So, Jay Reatard is pretty popular these days, I think. He's one of those very, very few punk rockers whom P*tchf*rk have anointed as being worthy of mention. That's not a surprise, an issue, or the point of this post--I just checked, and they listed the Ramones s/t album as the 23rd best of the 1970s, which even if everyone agrees numbering musical "bests" is pretty hollow, is insane. But they're more into that 70's Can bullshit, which is cool, just not really my cup of tea.
Anyway, Jay Reatard and The Black Lips have been given some attention, and I think that's because of their current indie-cred record labels (Matador (now, at least) and Vice respectively). So, even if you're more on the purely indie tip, you've probably heard of him. His current barrage of singles being released on Matador have been fairly highly spoken of, and there's been several attempts to compare him to those old greats of years gone by. I kind of agree with what seems to be the general sentiment that he sounds more like the English poppy punk bands of the 70s than the Ramones or their successors like The Queers. I've heard his original band sounded a bit more like that, but I've also heard they sucked (unverified...I've never heard them). I've had a friend mention that some of the better solo Jay Reatard tracks would slip into a Buzzcocks or Eater album without skipping a beat, and I think that's true.
But there's another old English punk troubadour that he reminds me of: Wreckless Eric. Or should I say Wreckless Eric! Please click this link to the picture, seriously.
In addition to being a power pop/punk solo artist, I just think they sound a bit alike. Wreckless Eric recorded his most well known material in the late 1970s, and his self title debut released in '78 really did have the cover that the link above leads to.
The first 3 songs are by Jay Reatard: Song #65 is "Nightmares" off 2006's Blood Visions, #66 is "It's So Useless" off 2008's Singles '06-'07 (as odd as that sounds to say), and #67, "Don't Let Him Come," is also off the compilation, which is a cover of Australia's own Go-Betweens.
Then we've got Mr. Wreckless himself. Both of these tracks are off his 1978 self-titled debut album. First, we've got "There Isn't Anything Else," which reminds me a lot of Mssr. Reatard, just a bit less herky jerky. It's track #68.
The second song has less of a kinship, perhaps, but it's the most famous Wreckless Eric song, occasionally appearing on the sountrack of a terrible comedy. It's called "Whole Wide World," #69 on the player, and I think it ranks in a comfortably within my favorite late 70s English power pop songs, along with "Another Girl, Another Planet" by the Only Ones (track #48 on this player), and "Teenage Kicks" by the Undertones. Yeah, this song doesn't really fit the whole comparison thing so well, but if I was going to bring up Wreckless Eric, Esq., I had to put up this song.
So yes, there you have it. If we're all about waste of time comparisons between some dude from Tennessee and who he might sort of remind you of or whatever, why not make room for this one?
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