Really? You're writing about The Bay City Rollers?

 I was of the generation who watched all the girls in school drape themselves in tartan and swoon to the sounds of The Bay City Rollers, I of course, sneered along with the rest of the guys at the total tat that they represented. With Les McKeown's passing at 65 time to own up. They were OK... At least they were no worse than many of their contemporaries. A bit of glam, a bit of leftover 60s pop, and the first twinkle of the sort of new wave and power pop that hit the charts about 1978. 

Rollers rehab started for me with the first edition of John Borack's "Shake Some Action". While acknowledging the more "production line pop" aspects that crept at the height of their popularity to feed the beast of Rollermania, Borack highlights some of the gems in their catalogue. If you're having a tour round Spotify then the album to try is 'The Essential Bay City Rollers'. Most of the compilations were created over here and miss the US only singles which is where the Power Pop heart of the band lies. 

Borack suggests 'Rock and Roll Love Letter' and 'Yesterday's Hero'  as the places to start. I would add, 'Saturday Night' and a few others spread either side of 1975 when they were at their most popular and they could have sold a reading of the phone book. Listening back to some of the material pumped out then you have to wonder how they got away with it. See if you can spot the rip offs of that mid 70s pop classic 'Beach Baby', there are two...

Record Collector interviewed McKeown at Christmas 2019 and were open mouthed at the idea of musical credibility coming the way of the Rollers. But with a pretty general reappraisal of the pop of the era well underway, why not? If some of the grosser missteps of Prog acan get a second chance why not the Bay City Rollers? 

'The Essential Bay City Rollers' appears to be a digital only release but Amazon has the same album packaged as 'Rock N Rollers'. With the money making excesses of their manager Tam Paton in mind last night it was £4.99, today it's £8.70...

 The Record Collector interview with Les McKeown is here.