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Oct 15, 2020 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

After playing with The Nerves and The Breakaways in the late ’70s, Paul Collins broke out on his own with The Paul Collins Beat (initially known simply as The Beat). The Beat, released as the ’70s came to a close, is a straight up power pop classic, sporting one killer tune after another for 34 minutes. Later Beat albums showed increasingly diminishing returns, but Collins’ reputation had already been cemented.

As Collins’ recent autobiography shows, he kept a treasure trove of ephemera from his 40 years in rock and roll. Similarly, he kept all his cassettes. Live shows, rehearsals, alternate takes, etc. He kept it all and over the past two years spent time going through all these cassettes and uploading the music onto his computer. It’s from this stash that Collins compiled Another World.

The album is something of a best of The Beat that never was. Songs range from the years 1978 through 1993, the earliest being a version of “Let Me Into Your Life,” from just after The Nerves broke up and before the song was officially recorded for The Beat. The collection is not ordered chronologically, but it holds together like a proper Beat album, which is ultimately a testament to how consistently impressive Collins’ songwriting has been over the decades.

Most of the tunes here are power pop of the variety that Collins has trafficked in since the ’70s. There are few slight left turns, such as the quasi-ballad “Lonely Teardrops” from 1985, the Buddy Holly-esque “This Heart” from 1987, and the slow crooner “Baby I’m a Fool” from 1993. But taken as a whole, the 13 songs herein represent The Paul Collins Beat as well as any of his albums since The Beat’s debut. Songs like “Hey DJ,” “Witches Falls,” and “Another World” can rightfully be said to be some of his best, bar none. With 40 years of tapes, one can only hope there’s more where this came from. (www.thepaulcollinsbeat.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10