''Riff Raff'' is a 1984 album by the Welsh

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

Dave Edmunds David William Edmunds (born 15 April 1944) is a Welsh retired singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. Although he is mainly associated with Pub rock (United Kingdom), pub rock and New wave music, new wave, having many hit record, h ...

. The album was his third release for

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

(in the UK) and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

(in the US), following 1983's ''

Information Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...

''.

Overview

''Riff Raff'' continued Edmunds' collaboration with

Electric Light Orchestra The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood and drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangement ...

frontman

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He is the co-founder and, latterly, sole member of the rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) which was formed in 1970. He has written all of ...

; Lynne produced six tracks on the albums, and wrote three of the songs. The majority of the tracks on ''Riff Raff'' are originals by Lynne, Edmunds, and band member John David. The most notable cover is the aforementioned " Something About You", originally a top-20 hit for the

Four Tops The Four Tops are an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1953 as the Four Aims. They were one of the most commercially successful American pop music groups of the 1960s and helped propel Motown Records to international fame. The ...

in 1965. Edmunds also covered the Paul Brady-penned "Steel Claw" which was originally recorded, with a tighter, more frenetic

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

arrangement, by

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...

for her multi-platinum comeback effort, ''

Private Dancer ''Private Dancer'' is the fifth solo studio album by singer Tina Turner. It was released on May 29, 1984, by Capitol Records and was her first album released by the label. After a challenging start to her solo career after divorcing Ike Turner, ...

'', released just four months prior.

Reception

Compared to the Edmund's success with ''Information'' (which hit #51 on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart and spawned a top-40 single in " Slipping Away"), ''Riff Raff'' was a commercial flop. The album made it to only #140. " Something About You" failed to crack the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 (although it did hit #16 on the

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" ...

chart). ''Riff Raff'' was the last time Edmunds and Lynne would collaborate on record. Edmunds wouldn't make another studio album for five years (although he would release a live album in the interim).

Track listing

# " Something About You" (

Lamont Dozier Lamont Herbert Dozier (; June 16, 1941 – August 8, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Detroit. He co-wrote and produced 14 US '' Billboard'' number-one hits and four number ones in the UK. Career Dozier was a ...

Eddie Holland Edward James Holland Jr. (born October 30, 1939) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is brother to Brian Holland. Holland was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Although he was an early Motown artist who recorde ...

Brian Holland Brian Holland (born February 15, 1941) is an American songwriter and record producer, best known as a member of Holland–Dozier–Holland, the songwriting and production team that was responsible for much of the Motown sound, and numerous hi ...

) – 3:03 # "Breaking Out" (

) – 3:26 # "Busted Loose" (

Paul Brady Paul Joseph Brady (born 19 May 1947) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician from Strabane, Northern Ireland. His work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age. Initially popular for playing ...

) – 4:33 # "Far Away" (Jeff Lynne) – 4:11 # "Rules of the Game" ( John David) – 4:10 # "Steel Claw" (Paul Brady) – 4:18 # "S.O.S." (Jeff Lynne) – 3:14 # "Hang On" ( Steve Gould) – 3:24 # "How Could I Be So Wrong" (John David) – 3:20 # "Can't Get Enough" (Dave Edmunds) – 3:08

Personnel

*Dave Edmunds - guitar, vocals *Jeff Lynne * John David - bass * Paul Jones - harmonica *

Richard Tandy Richard Tandy (26 March 1948 – 1 May 2024) was an English musician. He was the full-time keyboardist in the band Electric Light Orchestra ("ELO"). His palette of keyboards (including Minimoog, Clavinet, Mellotron, and piano) was an important ...

- keyboards * Terry Williams - drums *

Gered Mankowitz Gered W. Mankowitz (born 3 August 1946) is an English photographer who focused his career in the music industry. He has worked with a range of artists from the Rolling Stones to Jimi Hendrix, and in other divisions of the photography industry, ...

- photography

Charts

References

{{Authority control Dave Edmunds albums Arista Records albums Columbia Records albums 1984 albums Albums produced by Jeff Lynne Albums produced by Dave Edmunds