Search - Paul Collins' Beat :: Beat+Kids Are Same

Power pop classic and its good, but less classic follow-up

hyperbolium | Earth, USA | 08/13/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Coming from the same L.A. milieu that launched Peter Case into The Plimsouls, Collins left their shared band (The Nerves, together with Jack Lee) to form The Beat, rechristened Paul Collins' Beat after The (English) Beat broke onto these shores. Their first album, simply titled "The Beat" is a bona fide 1979 power pop classic, matching the electricity of contemporaneous releases by The Records ("Shades in Bed") and Bram Tchaikovsky ("Strange Man, Changed Man") and the following year's debut by The Plimsouls ("Zero Hour").



Collins wrote the sort of post-teen angst-ridden love songs that defined the genre, and the band cranked out their harmony-laden guitar rock with terrific verve, punctuated by Michael Ruiz's punchy, up-in-the-mix drumming and Larry Whitman's guitar solos. Legendary engineer/producer Bruce Botnick (The Doors, Love) captured the simplicity of the band's four-piece energy with just the touch of polish needed to frame this as a studio recording, but without losing the underlying power of their DIY edge.



1982's follow-up, "The Kids Are the Same" features another good batch of Collins originals, but the band and their producer crafted a more produced mainstream sound. The added reverb is distracting and blunts the punch heard on the straightforward debut. Highpoints include the hard-rocking "Will You Listen," the power ballad "Met Her Yesterday," and the rambunctious teen anthem "The Kids Are the Same." The Beat: 5 stars. The Kids are The Same: 3-3/4 stars. [©2005 hyperbolium dot com]"

The Beat is Back!

Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 06/02/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The Beat (or Paul Collins' Beat, the moniker they eventually took on to avoid confusion with The English Beat, and in the UK, this album was called "The American Beat" for the same reasons) cut thier gem of a debut album in 1979, when it seemed every band in Los Angeles with a skinny tie and a jangle guitar got a deal. And like many of them, they got swept away in the backlash that formed around The Knack. Collin's fate was undeserved, because this album just bristles with energy and pop smarts.



There are a couple undiscovered classics here. "I Don't Fit In" captures the angst of an outsider looking in with British Invasion snap, and "Don't Wait Up For Me," the second single, was the kind of great rock and roll that made new wave such a blast. The catchy "Rock and Roll Girl" also generated some radio attention. Oddly enough, what has probably become the CD's most-heard song wasn't even on the original album. "There She Goes" was used for the movie "Caddyshack," and just as great as any of the album's original dozen selections.



Producer Bruce Botnik also understood The Beat perfectly, keeping the sound minimal and raw, perfect for loud playing. But, after almost 3 years, Paul Collins' Beat had both their name and sound homogenized. They now had more in common with the likes of Eddie Money than their smart pop of the first album, and the similarity between "The Kids Are The Same" and Bryan Adams' "The Kids Wanna Rock" is kind of sad. Another case of corporate record company takes another promising band and blands them out before dismissing them....



I'll still keep the review of this Paul Collins' CD to four stars, if only because the debut is still killer. If you miss the fun period of early eighties power pop (Dwight Twilley, Shoes, Producers, Knack, Motels, etc), this combo CD by The Beat is worth the bucks."

Jangly guitar heaven!

Mike F. | Seattle, WA | 08/16/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I won't add much to the previous reviews except to say that this just flat-out rocks! There are so many great songs and it's great to have the first two albums on one CD. If I had a band, I'd want it to sound just like this."