David Essex's debut album is paired with his 1975 live album in an excellent double-CD set, well worth the asking price for the sharp, loud mastering and very thorough annotation by Alan Robinson. Rock On holds up better than almost any other pop/rock album of its era to come out of England, with Essex showing surprising range. The record is mostly made up of originals, but there are renditions of songs by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman ("Turn Me Loose") and Paul Simon ("For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her"), as well. His singing is excellent, and the playing (which includes Jo Partridge on guitar) and production by Jeff Wayne give this whole record a powerful sound. The live album On Tour is fascinating not only as a '70s artifact, reminding us of the mania that surrounded Essex's work of the period, but also showing off his theatrical training in its subtle way -- he has an almost operatic delivery of a song, intoning the notes and phrases with a clarity that few rock singers achieve quite so well, and is also, to a great degree, acting as well as intoning. These attributes are obviously an outgrowth of Essex's background in musical theater pieces such as Godspell, and it makes for a pretty powerful record, especially when he really cuts loose on the louder, harder numbers and moments.