*** The Rumour

PURITY OF ESSENCE

(Gadfly)

Best known as Graham Parker's back-up band, the Rumour also made three very enjoyable, though commercially unsuccessful, albums that crossed Brit pop with '60s R&B -- or, as it was accurately called back then, pub rock. First released in 1981, this was their swan song, made when they'd split from Parker and were on a serious bid for hits. Although the vocals are a bit weak, it offers a fine stack of tunes -- half original, half borrowed from the likes of Parker, Bacharach, and Nick Lowe -- impeccably arranged and played by the Brinsley Schwarz/Martin Belmont guitar combo, who were the pub scene's funkier answer to Television's Tom Verlaine/Richard Lloyd.

There were originally two versions of this album. The band hit some legal snags when they tried to license the British album here, so they simply re-recorded the whole thing with a few different songs. Instead of finally combining the two, the Gadfly reissue is just the UK album with the American cover art. But the UK one is the better of the two. The American album sounded predictably rushed, though it also had an unreleased Squeeze song and a nifty cover of the Spinners' "Rubberband Man." You can probably still find it at used-record stores for a buck.

-- Brett Milano