Development of the British Blues & Rhythm

  --- show 47 ---   4-13-2016                 

R Gallagher                                          1977-79

Jack Bruce BBC                                      1978
Foghat                                                  1977-78

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I was running into problems figuring out what to do with this show because I had already laid out the next two entries and didn’t have enough material worth presenting in our timeline, but the AHA! moment came when I realized I had a couple of Foghat albums that I had entirely forgotten I wanted to use.  As early as 1974 the band was recorded in New Orleans, as well as a couple of later attempts, but it was not until concerts in May of 1977 that the live capture was deemed representative of the group and acceptable for release.  The album went double platinum and the live version of the band’s first 45, I Just Want to Make Love to You, climbed to #33 US.  Rather than use studio overdubbing, the road crew provided extra real time percussion offstage.  As drummer Roger Earl recalled, “Yeah, that’s David Lang, my drum tech at the time, playing percussion behind me.  He’s a great drummer too.  We also had Danny Craig, our stage manager, on the tambourine.”  The rest of the band consisted of guitarist/vocalist “Lonesome” Dave Peverett with lead guitarist Rod Price and bassist Craig MacGregor adding some vocal.

The same cast was on their next album, 1978’s Stone Blue which reached #25 on the Billboard chart, although we played its segments before the 1977 LIVE release on today’s show.  Foghat made five more albums, but these first eight we have presented are as far as I felt like adding to my collection.

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This is the Jack Bruce segment that I postponed from our last show because I needed to fill a lot of time today but also to relieve some of the heavy rocking aspect of the other two acts.  This is the second-most recent of the five entries from the three disc set Spirit: Live at the BBC 1971-1978 which was recorded on April 14^th 1977 for the BBC Radio One In Concert series.  Once again Jack’s vocals are backed up by his bass and piano as well as Simon Phillips’ drums, Tony Hymas’ keyboards, and the guitar work of Hughie Burns.  I added several albums with Jack as lead artist and sideman through the course of this study but this is the purchase I am most happy with.  Within the five live sessions, one gets exposed to some Blues-based Rock and some Modern Jazz, all flavored with some of the best bass work performed (in my opinion, anyway) as well as the vocal style that made Cream famous.

We will have the pleasure of hearing him three more times before we wind everything up, including in the very last show preceded by his collaborations with Robin Trower and Gary Moore.

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The Rory Gallagher presentation begins with another set from BBC Sessions, a two disc set from which we have already heard some studio recordings.  Unlike the Jack Bruce set, Rory’s live disc is not complete concerts but segments from five separate airings running between January 1977 and September 1979, excepting one tune from 1973 which we omitted.  The players are once again Gallagher on vocals, guitar and harmonica aided by bassist Gerry McAvoy, keyboardist Lou Martin, and drummer Rod de’Ath, although Ted McKenna had taken over the drums by the time we get to our closing tune.

The other grouping is from the 1979 live set that was included as the second disc of the Notes from San Francisco set.

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Since it is still relatively new, I thought I’d mention that KKUP is now streaming on the internet and, while it is still in a developing stage, we have been putting out the word.  I’m not all of that good with high-tech stuff, but it seems pretty easy to access.  If you go to our website at KKUP.org you will see on the home page a strip of options immediately above the pictures of the musicians the next to the last option being LISTEN ONLINE.  By clicking this, it brings up a choice of desktop or mobile.  I can only speak for the desktop but after maybe a minute I was receiving a crystal clear feed.  As already mentioned, this is still a work in progress and we are currently limited to a finite number of listeners at any one time.  I mention this so you will be aware to turn off the application when you are not actually listening.  (I put the player in my favorites bar for the easiest of access.)  Now we can reach our listeners in Los Gatos and Palo Alto, even my family in Canada.  Let your friends elsewhere know they can now listen to your favorite station, and while they have the home page open they can check out our schedule.

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Country Mile
Got My Mojo Working
Garbage Man
Roberta
Used To Be
Cruise On Out
   Rory Gallagher (BBC LIVE)   27min

Stone Blue

Sweet Home Chicago
It Hurts Me Too
Easy Money
Cadillac
   Foghat (Stone Blue)   22min

Born Under a Bad Sign

Lost Inside a Song
Madhouse
Times
Baby Jane
You Burned the Tables On Me
   Jack Bruce (Spirit)   27min

Fool for the City
Home in My Hand
I Just Want to Make Love to You (time permitting)
Road Fever
Honey Hush
Slow Ride
   Foghat (LIVE)   30+min

Follow Me

Shin Kicker
Off the Handle
Bought and Sold
I’m Leavin’
Do You Read Me?
Calling Card
Shadow Play
Bullfrog Blues
Sea Cruise
   Rory Gallagher (Notes from