t’s easy to view Detective as a band who never quite fulfilled their promise. But that totally misses the point. The fact remains that they created two mesmerizing, remarkable studio albums that stand up well in the 21st century, because they were honest, dynamic and filled with music that had a unique, combustible resonance.

While on the surface, Detective was a serious collection of musicians, this was an era when excess was taken as being mandatory – limits were expunged as irrelevant to the craft of the artist.  “We had an inexhaustible  budget with which to record, and as much time as we wanted,” laughs Des Barres. “Those were the days, when nothing was thought to be too outrageous.”

Formed in 1976, Detective signed to the Swan Song label  launched by Led Zeppelin and released their self-titled debut album a year later. Co-produced by Andy Johns  and Jimmy Robinson, it peaked at #135 in the US charts. Obviously, this might not seem to have been particularly impressive, but there’s a distinct agitation and passion on the record that has allowed it to translate across the years with a resonant sense of style.

Released later in 1977 ‘It Takes One to Know One’ improved on its predecessor’s chart position in America. Again, hardly cause for much celebration.  “In some ways, of course, it was great to be so closely associated with Led Zeppelin,” recalls the drummer, Jon Hyde. “But this was very much their vanity label, and we were treated as such. At the time, the whole Zeppelin camp was somewhat in disarray, and this was reflected in the lack of support we got on promotion and marketing fronts. When the band started, we had offers from other labels, such as Columbia, and with hindsight, maybe we should have gone with them. However, the truth is that the label was dysfunctional. It’s not as if we could pick up the phone and call Jimmy Page or Robert Plant to discuss any problems we might have been having…”

Despite all these problems, “It Takes One To Know One” remains and exciting, agitated album, one of the best of the 1970’s. To call it punk is disingenuous – musically, it most certainly is NOT – however, there is a febrile flow here that does reflect the zeitgeist. This is aristocratic music with a spitting, gutter ball philosophy.