6 Wreckless Eric Wreckless Eric

STIFF, 1978

You say: “I bought this when it came out and still play it. Pure genius.” Fred Andrews, via mojo4music.com

Like Ian Dury, Eric Goulden was art school taught but rock’n’roll educated, so when the latter saw the former performing with Kilburn And The High Roads in Oldham in the mid-’70s the path ahead for him seemed obvious. What few could foresee, even perhaps Goulden himself, was his peculiar knack for clever, oddball tunes, as saluted on

Wreckless Eric, where the lopsided, bouncy pop stylings of Reconnez Cherie and the masterfully simple Whole Wide World – the best record The Troggs never made – would bring a smile to the nation’s face. His cheeky chappie South Coast shtick was pure Stiff: so was his OTT cover of the High Roads’ Rough Kids, another highlight of this charming debut.