(I'll be surprised if anyone else on here concurs, but that's another story!)
Bob's magnificent work for Africa has paradoxically clouded his musical achievements, to a level where his whole musical credibility is based around THAT song. A great song of course, but for reasons of redemption, I'll skip it here. (If you don't know the song in question, good, lets' skip it)
The record shows: - Despite being a martyr to self effacement - Bob Geldof was a very good songwriter, and an excellent frontman of a great rock/pop band. For three years - 1977-1980, The Rats were THE top pop band in the UK. (Really). And hey, that was in the days when record sales really WERE significant!
Riding into town on the back of the New Wave movement, the Rats first hit the charts with 'Mary Of The 4th form', a punky abrasive tune that was the lead off single from their highly anticipated debut album.
That eponymously named first album was a class offering featuring incendiary, cleverly structured - and yet still, fundamentally pop - songs, such as 'Mary', 'Looking After No.1' and the seminal 'Joey', a tune that ranks among in my personal top 10 to this day.
Then came their best compiled work. 'Tonic For The Troops' was the first album I ever bought. An album loaded with excellent tracks, many of which were hit singles, the pick of the bunch being Bob's 'Born To Run' pastiche (juxtapositioned to the mean late 70s streets of Dublin) 'Rat Trap'. A great song, with a dynamic, mature structure/arrangement that puts the infantile contributions of today's chart hogging pop/rockers - McFly, Busted et al, to total and absolute shame.
I still recall Bob's TOTP appearance, when it hit number one .. miming that fab sax hook with a silver candelabra!
Patently a seasoned Dublin pub band, (they spent a few years doing covers) the Rats' musical merits shine all through these two recordings. The dynamics of the twin guitars, the unorthodox and quirky song arrangements, the cute harmonies, solid, catchy melodies and Johnny Fingers' lovely "icing sugar" piano swirls.
Live, also, they were brilliant. (If you could ever get in to see them that is) with two clever and manic guitarists, a solid rhythm section, a classically trained, pyjama clad keyboard player, all fronted by a crazy 8 foot tall punky Dubliner, with a penchant for falling off speaker stacks, playing dead ...then jumping up to sing the next verse.
The Rats had three years of critical and chart acclaim. Producing a half decent third album, before the New Romantics and their synths finally pushed them aside. (They produced the odd decent single later, but by that time no-one was listening)
I dug out 'Tonic' again recently and still found it to be an uplifting vibrant album, with the sound of real musicians, warts n all, playing great pop songs, all dirtied up on good old 2" analogue tape. (Yes, you can really HEAR it on this record) So, yeah, Bob was/is more than a 'saint' .... he was a F*****G inspiration, and ' tis about time that was recognised.
Cheers Bob!
