Purity of Essence
	Arranged by The Rumour
	Released on July 1980
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
HNBL 1305 cover [high resolution photo]

P urity and a paucity of pop’s good fortune (plus a terrible name) kept them on the fringes which is where (you’ll say) a backing band belongs. Only The Rumour weren’t a backing band any longer and had been in bands longer than the acts they backed. They weren’t the Attractions but Rockpile; not Graham Parker’s band but Brinsley’s (now that Bob had bolted). They were Deaf School, Ian Gomm and all the little P pub rock stars who snuck into the tent under the new wave amnesty. Purity of Essence is not their finest hour, but it’s a pretty good forty minutes. Brinsley brings the power of the Schwarz to bear on a trio of winners: “Tula,” “Writing In The Water” and “More Than She Will Say.” Andrew Bodnar delivers “Houston” (my favorite track on here), Goulding and Belmont impress with “Name And Number” (an anthem in the making) and “Falling In Love With A Dream” (which should have been the single). Friends in Lowe places (Nick, Glen Tilbrook, Clive Langer) underscore the pub rock pedigree, cover tunes (Randy Newman’s “Have You Seen My Baby?,” “Rubber Band Man”) expose the lack of a prolific writer. You don’t need to own Purity of Essence any more than you need to own every Elvis Costello album. But somewhere is a voice saying `What’s so funny ‘bout owning every Elvis Costello record?’ and that voice will understand if you turn to Purity too. You really can’t help but root for The Rumour: unshaven and awkward and hopelessly overmatched by the well-tuned titans of industry. But songs like “Tula” and “Name And Number” are sneaky-smart, mosquito bites that the industry suffers because it likes to scratch. Every time that a band like The Rumour releases a record, an angel gets its wings. You don’t get rich making music like this, but you make the world a richer place.

HNBL 1305 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. TULA    (Brinsley Schwarz)    3:21
2. I DON'T WANT THE NIGHT TO END    (Nick Lowe)    2:31
3. WRITING IN THE WATER    (Brinsley Schwarz)    3:40
4. ALL BOYS LIE    (Clive Langer)    2:48
5. HAVE YOU SEEN MY BABY?    (Randy Newman)    3:30
6. RUBBER BAND MAN    (Linda Creed/Thomas Bell)    4:13
7. MORE THAN SHE WILL SAY    (Brinsley Schwarz)    3:57
8. HOUSTON    (Andrew Bodnar)    3:00
9. FALLING IN LOVE WITH A DREAM    (Stephen Goulding/Martin Belmont)    2:38
10. DEPRESSION    (Glenn Tilbrook)    3:06
11. IT'S GONNA WORK OUT FINE    (Joe Seneca/J. Michael Lee)    3:30
12. NAME AND NUMBER    (Stephen Goulding/Martin Belmont)    2:59
    
    UK track listing
    
1. LITTLE RED BOOK
2. I DON'T WANT THE NIGHT TO END
3. HAVE YOU SEEN MY BABY?
4. FALLING IN LOVE WITH A DREAM
5. TULA
6. WRITING IN THE WATER
7. HOUSTON
8. I THINK IT'S GONNA WORK OUT FINE
9. MORE THAN SHE WILL SAY
10. PYRAMIDS
11. THAT'S THE WAY THE BALL ROLLS
    
    CD reissue bonus track
    
12. NAME AND NUMBER
    
    JPN CD reissue bonus tracks
    
13. I WANT YO MAKE YOU VERY HAPPY
14. CALL OF THE FAITHFUL

CREDITS

MARTIN BELMONT -- guitar, vocals
ANDREW BODNAR -- bass
STEPHEN GOULDING -- drums, vocals
BRINSLEY SCHWARZ -- guitar, vocals
John Wood and Bill Gill -- engineers
Davies and Starr -- photography
Steve Simels -- gossip
M&Co. New York -- design

return to THE RUMOUR discography

The Last Word

"We split up in '81. Graham had called a temporary but lengthy halt, we had carried on without him and Bob Andrews, made another album and done some touring work and I guess it just became time to do something else." -- Brinsley Schwarz on the demise of The Rumour. (Source: Mondo Guitars interview, 10/2004.)

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