Monday, December 03, 2007

Power Pop: Walking Out On Love


Had Paul Collins’ sole contribution to music been writing Working Too Hard and playing drums for The Nerves' eponymous ep in 1976, his place in rock history would be assured. That Collins then formed The Beat – aka Paul Collins’ Beat – and made one of the strongest albums of the power pop genre in their 1979 self-titled debut, should have made him a household name.

For proof, listen to Walking Out On Love, one of the many classics – all about gurls, lust and cars (that's what it feels like, anyway) – on The Beat. It was later covered by the Velvet Crush on a 1990 flexidisc and Chris was very keen to hear it. So I said I’d upload it. And I did.

Paul Collins is still writing and recording. You can find out more about his current work here. If you do ever see The Nerves’ ep (and have a lot of spare cash) – also featuring the original (and best) version of Hanging On The Telephone, and Give Me Some Time (both written by guitarist Jack Lee) and When You Find Out (written by bassist Peter Case, later of The Plimsouls) – grab it because it really is something quite special. Or just badger me until I upload it.

5 comments:

Daniel Novakovic said...

Oh. Now I know why Velvet Chrush's other songs didn't sound as good as Walking Out Of Love.

Though the download link doesn't seem to work

Fire Escape said...

The link's fixed.

Have you heard the In The Presence Of Greatness album? I rate it very highly. But if you don't like that, you probably just don't like the Velvet Crush...

The Boy and the Cloud said...

cheers!
must say the velvet crush version is VERY true to the original. but so are their other covers. i would recommed the singles compilation, which includes the ESSENTIAL bus stop 7". that, and 'in the presence of greatness' - if you're going to buy two cds, you could do a lot worse. although i just read somewhere a guy found both the album and following ep by the wind in a bargain bin for 50 cent each...


thanks fire escape!

Anonymous said...

Please repost this classic album thanks thanks Angela

Fire Escape said...

I never did post the album; I posted the song, Walking Out On Love, which you can still download.
You can get the album for a fiver from Amazon third party sellers.