My Amazon Reviews: Dwight Twilley "XXI"

Twilley Mania
4 Out Of 5 Stars

Dwight Twilley has always been one of those artists that everyone expected to rocket to stardom. He bounced across four major labels, yet only two were ever able to break a single by Twilley into the top 40 (only one better than his former bandmate, Phil Seymour). In that period of 1979 to 1995, Twilley recorded so many should have been hits that "XXI" plays out almost as a singularly recorded album. The power pop hooks, the swinging guitar and Twilley's vocal style remain timeless, hits or not.

Twilley's two big records, "I'm On Fire" (1976) and "Girls" (1984), but struggled to get heard throughout his career. His sole album for Arista in 1979 had the Tom Petty meets the Beatles single "Out Of My Hands" (and the B-Side was an incredible live version of "Money - That's What I Want" that should have been here). Since Petty and Twilley were friends from their Shelter Records days (Twilley is in the background of Petty's debut), Petty gave Twilley some payback on the album "Jungle." That great chorus vocal helped Twilley get only his second top 100 album, the other being the Twilley Band's "Twilley Don't Mind." "Little Bit of Love" should have been a contender, as it had the same kind of longing vocal and a killer hook. But from there on out, Dwight Twilley kept making albums that seemingly disappeared on release. You still can't get "Jungle" or "Wild Dogs" on CD.

So this CD XXI, also ridiculously out of print, is the only place you'll find such gems as "Shooting Stars" or "Why You Wanna Break My Heart" (eventually earning Twilley some excellent royalties when it was covered by actress Tia Carrere in the chart topping soundtrack to "Wayne's World"). There's an unreleased anywhere else single, "That Thing You Do," which was inspired by but not used in the Tom Hanks movie of the same name. Combine it with the rockabilly "TV" or teenage heartache of "Sincerely" and wind it out with "The Luck's" "Grey Buildings," and you have a power pop collection every bit as essential as The Plimsouls and The Shoes, and a rocker whose star should have risen alongside of Tom Petty's.

Many of these tracks can be found on "Best of Dwight Twilley 1975-1984," only available on CD, not yet a download.

     

My Amazon Reviews: Phil Seymour "Phil Seymour Archives 2"

Double Trouble
3 Out Of 5 Stars

Two years after his solo debut, Phil Seymour delivered another power-poptastic album, the unimaginatively titled 2, complete with a double image of Seymour dressed in stripes against a juicyfruit kind of backdrop. Similarities to the first album were more than intentional. The original album contained a mix by Val Garay ("Bette Davis Eyes," a lot of Linda Ronstadt) that has been scrapped for this reissue, along with Seymour's cover of Twilley's "Looking for The Magic," which has been moved to the reissue of Seymour's debut.

Which is something I have to admit, I didn't notice. The vinyl version of PS2 left my collection decades ago, so my memories of the original Boardwalk issue/mix are fuzzy at best. On the other hand, something that did stay with me and carries over is that PS2 was not as stellar an album as the debut. There's no song here that matches the perfection of "Precious To Me," although the Cowsills (!!!) penned "Dancing a Dream" comes closest. Phil also nicked a good unreleased Tom Petty song, "Surrender." There's plenty of jangle guitars ("Better to Me Than You") and heartache pop. Good stuff, albeit with thin production by Richard Polodor/Bill Cooper.

The gems are the previously unreleased tracks. In particular, they do a fine job on The Plimsouls' "Now" while not topping it, and beat Pam Tillis to "Maybe it was Memphis" (a top ten country hit for her) by almost a decade. One of my fave New Wave bands, 20/20, finds there song "Chemistry" in the bonuses, and a Textones song (PS was a member) "Gotta Get The Feeling Back" shows up here in what I assume is the original version. So I can certainly recommend PS2 to die hard power-poppers and Dwight Twilley fans, but the debut aces this disc by a pretty wide margin.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Dwight Twilley "Soundtrack"

The Music of His Life
3 Out Of 5 Stars

When Dwight Twilley was approached to write some new music for a documentary about his varied and rather story filled career, it would have been easy for him to hand off a few unreleased tracks and them load the disc up with previously released (or re-recordings of) his best known material. Instead, Twilley hit the studio in a burst of creative energy and came up with what can only be called an autobiography in sound.

"Soundtrack" plays as ode to a musician who started as a star struck teen with a minor label hit ("I'm On Fire") before seeing the gods of the music industry ping him around like a human pinball. But never does "Soundtrack" betray bitterness, just fascination on his life and what has transpired over nearly 40 years of music making. When he talks about "two little boys with little guitars" in the wonderful "Good Things Come Hard," there's just now way to think it isn't about Dwight and his late friend Phil Seymour. Or the "Bus Ticket" that takes him and his compatriots from Tulsa to Tupelo being about the club gigs that gave The Dwight Twilley Band their Liverpool-via-Memphis sound. Even his years at Shelter get a tease, in the Tom Petty-esque "God Didn't Do It," which apologetically looks at the ups and downs of his music career.

"God didn't kill your record career
He didn't make your fame disappear,
He didn't whisper a plan in your ear,
You gotta admit, he didn't do it
...we did it to each other."

It's as honest (and darkly funny) assessment of Twilley's career, and the man's putting out there himself for all to hear. Finally, we have "The Last Time Around," a terrific Twilley record that has all the hallmarks of what we fans love about the guy. A swell melody, touching lyrics, the touching hiccup of a voice, and a message; "You better get it right, because this may be the last time around." Twilley has been on the fringes of power pop fanaticism for decades. Although I found "Green Blimp" to be a better album, it would be poetic justice if this movie ever came out and gave him the recognition he deserves.

   

My Amazon Reviews: Phil Seymour "Phil Seymour Archives 1"

Precious to All
4 Out Of 5 Stars

The tragic solo career of Phil Seymour yielded a pair of solid power pop albums, a gem of a single, "Precious to Me," and a reminder of what he brought to the original Dwight Twilley Band. This expanded and remastered version of his solo debut spells it out in pretty much as pure power pop style as it gets. Released in 1980 on the ill-fated Boardwalk Records (Neil Bogart's resurgence after losing Casablanca and also home to Joan Jett's resurrection) before the label collapsed in 1985, leaving Phil's secopnd album to die on the vine. There's no denying, however, that this album was his turn to shine, and he gave it his all.

It's not like his old mates wandered off on him. Twilley contributes two songs, old band-mate Bill Pitcock drops one in as well. This reissue pumps up the bonus tracks, adding a remake of "Twilley Don't Mind's'" "Looking For The Magic" along with 8 demo mixes. But it is the original album that still sparkles. The remake of Bobby Fuller's "Let Her Dance" should have been a hit, along with a pumped up original called "Baby It's You." Add a pretty cool Elvis take on the King's "Trying To Get To You," and you'll get the old feel that "Sincerely" had in the 70's.

As fans are likely to remember, The Dwight Twilley Band did their best to bridge The Bealtes' love of American Music via Liverpool by taking it back to the Sun Studio Sound. On this, his best solo effort, Seymour pulls it off. Now that both his albums are back in print (including a great remix job on "Phil Seymour 2"), you need these both.