Dwight Twilley was one of the best and most
influential figures on the Southern power pop scene, and unlike Big Star, the
Scruffs, or the Sneakers, he achieved that most cherished pop music accolade, a
hit single, and not once but twice ("I'm on Fire" rose to number 16
in 1975, and "Girls" managed the same feat in 1984). However, Twilley
was just successful enough to end up having record company problems, and his
best work has been scattered over several albums for different labels. The fine
Australian reissue label Raven Records has pulled together the highlights from
his albums for Shelter, Arista, and EMI-America, and On Fire! The Best of
1975-84 is a superb collection of his beautifully crafted Beatlesque pop tunes.
Unlike many Southern power poppers, Twilley clearly loved the British Invasion
style while revealing equal comfort with the sounds of his home territories,
and the rockabilly accents of "TV," the subtle but swaggering
"I'm on Fire," and the funky beats of "Feeling in the Dark"
made clear out of the box that this wasn't another guy aping the Fab Four, and
when he did write straightforward pop tunes, he did so with smarts and imagination,
and he was a very impressive rock & roll singer, too. The first 13 tracks
of On Fire! are drawn from Twilley's recordings with early collaborator Phil
Seymour, with plenty of representative cuts from their albums Sincerely and
Twilley Don't Mind, as well as the long-unreleased track "Shark (In the
Dark)" and the single "Somebody to Love," drawn from sessions
for an unreleased album with Jack Nitzsche. The rest of the album is taken from
Twilley's first three solo efforts (Twilley, Scuba Divers, and Jungle), and if
his occasional reliance on synthesizers and drum machines dates the production
(Roger Linn, who invented the Linn Drum Computer, played in Twilley's band),
the songs are as savvy and satisfying as ever, and while "Girls" was
a hit single, by all rights "I'm Back Again," "Alone in My
Room," and "Don't You Love Her" should have enjoyed the same
success. With the fine career overview XXI out of print, On Fire! is arguably
the best introduction to Dwight Twilley's classic pop music you can buy, and
it's 77 minutes of pop and rock bliss that anyone with a taste for a great hook
and a good lyric will love.
