THE SENSATIONAL ALEX HARVEY BAND
''LIVE AT THE BBC, DISC TWO''
FEBRUARY 17 2009
93:24
DISC ONE (62:08)
1 Midnight Moses/Alex Harvey 04:36
2 St. Anthony/Alex Harvey 06:21
3 Framed/Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller 06:38
4 There's No Lights On The Christmas Tree Mother, They're Burning Big Louie/Jimmy Condron, Alex Harvey 03:51
5 Hole In Her Stocking/Alex Harvey, Ray Russell 05:41
6 Dance To The Music/Sylvester Stewart 07:27
7 The Faith Healer/Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 06:22
8 Midnight Moses/Alex Harvey 04:32
9 Gang Bang/Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 04:53
10 The Last Of The Teenage Idols/Alistair McDonald Cleminson, Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 08:18
11 Giddy Up A Ding Dong/Frank R. Bell 03:24
Tracks 1 To 6 Recorded At Paris Theatre 02111972, Programme Number 12SX1142
Tracks 7 To 11 Recorded In Concert 02101973, Programme Number 12SX1195
DISC TWO (31:16)
1 Next/Jacques Brel 03:58
2 The Faith Healer/Alex Harvey,Hugh McKenna 03:15
3 Give My Compliments To The Chef/Alistair McDonald Cleminson, Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 06:05
4 Delilah/Barry Mason, Les Reed 05:01
5 Boston Tea Party/Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 03:45
6 Pick It Up And Kick It/Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 04:33
7 Smouldering/Chris Glen, Hugh McKenna 04:35
Tracks 1 & 2 The Old Grey Whistle Test 20121973, Programme Number LNF1502J
Tracks 3 & 4 The Old Grey Whistle Test 30051975, Programme Number LNF1708B
Track 5 Top Of The Pops 10061976, Programme Number LLV1775L
Tracks 6 & 7 The Old Grey Whistle Test 25111997
Chris Glen/Bass Guitar
Ted McKenna/Drums
Zal Cleminson/Guitar, Vocals
Hugh McKenna/Keyboards
John Martin/Keyboards
Alex Harvey/Vocals
REVIEW
by Richie Unterberger/AMG
Two discs of 1972-1977 BBC performances by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band with excellent sound are collected on this set, though it's not quite as lengthy as you might assume, adding up to about an hour and a half in all (with only about half an hour on the second disc). There aren't great surprises in store for those familiar with Harvey's BBC work during this, his commercial peak. As was also true of his records, his reputation as a truly sensational live visual performer isn't quite mirrored by this audio-only document. Too, the only song that doesn't appear on his studio releases of this time is a 1972 cover of "Dance to the Music," which might be energetic but certainly wouldn't give Sly & the Family Stone cause to worry. Disc one is entirely devoted to two performances at BBC's Paris Theatre, one in November 1972 and the other in October 1973, where they run through the bulk of the material from the SAHB's first couple albums. Some of his most celebrated songs, like "Framed" and "The Faith Healer," are naturally included, as well as his oddball cover of the early rock & roll hit "Giddy Up a Ding Dong," though Harvey's manic-tinged vocals are more impressive than the period hard rock backing. Side two actually features 1973-1975 performances from the BBC television shows The Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops rather than radio spots, and the two songs from a December 1973 OGWT appearance -- an anguished cover of Jacques Brel's infamous "Next" and a second version of "The Faith Healer" that utterly outclasses the one on the first disc from just two months earlier -- are the highlights of the collection, though this "The Faith Healer" is actually a live Harvey vocal fronting a pre-recorded backing track. His 1975 U.K. Top Ten hit "Delilah" (from a 1975 OGWT broadcast) is another highlight, but take note that the final and least essential two tracks, from a 1977 appearance on the same program, are the SAHB without Harvey.
BIOGRAPHY
by William Ruhlmann/AMG
Alex Harvey was a British journeyman rocker who enjoyed a brief period of widespread popularity in the mid-'70s after decades of struggle. Growing up in Scotland, he turned to music in his late teens and was in a skiffle band by 1955. By 1959, it had evolved into the Alex Harvey Big Soul Band. Harvey took the group to Hamburg, West Germany in the early '60s, there recording his first LP, Alex Harvey and His Soul Band, in the fall of 1963, which did not feature the band. He and his group made their London debut in February 1964, and the same year he recorded The Blues, which essentially was a solo record. In 1965, Harvey dissolved the Big Soul Band and later returned to Glasgow. But he was back in London in 1967, assembling Giant Moth, a psychedelic group that existed only for a short time. He then accepted a job working in the pit band of the musical Hair and while doing so recorded Having a Hair Rave up Live from the Shaftsbury Theatre. In 1969, he released Roman Wall Blues, his first solo effort in five years. Up to this point, none of his musical efforts had attracted much attention. But in the early '70s, he recruited the Scottish band Tear Gas -- consisting of Zal Cleminson, Chris Glen, Hugh McKenna, and Ted McKenna -- christening the resulting quintet the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
Their first two albums, Framed (1972) and Next (1973), didn't sell, but in the fall of 1974 The Impossible Dream became Harvey's first chart record in the U.K. (It briefly made the American charts in March 1975.) Tomorrow Belongs to Me followed in the spring of 1975, hitting the Top Ten along with the Top Ten singles placing of Harvey's flamboyant cover of the Tom Jones hit "Delilah." With that, Next belatedly made the charts, and in September Sensational Alex Harvey Band Live came out and reached the Top 20 (also making the Top 100 in the U.S), as "Gamblin' Bar Room Blues" became a Top 40 single. This commercial success continued into 1976, with Penthouse Tapes entering the LP charts in April and becoming a Top 20 hit, "Boston Tea Party" making the singles charts in June and making a Top 20 showing, and SAHB Stories following in July and just missing the Top Ten.
In 1977, Harvey and the band recorded separately, SAHB without Alex (as it was billed) issuing Fourplay, while the leader made Alex Harvey Presents the Loch Ness Monster. A final album together, Rock Drill, was followed by the group's breakup. Harvey was back with his New Band in 1979 and an album called The Mafia Stole My Guitar, but his moment, so long in coming, had passed. Nevertheless, he kept on rocking and was on tour in Belgium when he succumbed to a heart attack in 1982 just before his 47th birthday.
''LIVE AT THE BBC, DISC TWO''
FEBRUARY 17 2009
93:24
DISC ONE (62:08)
1 Midnight Moses/Alex Harvey 04:36
2 St. Anthony/Alex Harvey 06:21
3 Framed/Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller 06:38
4 There's No Lights On The Christmas Tree Mother, They're Burning Big Louie/Jimmy Condron, Alex Harvey 03:51
5 Hole In Her Stocking/Alex Harvey, Ray Russell 05:41
6 Dance To The Music/Sylvester Stewart 07:27
7 The Faith Healer/Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 06:22
8 Midnight Moses/Alex Harvey 04:32
9 Gang Bang/Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 04:53
10 The Last Of The Teenage Idols/Alistair McDonald Cleminson, Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 08:18
11 Giddy Up A Ding Dong/Frank R. Bell 03:24
Tracks 1 To 6 Recorded At Paris Theatre 02111972, Programme Number 12SX1142
Tracks 7 To 11 Recorded In Concert 02101973, Programme Number 12SX1195
DISC TWO (31:16)
1 Next/Jacques Brel 03:58
2 The Faith Healer/Alex Harvey,Hugh McKenna 03:15
3 Give My Compliments To The Chef/Alistair McDonald Cleminson, Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 06:05
4 Delilah/Barry Mason, Les Reed 05:01
5 Boston Tea Party/Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 03:45
6 Pick It Up And Kick It/Alex Harvey, Hugh McKenna 04:33
7 Smouldering/Chris Glen, Hugh McKenna 04:35
Tracks 1 & 2 The Old Grey Whistle Test 20121973, Programme Number LNF1502J
Tracks 3 & 4 The Old Grey Whistle Test 30051975, Programme Number LNF1708B
Track 5 Top Of The Pops 10061976, Programme Number LLV1775L
Tracks 6 & 7 The Old Grey Whistle Test 25111997
Chris Glen/Bass Guitar
Ted McKenna/Drums
Zal Cleminson/Guitar, Vocals
Hugh McKenna/Keyboards
John Martin/Keyboards
Alex Harvey/Vocals
REVIEW
by Richie Unterberger/AMG
Two discs of 1972-1977 BBC performances by the Sensational Alex Harvey Band with excellent sound are collected on this set, though it's not quite as lengthy as you might assume, adding up to about an hour and a half in all (with only about half an hour on the second disc). There aren't great surprises in store for those familiar with Harvey's BBC work during this, his commercial peak. As was also true of his records, his reputation as a truly sensational live visual performer isn't quite mirrored by this audio-only document. Too, the only song that doesn't appear on his studio releases of this time is a 1972 cover of "Dance to the Music," which might be energetic but certainly wouldn't give Sly & the Family Stone cause to worry. Disc one is entirely devoted to two performances at BBC's Paris Theatre, one in November 1972 and the other in October 1973, where they run through the bulk of the material from the SAHB's first couple albums. Some of his most celebrated songs, like "Framed" and "The Faith Healer," are naturally included, as well as his oddball cover of the early rock & roll hit "Giddy Up a Ding Dong," though Harvey's manic-tinged vocals are more impressive than the period hard rock backing. Side two actually features 1973-1975 performances from the BBC television shows The Old Grey Whistle Test and Top of the Pops rather than radio spots, and the two songs from a December 1973 OGWT appearance -- an anguished cover of Jacques Brel's infamous "Next" and a second version of "The Faith Healer" that utterly outclasses the one on the first disc from just two months earlier -- are the highlights of the collection, though this "The Faith Healer" is actually a live Harvey vocal fronting a pre-recorded backing track. His 1975 U.K. Top Ten hit "Delilah" (from a 1975 OGWT broadcast) is another highlight, but take note that the final and least essential two tracks, from a 1977 appearance on the same program, are the SAHB without Harvey.
BIOGRAPHY
by William Ruhlmann/AMG
Alex Harvey was a British journeyman rocker who enjoyed a brief period of widespread popularity in the mid-'70s after decades of struggle. Growing up in Scotland, he turned to music in his late teens and was in a skiffle band by 1955. By 1959, it had evolved into the Alex Harvey Big Soul Band. Harvey took the group to Hamburg, West Germany in the early '60s, there recording his first LP, Alex Harvey and His Soul Band, in the fall of 1963, which did not feature the band. He and his group made their London debut in February 1964, and the same year he recorded The Blues, which essentially was a solo record. In 1965, Harvey dissolved the Big Soul Band and later returned to Glasgow. But he was back in London in 1967, assembling Giant Moth, a psychedelic group that existed only for a short time. He then accepted a job working in the pit band of the musical Hair and while doing so recorded Having a Hair Rave up Live from the Shaftsbury Theatre. In 1969, he released Roman Wall Blues, his first solo effort in five years. Up to this point, none of his musical efforts had attracted much attention. But in the early '70s, he recruited the Scottish band Tear Gas -- consisting of Zal Cleminson, Chris Glen, Hugh McKenna, and Ted McKenna -- christening the resulting quintet the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
Their first two albums, Framed (1972) and Next (1973), didn't sell, but in the fall of 1974 The Impossible Dream became Harvey's first chart record in the U.K. (It briefly made the American charts in March 1975.) Tomorrow Belongs to Me followed in the spring of 1975, hitting the Top Ten along with the Top Ten singles placing of Harvey's flamboyant cover of the Tom Jones hit "Delilah." With that, Next belatedly made the charts, and in September Sensational Alex Harvey Band Live came out and reached the Top 20 (also making the Top 100 in the U.S), as "Gamblin' Bar Room Blues" became a Top 40 single. This commercial success continued into 1976, with Penthouse Tapes entering the LP charts in April and becoming a Top 20 hit, "Boston Tea Party" making the singles charts in June and making a Top 20 showing, and SAHB Stories following in July and just missing the Top Ten.
In 1977, Harvey and the band recorded separately, SAHB without Alex (as it was billed) issuing Fourplay, while the leader made Alex Harvey Presents the Loch Ness Monster. A final album together, Rock Drill, was followed by the group's breakup. Harvey was back with his New Band in 1979 and an album called The Mafia Stole My Guitar, but his moment, so long in coming, had passed. Nevertheless, he kept on rocking and was on tour in Belgium when he succumbed to a heart attack in 1982 just before his 47th birthday.
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