Wooden Foot Cops On The Highway
	Produced by Scott Litt and Rolo
	Released on 1988
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
BFC 40861 cover [high resolution photo]

N ot as joyous a record as Giant, but fitfully smart in spots. It’s strange to see The Woodentops developing still, considering the bridge ran out after Wooden Foot Cops On The Highway. Even producer Scott Litt (R.E.M.) couldn’t reign in Rolo McGinty, and label Rough Trade lived up to its name. Their last record is as itchy as anything they’ve released, contagious too but not an itch that everyone will need to scratch. Honestly, if you're only going to buy one Woodentops album, Giant stands the tallest. Those still curious would do well to pick up their singles compilations. Only if you need more Woodentops (and why wooden you?) does their final studio album enter the picture. Rolo and the rest of the band make self-pleasing pop music, which is fine since their tastes lean toward the adventurous, but not everyone wants to be intellectually and artistically challenged by pop music. (They call it “pop” for a reason.) And the margins of new wave’s manifesto are crammed with commentary from miniature emperors: Art of Noise, Big Country, The Call, Thomas Dolby, etc. Rolo McGinty and The Woodentops were just one more group of explorers scaling the mountain with flag in hand, a sovereign to themselves. They took a different path, intersecting artists as far apart as The Crammps and The Smiths, but never arrived near the top of the mountain (though they did get a peek at it on occasion). To its credit, Wooden Foot Cops marches forward irregardless of fate (a point the first two tracks would seem to address). The earlier records were more energized, more innocent, but the wordy Wooden Foot Cops is Woodentops from head to toe, so don’t be scared.

BFC 40861 back cover	BFC 40861 picture sleeve

TRACK LISTING

1. MAYBE IT WON'T LAST    3:01
2. THEY CAN SAY WHAT THEY WANT    4:14
3. YOU MAKE ME FEEL    3:08
4. WHEELS TURNING    5:16
5. STOP THIS CAR    3:18
6. HEAVEN    4:04
7. WHAT YOU GIVE OUT    3:26
8. TUESDAY WEDNESDAY    3:28
9. IN A DREAM    3:27
   
   CD reissue bonus tracks
   
10. YOU MAKE ME FEEL (LATE NIGHT MIX)
11. I WANT YOUR LOVE
12. KEEP A KNOCKIN'
13. HALLELUJAH
14. WHY
    
    All songs written by Rolo

CREDITS

FRANK DE FREITAS -- bass guitar and vocals
SIMON MAWBY -- guitar and vocals
ROLO -- acoustic guitar and vocals
BENNY STAPLES -- drums and vocals
ANNE STEPHENSON -- violin, keyboards and vocals
Gary Lucas -- slide guitar
Mark Lussana Tunkara -- voice
Fred Maher -- percussion assistance
June Miles -- kingston-voice
Lee Scratch Perry -- spiritual assistance
Doug Wimbish -- bass
Bernie Worrel -- clavinet
PANI.C -- sleeve

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