Best of all, for the first time we have a record that does lead singer Peter Wolf justice his vocals here are fare superior to what he's done in the studio, but, more important, we get some representative samplings out of his outrageous in-person jive patter. It would be pointless to single out individual contributions in depth - this is a band that Magic Dick's harp work verges on the unbelievable, that guitarist Geils' solos are a model of economy and controlled passion, and that the rhythm section made up of Danny Klein, Seth Justman, and Stephen Bladd rocks like mad. Recorded before an audience in Detroit (a city noted for great rock-and-roll crowds, as witness that legendary Stones bootleg disc), Geils and company tear into a selection of tunes from their previous releases with an energy that is at times close to overwhelming. It also offers final and conclusive proof, if any is needed at this point, that these guys are the first white band since the Stones to forge a truly convincing personal identity out of the blues, and that they are potentially the finest band in the country as well. Geil's Band's new album for Atlantic, is far and away the most reassuring bit of rock-and-roll madness I've heard in months, with the possible exception of the great Slade Alive. I'll bet this one will be in my "hot" file until their next album is out, and if this is any kind of clue, it ought to be one bad jam!įull House, the J. Live is better than studio, sure, but it's still the same yo-yo, you dig?)īut why bitch - there are damn few live albums that hold up as strong as this all the way through - or that you'll ever want to play again. I'd have dug to hear a few more originals - like the raunchily surrealistic "Floyd's Hotel" - and at least a couple of new numbers. The tempo gets kicked back up with "Cruising for a Love" and the side closes with their Top 40 hit "Looking for a Love," complete with Danny Klein's bass punching you in the guts.Īll told, a set that moves from one end to the other like a burning locomotive - if it don't get you off, check with your doctor or plumber, something wrong down there. A nice time-trip in a ten-minute workout, with just the right malevolence. Geils trade some harp-guitar riffs from the best days of Muddy Waters and Little Walter, then back to now as J. Time to get down to it - side two opens with the band working out on John Lee Hooker's "Serve You Right to Suffer." It starts very much in the style of the Hook, then it's time to pay debts as Wolf says "gonna do it Chicago style." Magic Dick and J. ("Blow your face out!" singer Wolf says, and he does.) "Hard Drivin' Man" (a Wolf-Geils original) gives Seth Justman a chance to work out on piano, and his time spent with Jerry Lee Lewis 45s shows here. Then time for solos: Harp player Magic Dick scores on the instrumental "Whammer Jammer" proving he's one of the best harpmen blowing today. It opens with a full-blast attention-grabber, "First, I Look at the Purse," with everybody getting in their licks, then moves right into Otis Rush's "Homework." A short breather, then into "Pack Fair and Square," another stomper. Those albums contained a mixture of older numbers, as well as originals which fit right into the styles of the raunchers whose music they absorbed.įull House consists entirely of tracks which appeared on the first two, but here they're full of the dragons-breath frenzy which the group puts into all their shows, without sacrificing any music.īesides being a straight-ahead rocking motherfucker, the album also could serve as a model of set structuring. Their two previous albums showed a hard-core blues band metamorphosing into a good-time rock band with long roots in the sound they grew up grooving on. Though much of their sound and style comes from Chicago blues, they aren't one of those pretentious blues revival groups they'd rather stimulate your groin than your intellect. Not your run-of-the-mill campy sequined theatricality of miscellaneous gender, but instead slippin' and slidin' and raunchy madman jiving which makes watching as good a hearing. The Geils Band is one of my favorite performing groups - not only do they play a tight and tough no-bullshit mixture of blues and rock, but they know and groove on the value of giving folks a show.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |