Paul Collins’ Beat
Rock icon and cult favorite Paul Collins got his start with Peter Case and Jack Lee in 1974. Their band The Nerves toured with The Ramones and recorded a song called “Hanging on the Telephone.” The song would later become a hit when covered by Deborah Harry and Blondie on the Parallel Lines album.
Paul Collins formed The Beat in 1977, recruiting members of various rock bands including Steven Huff, Larry Whitman, Dennis Conway and Michael Ruiz. The result was The Beat, a high energy rock group in the style of The Ramones, Blondie and The Dictators. As the story goes, Collins was awarded a record deal with CBS thanks to his friend Eddie Money and Bill Graham Management. The Beat played with many bands, including The Jam, Pere Ubu, The Police, Eddie Money, The Plimsouls and Huey Lewis. The Beat became Paul Collins’ Beat when a ska band from UK began using The Beat as their moniker.
Paul Collins’ Beat continued to tour and record albums throughout the ’80s, with The Kids Are the Same, Beat or Not to Beat, Long Time Gone, Live at Universal and their final album One Night, released in 1989. Paul Collins set out on a solo career, recording the self-titled Paul Collins album in 1992. This country/rock album included special guests such as Greg Kihn, Cyril Jordan (from Flamin Groovies), Jeff Trott (Sheryl Crow), Chuck Prophet, Dave Immergluck (Counting Crows) and key members of Chris Isaak’s band. 1993 brought the sophomore release by Paul Collins Band, entitled From Town To Town. This album was released by Caroline Records and featured a country rock sound similar to The Byrds.
A new version of the band Paul Collins’ Beat surfaced more recently and resulted in an album of new material entitled Flying High. Considered to be their best to date, Flying High is a solid record, done half acoustic and half electric. The album gets back to the classic sound of The Beat, while combining the raw energy of Collins’ solo works. In 2004 Collins recorded Ribbon of Gold with Chips Kiesby (Helicopters & Nomads) using the Spanish band (Vinck, Lopez & Cabanes). In 2008 Collins moved back to his native New York and recorded King of Power Pop and Feel the Noise with Jim Diamond (White Stripes) in Detroit, followed by the self-produced Out of My Head in 2018, all released on Alive Naturalsound Records.
Another World: Best of The Archives is the latest release, September 2020 on Alive Naturalsound Records.