Brinsley Schwarz (1970) Funk Angel - LOST 70s GEMS

 From the talented Pub Rock band named after it's guitarist comes the country inflected 1970 album Despite it All, its full of humble country and rock n roll playing,bolstered by future New Wave star Nick Lowe's fronting of the group with his pop prowess. Pub Rock is a really hard genre to define, it bares a lot of old school retro feel to it, like the rock n roll nostalgia of Glam Rock and the early 60's Motown revivalism of Northern Soul, but also points to the industrial, soulful, roots rock and Americana of artists like Tom Petty and Springsteen whilst still remaining somehow very English.

After all an American country band called Eggs over Easy defined the genre with their small scale tour of pubs, the rock is very homely and avoiding being to grand or to loud. It's rustic charm and reliance on older more rudimentary musical styles was in sharp resistance to their own earlier psych folk styles not to mention the big 70s rock sounds of Prog and Hard rock filling stadiums worldwide. This second album featured some particularly inspired playing and crafted compositions like Country Girl and humdinger of a country rock tune, Starship. Elsewhere on Despite it All, there are upbeat roots rockers like Ebury Down, while Old Jarrow is a fiery hard rocker with country seeped in like most tracks; the band excelled at American country and had diverse set of talents.But best of all is Funk Angel with it's interesting mix of chiming Allman brothers guitars, a solid chorus and constant saxophone to hook you in whilst retaining some of Nick Lowe's best melodies.