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Greg Townson, Just Name It, Los Straightjackets, More Travelin' Guitar, My Friend The Night, Off and Running, On Your Side, The Hi-Risers, Travelin' Guitar
As a member of bands like The Hi-Risers, The Essentials, The Hillbilly Moon Explosion, The Locusts, The Salamanders, and most recently Los Straitjackets, there are clearly many sides to guitar master Greg Townson. But the two sides I want to focus on here are the competing instrumental and vocal foci of his brilliant solo catalogue. Townson’s got six solo albums by my count, three with vocals and three without. They’re all great but each side offers up particular and unique delights. Townson can sing! And he plays a mean guitar. If you’ve been missing some heartfelt jangly-twang guitar and a singer with a Nick Lowe kind of stylistic song range, then nothing less than both sides of Greg Townson will do.
Townson kicked off his solo career with two vocal albums, 2013’s On Your Side and 2016’s My Friend The Night. On both records it’s hard to put your finger on his vocal style. Yes, it’s very Nick Lowe at times and yet it’s also reminiscent of a distinctive 1960s American folk pop vibe you can hear on deep cuts from The Cyrkle or Every Mother’s Son. More recent acts I’d associate Townson with might be Tommy Sistak, The Decibels or Michael Shelley. You can judge for yourself with delightfully breezy cuts like “The Instruments Agree” or the more folkie lounge balladeering of “I’ll Wait for You,” both from On Your Side. My Friend the Night blows this winning formula wide open, expanding the range of styles on offer. “The Opinion Page” is a full on Rockpile-esque workout with an inventive lead guitar instrumental break. “These Shoes of Mine” is a pretty little song marked by a tender vocal and some absolutely killer acoustic guitar playing. From there Townson offers up a Ventures-worthy cover of “Linus and Lucy,” the Nick-in-lounge-mode ballad “Oldest Trick in the Book,” and a time-capsule performance on “You Can’t Stop Time,” a western country-ish tune in that 1950s Capitol records style.
The instrumental side of Townson’s album releases begins in 2017 with Travelin’ Guitar. Everything about this record is right out of 1960s guitar-instrumentals-albums central casting. From obligatory classics of the genre like “Fishin’ Hole,” to inspired yet unusual choices like the “Jaws” theme, to loving covers of vocals classics like “You Send Me,” Townson hits all the marks. But the standout track here for me is actually a digital bonus cut, the inspired cover of The Smith’s “There is a Light That Never Goes Out.” Amazingly Townson manages to render Morrissey’s anguished vocals via his emotive lead guitar lines with a brilliant aplomb. 2019’s More Travelin’ Guitar faces the challenge of making the familiar new again by reinventing hits like “Venus,” “Day-O” and “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” Just listen to what he does with Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country,” balancing some expressive lead guitar work against a gently driving rhythm guitar feel, or check out his version of the wartime classic “We’ll Meet Again” where his guitar playing transforms a sad sounding song into something more peppy and joyous.
The vocals are back on 2020’s Just Name It, a collection of tunes that effectively showcase Townson’s low-key Nick Lowe/Buddy Holly-ish vocal demeanor, elevated by his distinctive lead guitar touches. It’s all there on opening cut “My Telescope.” The intro guitar lines are like brush strokes on a painting, the vocals light and sprightly. Or there’s the old rock and roll sound-made-new on tracks like the Dave Edmunds-infused “We Tied One On” or the jazzy cabaret vocal style of “If You’re Not in Love.” My vote for single would be the rhythm-guitar hooky “Square One.” In 2021 Townson switched back to instrumental mode with the creative Off and Running. Taking the idea of an instrumentals album in a new direction, the focus is entirely on hits by women from the 1960s – and what a cavalcade of offbeat hits he’s gathered here. There’s obvious hits (Doris Troy’s “Just One Look,” Barbara Lewis’ “Hello Stranger” and Jackie DeShannon’s “When You Walk in the Room”) as well as lesser known gems (Lesley Gore’s “Off and Running,” Dusty Springfield’s “Little by Little,” and The Pleasure Seekers’ “What a Way to Die”). Whether taking on obscure numbers like “Action Line” from harpist Dorothy Ashby or a monster chart hit “The Locomotion” by Little Eva Townson manages to add his own special guitar something.
Do you need a musical pick me up? The two sides of Greg Townson will put a smile on your face and kick in your step (onto the dance floor). Catch up on his catalogue on Bandcamp and keep up with his antics on Facebook.
Photo by Fank De Blase, originally featured in Rochester City News
Throughout my life, Nick Lowe has been poprock constant. No matter what was going on, the arrival of a new Nick album was always an occasion. I probably first heard him as most other people did when “Cruel to be Kind” hit the radio in 1979, and Rockpile’s “Teacher Teacher” cemented my love of his style a year later. And what’s not to like? I had grown up consuming my parents’ record collection – Chuck Berry, Hank Williams, the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, the Beatles, etc. – and Nick was like a new wave synthesis of all those influences! Over the past four decades he’s grown as an artist, shifting his songwriting style and performance, but somehow managed to stay true to these roots. Currently on tour with retro rocking Los Straightjackets, Lowe continues to release great songs.
Discovering Lowe in 1979, I had to play catch up with his earlier career releases. “I Can See Her Face” from Kippington Lodge was Lowe first songwriting credit in 1969 and arguably that band’s best tune. From there Lowe wrote most of Brinsley Schwarz’s material over the course of six official album releases (seven if you include the long unreleased It’s All Over Now) from the early to mid-1970s and he would recycle some of that material later as a solo artist, most famously “Cruel to be Kind” and “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding.” There’s some strong material on those records but “The Ugly Things” (from 1974’s New Favourites, later covered by Elvis Costello) really stands out for me as reaching the Nick Lowe solo-era standards for melody and hooks. Solo material started emerging in 1977 with the EP Bowi and various one-off singles (like the faux Bay City Rollers tributes or the label-ripping “I Love My Label”). Lowe’s first solo album, Pure Pop for Now People (or Jesus of Cool in the UK) contained a host of great songs (“Marie Provost,” “So It Goes,” “I Love the Sound the Breaking Glass”) but I think “Tonight” really captures Lowe’s talent for tuneful, ballady material.
Brinsley Schwarz – Ugly ThingsNick Lowe – Tonight
1979’s Labour of Lust would be Lowe’s breakout album, featuring his only American top 20 hit, “Cruel to be Kind.” But the album has real depth songwriting-wise with great rockers like “Switchboard Susan” and tender ballads like “You Make Me.” Personally, I was always drawn to the crashing intensity of “American Squirm” and the pop jauntiness of “Without Love.” Next up was Rockpile’s Seconds of Pleasure, where only six of the twelve tunes were penned by Lowe and that didn’t include the charting single, “Teacher Teacher.” Of the six, the sparkling jangle of “Now and Always” only slightly edges out “When I Write the Book” as the best Lowe tune on the album. By 1982 Lowe was back to being a solo artist but Nick the Knife failed to produce a charting single. Still, I love acoustic guitar-anchored “My Heart Hurts” and the wistful “Raining Raining.” 1983’s The Abominable Showman (despite its dad-joke worthy title) was a strong album, featuring a great organ-heavy Paul Carrack duet on “Wishing You Were Here.” But for me, “Raging Eyes” was the obvious single, while “Mess Around with Love” (Lowe’s reworking of his earlier Brinsley cut “We Can Mess Around”) was another highlight.
In 1984 Nick was an early adopter of the roots sound on his Nick Lowe and his Cowboy Outfit, a record that also contained a should-be hit single, “Half a Boy and Half a Man.” But I was more drawn to the poprock gems “Love Like a Glove” and “God’s Gift to Women.” 1985’s The Rose of England contained Lowe’s most naked attempt to get back on the charts with his own version “I Knew the Bride (When She Used to Rock and Roll),” a song previously popularized by his old pal Dave Edmunds on his 1977 album Get It. It proved to be a very minor hit that tended to overshadow just how strong the album was, particularly it’s folk-poppy title track and the inspired John Hiatt cover, “She Don’t Love Nobody.” Nick’s next two albums witnessed him struggling to find his place in the then contemporary music scene. Both 1988’s Pinker and Prouder than Previous and 1990’s Party of One had plenty to please Lowe fans but no hit singles that might expand that base of support. Still, for hooks, I’d single out “Wishing Well” from the former and “Who was That Man?” and “All Men Are Liars” from the latter.
In 1992 Lowe took another stab at joining a band, this time Little Village with John Hiatt, Ry Cooder and Jim Keltner. With such an all-star line-up, excitement about the project was palpable, but the response to their sole album was lukewarm. Personally, I think Lowe’s turn on vocals is one of the record’s highlights on “Take Another Look.” Then Lowe shifted gears again, taking his albums into darker, more serious moods, with the release of The Impossible Bird (1994), Dig My Mood (1998), and The Convincer (2001). Here Lowe deliberately sought to reinvent himself as more introspective, mature artist, and the overwhelming critical response has been that he succeeded. Still, every album has a few more poppy numbers, like the uptempo “I Live on a Battlefield” or the more subtle earwormy “Indian Queens.” At My Age (2007) and That Old Magic (2011) lightened the mood somewhat, with the latter producing a particularly impressive range of material with songs like “Sensitive Man” and “Somebody Cares for Me.”
The world is in the midst of a full blown cultural tsunami that is Game of Thrones. The hit HBO fantasy series has escaped the bounds of normal viewership to become a must-see show for anybody that hopes to relate to their fellow human beings. The talk shows can’t stop talking about GOT, Facebook bulges with GOT memes, and YouTube is rife with GOT send ups. As the battles of Westeros draw to their final chilly end, it’s a challenge to remain aloof or immune from the phenomena or potential plot spoilers. But I think this musical contribution to the mega-event that is GOT hits the right spot. Los Straightjackets, everybody’s favourite Mexican-wrestler-dressed instrumentals band, has joined the fray lathering their own inimitable guitar stylings over the normally strings-heavy Game of Thrones theme. It’s magic! Los Straightjackets have been busy backing up Nick Lowe over the past year (following the release of the band’s tribute album of Lowe tunes) but somehow managed to record a new EP entitled Channel Surfing, featuring this new song and three others. Twangy guitar – it was just what Westeros was missing!
What were the biggest hits that weren’t in 2017? Who were the biggest should-be stars? In our alternate universe here at Poprock Record, these guys were all over the charts, the chat shows, the scandal sheets, as well as memed all over Facebook, Snapchatted by the kids, and Instragrammed into oblivion. Jesus, they were so popular you are well and truly sick of them by now. But sadly for our poprock heroes, the universe is not just ours to define. In the world beyond our little blog, they could all use another plug.
Daisy House dominated my playlist this year, both their current record and their back catalogue. They channel the 1960s but never let it wholly define them. They have two amazing singers and one fabulously talented songwriter. They deserve all the accolades the internet can hand out. If this were 1970 they’d probably be headlining The Flip Wilson Show tonight. The Rallies were an accidental discovery that turned into an obsession. Their whole album is great but “Don’t Give Up” makes my heart twinge every time. Aimee Mann and Fastball ably demonstrated this year that veterans can still turn out fantastic, career-defining albums. And I got to see both of them live! Los Straightjackets did Nick Lowe proud, producing a phenomenal tribute to his body of work. “Rollers Show” was my go-to summertime happy tune.
I won’t review every selection from the two-four, but I will say that I think the mix of poprock I feature on the blog is evident here. There’s fast and slow, country and rock, guitars and keyboards, etc. And then there’s always the hooks. Case in point: check out the 42 second mark on Greg Kihn’s “The Life I Got.” If you don’t feel the excitement he creates with some classic poprock guitar arpeggiation and the subtle vocal hook you’re kinda missing what we’re doing here. Here’s hoping 2018 is as hit single worthy as this past year has been!
I am going to sneak in an honourable mention for what I consider the compilation of year: 
Instrumentals are the original cross cultural phenomena. Not just because they overcome the language barrier in an increasingly global world, but also because they tend to be the first bridge crossed by generationally divided tastes. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, albums of often tepid instrumentals introduced Elvis and the Beatles to an aging record buying public brought up on swing bands and Frank Sinatra. Rock and roll was too noisy for them but the hooks proved too much to ignore. Radio stations offering ‘easy listening’ formats of contemporary songs done in an instrumental style were a popular addition to elevators and doctors’ offices everywhere by the 1970s. Then with the explosion of California beach and car culture in the early 1960s instrumentals became a thing in rock and roll too. Today, its an established sub-genre.
Which brings us to this fabulous interpretation of Nick Lowe’s 1975 throw away tribute to the Bay City Rollers, “Rollers Show.” For Nick, the song was largely a contractual obligation effort, a way to cynically cash in on the teenybopper love of all things BCR at the time and fulfill his contract with United Artists records. But even knock offs from Nick can still showcase his songwriting magic, lovingly teased out in this rendition from the hilarious, over-the-top instrumental group Los Straightjackets. The band has produced a whole album of Nick covers and they are not merely knock offs. Each song is creatively reinterpreted, sometimes in boldly different ways (check out their languid version of “Cruel to be Kind” as an example). The first single was a great version of “Peace, Love and Understanding” but my current faves are “All Men Are Liars,” “I Live on a Battlefield,” and, most of all, “Rollers Show,” which really is the standout track here in my view. The album cover is pretty cool too – a riff on Lowe’s Jesus of Cool album with Nick himself featured prominently. Rollers Show
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