Mickey Jupp - Shampoo Haircut And Shave (Reissue) (1983/2013)

It was 1983, the year when such roots rockers as the Stray Cats managed to slip onto MTV thanks to slick videos and savvy production. Mickey Jupp, a rock & roll traditionalist from the start -- he celebrated the clarion call of three chords back in Legend, long before pub rock even existed -- already dipped his toe into crossover waters back in 1982, when he teamed with Godley & Creme for Some People Can't Dance, so 1983's Shampoo Haircut and Shave represented a return to basics, of sorts. Given a relatively unadorned production -- there are some big, gated drumbeats, bright, clanging keyboards, and some surface slickness, all indicating it's early-'80s vintage -- but none of Jupp's 11 originals show the slightest interest in grappling with the modern world, as he spins out a number of fine variations on Chuck Berry, switching it up every so often with a sweet ballad that, if given another arrangement, could suggest R&B slow dances from a time before the Beatles. By this point, Jupp's craftsmanship is so well honed that he winds up being understated -- nothing is as clever as "You'll Never Get Me Up in One of Those" or "Switchboard Susan," and the performances are so skilled they're almost subtle, at least in the realm of three-chord rock & roll -- but there is pleasure to be found in how he turns a phrase on "Stormy Monday Lunchtime," "Orlando FLA," and "B.R. Blues (All Change)," and the record itself, while favoring polish over grit, is appealingly amiable, the kind of LP that seems better over the years now that they really have stopped making records like they used to.