is a weedy demo of "Sneakin'
Suspicion" and a limp instrumental called "Malamut" which
features Mick Green on guitar. Better by far is a cover of Alvin Johnson's
"Casting My Spell On You" which is pure Wilko Feelgoods - it's
brilliant. The crudely recorded cover of Chuck Berry's "I'm Talking About
You" is good too with a great chucking beat and again they hit you with
another nugget - a properly rocking version of "My Girl Josephine" by
Fats Domino. The live stuff is very much in the vein of "Stupidity".
Very tasty indeed...
To sum up - I've
loved working through this sonic blast - this memory fest - and now at a
bargain price of twenty-eight pounds new - it's time to don the sharp suit
music lovers and do the leg-splits boogie. In fact mention Dr. Feelgood to
those who saw the band in their prime and a manic grin will fill their wrinkled
visage that no cigarette-smoking scalpel-wielding surgeon will be able to
remove.
On a more
personal note - I once glimpsed Lee Brilleaux in 1989 clacking his way down
Berwick Street in his steel-heeled leather shoes - looking like a cross between
Arthur Daley and a man ready to blow a demonically possessed harmonica no
matter what the cost. I wished I'd stopped him, shook his hand and just said
thanks. Well this is for you Lee - Wilko - and all the boys in the band.
Bootiful my
son...
PS: see also my
review of "Taking No Prisoners - The Gypie Mayo Years" 5CD/1DVD Dr.
Feelgood box set
