If Seconds of Pleasure, the only album issued under the Rockpile name, doesn't quite capture the intensity of the band's ferocious live performances, attribute that to the confines of a studio setting, plus the fact that most of the band's set list derived from Nick Lowe's Labour of Lust and Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary (both of which featured Rockpile as backing band). So, much of their great songs had already been cut elsewhere, leaving Seconds to be split equally between covers and originals. Since Edmunds was never a songwriter, this gave Lowe the upper hand, not only because Dave sings Nick's "Fool Too Long," but because he's in tremendous form. He unearths the Gene Chandler "Teacher Teacher," gives the irrepressible Billy Bremner the joyous "Heart," offers the jangling Buddy Holly-esque "Now and Always" where the sweetness masks the suicidal undertones, sleazes it up with "Pet and Hold You," and then delves into tongue-in-cheek autobiography with "When I Write a Book," one of his very finest and funniest songs. And Dave's covers are barroom ravers of the highest order, whether it's Joe Tex's "If Sugar Was as Sweet as You" or Difford & Tilbrook's "Wrong Again (Let's Face It)." Yes, the production has the gloss of new wave, which actually provides some freshness. Not that they needed it. Although Rockpile is a band of unabashed rock revivalists, they make it sound fresh — they have so much joy, it's hard not to get wrapped up in the momentum. Maybe not a flat-out classic, but rock & roll rarely gets as flat-out fun as this. [The CD reissue is even better, since it contains the bonus 7" of four Everly covers, sung by Nick and Dave, alone with acoustics, at a radio station.]