[Today: Dr. Feelgood has the prescription...]
Just prior to the explosion of punk rock in England there was a healthy scene known as “pub rock” that featured little-remembered but imaginatively-named bands such as Ducks Deluxe, Kilburn & The High Roads, and Eggs Over Easy. Pub Rock was a back-to-basics movement that was centered around the thrill of live performance, and primarily influenced by R&B and early rock & roll.
The most exciting of the pub rock outfits was a band from Canvey Island called Dr. Feelgood, who played their self-described “rivvum and blooze” with the all-out energy of the punk bands who would follow a few years later. Guitarist Wilko Johnson was a non-stop whirl of back-and-forth motion across the stage, propelled like a yo-yo by the music his band was making. Frontman Lee Brilleaux was a sweaty, besuited combination of retro-cool and timeless aggression, while bassist John B. Sparks and drummer The Big Figure held a solid bottom in spite of the chaos around them. They made four very good albums before Johnson left the band in 1977 over creative control issues. Their 1974 debut Down By The Jetty is their best album by a nose, and one of the better releases of that decade.
Their 1976 live album Stupidity went to #1 in the UK, but even before Johnson left the band, Dr. Feelgood was beginning to sound like a thing of the past next to the upcoming punk bands. Wilko Johnson explained the contrast to Sounds magazine in January of 1977: “Where we differ is that we’ve always had a lot of respect for the music we’re playing and have always been pretty knowledgeable about it and known what we were doing. The essence of punk music, on the other hand, is to be naive about what you’re doing… it seems that as long as you can put across that aggresssion and excitement it doesn’t matter what you fuckin’ play. Or how badly you play it.”
Listen: She Does It Right
Listen: Cheque Book
Tags: debut album, Down By The Jetty, Dr. Feelgood, Lee Brilleaux, Sounds Magazine, Wilko Johnson
26 July 2009 at 4:06 am |
Been to see Dr Feelgood several times, unfortunately all post Wilco Johnson leaving. Even so, they were a great live band. I remember a gig in Edinburgh in about 88 that was possibly the most energetic gig I’ve ever been to.
8 December 2009 at 2:20 pm |
[...] it down and we’ll tart it up later” was the comment – during a session for a Dr. Feelgood album – that earned Nick Lowe the nickname Basher. As a founding member of Brinsley Schwarz, [...]