The Records featuring John Wicks – He’s Back!

We were all returning to campus, gearing up for another grueling semester, and the kickoff was the Labor Day weekend concert on the Quad featuring Syracuse’s own Flashcubes opening for the headline act, The Records. John Wicks, Will Birch, Phil Brown, and Huw Gower took the stage and my definition of pop music changed entirely.

Thirty years later,Wicks is still going strong as evidenced by his latest, actually a reissue of his 2007 release entitled Rotate. Having bought and thoroughly enjoyed the original, I gave the reissue a listen and, well, it’s even better if that’s possible.

My music reviews are unorthodox so rather than subject you to my amateur observations I thought I’d site the review Dave Steinfeld did for Blurt. He’s much smarter than I. First, in the event that you’re even older and more memory challenged than I, let’s let Dave walk us down memory lane:

Many people remember only their biggest hit, “Starry Eyes,” but the fact is, these guys turned out three excellent albums (well, two and a half) between 1979 and 1982. Wicks wrote most of the melodies while drummer Will Birch contributed the lion’s share of the lyrics. The result was something like what The Beatles or Kinks might have produced if they had emerged in the aftermath of punk.

So what about the new release? Here’s a short snippet of what Dave has to say about Rotate:

The arrangements on Rotate are crisp and Wicks proves himself an adept lyricist while remaining a top-notch melody man. All in all, this is a welcome return from a musician who is way more talented than his low profile would lead you to believe.

I’ve always thought of the Records’ genius as being a combination of Wicks’ incomparable ability to weave a melody that sticks with Birch’s sense of humor and ability to turn a memorable phrase. The rest was decoration. I’ve come to realize Wicks had the whole package all along. He’s just now getting a chance to show us.

Read Dave Steinfeld’s entire review of Rotate here. Buy the new Rotate with bonus tracks at Amazon.com or at Wicks’ site at johnwicksandtherecords.com.