Eddie & the Hot Rods Albums (10)
'Been There Done That'
Release Date 9/4/2006
Tracks 14
Label Voiceprint
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'Better Late Than Never'
Release Date 10/25/2004
Tracks 14
Label Bad Reputation
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What The Critics Say
Despite popular belief to the contrary, Eddie and the Hot Rods were never a punk rock band -- they were solidly in the "fast and loud" division of the rock-revivalist pub rock school, alongside the Count Bishops and the 101'ers, and they were a lot more interested in playing old-school rock & roll with plenty of swagger than bad-mouthing the Queen or fermenting anarchy. In short, what made Eddie and the Hot Rods a good band has never dated or gone out of style, which may be why, of the bands from the U.K.'s class of 1977, they're one of the few who can serve up a new album today that doesn't sound like a pale shadow of their former selves -- or at least vocalist Barry Masters still can, since he's the only member of the Hot Rods' classic lineup who appears on 2003's Better Late Than Never. Still, Masters doesn't tarnish the name of his band with Better Late; he's in great voice, sounding like a tougher and more attitudinal Roger Daltrey these days, and if the band doesn't match the manic energy of the Live at the Marquee edition of the Hot Rods, they're tight, they play with heart and soul, and they do a great job of helping Masters serve up a dozen examples of no-nonsense rock & roll, with the nose-thumbing "High Society," the classic car reminiscences of "Deep Blue Interceptor," and the cracking Ian Hunter cover of "Once Bitten, Twice Shy" leading the pack. Masters remains a first-rate rock singer who knows how to get a band to make with the boogie, and Better Late Than Never proves there's plenty of life in him yet. [The 2006 American release of the album includes two live bonus tracks, "Wooly Bully" and "Hard Driving Man."] ~ Mark Deming, All Music Guide
'Doing Anything They Wanna Do'
Release Date 2/10/2003
Tracks 18
Label Anagram
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What The Critics Say
In their prime and at their best, Eddie & the Hot Rods might well have been the greatest live band you ever saw. Other bands had better songs and other bands were better musicians. But in terms of streaming adrenaline, compulsive dance-ability, and sheer good-time rock & roll energy, the Hot Rods could run sneering rings around any of rock's higher-lauded concert gods, which means the virtual absence of any true document of their peak has frustrated fans for far too long. Two live EPs released in 1976-1977, after all, only hinted at the glory, but salvation is finally at hand, as Get Your Rocks Off plugs the gap with almost demented flair. The actual sound recording leaves a little to be desired; the mix is muddy and Barry Masters' vocals float far too high above his bandmates. But the earliest-known recording of the group in concert, from Paris in early June 1976, nevertheless captures the band in full flight, hammering through bleeding-raw recountings of songs that would be polished for their debut album ("On the Run" received one of its first-ever airings here), and crunching with joyous disrespect across some of history's most sainted sacred cows. "Gloria," "Satisfaction," "The Kids Are Alright," "Bye Bye Johnny," "Get Out of Denver," and, introduced as the band's next single, "Wooly Bully" are the sound of a garage band stepping onto the forecourt for the first time, all spiky guitars and locomotive percussion, and so high on wired enthusiasm that the CD's sonic flaws don't even register after the first few minutes. This is punk rock as it was originally conceived, this is rock & roll as it ought to be performed. And, compared to Eddie & the Hot Rods, everyone else was simply throwing their teddies out of the pram. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Fifteen years separated Eddie & The Hot Rods' fourth album from their fifth - 15 years, during which the membership traveled as far afield as the Inmates and the Damned, and the original band name was invoked but briefly, for a spotty reunion around 1985. Another decade, another try. With arrie Masters and Steve Nicol, custodians of the mid-80s Rods, finally rejoined by Paul Gray and Dave Higgs - the band's original four piece line-up, no less! - Gasoline Days emerged trailing a lot more than nostalgia behind it. That primal line-up, after all, was responsible for one of the key kickstarts in the entire punk lexicon, the Teenage Depression album which put a voice to the roar of disaffected youth a full year before the Pistols found that sneering did the job just as well. But that was then, this is now, and Gasoline Days emerged as inflammable as a cup of lukewarm tea, comfortable rock for comfortable rockers, with even Higgs' trademark stropped-razor guitar clogged up by the soap. Masters works himself up to a bellow ocasionally, but he doesn't sound angry, just a little peeved. And Gray, who once contributed mightily to some of the best records the Damned ever made, might as well have served time in Asia for all he brings out of the experience. The songs aren't terrible - they're not even bad. They're just anonymous. And if that's what Eddie & The Hot Rods reformed to accomplish, then Gasoline Days is an unmitigated triumph, and it completes a perfect transition as well. From teenage depression to mid-life crisis. Clever stuff! ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Devoid of either historical or analytical detail, Live & Rare is one of those albums which could have been recorded any time in the last 30 years, and leaves the listener hoping it'll live up to expectations. Naturally, it doesn't. There are only two Eddie & the Hot Rods albums that are genuinely worth owning, their debut and their sophomore set. Between them, and all the more so across recent bonus track-stacked reissues, Teenage Depression and Life on the Line round up every worthwhile note of music the band recorded in their so glorious heyday, then spread around the albums and a clutch of singles, too. Many of the same titles appear here as well, some live, some demos, and some, conceivably, of more historic value than the packaging lets on. Others, however, unquestionably date from the band's mid-'80s sort-of reunion, with vocalist Barrie Masters and drummer Steve Nicol the only original bandmembers in sight, and anything beyond a nostalgic flapping clearly beyond them. "Fought for You" and "Hey Tonight," that lineup's sole singles, are of marginal curiosity value, but extracts from the One Story Town live set are tired and toothless. If you don't care about context but simply want a singalong, you might enjoy them. You probably also think "caveat" is what you wear down a pothole, and that's OK as well. But if you want a true taste of the Hot Rods at their peak, and maybe an aural explanation of why they remain an irreplaceable ingredient in the history of the past quarter century of righteous rock, Live & Rare should be left where you found it. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Forget everything you've ever read about Thriller. Eddie & the Hot Rods' third album arrived in 1979, at a time when the band's own brand of high-octane punk-pop was wallowing in the depths of unfashionable retrogression. Live, the group was still the hottest thing on ten legs, and the first single from the album, the anthemic "The Power and the Glory," certainly suggested that the magic dispensed by their last set, Life on the Line, was still firmly in place. But the album as a whole didn't simply disappoint, it all but disappeared and, for 20 years thereafter, when old-time fans discussed the Rods, it was the first two albums that lay on the altar. Truly, nothing else mattered. Reissued for the first time since those dark days, Thriller hasn't simply improved with age; It actually rivals its predecessors, a fast-paced, dramatically dynamic and, above all, deeply melodic album that reiterates both the complexity and the contrary simplicity that was the Rods at their best. Even picking favorites among the tracks is no longer easy -- "The Power and the Glory" still thrills, but so do "Media Messiahs," "Breathless," and "Living Dangerously," while the bonus tracks, both drawn from period B-sides, continue down the same road, to demonstrate that whatever was wrong with this record in 1979, it had nothing to do with the band. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Eddie & the Hot Rods' much-anticipated second album appeared in fall 1977, on the heels of the band's biggest hit single yet, the gloriously anthemic "Do Anything You Wanna Do." Like that attraction, Life on the Line revealed a considerably more mature musical outlook than did its predecessor, the fury-whipped Teenage Depression -- aware that there was no point in pursuing their original whiplash R&B-soaked visions in the face of the ever-accelerating hordes of punk, the Hot Rods swerved into a hard-hitting prototype of what would later become power pop, awash with guitars and riffs, but clinging to some genuinely memorable melodies, too. Of course, the band did not wholly eschew their past -- excuse the young Steve Lillywhite's sparkling production, and both the Pistols-guitar powered "Quit This Town" and the premonitory closer, "Beginning of the End" would readily have fit into Teenage Depression. Flip the coin, however, and the instrumental "We Sing...The Cross" reached far beyond any musical pastures the band had hitherto grazed, toward the same extremes of tension and release that made the early Television such a dynamic experience. The end result was an album that still screams "classic" today -- hard to believe, indeed, that prior to its release, it was difficult to imagine the band ever equalling the triumphant punch of the hit. Nine bonus tracks wrap up the reissue, albeit with considerably less illumination than those which complete the Teenage Depression reissue. The best is the B-side "Distortion May Be Expected," which wanders around similar territory to "We Sing...The Cross," with added jungle, crowd, and, oddly, dub effects, while three live tracks do include a magnificent reading of "Do Anything You Wanna Do." Elsewhere, "Till The Night Is Gone" and "Flipside Rock" fascinate via the presence of MC5 frontman Rob Tyner, in London to check out the punk scene, and winding up with the one band that really didn't wear his old band's name on their sleeve. Musically, the ensuing single was a disappointment, but the possibilities still intrigue. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
History records Eddie & the Hot Rods as the missing link between pub rock and punk, and their debut album, released at the tail end of 1976, proves that every word is true. Young, loud, snotty and incredibly fast, the riffs and rhythms are fuel-injected R&B, but the lyrics are teenaged disaffection with a forest on its shoulders. Even the album's covers, the Who's "The Kids Are Alright," Joe Tex's "Show Me," and Sam Cooke's "Shake," were selected for their swagger, while the title track is a proto-punk cry of anguish that makes the later new-wavers sound like a room full of spoiled children. The six-minute finale, "On the Run," is even stronger, a dead-end kid-style anthem about the ultimate outsider -- "the boy should be pitied, but they're getting me committed." The FX that drench the song's closing minutes, meanwhile, capture all the rage and confusion of the lyric, and give a hint of the sheer brutal power that was the Hot Rods when they really let loose -- a treat normally reserved for the live show. Isolated tastes of that particular beast do surface elsewhere on the album -- both "The Kids Are Alright" and "Been So Long" were recorded live at the Marquee on a baking-hot night in July 1976; the dozen bonus tracks appended to the CD reissue include four more from that memorable night, in the form of the legendary Live at the Marquee EP. Mach 10 versions of Van Morrison's "Gloria," Bob Seger's "Get Out of Denver," ? Mark's "96 Tears," and the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" further amplify the linkage between '60s garage and '70s punk, but, far more importantly, they give at least a hint of why witnesses still describe that particular show among the greatest gigs they ever attended. Five further tracks date from a Rainbow show nine months later, previously immortalized on the aptly named Live at the Speed of Sound EP; the CD is completed by the band's first two singles, including a crunchy cover of "Wooly Bully," produced by Roxy Music's Andy Mackay. They, however, are simply the icing on the cake. In late 1976, with punk still a flood of records waiting to happen, Teenage Depression was one of the only things that made it worthwhile to get up in the morning. And the Hot Rods live was the only thing that stopped you from getting straight back into bed. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide
