Lost Classic - Foghat Live

What can you say about Foghat Live except that it ROCKS! And that means everything about it ROCKS – the music, the awesome LP packaging, the band’s giant droopy mustaches, you name it. The only thing disappointing about this album is that it’s only a single and not a double. This is one you need to have on all formats – LP for the killer die cut sleeve, CD for the car and mp3 for your ipod. Captured in concert on their never ending 1977 tour, Foghat Live kicks ass from start to finish. It’s impossible to listen to just one song, you just gotta play the whole thing and boogie!

Side one starts off with a simple intro – “ladies and gentleman, please welcome FOGHAT!!” The crowd goes nuts and they crash into “Fool For The City,” a hit single in 1975 and title track of their fifth album. It sets the tone that everyone is going to rock HARD and have fun. “Fool For The City” is such a great song. It has everything you could ever want in a rock song – a simple but memorable riff, big sing-along chorus, funky breakdown and great lyrics. “Air pollution, here I come!” Brilliant.

The energy dips just a hair for “Home In My Hand.” With an arrangement reminiscent of Free’s “All Right Now” it gets the party people clapping to the beat. If you turn your stereo up loud enough you can hear the guys putting their girlfriends on their shoulders so they can get a better look at these hairy English guys and their tight satin pants. Side one finishes up with an awesome 8 minute reworking of Muddy Waters’ “I Just Want To Make Love To You.” This jam really shows off the bands strengths. Drummer Roger Earl hammers the beat like a pissed off carpenter while bassist Craig MacGregor grooves alongside him. Rod “The Bottle” Price plays some blistering leads and vocalist Lonesome Dave Peverett sings his heart out while also laying down some funky rhythm guitar. The dueling wah wah guitar solos in the middle jam really get the crowd rocking.

The great thing about having this on CD is that you don’t have to put down your bong to get up and flip the LP over. But if you’re listening to this on vinyl you can catch your breath with the mid-tempo boogie of “Road Fever.” You’ll appreciate the break because when Lonesome Dave says they’re gonna get “energized” with “Honey Hush” you better be ready because the full tilt boogie is about to get unleashed. Originally written in 1953 by rhythm & blues shouter Big Joe Turner, it got its first rock n roll workout by Johnny Burnette's The Rock and Roll Trio in 1956. Foghat takes that version and turns the heat way up. Rod goes nuts with the slide and wah wah pedal during his multiple solos. People who saw Foghat back in the 1970’s say they played really loud. You can tell, too. Bands don’t sound like this unless they really crank it up. And they had super cool speaker cabinets covered in white shag carpeting!

The album wraps up with an extended work out on their biggest hit, “Slow Ride.” Is there anyone who doesn’t love this song? Flat out, it rules. It’s so simple but it’s impossible not to get excited when that “Iron Man”-esque bass drum intro thuds through the speakers. When the guitars come in everyone knows that the party is in full force. Even without a lyric sheet, everyone knows the words. The funky cowbell pattern during the sing along part is pure class.

Sadly, Rod Price and Lonesome Dave are no longer with us but Roger Earl still leads a version of Foghat that plays anywhere that serves beer. Even though Foghat Live has been certified double platinum in the USA, it deserves a place in every home. The government should send a copy to everyone who gets a tax refund. This album is instant happy hour wherever and whenever you play it. If you already have it, track down the King Biscuit live CD that came out a few years ago with killer live shows from 1976 and 1974. What are you waiting for?

 --Woody

buy here: Live


Official Foghat

http://www.foghat.com/

Lost Classic - Blackfoot – Highway Song: Live

Attention young people: the next time you roll your eyes at the old guy at the end of the bar complaining about how rock was better in his day, chances are he saw Blackfoot at least once. If they’re from America maybe he saw Blackfoot give heavy duty headliners like Ted Nugent or The Who a run for their money. Maybe he even saw them when Def Leppard opened for them on one of their first US tours. If the dude is from England chances are he saw Blackfoot open for Iron Maiden on the Number Of The Beast tour. Europeans will rave about seeing them with the Scorpions. The verdict is in and it’s unanimous – old rock guys love to drink whiskey, crank their favorite Blackfoot albums and lecture young people. I should know. I am one of them. But I was never lucky enough to witness Blackfoot in their prime so I have to make due with their awesome live album from 1982.
At that time Blackfoot was a pretty big deal in the UK. They were acquiring an audience of rock fans but also had the support of the metal media and were probably the only band that could have played with either Motorhead or ZZ Top and win over both crowds. Blackfoot is usually labeled a Southern Rock band but I’m not convinced that’s an accurate description. There are some shared sensibilities with Lynyrd Skynyrd (Rickey Medlocke played drums in an early line up of Skynyrd and currently plays guitar for them), Molly Hatchet and Doc Holliday but what really sets Blackfoot apart is their Native American heritage. Drummer Jakson Spires (RIP) was Cherokee, bassist Greg T. Walker is a descendant of Eastern Creek Florida Indians and Medlocke is part Sioux. Guitarist Charlie Hargrett is from New York City. Can you really call these guys “Southern?” I’m not sure. And they certainly don’t sound like the Allman Brothers.

Blackfoot’s specialty is pure high energy rock n roll and they never did it better on wax than on Highway Song: Live. It doesn’t matter what you call it – Southern Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, whatever. The end result is that it flat out KICKS ASS and makes you wish you were at this gig. The playing is incredibly tight and they blast one song after another barely pausing for breath in between. The rhythm section of Spires and Walker is so deep in the pocket. Jakson hits his drums hard but plays with a lot of taste and is never flashy. He and Greg really lay down the groove and play exactly what the song calls for. The guitar team of Rickey and Charlie is one that every band should study. These guys play so well together it sounds like one huge instrument. Rickey does most of the solos but Charlie gets some good leads in, too. Their tone is also classic Les Paul (or Gibson Explorer) into cranked Marshalls. Loud as hell but not so distorted that you can’t hear the notes.

Barnstormers like “Gimme, Gimme, Gimme,” “Good Morning,” “Road Fever” and “Train Train” are pure audio adrenalin. These guys sound so excited to be playing in front of an appreciative audience and want to make sure everyone wakes up the next day hungover and with ringing ears. “Dry County” has great raunchy lyrics that mention “liquor in the front and poker in the rear” that excites the crowd. “Fly Away” was a hit single for them and the crowd loves singing along on it. I’m surprised that no one has ever used this song in a travel commercial. It’s a great tune that really makes you want to bust out of the normal daily grind.

There are a couple of blues tunes. The only slow song on the album is a faithful rendition of the standard “Trouble In Mind” and an uptempo arrangement of the boogie classic “Rollin and Tumblin.” Rickey introduces it as a John Lee Hooker tune but it’s usually associated with Muddy Waters or Elmore James, but John Lee did record it under the name “Rollin Blues.” The album concludes with their anthem “Highway Song.” It has a similar build up like “Freebird” but Blackfoot gets there in about half the time. They give you enough time to pull out your lighter to wave around during the slow part but once it starts to speed up I’m sure most concert goers found another use for the flame.


--Woody

Buy here: Highway Song: Live

Lost Classic - The Marshall Tucker Band - Together Forever

My dog died this weekend.  15 years old and as much of a trooper as you'd ever find.  Full of heart and soul.

Now this being a music site, not a dog site, I won't burden you with too many details of Kimo's passing, rather, we're going to talk about the album that found it's way onto my turntable the morning after Kimo's death.  An album that filled that perfect chasm of being musically uplifting, nearly transcendent in it's melodic reach, yet still deeply mournful and somber, capable of pulling from my deadened heart every last bit of raw emotion.  Music that became the eulogy of my dog's passing,  Music that became my teary catharsis.

I've always been a huge Marshall Tucker Band fan.  Skyrocketed to fame on the back of their tour supporting The Allman Brothers in 1973, very few bands ever sounded like them.  Southern through and through, the Marshall Tucker boys seemed to live the cowboy ethic, writing songs about cattle drives and long hard rides.  Yet don't go to Marshall Tucker expecting country music.  Sure there were traces of cowboy western deep within their mix, but The Marshall Tucker Band were so much more than that, effortlessly blending simply stellar musicianship, a true guitar hero, and their southern leanings with the heapin' textures of jazz and rock.  More southern sounding than The Atlanta Rhythm Section, not as fierce as Molly Hatchet, less rebellious than Lynard Skynard, more focused than the Allman Brothers, more "real" than 38 Special, but less pop oriented than Firefall,  they were a hard band to classify.  None of that hindered their success in the '70's though, as the band released a series of 6 gold and platinum albums and the radio hit, "Heard it in a Love Song."  Still, as the millennium has changed, it seems that the Marshall Tucker Band often gets left off that list of great southern bands, and that's a shame.

Besides a rock-steady rhythm section comprised of Tommy Caldwell and drummer Paul Riddle, MTB had three distinct secret weapons, all of which make their presence felt on Together Forever: the once-in-a-lifetime, deeply emotional and soulful voice of Doug Gray, the southern rock virtuosic guitar work of Toy Caldwell, and the jazzy flute and sax accompaniments of Jerry Eubanks.  Put it all together and you get a sound unlike any other in the southern rock cannon.  Country rock jazz.  All of which led me to chose this album to plunk onto the turntable that mournful morning.

Now, I'm not gonna say that Together Forever is MTB's best album.  It's not.  That honor would most likely go to Carolina Dreams, or The Marshall Tucker Band (although I've always been partial to Tenth, and the heartbreak of a song, "See You One More Time").  Still Together Forever was the first MTB I came across as I dug for the perfect music that morning after my dog's passing; something not to harsh or aggressive, yet not maudlin and passive.  I wanted something that still rocked, but felt reflective.  Something soulful.  And for that Together Forever, was like a gift from an angel.

Beginning with the chugging guitar of rhythm player George McCorkle, it only takes a few moments for MTB to arrive in all their glory.  Toy adds in a little acoustic, feathered with Jerry's gentle flute.  When Tommy's bass comes in, it runs in jazzy arpeggios, not galloping county tones.  By the time Doug's instantly recognizable voice jumps into the foray, I'm lost.  Sure the lyrics added an interesting sentiment to my harsh feelings of loss, "When the morning sun/melts the morning dew/I'll be loving you." But it wasn't sentimentality that clicked with me that day.  It wasn't the rawness of the emotion that made me realize that I loved MTB even more than I thought I did.  It was the music.

Doug Gray possesses a voice that embodies country soul.   Effortlessly, he wrings emotion out of each word.  It's nearly impossible to describe his singing.  Slightly nasal in tone, but still deep from the belly.  His phrasing is perfect, nearly jazz-like in it's approach.  It's a voice that even on the happiest songs belays an underlying sadness, a deeper sorrow, a weathered melancholy.  On that first song, "I'll Be Loving You," it was a voice that reached right out from the vinyl and caressed me, gently cajoling my own tears to join the band's.

While the band runs away with a chugging southern groove, Toy Caldwell shows us that he just may be the most under-appreciated southern guitar slinger of all time.  Carrying a tone that would melt the Allman Brother's hearts, his guitar is clean and crisp, deeply expressive.  Jazzy, rocking, soaring, Toy wrings the notes for every moment of emotion.  Whether playing slow and melodic or blinding at virtuoso speed, his guitar doesn't sound like southern rock, like the Outlaws, or jazzy, but comfortably somewhere in between.  And it's all done with his magical thumb, plucking away.

Doug and Toy reach perfection again with the mid-tempo "Love is a Mystery," both of them soaring into their performances.  The addition of some spellbinding jazzy sax by Jerry Eubanks completes the picture, filling out this 7 minute jam of a song.   Toy comes back after the sax, his tone elevating to some place that few guitars can ever go. Doug's voice, even here on a love song, is still as deeply affected as before.  It's just the way the guys sings, the tone of his voice that to me just speaks of heartbreak.  I've loved that voice since the first time I heard it, and coming to me that sad morning, it was like a sorrowful salve to my wounds.

If you've never taken the time to explore the Marshall Tucker Band's vast catalog, don't miss it.  If the thought of a blend of southern rock and jazz that's more concerned with soul and melody than simple blazing guitar solos appeals to you then Marshall Tucker is waiting.  They were there for me that morning, and now they've found a place even deeper in my heart.

And to Kimo, rest easy, my boy.  The angels are with you.

--Racer

Buy here:  Together Forever




Not from Together Forever, but classic MTB nonetheless

Lost Classic - Down, Not Out – Down, Not Out

Thursday Night used to be jam night.  The boys would get together and break out the instruments, amplifiers and vocals.  Soon, we didn’t sound half bad - maybe 60% good.  Encouraged, we continued this musical play for a few years.

One of the guitarists, Jim, got into digital home recording studio technology.  Whether it was adding a new (or old) computer, a patch bay or shielding the pickups on a Stratocaster, Jim was, and is, always tinkering. He builds, markets and sells homes for a daytime job. His mechanical skills match his tinkering skills.

In 2004-2005 Jim’s recording studio hobby coincided with the remodel of his home. Most of the work he did himself. The roof of the house, from the kitchen over the garage, is gabled.  This leaves a small room under a pitched roof above the garage.  Jim is 6 ft, 4 inches tall and cannot stand up straight in the room. The floor is heavily cushioned with carpet and there is a single window that opens to a second story view of the driveway. The roof and walls are strategically covered with acoustic foam egg crate tiles. The space is furnished with two chairs, an old sofa and a desk covered with recording equipment, mixing boards, interfaces, computers and other electronic wizardry.

In order to get to the studio there is a rope ladder to the top of the refrigerator.  Standing on the refrigerator the room is accessed via a short door behind and above the refrigerator.  To actually record in the space requires at least two people - one person in the kitchen and one person on top of the refrigerator to whom gear is handed so the ladder can be climbed.

As I understand it, Jim is friends with guitarist and singer Andrew Freeman.  Andrew Freeman, in turn, is friends with drummer and singer Eric Kurtsrock. Eric and Andrew formed the band Down, Not Out, a “High-Energy Acoustic Americana” band with bassist Brad Russell (who played with Rick Derringer and Pat Travers), mandolin player and violinist Chojo Jacques (founder of the “Waybacks”) and a slew of background vocalists to sing harmonies – Tim Hunt, Joel Streeter, Patrick Archer and Reggie Mack.  Pedal steel player David Trabue also joined in.

Down, Not Out wanted to record their first album. Jim told Andrew he could engineer it and showed him the small recording studio above the garage.  Andrew loved it and the studio became known as “The Loft.”

The album that was produced at "The Loft," “Down, Not Out,” is nothing short of phenomenal.  It is intensely intimate and highly reminiscent of the best of the acoustic Grateful Dead with its touches of bluegrass, folk, country and blues. Andrew wrote four of the tracks himself – “Plant A Tree,” “Distant Lullaby,” “Rear View” and “The River.”  He also co-wrote “Back To Me.” Additionally, “Down, Not Out” contains covers of “Hobo Song” by Jack Bonus, “If I Had A Boat” by Lyle Lovett, “Dig A Little Deeper” by R. Bowling and J. Emerson, “These Days” by Jackson Browne and “White Freightliner Blues” by Townes Van Zandt. 

The musicians that are known collectively as Down, Not Out are all staples of the Bay Area club scene. The last time I saw and heard the band from the album live was at Murphy’s Irish Pub in Sonoma.  However, I’m told Andrew and his friends continue to play every Tuesday Night at Giordano Bros. on Columbus at Broadway in North Beach in San Francisco.

Even if you do not have the opportunity to hear Down, Not Out live, try to find the 2005 album “Down, Not Out.”  It will be one that you will definitely cherish.


- Old School

Buy here: Down, Not OUt