The Ballad of Willie Phoenix, part one - Romantic Noise and The Buttons, 1978-1980
Romantic Noise was stunning. Willie wrote virtually all of the songs, played strictly rhythm guitar (he didn't start playing lead guitar until The Shadowlords in 1983) and sang about 65% of lead vocals. Bass player extraordinaire Greg Glasgow contributed the remainder of the original tunes (of which there was a mind-boggling number & variety, which we may deal with in a later appendix) and sang lead on about a third of the Romantic Noise repertoire. Lead guitarist John Ballor only sang about three leads - the aforementioned "I Feel New," "Holly," and an early raver maybe called "Politician, Politician" - but Willie generously handed him off some truly killer songs to sing. When original drummer David Machnicki (who employed a rather Ringo Starr-inspired style of playing) was replaced by madman Keith Moon-styled smasher Dee Hunt - the pride of Beckley, West Virginia - the Romantic Noise line-up was complete. (And Dee was height-compatible to fit in with the rather diminutive Small Faces-styled Romantic Noise than the too-tall Machniki.)
