“This album represented the desire to get something that was very dry, with no effects. There’s a song on it called It’s Still Rock And Roll To Me, and that’s the essence of the whole record. It’s about how good and how simple and how rock ‘n’ roll Billy could be.
“There was a lot being said about Billy at the time – he wasn't this, he wasn't that. I remember we were sitting around and talking about his first album, which was sped up by the producer. He sounded like a young folkie, like somebody you’d hear in a club down in the Village.
“The record is tough, and it’s genuinely him. We were not going to give in to slickness. It’s very real and aggressive, and it shows how great his band could play. There’s a lot of meaning in the album.”