How is it that there isn't a thread about how awesome the Equals are?

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What the hell? I know they're practically unknown in the U.S., where Eddy Grant is best know for "Electric Avenue," but First Among Equals the double-disc retrospective, doesn't have a single bad track. I can name, off the top of my head, enough great tracks to qualify them as all-time greats: "Baby Come Back," "Michael and His Slipper Tree," "Soul Brother Clifford," "Diversion," "Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys," "Laurel and Hardy," and "You Got Too Many Boyfriends," just without even looking at the CD case. You have thoughts? You should share them! You haven't heard? GO. NOW. FIND. LISTEN. You'll find that they're better than most bands from the same time period that have been canonized. I promise.

― J (Jay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:20 (twenty-one years ago)

I can't agree that all of those tracks are great. There are obviously a few classics like Police on My Back and Baby Come Back but Michael & His Slipper Tree? Laurel & Hardy? I'll admit that I thought Michael & His Slipper Tree was a catchy song before I knew what the lyrics were. But once I paid attention to what they were singing I can't really bear to listen to that song any more. They were still a great band though.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:25 (twenty-one years ago)

"Baby Come Back" and "Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys" are great. I should check out the rest sometime. How ska (or bluebeat or rocksteady or whatever) is it? Were they based in England? Eddy Grant himself came from British Guyana, didn't he?

― chuck, Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:28 (twenty-one years ago)

They were indeed based in England--I have a 2-disc retrospective from a few years ago called "Black Skin Blue Eyed Boys" that probably has very similar contents. And the original version of "Police On My Back" is amazing too. The rest is good-to-very-good.

― Douglas (Douglas), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, I've heard their version of "Police On My Back" as well, and I agree. I know "Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys" was an early disco hit, though I would assume that must have been a few years after they recorded it, right? It's still not clear to me where people hear the Equals as fitting genre-wise, though. Do reggae purists like them? (I'm not even sure how reggae purists feel about Eddy Grant's solo stuff, come to think of it; obviously "Electric Avenue" and "Romancing the Stone" and "I Don't Wanna Dance" were on the borderline of disco, but I have no idea how typical they were for him. I should investigate him more in general, probably. I have always liked how he spells his first name, for one thing.)

― chuck, Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck - not much in the way of ska/rocksteady/soca/whatever. They were, most of the time, a straightforward pop-soul band. I don't know about Grant's background, but I imagine you're not too far off the mark.

I don't know of any Equals retrospective released domestically in the U.S., but I got two different ones while I was in the U.K. a few years back.

Walter: The dumb lyrics are totally part of the charm! That's what sets them apart! And the great hooks! And how can you not love a song called "Laurel and Hardy"?

― J (Jay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Gimme a break, I started a thread just yesterday regarding the Equals.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:50 (twenty-one years ago)

You started a thread including the Equals. It wasn't about the Equals. Come on Alex!

― J (Jay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Although I admit that your thread was the one that got me looking for a "omigod how great are the Equals" thread, and I was shocked to discover that one didn't exist. So thanks!

― J (Jay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

One thread hardly equals the other!!!

― chuck, Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Precisely. I'm all about equivalancies.

― J (Jay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:58 (twenty-one years ago)

God, I can't believe that we've sunk to this level.

― J (Jay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 01:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I have that "First Among Equals" two-disc set which I guess I should pull out again. I would say I listen to about 5 songs on there and skip the rest but maybe I'm missing out. When I first heard Police on my Back I got really excited and went out to buy the CD immediately but that song was pretty much the pinnacle wasn't it?

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 20 January 2005 02:52 (twenty-one years ago)

You started a thread including the Equals. It wasn't about the Equals. Come on Alex!

Fine, fine...split hairs why don'tcha.

How is the original "Police on My Back"? I've never heard it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 20 January 2005 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think you'd like it as much. The tone is a lot less rebellious than the Clash's version; it's more the story of a man who actually can't understand why the cops keep bugging him, although it's presumably because of his skin color. Eddy sings it in more of a questioning and less accusatory way.

― J (Jay), Thursday, 20 January 2005 03:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Somehow I connect the Equals' Police on my Back more to London Calling then to the Clash's cover of POMB. What makes the original so great is that reverby wall of sound and the chiming guitar riff which you can hear a bit of in London Calling. The original is definitely more upbeat and less rebelious but it's also more lush and atmospheric in a really satisfying way.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Thursday, 20 January 2005 07:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, the guitar there is great... I also love "Rub a Dub Dub" and "Softly Softly." You can definitely hear Grant's accent, and it helps make the music more unique.

Some more info:

http://www.45-rpm.org.uk/dire/equals.htm

― Pete Scholtes, Thursday, 27 January 2005 07:03 (twenty-one years ago)

one year passes...

I know eveybody is going on right now about Black Skinned Blue Eyed Boys due to the recent cover, but seriously -- Michael and the Slipper Tree!!

― PappaWheelie 2 (PappaWheelie 2), Monday, 26 June 2006 01:35 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

Just got an eighties German Best of... - can't believe what a good band they were and how little known apart from Baby Come Back and Police....

― sonofstan (sonofstan), Thursday, 14 September 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

three years pass...

they have anything else like this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoEJUg6CcBc

i mean, i love their rockier stuff, but that song is just insane.

also, the growing bin posted their 1977 album, which is pretty awesome funk stuff. i was surprised.

― drinkin a carton of peace juice (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Tuesday, 20 April 2010 20:10 (sixteen years ago)

one year passes...

So I'm watching an episode of UFO (the Gerry Anderson one from 1970) and I hear some sort of proto-version of The Plimsouls' "My Life Ain't Easy" playing on the missing moonbase-commander's girlfriend's stereo. I'm, of course, a piker - I thought the Plimsouls wrote it, but goddamn it its the Equals of course - the Plimsouls covered.

Great song too!

― Reality Check Cashing Services (Elvis Telecom), Thursday, 12 April 2012 09:22 (fourteen years ago)

You can definitely hear Grant's accent, and it helps make the music more unique.

He wasn't the lead singer tho, that was Derv Gordon, but I expect he did some singing too

― Charles Kennedy Jumped Up, He Called 'Oh No'. (Tom D.), Thursday, 12 April 2012 11:58 (fourteen years ago)

three years pass...

Found a copy of the "BabyCome Back" LP in the dollar bin recently & am totally smitten. Great soul with little Caribbean and garage touches. Great bass playing. Good-to-great songs, energetic performances. Hard to believe they aren't more highly regarded/widely known. Groovy as shit.

― hardcore dilettante, Saturday, 22 August 2015 17:56 (ten years ago)

eight years pass...

https://www.discogs.com/release/2986429-The-Equals-Black-Skin-Blue-Eyed-BoysThe-Anthology

So other than some Ilxors who do not frequent ILx no more, does anyone here have this? I think I want to get it, as it seems like the closest thing to a Rhino/ryko/chronicles proper comp… if there is a better 2 disc comp, gets it right re: this act better than anything else? it does seem like this act is pretty unique…

― veronica moser, Saturday, 21 October 2023 19:23 (two years ago)

I have the First Among Equals comp, which is also a 2-disc set and probably has more or less the exact same track listing. Every one a guaranteed earworm, but you probably already know this.

― henry s, Saturday, 21 October 2023 21:49 (two years ago)

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