Dr. Feelgood "A Case Of The Shakes" 1980***

I have a few of these "Original Album Series" collections, usually featuring 5 CD's by the same artist in cardboard sleeve miniatures of the original LP cover. They're cheap and don't take a lot of shelf space, which makes up for the absence of booklets and the like. Since, unlike other box sets,  they contain entire albums in separate CD's, I'm reviewing each album apart. "A Case Of The Shakes" is the 5th and last Feelgood studio album with Gypie Mayo on guitar. Gypie had a difficult task ahead of him, replacing Wilko Johnson who had an impressive stage presence and an uncanny ability to play lead and rhythm guitar all at once. Mayo did well -actually the band had its biggest hit singles during his tenure- but there's no denying there was a law of diminishing returns at work here. "...Shakes" is considered by some (e.g. allmusic.com) to be a return to form but I'll beg to differ. I'm not partial to Nick Lowe's production in this one. Apparently he tried to capitalise on their acceptance among the punk/new wave crowd by cranking up the volume, shortening the songs and removing most solos.  It's true that some songs gain in punch but they sometimes sound hurried, and the band less invested in them. Just compare the low vocals and stiff playing in the, nevertheless catchy, "No Mo Do Yakamo" with the swinging live version on next year's "On The Job". Funky opener "Jumping From Love To Love" fares better, as do the fast punky numbers. These include "Going Some Place Else", "Best In The World", "Punch Drunk", and the rockabilly-ish "King For A Day" and "Who's Winning". All are co-written with Lowe or his guitarist Larry Wallis (former Pink Fairies/Motorhead) and signify a move away from the band's blues roots. It's telling that Brilleaux plays almost no harmonica in this album, with the exception of a great solo in "Punch Drunk". When they do touch on blues they provide two of the album's highlights: the relaxed ballad "Violent Love" and boogie rocker "Love Hound", both originally written by Otis Rush. The two band compositions closing the album are also very strong: "Drives Me Wild"is a garage rocker and "Case Of The Shakes" (at 2:52' the album's longest song) a Bo Didley-like stomp. In the end I enjoyed the album, there are some good tunes in it, but I found Lowe's production a bit too stiff (is it coincidence his company was Stiff Records?). This short and sharp approach may work well for punk bands with lots of energy but limited musical abilities, but The Feelgoods had it all, and they could use some more room to move.

**** for Jumping From Love To Love, Drives Me Wild, Violent Love

*** for Going Some Place Else, Best In The World, Punch Drunk, King For A Day, No Mo Do Yakamo, Love Hound, Who's Winning, A Case Of The Shakes

** for Coming To You