What IS So Funny About Peace Love & Understanding?

Performer: Brinsley Schwarz
Engineer: Bill Aitken; Bob Conduct
Producer: Jeff Griffin; Pete Ritzema
Distributor: E1 Distribution (USA)

Notes: Brinsley Schwartz includes: Nick Lowe, Frankie Miller. Recorded between 1972 & 1975. Brinsley Schwarz: Brinsley Schwarz; Bob Andrews (keyboards); Ian Gomm, Nick Lowe (bass guitar); Frankie Miller, Billy Rankin. Personnel: Brinsley Schwarz (guitar, saxophone, alto saxophone, piano, organ, background vocals); Ian Gomm, Nick Lowe (vocals, guitar); Bob Andrews (vocals, piano, organ); Frankie Miller (vocals); Billy Rankin (drums). Liner Note Author: Brinsley Schwarz. Recording information: 02/22/1972-02/06/1975. Although it doesn't top the peerless Hen's Teeth -- which is about as perfect an archival release as any Brinsley fan could hope for -- it's impossible not to delight in Hux's 2001 collection, What IS So Funny About Peace Love and Understanding, a collection of the band's Radio 1 sessions from 1972 and 1975. This is not the complete sessions, but the great thing is, these are sessions that haven't widely circulated on bootleg; there is some overlap with the relatively famous Unknown Numbers boot, but there are a number of delights here that didn't appear on that collection, including covers of "You Got Me Hummin'," "Mama Told Me Not to Come," and a storming "Everybody" which tears their already great studio version. Then, there's Sam Cooke's "Havin' a Party" and "She's Got to Be Real," which they never did anywhere else, plus ace versions of such Nick Lowe favorites as "Nervous on the Road," "Play That Fast Thing One More Time," and the fan favorites "I Worry ('Bout You Baby)" and "Small Town Big City." The capper is four cuts of Brinsley Schwarz backing Frankie Miller in dynamite versions of his own "Ann Eliza Jane," "In No Resistance," and "You Don't Need to Laugh," plus a lively cover of Van Morrison's "Wild Night," plus great notes from Mr. Schwarz himself. It all adds up to a first-rate archival release; one for the fans, to be sure, but it's hard to imagine that there isn't a single fan who wouldn't delight in this terrific addition to Brinsley Schwarz's catalog. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Q (1/02, p.115) - 3 out of 5 stars - "...bluesy, boisterous pub rock....includes heads down boogie versions of live favourites..."

With members that would go on to make up Graham Parker's backing band, the Rumour, and featuring English power-popper Nick Lowe on vocals, Brinsley Schwarz (named after the band's lead guitarist) not only defined the sound of early-1970s British pub rock, but were--in retrospect--something of a supergroup. Heavily influenced by the rootsier aspects of 1960s American rock, the band provided an alternative to the bombast of glam rock and the cerebral excess of prog rock that exemplified most British music at the time. The band had broken up by 1975, but left a song book that included early versions of Lowe's great "Cruel to Be Kind" and "Peace, Love and Understanding (What's so Funny 'Bout)," later made famous by Elvis Costello.

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