So a recent post on one of Crabby's blogs got me thinking I should say something about Dr. Feelgood's first album. I suppose I have albums that there's no way I could really live without, and i think I'd put Down by the Jetty up there with any of my absolute favorites. This came out in 1975, so I was thirteen. My friend Dave's sister is the one that owned this, I think. I can't see where Dave or I could have possibly heard of Dr. Feelgood back then. I'm sure she had this, played it and we just lost it over this. I can remember that Dave and his sister lived in a house where the upstairs was sort of an attic, but they were all finished in that neighborhood, and Dave's sister had the part over the garage and kitchen, and Dave had the part over the bedrooms and living room. I think we had to go through the house to get in to Dave's room, but his sister could use those steps, or she could access her room through the garage steps, too. So I think she chose that section of the attic because while it was smaller, it was easy to get in and out unnoticed any hour of the day.
I can remember sitting up in Dave's room smoking Kool's and listening to Dr. Feelgood and Eddie and the Hot Rods and thinking we were just about the coolest kids on the face of the earth. It felt like we were the only ones that knew how great Wilko Johnson was, and I can remember some weird teenage game where we talked shit and acted like this guy that had no idea who The Big Figure was had to be some kind of loser square (in case you're a loser square, The Big Figure is Dr. Feelgood's drummer). Man, that's mostly embarrassing to think about how we could act, but I think talking shit you don't really know about is part of growing up. Well, it is if you're an asshole like me, anyway.
So Down by the Jetty kicks off with this brutal guitar track called She Does It Right, and it really took me a few years to understand that Wilko Johnson could make it sound like he was playing rhythm and lead guitar at the same time. I wish I could have seen a video of them back then. I've seen some on YouTube that show Wilko and John Sparks, the bass player, flanking singer Lee Brilleaux on either side, pacing back and forth to the rhythm of the song in a menacing fashion, while Brilleaux sings and plays harp in a suit that looks like he's on a three day bender that's resulted in more than one bad decision,maybe some fights, and at least one night sleeping outside. On the cover they look like they could be in Cleveland up by the lake in late fall. It looks cold and windy and it doesn't look like they come from a pretty place, even though they have the water right there. Maybe that's part of their appeal to me; they look like they come from a place where I fit in.
You might think this kind of revved up blues really wouldn't be the kind of thing a thirteen year old would like, but man, I still can't get enough of Wilko's guitar sound on songs like Roxette or Keep It Out of Sight. It's just really aggressive, and I was never a really aggressive person or anything, but this was the kind of music I could see my mom liking, if it wasn't so aggressive. So I think Dr. Feelgood was one of the first bands that I had wanted to play for her so that I could see her not really like it, but maybe not quite know why (I was a real smartass and shocking mom was always okay by me back then). The thing is, I never owned a copy of this.
I don't think I ever owned it until the mid 90's, maybe even early 2000's. I found it on cd and if that's how you find this, then buy it. It's an excellent sounding cd and it's every bit as great as it ever was. It's in mono but that just seems to add to the menace. I know right when I got it that I was really excited and hoped I'd think it was half as good as I remembered when I thought back to Dave's old room. I think Cheque Book might have even made it onto this cassette tape we made once. it was called Rick and Dave's Raving Faves. We used his sister's cassette deck because she had a real stereo. Probably something like Pioneer or Akai back then, and we probably should have found an 8 track recorder because we didn't know anyone with a cassette deck until we were sixteen and I installed a Pioneer Super Tuner underdash FM/cassette player in my friend's first car. I don't know how that fell to me. I don't know much about cars, but I bought stereo magazines and wanted a nice stereo real bad, so I guess I probably said, "How hard could it be?" I know it took all day, but it actually looked pretty good!
Dave and I talked about that tape last year when I saw him. He said it's possible that he still has it in a box in his attic or maybe even at his sister's. I'd love to see what songs we had on there! I know we thought that if we could play that over the air that we'd be the biggest radio station in the world. But ya know what? I still think Dr. Feelgood and Eddie and the Hot Rods are truly great bands. I think they're why I was so ready for Punk when that hit and a teenager in Cleveland, Ohio might be able to hear them. I think Dr. Feelgood did a whole lot to shape how I listen to music and how I try to find music. I thought that the kids that were just happy with Elton John or their brother's Beatles records were just working on finding their way to their own music, and I didn't realize for a long, long time that most people aren't going to put any effort into finding anything other than the most popular music. Hey, I know that if you're actually reading this blog, then that's not you (in fact, you're really on the outskirts of things if you're reading this - you've possibly just given up!), you obviously dig around hard to find something new. I applaud you for that, and I hope you buy records because you like the cover or someone told you they thought you'd like it for whatever reason, be it because they think you listen to weird music or they listen to weird music and think you should join them.
I'm really getting off track here. Down by the Jetty was reissued on vinyl last year, so I got one of those. It's a very basic package, just like the original. No download card, no lyric sheet. The record could be a little quieter but it's still fine. In fact, if you want the best sound on this, you probably should look for the cd. The thing is, you don't need the best sound here. Wilko's guitar cuts through. Brilleaux's decadence rises to the top and The Big Figure and John Sparks hold this all down like seasoned pro's. Down by the Jetty is truly one of my favorite albums.
