Paul Collins brings that beat back
Power pop's re-emergence puts the daddy of the scene in the driver's seat
Paul Collins cut his teeth during a strange time in American music.
When his band, the Los Angeles power-pop trio the Nerves, released its one and only four-song 7-inch in 1976, the radio waves were dominated by Peter Frampton types riffing on 20-minute guitar solos. The hippies had come and gone and punk rock was still a few years down the road. No one knew what to make of three guys driving to gigs in a station wagon, wearing suits with skinny ties and playing three-minute pop songs.
"People thought we were from another planet," Collins laughs. "We got kicked out of every music store in L.A. and San Francisco because people thought we were jerks and that we weren't playing real music."
Along with his bandmates Jack Lee and Peter Case, Collins' one near brush with fame happened when Blondie scored a hit with a cover of the Nerves' song "Don't Leave Me Hanging on the Telephone" in '78. But to this day when Collins performs the song, people approach him after the show and say 'Hey man, great Blondie cover.'
Since then the group has existed as little more than a footnote in the annals of pop history, but its influence on indie music culture is incalculable.
Before Black Flag got in the van and led the punk charge across the country in the 1980s, the Nerves had already blazed the DIY trail nearly a decade earlier. "People told us we couldn't make our own record, and we said 'Fuck you, yes we can,'" Collins declares. "They said you can't book a tour without an agent, but nothing stopped us from putting gas in the car and going. We even started our own club, called the Hollywood Punk House. The first shows in Hollywood by the Germs, the Zeros, the Zippers, the Weirdos, the Dils were at our club that we booked. No one else would do it, so we said yes."
When punk finally did break, Collins and Co. chose not to go that route. "We thought it was too juvenile," he adds. "We didn't want to wear safety pins and torn-up clothes; we wanted nice clothes. But philosophically we epitomized punk."
Rarely does a band go against both the establishment and its peers, but the Nerves did both.
Since those early days Collins' has remained on the fringes of mainstream success. In 1979, he signed with Columbia Records to release the self-titled debut from his band, the Beat, which later became the Paul Collins Beat. But despite critical praise the record went largely unnoticed. After a few more releases received the same lack of public interest, the group broke up.
After disbanding the Beat, Collins fell into obscurity, and the changing face of popular music didn't help his case. He continued, working mostly in Europe, to produce bands here and there and occasionally tried his hand at country songwriting with the Paul Collins Band. But writing short, sharp, raw and honest pop songs has always remained his forte.
As the '80s turned into the '90s, grunge took over the radio and like a virus it infected everything. "Everything else just kind of took a nose dive, especially the kind of '80s pop music that I was doing," Collins admits. "Nobody wanted to hear it."
Rather than point a finger at the changing face of popular music for stifling his livelihood, Collins blames the establishment like he has always done.
The rise of the Internet, however, has sparked new interest in Collins' career. "The Internet broke the stranglehold," he says. "Corporate radio is so boring that people had to find a way around it and now people have podcasting and their own radio shows and they're really cool and eclectic."
The shift in dissemination has churned up a lot of music that was lost in the shuffle over the years. Both the Nerves' and the Beat's recordings have been reissued and, ironically, are now considered power-pop classics. "People are discovering a lot of timeless music that was lost the first time around," he says. "That's the power of rock 'n' roll and that's the power of the Internet."
The cultural change is visible in the scores of young bands popping up on Myspace every day, claiming '70s-'80s power-pop as an influence, and Collins is paying attention.
In 2006 he released Flying High (Lucinda) to the same critical praise his albums have always received. The following year he released Ribbon of Gold on the obscure Spanish indie label, Rock Indiana.
Over time Collins has further honed the art of crafting the perfect pop song. Ribbon of Gold portrays the same balance of raw honesty and short, sharp pop arrangements that put him on the map more than 30 years ago. And over time he has adhered to the same DIY philosophies.
"Every day I ask myself the same question, 'Why am I doing this?' And at the end of the day, I always have the same answer – because I love rock 'n' roll."
– Chad Radford
Paul Collins Beat: Upcoming Powerpop Festival Review
A classic trademark of good powerpop is that it's often instantly likeable. The beat's good, the melodies are catchy, you can sing along to it the first time, and it sounds like what great rock 'n roll should sound like. In many ways, its simplicity makes the album a seminal album that influences many for years to come. The new release from Paul Collins Beat, Ribbon Of Gold delivers as promised. If one knew about frontman Paul Collins, that would be no surprise. He was in early '70s legends The Nerves with future Plimsouls Peter Case, penned "Hanging on the Telephone," which was a hit for Blondie, and also was in '80s new wave legends The Beat (not to be confused with ska revivalists The English Beat). In fact, Paul Collins is credited by many as one of the inventors of "skinny tie pop," the Kinks/early Who derived simple guitar and beat based pop that reached its height of popularity with The Knack that still garners both affection and popularity among (good) music lovers. Afterall, when was the last time you heard anyone say they didn't like Blondie or The Knack? They're just cool to everyone. Ribbons of Gold is a superb followup to last year's Flying High. As if the history isn't enough to give instant powerpop/jingle jangle rock cred, it was produced in super musically cool Sweden by Chips Kiesby, also known for his work with The Nomads and The Hellacopters. The opening "Hey DJ" is a happy slow beat nostalgia trip when rock radio was something good and DJ's brought you great music and seemed more like music fans than the outdated relics they are now. Not many of us can relate to it, but the song is refreshing and jangles along in a way that's just cool. For those of you who want their music to rawk and care less about the finer points, it's got that too. "I Still Want You" is unmistakenly 80s new wave/powerpop that reminds one of early Police but far better in volume and dimension. The song also highlights Paul's vocal intensity and heart. We've all felt that way before and Paul summed it up in feeling just as we felt it. Another upbeat standout is "She Doesn't Want To Hang Around With You" with it's less than two minutes of pogo beat that definitely brings me back to my high school days of crushes for girls with bob haircuts and neon earrings. It nearly borders on a 'punk' song if it wasn't so happy sounding. "Big Pop Song" is a slower psychedelic/jingle jangle guitar song. Musically, it's very reminiscent of early Church but the vocals bring a greater strength to the song compared to the more understated, detached style of Steve Kilbey. Instant appeal doesn't mean popularity. Although the songs on Ribbon Of Gold are instantly likeable and catchy, they have a basic purist sense that feels and sounds like great rock 'n' roll. One can't put their finger on it, but if one takes The Jam and only a few others out of the powerpop equation, it seems like more of an American new wave phenomenon. Therefore, this type of Kinks derived skinny tie pop shares some qualities as "American" music or "Americana." Songs like "Falling In Love With Her" take a strong Byrds folk rock flavor, but more than the Rickenbacker sound, the music itself somehow feels like "American Music." Although that term applies more often to country music, which is not a genre that holds merit for many of us in the modern sense, the songwriting tradition is related by people such as Johny Cash, Roy Orbison, and many others. Although this is NOT a comparison to them, it's important to note that there is a tradition shared. It has a feel of being almost earthy in it's simplicity and a story to it. In many ways, Paul Collins' style both in tempo and songwriting transcend the skinny tie feel into a broader sense of American rock music that is suprising. One especially hears it on the title track "Ribbon of Gold" with it's storytelling and beat that almost communicates a sense of traveling, which is what the song is about. It's very hard to describe it, but it has some kind of kinship to "Into The Great Wide Open." What's even better is that it shows that Paul Collins is a great American rock songster that deserves a lot more credit and attention than he currently knows.
Flying High Lucinda
Rare Solo Turn by one of US power-pop’s prime movers.
With his late-’70s LA troupes The Nerves and The Beat, Paul Collins essentially invented the genre of punk-infused power-pop. The Beat’s eponymous 1979 Columbia debut, with its skittering guitar-and-adrenaline stompers like “Rock and Roll Girl” and “Walking Out On Love,” arguably remains the style’s apex, and established an archetype that lesser bands like The Romantics and The Knack parlayed into mass successes. The modest Flying High, Collins’ first solo turn in 12 years, proves his gift for a hook is still intact, even if the rhythms are gentler, the songs more reflective. “Afton Place,” a catchy-as-hell highlight, looks back on the early years with empathy and passion.
– Luke Torn
Paul Collins Beat - Flying High
Paul Collins was the drummer for the Nerves when they had their one and only hit, the new wave anthem “Hanging on the Telephone” covered by Blondie. Later, in his own band, The Beat, he recorded one of the definitive power pop albums of the late 1970s , the band’s self-titled debut in 1979. Other albums, line-up changes, break-ups, solo recordings, reunions followed, but Flying High is the first album of new material from Collins in more than a decade. It is a rather low-key affair, recorded in about a day and a half, with friends and mostly acoustic instruments, and Collins’ son sings back-up on the opening song. The difference between this and a million other self-recorded albums is the careful construction of the songs, nearly all of which have something special to offer. “Rock ‘N Roll Shoes”, co-written with a since-deceased friend Neil Grossman, has the stinging guitars and soaring harmonies of British Invasion pop, while “Paco & Juan” channels a little of Mark Knopfler’s dark romanticism. “Bobby”, written about a childhood friend who died in a mental institution, is the darkest song on the album, an unsentimental reminiscence set to folk guitars. But there’s plenty of sunshine here, as well. “Afton Place” rings out with Kinks-like chords and sweeping choruses, and “Silly Love” is a countrified ode to no-strings hook-ups. ("Let’s not get too deep/Let’s not talk too much/Let’s have a cocktail/And then make love.") This is not the kind of album that changes anyone’s life....it’s just good, relaxed fun, from a guy who’s forgotten more than you’ll ever know about chord changes.
- Jennifer Kelly
Paul Collins will always be remembered for delivering unto the world the most perfect pop-punk song, “Rock ‘n’ Roll Girl.” Unfortunately, for the most part, it was a pretty cloth-eared world that never paid enough attention and certainly didn’t buy enough records. The few,mostly located in mainland Europe, who did recognise his talent have been lucky enough to play host to Mr Collins on and off for the past couple of decades. During this period he has quite schizophrenically split his time between being a country troubadour and a power pop rocker. He succeeds at both having a powerful voice matched by a passionate delivery. His latest album, Flying High, focuses far more on his rock/pop side. With songs like “Rock 'n' Roll Shoes,” “Helen,” “Afton Place” and “All Over Town” harking back to his late-’70s heyday. His time in Spain is felt strongly on “Paco & Juan” with its Spanish-influenced guitar (and subject matter), and his Americana stylings are to the fore on the moody “FDR” and the musically simple but emotionally powerful title track. But it’s his conversational story telling, most in evidence on the sad tale of “Bobby,” that holds the show together, and makes this an album to be proud of.
– Terry Hermon
Paul Collins’ Beat produced some great power-pop/punk records over 25 years ago. It’s heartening to discover that Paul decided to carry on in 1989, and has been recording and gigging in Spain virtually ever since. Collins always had a knack for power pop melodies and hooks, and it hasn’t deserted him. The punkier stylings of the earlier recordings have been replaced by a lighter, more acoustic approach. The songs are well supported by a Spanish band and Paul’s son (?) On backing vocals. Octavio Vinck deserves special mention for tasteful, economic lead guitar parts and backing vocals. The websites are short of information, but I presume that Paul now lives in Spain, where pure pop gets a warm welcome. Whilst the twelve songs here are not instant classics, they all have nifty hooks and catchy choruses. Let’s hope Paul keeps writing and playing stuff like this for another 25 years.
– Phil Suggitt