Dave Edmunds, The Rockfield Rebel + The Rockfield Story (By Greg Shaw - Bomp! Magazine Issue 15 - Spring 1976)

“Roots-rockers are seldom as purist as Dave Edmunds. Throughout his career, he stayed true to '50s and '60s rock & roll – for Edmunds, rock & roll history stopped somewhere in 1963, after the Beach Boys’ first singles but before the Beatles’ hits.”

The above piece was taken from the allmusic.com site on the overview of the great artist, sorry rock & roller named Dave Edmunds. Cause rock & roll is no art, it’s more than this! Anyway, of course I have a boundless respect for the Beatles but as a music fan I’m more to Dave Edmunds side of things. And you know it’s cool to like better the Ronettes than the Beatles, right?  Dave is an underappreciated guitarist. If you already witness Love Sculpture records’, you know what he was/is able to do with this weapon in his hands (“Sabre Dance” gives the boot to all the Claptons of this world). When the blues outfit of Sculpture called its quits, Dave on his small recording studio, launched a kind of successful career just by recording and playing all the instruments by himself, pickin’ almost entirely on ‘oldies’ covers.  And what job he did! He was the ONLY ONE that tried and succeeded to re-create the unique sounds of Sun, Chess and Philles, a subject that MANY (if not all…) tried and of course FAILED! Don’t get wrong on him, he was no revivalist. At least in the way we all think of revivalists today. He was/is a PURE fan of the golden age of American rock & roll. I’m not sure what I like more on him, cause he was excellent bandleader just like he was the best maybe producer of the genre after Phil Spector. I never understood why the Stones never tried something with him behind the boards. Their sometime evil twin (the Flamin’ Groovies) got him to produce monsters, and “Shake Some Action” is (at least) a good example. Brian Wilson listening to an Edmunds recording said was “God behind the drums”! Really now, there are tons of things I could say ‘bout the brilliancy of Mr. Edmunds and I really don’t know where to start and where to finish. The Rockpile were probably the best pub rock band of the 70s and is a chapter that also needs further investigation for most of the rock & roll fans. This is a GREAT piece on Dave Edmunds by the mighty pen of Greg Shaw as it published with Bomp! Magazine back in Spring 1976.  That’s essential reading and it’s truly a pity we don’t have today writers or musicians with a passion like theirs!  Hope this excerpt is the start for all those never looked on Dave Edmunds brilliant career for both of his personas, musician & producer. As long as Dave’s still around, there’s hope for roots rock & roll to survive.

Motörhead - "The Dave Edmunds Tracks" (Excerpt from "On Parole" Reissue, 1997 - EMI)

This is not an official release. I borrowed these Dave Edmunds produced tunes from the 1997’s re-issue of “On Parole”.

But let’s take things from the start. Almost all Motörhead fans agreed to the fact that the best ever line-up was Mk2. The one that had Lemmy, “Fast” Eddie Clarke and Philthy Animal Taylor. I was surprised when I finally came to conclusion that MANY of the fans had a blur on this and think of the aforementioned personnel as the original… If you are one of these, let me tell you this – WRONG!

The original line-up of Motörhead had except of course for Lemmy, the psychedelic punk legend of the Pink Fairies, Larry Wallis on guitars and Lucas Fox on the traps. “On Parole” was actually the first Motörhead recording and it was planned to be released by United Artists. For many reasons (chickened?) the company put it on naphthalene and after band’s success in the late 70s, hit the streets in 1979 just to cash in.

What it had inside its grooves, were all the known debut’s tracks but on a different approach. And that’s the interesting part of the story! I’m sure you all know about Rockfield Studios on Wales and the man behind them, Dave Edmunds.

Dave Edmunds except for a wide known roots rock n’ roll artist (perhaps the last true of an era) was also and excellent producer. He produced among others the Flamin Groovies, the Stray Cats and Ducks Deluxe, giving the original 50s or 60s touch all these bands needed. So what the hell happened with Motörhead?

Lemmy and co. picked him up and cut together four demos of the well known now “On Parole”, City Kids”, “Motörhead” plus Motown’s (!) classic “Leavin’ Here”.

Well, this is your only chance to catch up Motörhead stripped to the bone (more..?), steeped on rhythm & blues, much boozier than ever with an end result sounding like the BEST PUB ROCK BAND IN THE WORLD! Something like Ducks Deluxe on speed! The noise’s still here but you really need to hear this and understand what I’m trying to tell. Even if the tracks are already familiar and many times heard by you, here have something how shall i put it...? Original. You have the sense that Chuck Berry sew there and played all the licks! You think that this thing captured on Memphis Tennessee and SUN studios instead of the island. To these ears these 4 blasts, remain the best recordings of the wild beast under the sulfurous mark of Motörhead! A devastating session that deserves every bit of the legend around it!  
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The Dave Edmunds Tracks