Monday's Long Song

 

In the mid 70's the days of pub rock died and one of the last bands from this genre were The Motors. From the ashes of Ducks Deluxe, one of the best bands of this genre, Nick Garvey formed The Motors. Like Ducks they played up-tempo and energetic songs. The Motors biggest success was Airport but for me their first record was much better and a highlight in 1977 and with their great guitar sound probably the link to the upcoming punk and new wave.

The Motors - Dancing The Night Away

What Happened To Power Pop # 2

As The Motors split Peter Bramall, the vocalist and guitar player,  aka Bram Tchaikovsky formed a new band with the same name. The fact that I have heard The Moters always very much with pleasure I bought the first record from their former guitar player. It hadn't that eponymous of the first Motor's record but still enough songs on it that would be worth to listen to time by time. Girl of my dreams is close to a perfect (power)-pop song. Great harmonies and hooks. And surely not the way music was made in these days. It is still a pleasure to listen to this little gem sometimes. 

Bram Tchaikovsky - Girl Of My Dreams

What Happened To Pub Rock # 11

I thought by myself to finish this little series with the last post. But I remember still some bands that would be worth to featured in this series. One of them were The Motors which was formed by former members of Ducks Deluxe Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster. After a short period of existing they got a new guitarist called Bram Tchaicovsky (what a name!). Trained by many appearances in a lot of pubs the released their first record called '1' in 1977. It was the time when punk and new wave started to open the ears of a lot of people. And The Motors released a record with classic Rock and Roll or how it was called later PowerPop. Dancing The Night Away is a guitar dominated song added with some good voices and harmony singing. I loved them songs because they had the best of 'two worlds'. The structures of guitar based songs with hooks and empathy. It was a record that showed a lot of folks how new music could sound.

Enjoy and have a good week.

What Happened To Pub Rock # 2

Last week I released a post where I asked what happened to pub rock. The answer you can read in my post. I take this for a chance to start a little series about bands from this era and what happened to them. This era didn't last for a long time but it was between the old days of that Woodstock inspired music, the overdubbed and soulless artists and the dawning of the punk movement. It was mostly handmade music played in small pubs. Therefore you had to know how to handle your instrument and you also had to have a feeling for good songs that satisfies your audience.

I used to listen to this music from the middle of the 1970s to the end of it. When I listen now to this songs they are often still great but they remind me on times when this kinda songs meant a lot to me. I will start with a band called Ducks Deluxe. They were formed by former members/roadies from Help Yourself, Flaming Groovies and Brinsley Schwarz. Main members were Sean Tyla and Mick Garvey (who later was the leader of The Motors - but this is another story to be told). They were famous for their highly energetic music. They worked and performed as a band for only a short period from 1972 until 1975 when they split. Ironically they had a little success on selling their records after thy split. But the members were found later in bands like Graham Parker's Rumour, The Tyla Gang and The Motors. After their reunion they are still on tour in Europe backed up with Brinsley Schwarz.

Ducks Deluxe - Daddy Put The Bump

Ducks Deluxe - Don't Mind Rockin Tonight
Ducks Deluxe - It's All Over Now