The Broughtons (Edgar Broughton Band) – "Parlez-Vous English?" (EMI International – INS 302) 1979

Eh Dad, me mates say you were well cool in the Sixties?

 

Me punky mates at School used to reckon that The Edgar Broughton Band invented Punk Rock,and they used to show off their Edgar records on the  day of the week that the form tutor used to allow us access to the School sound system in the Crypt, a spooky vaulted cellar thing,complete with a crucifix placed strategically on the wall at one end. i got to play my sisters misappropriated,by me, copy of "Damned Damned Damned" and got some XTC in, the teacher(Mr Crowley) played The Doors,to our great chidish amusement.There was some AC/DC, some 'orrible Northern Soul,which my mate told everyone that I said was 'good'!?...Oh the Humiliation,the laughter!? Then the Kid who liked The Stranglers...openly!?...whipped out an Edgar Broughton Record which was taken off forcibly after half of track one. Boring Blues shit said my aggressive Northern Soul liking mate(No wonder he topped himself)!?......how do young minds process information?

Intrigued,my weekly Saturday sojourn to the city center now involved a search for an Edgar Broughton Band record, of which there were,of course, none! Back in the day it was nigh impossible to find any record older than a couple of years post release date.This forced me into the potentially painful tactic of asking one of the hippies behind the counter if they had any Edgar Broughton Band records.

"Never 'eard of 'em mate,i'll ask the boss",which involved him shouting the request down the busy retail premises ,to which the 'Boss'....a hippie with his hair cut fashionably short-ish, this was 1979 after all...who inevitably replied with a loud "What?"......so it went on,until a 'tutting', eye rolling boss hippie returned to the counter.

"'ooo? Broughton?....yeah, They 'ad a new album aht, 'ang on mate i'll find it."

Five long minutes later ,he shoved an album in my sweaty mits, and said "Free ninety-nine mate"

I only wanted to look at it,then decide afterwards whether to invest my pocket money on something I had no clue about, but,intimidated I offered forth four crumpled pound notes,and

grabbed the bag and made for the exit,and the bus stop. Got on the bus, and when i was sure i knew nobody undesirable aboard,removed the record from the plaggy bag:

a 39 Market Place, Leicester, Revolver Plaggy Bag,now probably adding to the microplastics in your fish'n'chips and consequently in your blood stream.

It said "The Broughtons", it didn't even refer to the mysterious Edgar? I've been ripped off I thought!?

Nonetheless, I thought the cover was rather good and when home placed it on the turntable and skipped through it at low volume.....it was interminably Shit!....even on the second play.Maybe it was one of those "Growers"?.....nah....shit!

There were a few albums like this, made by proto-punk legends such as The Downliners Sect, Twink and The Pirates for example, who decided to try and cash in on their new found fame by making new albums for the New Wave market. The Pirates excepted, all of these terrible records had little punky attributes,and sounded a prog rock band rediscovering their rock'n'roll roots, which had long ago shriveled and died.

That aside, listening again to this Adult orientated watered down New Wave,as made by a bunch of Dad-rockers; I find myself enjoying the cluelessness of it...its still terrible,but taking the parallax view it rather quaint...if you know what i mean?....'cus I don't!

'April in England'is a rather charming nostalgic modern folk song,and its nice to hear a tune sung with those slovenly rounded consonants of the Birmingham accent,as emphasized in the opening comedy number,'Little One'..and we all know,not edgar apparently,that comedy and rock are rarely comfortable bedfellows. Sadly these are the highlights on the album, with emphasis on the 'light'.

Now then, the old Edgar stuff from ten years previously,having now heard it in full,is certainly NOT my cuppa tea either,with some admittedly good awful guitar sounds, I can't get past the depressingly generic blues rock attributes, and even worse, the truly toe-curling Captain Beefheart impression on some of the vocals.Which,as the Captain himself was doing an impression of Howlin' Wolf,is probably a first in rock's golden era?....(they weren't the only band to do that, amazingly; as another Brit proto band Stackwaddy and had a nasty habit of doing the same thing!?).

There were many of these so-called Proto-Punk bands from the 60's early 70's who, under examination, were just grumpy blues rockers like Groundhogs who,good as they were,weren't in the slightest what one could call a precursor for Punk Rock and the noo wave.

So in conclusion,my findings are:

Maybe Pink Faires managed,at times to sound post 1976,and they did give birth to the UK Ramones Motorhead,so kudos to them.

Crushed Butler,Deviants,Fairies,blended with the bootboy end of Glam,Pub Rock,Bowie, Bolan plus Troggs, Who, and Kinks, were the ingrediants for the primeval soup of British Punk Rock; with a respectful nod in the direction of James Williamson era Stooges for seasoning;plus a pinch of Lou Reed's asshole max interview style as the croutons atop.

Tracklist:

Little One 3:10
Waiting For You 3:57
Drivin' To Nowhere 3:32
Meglamaster 1:58
Didecoi 2:31
April In England 3:16
Revelations One 2:45
Anthem 2:46
Down In The Jungle 2:43
Rent A Song 2:58
Young Boys 3:31
All I Want To Be 4:10

DOWNLOAD but you broughton it on yourself HERE!