In my estimation, Garland Jeffreys is an utterly unique, seriously underappreciated, figure in American Rock, and has been for more than 40 years now! He can sing like Mick Jagger, Arthur Lee and Bob Marley, not to forget Fifties/Sixties/Seventies Soul singers of every stripe, a combo no one else has ever quite managed to pull off!
He also managed to assimilate Reggae (by 1973!) to an extent STILL unprecedented amongst American rockers and/or singer-songwriters, whilst exploring both urban romance and racial tension in ways even Bruce Springsteen and Paul Simon couldn’t get near. Also a grand master of namedropping wordplay and clever, short story-worthy, boy/girl scenarios.
He’s never really had a hit, though his anthemic "Wild in the Streets" has been much-covered/never-equalled, and his modest fashionability waned once MTV relegated artists then entering middle age to the margins, if not Europe outright. Especially black ones who dared to rock, though John Kappes and I were fortunate enough to catch that live clip of "96 Tears" a few times back in 1983, once Music Television arrived in Missoula.
But I’d confidently put his 1977 GHOST WRITER and 1981 ESCAPE ARTIST up against any rocking singer-songwriter albums by ANYONE, and his hyper-observant, matter-of-fact sophistication is certainly up in his old college buddy Lou Reed’s portion of the stratosphere!
Contra Xgau, he’s never really made a mediocre album, though a few do seem tossed off. ROCK AND ROLL ADULT is a pretty strong live one with backing by The Rumour, who’d just been dumped by Graham Parker, and contains a decent cross section of his songs.
But there’s MUCH more where that came from, and this great new album, THE KING OF IN BETWEEN–which Xgau and Ann Powers may even be slightly overpraising, though they’re really just refusing to fully grant the self-evident greatness of the two old ones I venerate–can easily stand with those two former classics! And that’s quite an achievement for a guy well past 65, needless to say!
Garland’s one of many NYC artists whom I’ve enshrined in my Pantheon, and I heartily encourage you to more fully immerse, ASAP!
– Tom Kipp
This clip was Broadcast on ABC’s “Fridays” November 13, 1981. “A blast from your past and mine – one of my favorite tracks! Brinsley Schwarz on Lead Guitar, Carter Cathcart on Farfisa, Steve Goulding on Drums and Brian Stanley on Bass Guitar,” says Garland Jeffreys of this live TV appearance.
