Dave Edmunds - The Early Edmunds (1991)

In print for a brief time in the early '90s, EMI's double-disc set Early Edmunds is a valuable entry in Dave Edmunds' catalog, not just because it collects all of Love Sculpture's albums, but because it is the first time his first solo album, Rockpile, has appeared in complete form on compact disc. Combining those two worlds might result in a collection that's a little skewed -- a disc-plus of Love Sculpture's gonzo blues-psych is actually miles away from the solo stuff -- but it's a godsend for collectors, particularly because that solo debut is really fine stuff. It's not as consistent as he was just a record later, but his homespun take on classic rock & roll not only set the blueprint for his solo career, it was a little weirder (check the phoned-in vocals on the hit "I Hear You Knocking," or the general razor-thin quality of the production), and it proves that he was hip even before Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, and Graham Parker were giving him songs (cherry picking "Outlaw Blues" from Dylan, taking Neil Young's "Dance Dance Dance," and reviving Roy Davies' "It Ain't Easy" before Bowie's classic performance on Ziggy Stardust does qualify as hip). That, along with getting all the Love Sculpture stuff at once, makes this worth tracking down at any price for the dedicated Edmunds fan.