Description

Check the exclusive video showing this LP for sale

Check the exclusive video showing this LP for sale

Tracklisting / Additional Info:
1. Mess With Love
2. Hard Enough To Show
3. Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me
4. Jet Plane
5. Looking After Number One
6. I’m Gonna Make You Love Me
7. I’m So Glad
8. Face To Face
9. This Town
10. Somethin’s Goin’ On

Format: LP RECORD
Record Label: Vertigo
Catalogue No: 6360149
Country of Origin: UK

When The Rumour formed in 1975, they were looked on as a type of ‘Pub Rock Supergroup’ as they featured several veterans from that scene. Bob Andrews (keyboards/vocals) and Brinsley Schwarz (guitar/vocals) were previously with the legendary band, Brinsley Schwarz. Martin Belmont (guitar/vocals) came from Ducks Deluxe, and Steve Goulding (drums/vocals) and Andrew Bodnar (bass) from Bontemps Roulez. Though perhaps best remembered as the backing band for Graham Parker during his late ’70s heyday, The Rumour actually released 3 albums under their own name, between 1977 & 1980. They also worked extensively as a house band for Stiff Records, and backed Elvis Costello on ‘Watching the Detectives.’ The Rumours debut album, MAX, produced by Mutt Lange, is now reissued here on CD for the first time. The bands loose, jamming style flits comfortably between roots rock, country, pop & reggae and the album still sounds incredibly fresh today, 30 years after it was recorded. Included amongst the original titles are a few cover songs, including Nick Lowes ‘Mess With Love’ (a song he wouldn’t get around to recording himself until his 1982 ‘Abominable Showman’ LP) and Duke Ellington’s ‘Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me.’
The title of this 1977 album was the bands punning response to Fleetwood Macs mega-selling LP of the same year.

The Rumour is, of course, best known as Graham Parker’s backing band. The members were virtually a “who’s who” of pub-rock: Brinsley Schwartz (guitar) and Bob Andrews (keys) from the band Brinsley Schwartz, Martin Belmont (guitar) from Ducks Deluxe, and Andrew Bodnar (bass) and Steve Goulding (drums) from Bontemps Roulez (that’s French for “let the good times roll”). They were introduced to Parker at their very first gig in 1975 and taking the path of least resistance, signed on to support the gifted and acerbic songwriter. While their work with Parker was highlight acclaimed, they began nearly immediately recording their own material on the side. One might keep in mind that pub-rock had been deeply influenced by the ensemble work of The Band and being strictly a backing band—however successful—may not have fit the players’ ethos well. Plus, there was more money to be had in songwriting. Their debut album was Max and, in my opinion, it’s their strongest LP. Produced by Robert “Mutt” Lange, it was released in 1977 on Vertigo in the UK and on Mercury in the US.

Very briefly, I must clue the reader into the meaning of the album’s title. You may recall Fleetwood Mac’s blockbuster Rumours, released just a few months prior to Max. As a bit of a in-joke, The Rumour decided to title their album Macs, which was then simplified (or perhaps merely misheard) as Max. Nick Lowe had performed a similar sleight of hand in titling one of his early EPs Bowi, following the release of David Bowie’s Low. I’m not sure which is more clever, really.

One of the best songs on the album is the opener, a cover of Nick Lowe’s “Mess With Love,” a song that would appear a few years later on Lowe’s The Abominable Showman. The Rumour’s version is far superior—soulful and funky with a great horn chart and a smokin’ organ solo by Andrews. Think of a slightly more polished Dr. Feelgood. “Hard Enough to Show” is a ska-influenced soul song with a great chorus and some funky wah guitar. Perhaps my favorite track on the album is a cover of Duke Ellington’s “Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me.” A swinging 6/8 beat, mournful lead guitar, rattling keys, soaring horns and just loads of soul. “Looking After Number One” is a gritty shouter borrowing equally from Leiber and Stoller and Otis Redding. Another highlight is “I’m So Glad,” a track reminiscent of the type of pop-soul that Paul Carrack and Nick Lowe perfected on Suburban Voodoo. But even better. “Face to Face” comes the closest to the sound of The Band, especially in the choruses, evoking both the vocal and writing style of Richard Manuel.

The Rumour would go on to record two more albums, hewing a decidedly more new-wave sound: Frogs, Sprouts, Clogs and Krauts in 1979 and Purity of Essence in 1980. In the years following, most of the members of the band have served as session and touring musicians with Belmont being a prominent member of Nick Lowes’s Cowboy outfit. In 2011, the band reunited to support Parker on 2012’s Three Chords Good and 2015’s Mystery Glue.

———————————————————

Often enough, the Rumour (Brinsley Schwarz, Bob Andrews, Martin Belmont, Andrew Bodnar, Steve Goulding) captures the sound of the Band, minus Robertson’s lyrical profundity. What’s really strange is that the Rumour is far more natural and interesting as a minor-league Band (on great tracks like “Hard Enough to Show,” Nick Lowes “Mess With Love” and a sublime Band-like arrangement of Duke Ellington’s standard “Do Nothing ‘Till You Hear from Me”) than when attempting to forge their own identity on the subsequent albums. Max may not be terribly original but it is utterly enjoyable.

When there was too much glam and disco began to get on nerves the bands like The Rumour start appearing to remind us of the old good rock ‘n’ roll. So now listening to such albums as Max we travel into the past twice – at first we go down to the late seventies when the album was recorded then the music takes us along on the journey to the period when the rock ‘n’ roll was all the rush and the order of the day. With The Rumour you’ll have a good trip.

This rock ‘Supergroup’ take a break from backing Graham Parker and get to make their own album. It’s a fine effort mixing covers from such diverse sources as Stevie Wonder, Nick Lowe and Duke Ellington with some decent original songs. The playing is spirited and the singing is more than competent, not to mention that their choice of cover versions is excellent and they way they interpret the originals is AMAZING.