History
Rock of the Westies contained the US #1 (#14 UK) single, "Island Girl", which was released prior to the album. John noted at the time in a radio interview that he had wanted to release "Dan Dare (Pilot of the Future)" as the album's first single instead of "Island Girl", because he thought it had more commercial potential. He was however, overruled, and "Dan Dare" was never released as a single, whilst "Island Girl" became a hit.
The make-up of John's band was different on Rock of the Westies, being without his long-time drummer Nigel Olsson and bass player Dee Murray. Added in their place were drummer Roger Pope, an old friend of John's who had played on Empty Sky, Tumbleweed Connection and Madman Across the Water, and bassist Kenny Passarelli, who had previously played with Stephen Stills and was an original member in Joe Walsh's band Barnstorm. Pope and Passarelli had also played in Kiki Dee's touring band. James Newton-Howard, a keyboardist, was also brought in. Also included was Caleb Quaye, another old friend of John's from his early DJM session days. Like Pope, Quaye had also played on Empty Sky. Retained from the previous lineup were Davey Johnstone and Ray Cooper.
The song "Hard Luck Story" had already been recorded by Kiki Dee, and released as a single one year prior to its recording for Rock of the Westies. Along with "Don't Go Breaking My Heart", it is credited to Ann Orson/Carte Blanche (An horse and cart, Blanche) a moniker John devised when composing a song (music and lyrics) on his own. The name Ann Orson is also used as the name of a backing vocalist. Labelle performed backing vocals on the opening track, "Medley: Yell Help/Wednesday Night/Ugly".
In the US, it was certified gold on 21 October 1975 and platinum on 23 March 1993 by the RIAA.
Outside the US and Canada, this was the last original studio release from John on DJM Records, before his own Rocket Records.
The song "Street Kids" was featured in the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV.
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