Love his music. Should have been a huge star but never got that BIG break.

RIP Dwight Twilley.

Rod



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2023-10-19 18:54 by bv.

RIP Dwight Twilley

[tulsaworld.com]

[variety.com]

RIP

I've got the Sincerely LP. Very good, and, yes, he should have been bigger.

I saw the Dwight Twilley Band at the Roxy when "Twilley Don't Mind" was released.

I recall they did a cover of "Expressway To Your Heart" at some point during the show.

Dwight Twilley had the talent and the looks, and should have been a big star...but it just didn't happen. A bunch of bad record company decisions got in the way.

For instance, there were two singles from the second album, yet they passed on the obvious one:[www.youtube.com]

RIP Dwight.

If there had been a gene-splicing experiment where the DNA of Elvis Presley and The Beatles was knitted together, the result would have been Dwight Twilley records.

He was the picture-perfect and music-perfect exemplar of the 70s Power Pop movement; more prolific than the Raspberries, more radio-friendly than Big Star. He was blessed with both Paul McCartney's looks and McCartney's inexhaustibly deep well of melodies.

The original Dwight Twilley Band (which first made records as "Oister", with Twilley sharing the billing with Phil Seymour -- the record label insisted on the name change to put the pin-up boy out front), was three-piece Power Pop heaven. Guitarist Bill Pitcock IV -- also sadly passed -- played the James Burton/George Harrison role and Seymour did double-duty on drums and bass for the sessions. Seymour was also a fine singer and the band's harmonies were pure Fab.

The label-enforced relegation of Seymour to backline status was a contributing factor to his leaving the band, as well as the well-documented and infamously chaotic status of Shelter Records. Seymour had a fine if underappreciated solo career ploughing the same genre ground as Twilley and worked on sessions with a number of high-end stars, including Tom Petty, who was Twilley Band Fan #1 (and shared the same label travails). Seymour was only 41 when he was lost to blood cancer. His greatest hits record is well worth your time.

There are few more poignant and frustrating What-Mighta-Been stories in 70s rock than the sad experience of Dwight TWilley. While rock history is full of examples of bands victimized by bad managers, Twilley is an example of someone who would have greatly benefitted from powerhouse representation; Irving Azoff, David Geffen, Peter Asher, Elliott Roberts -- these guys would not have let Twilley lose years of his prime sinking into the tar pit morass that was Shelter Records.

No less an authority than one of the deans of American rock critics and historians, Joel Selvin, told me that he considered "I'm On Fire" to be as fine a debut single as any he had ever heard. It is the dispiriting realization this morning that Dwight Twilley was never able to fully realize the potential that it promised, although it was certainly not for lack of effort on his part.

Two compilations cannot be recommended highly enough: "XXI" and "On Fire: The Best of 1975-1984". Gem after gem of crisply written, produced and performed Tulsa rock magic.

Requiescat in Pace -

I remember a great song called 'Girls' from the early 80's with Petty helping out on vocals. I called a pop music radio station to request they play it and they didn't know what I was talking about.

I'm on Fire is one of my favorite songs of all-time.

What a groove.

RIP