Cleopatra Records continues their work of getting under-documented and/or forgotten music producers' stuff out in affordable ways, and Disaster Amnesiac has been digging that, especially, lately, as regards
Police Car: The Anthology from Larry Wallis. Discerning fans of high energy Rock 'n Roll (British Division) will surely be familiar with Wallis. The man was a major figure on the scene roughly during the period of post-Hippie and Pre-Punk Rock, early to late 1970's. As such, he and his mates carried the torches lit by earlier electric miscreants and handed it off to those younger punters whose minds were on fire during that hot Summer of 1976. Wallis deserves accolades for that cultural move, of course. That said, his music is also deserving of being heard as such.
Police Car is not only the name of the album, but also that of its opening track. Presumably this is Larry's most famous song, and it's a great tune. Lumpen sentiments, relatable for all of the London yobbos of the era, wrapped within a really driving riff and propulsive rhythm section. And that's not the only really great song.
Where the Freaks Hang Out ("set the controls for the heart of the fun!"),
Downtown Jury,
Crying All Night: all stick to the same template, and it's a goody; those huge guitar riffs moved by mid-tempo, foot stomping drumming and understated vocals. The real high point of
Police Car emerges from
Mrs Hippy Burning. After repeated listens to this track, even more than that of the entire disc, Disaster Amnesiac swears that one could do an entire article about it alone. The song's main riff is so massive, characterized by such swing from all players. Entire Scandinavian music scenes have been based upon this song, and I'll take it over the lot. If it doesn't get you strutting around you probably just don't like Rock 'n Roll. Seriously it's one of the best songs that Disaster Amnesiac has ever had the pleasure of hearing, and it may be the best song of the entire era that's been mentioned. Did Motorhead ever jam this track live? Surely, Lemmy must have loved it. Hopefully he and Wallis, who passed in 2019, are right now in Valhalla intoning its verses as they hump sky maidens around Ygdrassil.
Meatman features some very cannily humorous lyrics, and those while Tesco Vee was still learning to masturbate. Even the lesser tunes such as
Leather Forever and
Seeing Double are really good ones. While there's no way that they could be as rad as
Mrs Hippy Burning, they're still not being skipped within my rotation of
Police Car. I have no doubt that early Punk Rock bands such as the Damned and the Sex Pistols were aware of all of them. The former would have probably been more honest about some "old hippie" being able to influence their stuff, but still how could that not have been the case for much of that scene? This anthology closes out with a few odds 'n sods from Larry Wallis as a featured player with Pink Fairies, his most renowned act (a brief stint in Motorhead can't really be counted), Shagrat, Steve Peregrin Took and UFO. All show him being a bit more of a glory hound on the electric guitar, as opposed to being a world class song writer, and that's cool. Disaster Amnesiac will never turn down Phil Mogg's dignified vocalizing with UFO. Fascinating to hear it paired with Wallis on lead guitar. The listener will likely find more cohesion within the purely solo tracks that make the majority of
Police Car: The Anthology. The only quibble to be had is the scant amount of player information within the CD liner notes. Maybe for the vinyl that's not the case. That said, it was a bit frustrating to not be able to find out who the great drummer on most of these songs was. Or maybe Disaster Amnesiac missed that information? Certainly happy to have not missed out on this outstanding document of work produced by a seminal participant in the 20th Century Rock 'n Roll outbreak. Find it and let your freak flag fly, brothers and sisters!
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