Album: Down By The Jetty
Artist: Dr Feelgood
Born: Canvey Island, Essex
Released: January 1975
Genre: Pub Rock
Influenced: The Clash, Blondie, The Jam, Elvis Costello, Gang Of Four
Down by the jetty, there was no glitter and Hobbits. Public desire for an antidote to glam and progressive rock had grown so strong by the mid-70s that Dr Feelgood, very briefly, became superstars. Four lads from Canvey Island, who started out in jug bands and busking, found success by re-imagining the Mississippi blues and bringing it to the Thames delta. Their style was passionate R&B played with venom, full of that beery aggression that characterises the English male mindset. The best introduction to Dr Feelgood is the recent Julian Temple documentary, Oil City Confidential. Wilko (and Lee Brilleaux's Mum) are the stars of the film and there's plenty of footage of the group's lead guitarist and songwriter skittering around the stage on his psychedelic tramlines. Wilko also talks of the revelation of first hearing Mick Green play (as guitarist for Johnny Kidd & The Pirates), especially the way he combined lead and rhythm guitar, a big influence on Wilko's own distinctive style. In turn, the film points to how Dr Feelgood became a huge influence on punk, especially the Sex Pistols and the Clash, with Joe Strummer speaking in awe of seeing them live and how tight and dynamic their sound was, like a "machine". The internal dynamics of the group are fascinating too, with Wilko always the slight outsider, the guy who travelled to India and who didn't drink, preferring to retire to his room and smoke weed after gigs while the others raised merry hell. This divide would eventually be their undoing, but for a year or so in the mid-70s, Dr Feelgood were the biggest act in Britain. The band were popular in the States too, especially Wilko, whose psychotic stage presence was attractive to New York punk bands like the Ramones and Richard Hell & the Voidoids.
There's a myth that each track on this album was recorded as a first take, but the truth is slightly more mundane, in that it was all laid down in one recording session (sometimes not always the first take) but without any post-production (overdubs, etc). Dr Feelgood developed their sound by playing in the pubs and clubs of London and Essex, an obvious counterpoint to the rise of stadium rock in the 70s, and wanted to recreate that fine-tuned intensity as much as possible on record. The Sex Pistols get most of the punk plaudits, but when you strip away the political and social context, Down By The Jetty is a far superior record to anything the Pistols produced. She Does It Right gets the album off to a high-energy start and has that stripped down, back-to-basics approach that characterised Dr Feelgood's style, while Boom Boom pays direct homage to John Lee Hooker and the blues. Roxette is probably the standout track on the record, that muscular and lean guitar riff finding echoes throughout punk and new wave. Brilleaux's harmonica playing is also worth mentioning, used to brilliant effect at the end of Roxette and elsewhere on the record. I'm not so keen on the slower tempo songs, but thankfully they're in short supply. On side 2, I Don't Mind, Keep It Out Of Sight and All Through The City are all highlights and I love the medley of Bonie Moronie and Tequila that closes the record. Dr Feelgood and pub rock (Chas & Dave aside) may have slipped through the cracks of history, but it's great to see Wilko currently getting lots of late-career love as he carries out his farewell tour. He thoroughly deserves it.
Down by the jetty, there was no glitter and Hobbits. Public desire for an antidote to glam and progressive rock had grown so strong by the mid-70s that Dr Feelgood, very briefly, became superstars. Four lads from Canvey Island, who started out in jug bands and busking, found success by re-imagining the Mississippi blues and bringing it to the Thames delta. Their style was passionate R&B played with venom, full of that beery aggression that characterises the English male mindset. The best introduction to Dr Feelgood is the recent Julian Temple documentary, Oil City Confidential. Wilko (and Lee Brilleaux's Mum) are the stars of the film and there's plenty of footage of the group's lead guitarist and songwriter skittering around the stage on his psychedelic tramlines. Wilko also talks of the revelation of first hearing Mick Green play (as guitarist for Johnny Kidd & The Pirates), especially the way he combined lead and rhythm guitar, a big influence on Wilko's own distinctive style. In turn, the film points to how Dr Feelgood became a huge influence on punk, especially the Sex Pistols and the Clash, with Joe Strummer speaking in awe of seeing them live and how tight and dynamic their sound was, like a "machine". The internal dynamics of the group are fascinating too, with Wilko always the slight outsider, the guy who travelled to India and who didn't drink, preferring to retire to his room and smoke weed after gigs while the others raised merry hell. This divide would eventually be their undoing, but for a year or so in the mid-70s, Dr Feelgood were the biggest act in Britain. The band were popular in the States too, especially Wilko, whose psychotic stage presence was attractive to New York punk bands like the Ramones and Richard Hell & the Voidoids.
There's a myth that each track on this album was recorded as a first take, but the truth is slightly more mundane, in that it was all laid down in one recording session (sometimes not always the first take) but without any post-production (overdubs, etc). Dr Feelgood developed their sound by playing in the pubs and clubs of London and Essex, an obvious counterpoint to the rise of stadium rock in the 70s, and wanted to recreate that fine-tuned intensity as much as possible on record. The Sex Pistols get most of the punk plaudits, but when you strip away the political and social context, Down By The Jetty is a far superior record to anything the Pistols produced. She Does It Right gets the album off to a high-energy start and has that stripped down, back-to-basics approach that characterised Dr Feelgood's style, while Boom Boom pays direct homage to John Lee Hooker and the blues. Roxette is probably the standout track on the record, that muscular and lean guitar riff finding echoes throughout punk and new wave. Brilleaux's harmonica playing is also worth mentioning, used to brilliant effect at the end of Roxette and elsewhere on the record. I'm not so keen on the slower tempo songs, but thankfully they're in short supply. On side 2, I Don't Mind, Keep It Out Of Sight and All Through The City are all highlights and I love the medley of Bonie Moronie and Tequila that closes the record. Dr Feelgood and pub rock (Chas & Dave aside) may have slipped through the cracks of history, but it's great to see Wilko currently getting lots of late-career love as he carries out his farewell tour. He thoroughly deserves it.
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