Rockpile’s ‘Seconds of Pleasure’: One And Done

Seconds of Pleasure, released in 1980 and the only album under the Rockpile name, wasn’t the quartet’s first album together by a long shot. Due to management feuds and record label restrictions, their previous discs had come out since 1978 as either Dave Edmunds LPs (Tracks on Wax 4, Repeat When Necessary) or credited to Nick Lowe (Labour of Lust), even though Edmunds, Lowe, drummer Terry Williams and guitarist Billy Bremner produced them all as an ongoing touring and recording unit. (Rockpile also provided most of the backup on Musical Shapes, the 1980 album by Lowe’s wife, Carlene Carter.)

By the time Seconds of Pleasure hit the shops, it was considered something of an anti-climax, and the band—despite being one of the most celebrated roots-soaked rock and roll groups of the era—broke up not long after live dates supporting its November 1980 release. “To be honest with you,” Bremner told journalist Fred Mills decades later, “none of the band really liked that album at all—it certainly wasn’t the highlight of our time together.” Heaping praise instead on the Edmunds and Lowe “solo” albums, Bremner added “When we eventually did get to do one under our own name it was the worst one we made.”

Lowe, who’d acquired the nickname Basher for his hit-and-run approach to studio sessions when he supervised albums by the Damned, Elvis Costello, Dr. Feelgood, Graham Parker and many others, admired Edmunds as a songwriter and guitar-slinger, and found him infuriatingly morose and negative as a person.

Talking to Dave McCullough of Sounds in 1979, Lowe tried to understand the band’s dynamic, admitting he preferred to be a “backroom boy” instead of a leader: “I honestly don’t know what to think of Rockpile. I’ve thought about it up and down all around the houses and I still don’t know why I enjoy it so much. I just do. I like the guys, and then I’m the worst musician in the group, the other guys are better, much better than me… I like being with them, I’m proud of being with them.”

When it came to recording and playing live, Rockpile tried to avoid being seen as a “revival act.” At the time, Edmunds told Creem’s Dave DiMartino, “I just think there’s nothing wrong with blatantly displaying your influences. But I like to tread a line somewhere, even if we have to create that line ourselves… of not actually singing ‘Blue Suede Shoes.’”

Bremner admitted, “It certainly wasn’t unique; it had all been done before. Three-minute songs, good arrangements, good dynamics. But at the time it was different… Rockpile was a kick up the ass for everyone.”

Related: Our Album Rewind of Edmunds’ Repeat When Necessary

Any ambivalence about vintage repertoire didn’t stop them from including their versions of the Joe Tex 1966 B-side “If Sugar Was as Sweet as You,” Rockin’ Sidney’s 1961 “You Ain’t Nothin’ But Fine” and Kip Anderson’s obscure 1967 Checker single “A Knife and a Fork” among more recent compositions on the LP. Engineered by Aldo Bocca at Eden Studios in the Chiswick section of London, and overseen by Lowe (although there’s actually no producer credit on the album), Seconds of Pleasure has a punchy, clean sound and an economy of approach that makes for a truly delightful ride, no matter how much the players badmouth it. Many of the songwriting credits read “Nick Lowe and Rockpile,” indicating perhaps that Lowe was the consistent wordsmith and music was developed by the full band.

Seconds of Pleasure kicks off with the only track released as a 45 rpm single, “Teacher Teacher,” penned by Kenny Pickett and Eddie Phillips, formerly of the English band the Creation. Sung by Lowe, it made it to #51 on the Billboard Hot 100, despite Edmunds grousing to DiMartino, “It’s too deliberate an attempt to get a hit.” The exuberant, galloping rhythm from Williams, killer chorus worthy of an Everlys or Belmonts disc, and joyously twinned Edmunds-Bremner guitars make for a track without an ounce of fat.

Edmunds leads “If Sugar Was as Sweet as You” with a nicely echoing vocal that becomes double-tracked at times (or is that Bremner doubling him?). Bremner takes the lead on the delightful “Heart,” with, in Edmunds’ words, “a voice like velvet” and Dion DiMucci in his soul. The opening piano played by Edmunds is kissing cousin to the Chiffons’ “One Fine Day,” and the rhythm owes something to the Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love.” Williams is quite fantastic: no wonder the album sleeve credits him with playing “drums drums drums.” Overall, it might be the most successful of Rockpile’s hybrid old-new sound, along with the glorious Lowe-Edmunds Everly Brothers homage “Now And Always” that follows.

Despite Bremner describing “A Knife and a Fork” as “disastrous, and drastically out of tune,” it’s quite amusing lyrically, and the Edmunds vocal, with Bremner providing the high harmony, couldn’t be better. We even get a period-perfect ’60s organ break from Edmunds in place of the original’s raunchy sax solo. Edmunds told Creem, “If that album, as it stands, was my solo album, I would have preferred to pick ‘Knife and Fork’ [as the single], which demonstrates what I would like Rockpile to be, though it’s not the obvious hit. But I’d rather have a flop with that one than ‘Teacher Teacher.’”

“Play That Fast Thing (One More Time)” is a chugging raver sung confidently by Lowe; he gets the solitary writing credit, having devised it in 1973 while a member of pub-rock stalwarts Brinsley Schwarz. The original is looser barrelhouse New Orleans than the Rockpile version, which amps up the Edmunds-Bremner hoochie-koo until the needle’s in the red. The contrast between Lowe’s very relaxed singing and the relentless backing gives the track its special character: “Hangin’ out at Frankie’s/Everyone was stoned/The player it was playin’/Something really gone/Some people they were dancing/And some were clappin’ hands/And some were just lyin’ close/Makin’ sweet romance.”

“Wrong Again (Let’s Face It)” leads off the second side of the original LP, and features a rare appearance of acoustic guitar and some brief backward-tape effects. Composed by Squeeze’s Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, their version appeared under the title “Wrong Way,” in fast rockabilly mode, given away as a flexi-disc with the magazine Smash Hits in October 1979. The Rockpile version is more polite, and outside of concise solos from the guitarists, there’s nothing revealed about what is a mediocre tune in the first place.

The mid-tempo “Pet You and Hold You” is sung aggressively by Lowe, mostly double-tracked in his lowest register, not unlike “Big Kick, Plain Scrap” from Labour of Lust. The typically wise-ass lyrics tell a mysterious story from which crucial plot details seem to have been left out: “Older but no wiser in a military spot/The NCO just told the C-in-C everything I’m not/I wonder why they wonder why I went AWOL/It was to pet you and hold you.”

Chuck Berry’s “Oh What a Thrill” was only a year old when Rockpile covered it, having been on Berry’s little-noticed and only Atco Records album, Rock It. Edmunds, no stranger to emulation of Berry’s vocal and guitar style, is clearly having a blast handling something of recent vintage by the master. Listen to the Williams-Lowe rhythm section for a lesson in solid, unshowy support.

One of Lowe’s best and most enduring songs, “When I Write the Book,” was played live and actually recorded but not released by the celebrated singer Phil Seymour (connected to Lowe through his work with the Textones) before Rockpile laid down their version. In characteristic Lowe-speak, an extended metaphor fuels a downbeat tale of lost love: “When I write the book about my love/It will be about a man who’s torn in half/About his hopes and ambitions wasted through the years/The pain will be written on every page in tears/When I write the book about my love.” Rockpile’s arrangement—acoustic guitars and organ redux!—reveals new fun around every corner. It’s also got the best backing vocals of the set.

Related: Our Album Rewind of Lowe’s Labour of Lust

Given that Lowe and Elvis Costello were joined at the hip for many years, it’s not surprising Costello not only used the same metaphor (for “Everyday I Write the Book”) but penned a ditty called “Seconds of Pleasure” around this time as well.

Edmunds is the driver of “Fool Too Long,” which may start with a “Last Train to Clarksville”-adjacent riff, but soon reveals its guts are more like “The Price of Love.” It seems somehow undercooked, the only song that might qualify as filler. The album ends with a roaring “You Ain’t Nothin’ But Fine,” this time with Bremner singing in a tricky understated manner while the band absolutely rocks out behind him. It’s easy to see how Rockpile set the stage for the rockabilly-roots revival that propelled the Stray Cats and others into greater prominence, and led Queen to “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.”

Seconds of Pleasure stalled at #27 on the Billboard album chart, but has gained in stature over the years, a “lost opportunity” that still delivers plenty. First-run 1980 vinyl copies contained a terrific four-track EP, “Nick Lowe & Dave Edmunds Sing the Everly Brothers,” which has since been added to CD and digital versions, along with some excellent live recordings that show Rockpile in their preferred setting on stage.

Listen to “When Will I Be Loved” from the Lowe/Edmunds Everly Brothers EP

In the wake of Rockpile’s dissolution, Williams joined Dire Straits, Bremner went back to being a session man (including stellar work on the Pretenders’ single “Back on the Chain Gang/My City Is Gone”) and eventually moved to Sweden, where he today occasionally fronts a group called Rockfiles. Edmunds, never appreciated on the level he deserves, was semi-active for decades as producer and recording artist until retiring altogether in 2017. Lowe never stopped performing, building an impressive catalog of songs, playing solo and in configurations with like-minded musicians, most recently touring with Los Straitjackets as opening act for Elvis Costello and the Imposters. Will Birch’s fun-filled Lowe biography Cruel To Be Kind includes more of the Rockpile story for those who crave a deeper dive.

Seconds of Pleasure is receiving a vinyl reissue on June 7, 2024, via Yep Rock Records. Pre-order it in the U.S. here and in the U.K. here.

Bonus Video: Watch a complete 1979 Rockpile live set

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Mark Leviton

Mark Leviton began writing about music and pop culture in 1967, with credits in Rolling Stone, Creem, Fusion, Bay Area Musician, LA Weekly, Phonograph Record and many fly-by-night publications.For 25 years he worked for the Warner Music Group and Rhino Records, producing hundreds of compilation albums and historical reissues, placing recordings in films and TV, and generally having a blast.His weekly radio show "Pet Sounds" is heard on KVMR-FM in Nevada City, CA and the website www.petsoundsmusic.com.

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