With iconic garage-punk trio the Oblivians, with the Parting Gifts (his collaboration with the Ettes’ Coco Hames and Jem Cohen), with a legion of other one-offs and defunct projects, and, for the past 13 years with driving rock ‘n’ soul revue the Reigning Sound, Greg Cartwright has chased various traces of American rock and pop to arrive at something singularly his. Still, with his legacy perfectly well cemented among garage-rock aficionados and discerning vinyl-heads, Cartwright is still chasing the unexpected. The Reigning Sound’s latest album, Shattered, is the band’s sixth proper full-length, a follow-up to 2009’s Love And Curses, and its debut for Merge. Cartwright will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new feature on him.
Cartwright: A few years ago, I stumbled on an LP on Vertigo by the band Legend from 1970. The LP was self-titled, which led me to believe it was their first. I later found there was an earlier LP from 1968 on Bell Records but it sounds quite different and really, except the singer/guitarist Mickey Jupp, it’s an altogether different band. The songs on the Vertigo LP are a great mixture of R&B, balladry and rollicking Chuck Berry riffing that are truly propulsive. A few of the songs were familiar to me as I’d heard them covered by Nick Lowe and Dave Edmonds. Like the classic “Cheque Book.” A little while after Jupp’s initial run, pub rock came into style in England, and many of it’s most notable bands held Legend in high esteem and championed their material by covering their songs. Stiff Records released a compilation LP that combined songs from the three Legend LPs. The third being Vertigo’s follow-up Moonshine from 1971. I’ve still yet to find a copy of this LP. (Hint, hint!) Anyway, due to this fact I can’t speak to the quality of the entire album, but luckily both Vertigo albums are available on one CD issued by Mason. And no matter what, the entirety of the self-titled album is worth the price of admission.
Check out “I Feel Like Sleeping” after the jump.
