GARLAND JEFFREYS CELEBRATES CLASH BONDS STINT IN A SONG.

[lanini66]

Always considered him supercool:

[Low Down Low]

That is fucking awesome. Thanks for posting.

[Wolter]

Love it.

[muppet hi fi]

Great track, great and woefully underappreciated artist. I got into him with this killer album from 1980, 'Escape Artist', featuring his old school buddy Lou Reed, David Johansen, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Danny Federici, Graham Parker's Rumor for the rock rhythm section and some serious reggae dudes for the reggae tracks (make sure to get the full reissue with the original bonus EP that came with the vinyl in '80 - that's where the deep reggae and dub cuts are).

[Flex]

A+, would enjoy again

[TeddyB Not Logged In]

Great! Garland has always been a cool and tasteful musician. His limitation is that he's about a B plus artist, which is a hell of a thing to be, but it's kept him from larger success. Maybe that's okay. Lou loved him like a brother.

[coffeepotman]

He wrote Wild in the Streets, that's all I need to know...this guy is cool

[muppet hi fi]

Great! Garland has always been a cool and tasteful musician. His limitation is that he's about a B plus artist, which is a hell of a thing to be, but it's kept him from larger success. Maybe that's okay. Lou loved him like a brother.

His voice was always his greatest strength I think, and I always thought he sounded a bit like Elvis Costello or Graham Parker. One of those guys had great success, the other much less so. The music industry is pretty damn capricious.

[Low Down Low]

Ashamed to admit i dont know half as much about him as I should, but from the little i know he strikes me as a kind of US version of Wreckless Eric, in that the commercial side of the business held next to no appeal. Looking forward to hearing more of his stuff.

[JennyB]

Fabulous!

[Chairman Ralph]

Ashamed to admit i dont know half as much about him as I should, but from the little i know he strikes me as a kind of US version of Wreckless Eric, in that the commercial side of the business held next to no appeal. Looking forward to hearing more of his stuff.

What a fab reference, indeed, and a great song, too. My intro to Garland Jeffreys came via a writeup in Time magazine, of all things, to which my dad subscribed weekly (I think it was Jay Cocks who wrote the article). Not long after, I remember seeing him on a PBS show, “Soundstage.” That sealed the deal, and I sought out his stuff, wherever I cold find it.

I'm surprised that nobody here has mentioned the Circle Jerks' cover of "Wild In The Streets," for their second album of the same name. Pretty good version, raw and stripped-down, as you might expect.

I'm also surprised that nobody here has mentioned "Matador," off the album, American Boy & Girl (1979), which was a major hit in the UK, and made the top five in several European countries, as well.

Like many artists who don't sell records by the gross, Garland Jeffreys has always been bigger overseas than he is here -- though he's also taken lengthy breaks away from the action, notably to raise his daughter, Savannah (now an artist herself). (Hence, the nine-year span between Guts For Love, in '83, and Don't Call Me Buckwheat, his return in '92.) So I suspect that playing the game, at least the way the industry defined it then, was never a high priority for him.

And Escape Artist is good, though I'd argue the trifecta of albums he did for A&M -- Ghost Writer, One-Eyed Jack and American Boy & Girl -- represents his strongest, most sustained body of work, at least during the '70s. I'll have to check out the more recent stuff, when I get a chance.

[gkbill]

Ashamed to admit i dont know half as much about him as I should, but from the little i know he strikes me as a kind of US version of Wreckless Eric, in that the commercial side of the business held next to no appeal. Looking forward to hearing more of his stuff.

What a fab reference, indeed, and a great song, too. My intro to Garland Jeffreys came via a writeup in Time magazine, of all things, to which my dad subscribed weekly (I think it was Jay Cocks who wrote the article). Not long after, I remember seeing him on a PBS show, “Soundstage.” That sealed the deal, and I sought out his stuff, wherever I cold find it.

I'm surprised that nobody here has mentioned the Circle Jerks' cover of "Wild In The Streets," for their second album of the same name. Pretty good version, raw and stripped-down, as you might expect.

I'm also surprised that nobody here has mentioned "Matador," off the album, American Boy & Girl (1979), which was a major hit in the UK, and made the top five in several European countries, as well.

Like many artists who don't sell records by the gross, Garland Jeffreys has always been bigger overseas than he is here -- though he's also taken lengthy breaks away from the action, notably to raise his daughter, Savannah (now an artist herself). (Hence, the nine-year span between Guts For Love, in '83, and Don't Call Me Buckwheat, his return in '92.) So I suspect that playing the game, at least the way the industry defined it then, was never a high priority for him.

And Escape Artist is good, though I'd argue the trifecta of albums he did for A&M -- Ghost Writer, One-Eyed Jack and American Boy & Girl -- represents his strongest, most sustained body of work, at least during the '70s. I'll have to check out the more recent stuff, when I get a chance.

Hello,

I saw him in mid-80's in Albany, NY. It was a really good show. I have followed him on and off. He hasn't put out a lot of stuff. I did like this track:

[tepista]

I love GJ! Or at least the handful of songs I know, have a record or two.