Minggu, 12 Juni 2011

Alex Harvey - Considering The Situation (scotland mix of blue-eyed soul, hard, glam and theatrical rock, 2CDs - Wave audio format)

Prepare to cruise down Action Strasse again with this comprehensive retrospective of the career of Alex Harvey prior to and including the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, one of the most original and innovative hard rock/glam/proto-punk bands of the 1970s.

Disc One is devoted to Harvey's pre-SAHB efforts from the 1960s, containing only one SAHB track at the end - "The Harp" (originally the B-side of "There's No Lights on the Christmas Tree Mother, They're Burning Big Louie Tonight!," SAHB's first single), showing the band at their most Celtic-mediaeval.

It begins with Alex Harvey's Soul Band recordings from the early Sixties, mostly covers of American blues/R&B standards done in a much more authentic manner than most early UK blues acts (Davies, Korner, etc.).

Interestingly enough, two of these songs were later done by SAHB - "Framed" and "I Just Want to Make Love To You".

Harvey's early recordings show little trace of his Glaswegian accent, sounding much more Afro-American (his early singing was along the lines of Chuck Berry or Guitar Slim).

"Penicillin Blues" features one of the most outrageous sex/drugs triple entendres ever.
The version of "St. James Infirmary" recorded with Alex' brother Leslie of Stone the Crows fame sounds like it could have been recorded late at night in a cheap hotel in Memphis' red light district in the 1920s - as fine a recreation of early acoustic blues as ever done by white men. "Ain't That Just Too Bad" shows Harvey adapting to Merseybeat; unfortunately, this did not bring success.

Other standouts on the first disc are "Roman Wall Blues" (an adaptation of a poem by W.H. Auden), and the original versions of "Midnight Moses" and "Hole in Her Stocking" (think Captain Beefheart meets Austin Powers).

However, save the chilling acoustic original version of "Isobel Goudie," the tracks which SAHB later redid are inferior to the later versions.

Fine as the originals are, Zal Cleminson's guitar playing (up there with ANY rock guitarist of his time) and Chris Glen's superb bass playing made a big difference when the songs were redone on "Framed," the first SAHB album.

The second disc covers SAHB's career, taking material from seven of the eight albums (there is nothing from "The Penthouse Tapes").

Certainly this is material that everyone should own, and if one does not have the original albums this is a fine introduction to one of the most seminal, underrated and unique rock bands of its era.

However, if I had compiled the album, I would have included the original studio version of "Faith Healer," with its eerie guitar/synth interplay, controlled menace and Alex' eerie, dark vocals which in so many ways set the tone for the post punk death rockers and goths of later times, from "Next" rather than the more celebratory live version.

To represent "Rock Drill," SAHB's final and least consistent album from 1978, I would have included "Nightmare City," an apocalyptic punkish tale of zombies and cannibalism with a shredding Cleminson guitar solo which showed how much contemporary cutting edge bands like the Damned, Stranglers and Radio Birdman owed to SAHB, rather than "Water Beastie" (an example of Harvey's fascination with the Loch Ness Monster).

It is remarkable how timeless and lasting SAHB's oeuvre is today, so many years later, and how so much in the interim owes a direct debt to Glasgow's finest.

One wonders what Alex would have done if he had lived; he was possessed of an immense, unique talent spanning a huge stylistic range, and would probably have been a poster boy for bad boy rockers growing old along with Jerry Lee Lewis, Keith Richards and Neil Young (all of whom are younger than Alex, for what it's worth).

With SAHB's outrageous stage act and surrealist guerrilla theater tactics verging on performance art, one could only imagine what they would have achieved in the video era.
It is a shame that Harvey's planned stage musical, "Vibrania" (based on the Vambo character, "the Robin Hood of the tenements"), never took shape.

Still, even if Alex is no longer with us, the music and legacy of "The Last of the Teenage Idols" live on, and are beginning to reach a whole new generation who may have been "much too young to know the difference".

"Considering the Situation" should accentuate this and at the same time make long time fans take another walk down Action Strasse.
Pick this up and don't piss in the water supply. (by Michale Snider)



Track List :

CD 1
Alex Harvey And His Soul Band
01.Shout
02.Framed
03.I Just Wanna Make Love To You
04.Elevator Rock (previously unreleased)

Alex Harvey
05.St James Infirmary

Alex Harvey And His Soul Band
06.Penicillin Blues
07.Reelin' And Rockin
08.Ain't That Just Too Bad

Alex Harvey
09.Agent 00 Soul
10.Work Song

from "Hair" Rave-Up
11.Hair
12.Birthday

Alex Harvey
13.Roman Wall Blues
14.Midnight Moses
15.Hammer Song

Rock Workshop
16.Hole In Her Stocking
17.Wade In The Water

Alex Harvey
18.Isobel Goudie (previously unreleased)
19.The Harp (previously unreleased)

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
20.The Harp

CD 2
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
01.Midnight Moses
02.Framed
03.There's No Lights On The Tree, Mother - They're Burning Big Louie Tonite!
04.Buff's Bar Blues
05.Swampsnake
06.Next
07.The Last Of The Teenage Idols
08.The Hot City Symphony Part 1: Vambo
09.Sergeant Fury
10.Tomahawk Kid
11.Action Strasse
12.Give My Compliments To The Chef
13.Faith Healer (Live)
14.Delilah
15.Boston Tea Party
16.Water Beastie

Alex Harvey
17.I Love Monsters Too

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