Topper Headon - Waking Up (1986) - €4,99

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Nicholas Bowen "Topper" Headon (born 30 May 1955), known as Topper Headon – originally owing to his resemblance to Mickey the Monkey from the Topper comic – is an English drummer, best known as the drummer of punk rock band the Clash.
He joined the Clash in 1977 and became famed for his drumming skills. He was dismissed from the band in 1982 because of his drug use.
Waking Up is a solo album by Topper Headon. The album was released by Mercury in 1986 with a cover photograph taken by Tim White. "Leave It to Luck" was released as a single and as part of an EP. The album was dedicated to the memory of Pete Farndon.

Topper Headon's musical acumen should have ensured a lengthy run, if only for composing the Clash's biggest U.S. hit, "Rock the Casbah" (on which he played everything but lead guitar). However, well-publicized heroin problems led to the drummer's 1982 dismissal, followed by guitarist Mick Jones' ouster on dubious ideological grounds in 1983.
Fans assumed the former Clash mates would work together, which didn't happen. Left to his own devices, Headon cut this sleek-sounding album with first-rate help from guitarist Bob Tench (of Jeff Beck fame), ex-Clash session keyboardist Mickey Gallagher, and vocalist Jimmy Helms, who sounds appropriately gritty without being overbearing.
Musically, the album offers few surprises from the Clash's resident soul-jazz buff, falling comfortably into unhurried jazz, R&B, and soul grooves; just compare his relaxed take on the Stax classic "Time Is Tight" to his former band's more urgent treatment on Super Black Market Clash.
Highlights include the swirling pop-funk of "Got to Keep on Going," one of several songs addressing Headon's addiction; "Pleasure and Pain," a hard-hitting showcase for Tench; and "Just Another Hit," whose poppy drive belies its clever metaphor for stardom, professional killing, and drug addiction. Unfortunately, Headon's lyrical agility is less spectacular elsewhere, as proven by the trite rhyming that dogs otherwise solid tracks like "When You're Down" or "Leave It to Luck."
Such material may have been the best that he could offer at the time, but it made no impression even among the old Clash crowd -- an issue later rendered moot by Headon's 1987 imprisonment for drug-related offenses.
In hindsight, Waking Up is best appreciated as enjoyable, but unspectacular, journeyman fodder.


A1.  Leave It To Luck - 3:08
A2.  I’ll Give You Everything - 3:16
A3.  Hope For Donna - 4:17
A4.  Got To Keep On Going - 4:42
A5.  Dancing - 3:29

B1.  Drumming Man - 2:53
B2.  Pleasure And Pain - 4:10
B3.  Time Is Tight - 3:38
B4.  When You’re Down - 3:04
B5.  Just Another Hit - 2:58
B6.  Monkey On My Back - 3:37


Companies, etc.
Credits

Notes
Release: 1986
Genre:  Funk Pop
Label:  Mercury ‎ Records
Catalog#  826 451-1
Prijs:  €4,99

Vinyl:  Lichte Gebruikerssporen
Cover:  Lichte Gebruikerssporen

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