Comments on: Brinsley Schwarz “Silver Pistol” http://therisingstorm.net/brinsley-schwarz-silver-pistol/ | therisingstorm.net Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:53:04 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Len Liechti http://therisingstorm.net/brinsley-schwarz-silver-pistol/comment-page-1/#comment-96601 Len Liechti Wed, 30 Jun 2010 20:00:42 +0000 http://therisingstorm.net/brinsley-schwarz-silver-pistol/#comment-96601 While I have a great regard for Brinsley Schwarz's (the group's) place in rock history, and particularly for the songwriting of Nick Lowe and Ian Gomm, the problem with this and with their other studio recordings is that while they're musically fine their production is just too damned lo-fi: something that's OK with genuinely lo-fi music but which doesn't do justice to what is basically a high-energy product. The no-frills approach worked in live performance where their unprocessed sound could find a resonance off the walls of the venue and off the tightly-packed, responsive audience, but their refusal to espouse at least some modest studio enhancement - eg. a hint of reverb, a trace of compression, a smidge of presence - means that these albums sounded flat, as if they were recorded in a cardboard box. Will Birch, former drummer with the Kursaal Flyers, in his highly enjoyable book No Sleep Till Canvey Island: The Great Pub Rock Revolution, says that this was true of most of the pub rock outfits, whose urgent live sound never got translated successfully to vinyl partly because of their laid-back attitude to the studio and partly because they insisted on doing their own production whilst perpetually stoned! Anyway, the book is worth a read (if you can find it now, being out of print) as it covers, inter alia, the whole Brinsleys story from Kippington Lodge to the Rumour via the eponymous band, with a fine account of the disastrous PR launch at Fillmore East. As for production values, once Nick Lowe became a professional producer in his Stiff/Radar days there were few to match him. Shame he didn't get to grips with the desk a few years earlier. Perhaps one day he'll get his mitts on the original Brinsleys tapes and produce the sort of remixes the music deserves. While I have a great regard for Brinsley Schwarz’s (the group’s) place in rock history, and particularly for the songwriting of Nick Lowe and Ian Gomm, the problem with this and with their other studio recordings is that while they’re musically fine their production is just too damned lo-fi: something that’s OK with genuinely lo-fi music but which doesn’t do justice to what is basically a high-energy product. The no-frills approach worked in live performance where their unprocessed sound could find a resonance off the walls of the venue and off the tightly-packed, responsive audience, but their refusal to espouse at least some modest studio enhancement – eg. a hint of reverb, a trace of compression, a smidge of presence – means that these albums sounded flat, as if they were recorded in a cardboard box. Will Birch, former drummer with the Kursaal Flyers, in his highly enjoyable book No Sleep Till Canvey Island: The Great Pub Rock Revolution, says that this was true of most of the pub rock outfits, whose urgent live sound never got translated successfully to vinyl partly because of their laid-back attitude to the studio and partly because they insisted on doing their own production whilst perpetually stoned! Anyway, the book is worth a read (if you can find it now, being out of print) as it covers, inter alia, the whole Brinsleys story from Kippington Lodge to the Rumour via the eponymous band, with a fine account of the disastrous PR launch at Fillmore East. As for production values, once Nick Lowe became a professional producer in his Stiff/Radar days there were few to match him. Shame he didn’t get to grips with the desk a few years earlier. Perhaps one day he’ll get his mitts on the original Brinsleys tapes and produce the sort of remixes the music deserves.

]]> By: Aquarium Drunkard: Music Blog » Ernie Graham :: S/T 1971 http://therisingstorm.net/brinsley-schwarz-silver-pistol/comment-page-1/#comment-73457 Aquarium Drunkard: Music Blog » Ernie Graham :: S/T 1971 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:25:24 +0000 http://therisingstorm.net/brinsley-schwarz-silver-pistol/#comment-73457 [...] record that never was. It doesn’t feel like most pub rock (even considering Nick Lowe’s Brinsley Schwarz filled out the backing band); it may just be because Graham hailed from England that we call it pub [...]

[...] record that never was. It doesn’t feel like most pub rock (even considering Nick Lowe’s Brinsley Schwarz filled out the backing band); it may just be because Graham hailed from England that we call it pub [...]

]]> By: dave tack http://therisingstorm.net/brinsley-schwarz-silver-pistol/comment-page-1/#comment-39844 dave tack Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:29:41 +0000 http://therisingstorm.net/brinsley-schwarz-silver-pistol/#comment-39844 anyone know what brinsley's up to these days. I'm an old friend, haven't seen him in years. living in UK i'm sure. anyone know what brinsley’s up to these days. I’m an old friend, haven’t seen him in years. living in UK i’m sure.

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