Overshadowed by Dury and Costello on Stiff’s famed first package tour in 1977, Eric Goulden stuck around for a few more years but never got the mainstream recognition he perhaps deserved. Even the twochord masterpiece, Whole Wide World – hands-down one of the label’s best half-dozen releases – failed to leave a muddy footprint on the bottom rung of the charts.
Bringing together his first two long players, Big Smash! is a terrific compendium of Stiff’s most notorious nearly-man. It’s a ragbag of low-fi pop ditties oozing with charm (Veronica, Reconnez Cherie, Semaphore Signals), where heart and intent play a more vital role than Grade A musicianship. Eric’s awkwardness and amateurishness were arguably his biggest selling points. The work of such a dishevelled, shambling individual is unthinkable in today’s glossobsessed singles market.
Curiously, his biggest success came when one of the tracks featured here, Broken Doll, was covered by Cliff Richard, of all people. It resulted in tidy royalty cheques, which helped Eric continue his idiosyncratic career long after Stiff shut up shop in the early 80s. To have these 28 songs back in catalogue again is cause for celebration.
