In 1977, ex-
Love Affair singer Ellis recorded an album called The Last Angry Man with producers Tony Meehan and Dave Courtney. When Meehan and Courtney had a dispute, the album was withdrawn, although some cassette copies were issued by Ariola briefly in 1978. This CD marked the first time the album was widely available, with the addition of seven previously unreleased bonus tracks recorded in 1983. Ellis was in the tradition of British rock/soul/blues belters such as
Steve Marriott (his closest vocal counterpart) and
Rod Stewart, and there are also traces of
Robert Plant and
Van Morrison. He was not nearly in the same league as any of those singers, mind you, but he was OK. A couple of name guitarists (
Albert Lee and Henry McCulloch) contributed to the sessions on The Last Angry Man, which yielded average though unobjectionable mainstream late-'70s rock with shades of folk-rock, mellow singer/songwriting, blue-eyed soul, and hard rock riffing. The seven 1983 songs (subtitled as the Basement Days portion of this disc) are again generic 1970s-type British rock, though the material is weaker, and the style by this time not at all in sync with what was either hip or commercial. The most interesting aspects of this archival release, to be honest, are the thorough liner notes, which cover Ellis' entire career dating back to the
Love Affair days. ~ Richie Unterberger