Lonesome
Dave Peverett, Tone Stevens, and Roger
Earl were all in the most stable and popular
of the lineups of Savoy Brown, along with
band main man and guitarist Kim Simmonds.
But after five albums and countless nights
on the road, Lonesome Dave Peverett thought
it was time to strike out on his own.
Bidding a hasty cheerio to Kim Simmonds
and leaving him to look for new musicians
to carry on the Savoy Brown flag, Dave
took Roger and Tone with him and went
off to conquer the world. Leaving the
security of the Savoy Brown name, they
moved to America and welcomed American
Rod Price into their ranks to share lead
guitar duties with Dave. Rod specialized
in slide guitar work and this gave the
band a pretty unique duel guitar attack,
which was matched up with Dave's forceful
vocals; and with the established rhythm
section of Tone and Roger the floor was
set for the band to take to the road with
their version of blues and boogie.
Bearsville Records got their signature
and in 1971 the first album was released
under the Foghat banner. Foghat was a
word made up by Lonesome Dave minutes
before they went on stage for the first
time. So contrary to popular believe,
it doesn't actually mean anything. Four
more albums followed, but before the fifth
the first of many lineup changes occurred
when Tone Stevens left the band. He was
unhappy with the progress the band was
making, leaning more to the pop/rock boogie
so beloved of American stadium goers in
the early seventies, rather than his beloved
blues. However, that were feelings he
put behind him when he re-joined the Band
some fifteen years later. I must say that
I have always been a great admirer of
Tone Stevens bass playing and songwriting
skills, but at the time I was delighted
to find that his replacement Craig MacGregor
was more than adequate. Anyway, he was
too big to argue with.
To this point Foghat's career can be summarized
easily by a comparison to the English
Premier Football League (that's the round
ball game). If Foghat were a team and
each album represented a season, then
Foghat spent four years in the first division,
slowly rising up the division. In fact
they reached the play offs in their fourth
season with the album 'Fool For The City'
(1975), before gaining promotion to the
Premier League the following season with
'Night Shift' (1976). Then in 1977 they
won the Premier League, the F.A. Cup,
and the European Cup with their ‘Live’
album, which fully represented the band
where they were at the time.
Next Season they did O.K. with 'Stone
Blue' (1978.) But after a couple more
seasons they found themselves back in
the bottom half of division one, which
is pretty much where they stayed for the
rest of their careers. Just like Queen’s
‘Park Rangers’, everybody
loves them even if they are in the lower
divisions, but nobody is quite sure who
actually still goes to see them –
but it’s obvious, people do.
Back in 1977 when ‘Live' came out,
it turned Foghat into one of America's
top drawing live acts. To the rest of
the world they didn't mean a thing. They
would be lucky to fill the Marquee Club,
which holds about 200 people, in their
home country in England, and then it would
be mainly American tourists. Whereas in
America they could pull in audiences of
up to 200,000 screaming fans, and 'Live'
itself went platinum. Strange old world.
On 'Live' you get six great big slabs
of Foghat's boogie/rock. Right from the
over the top introduction, where the announcer
screams himself hoarse in six words such
is his excitement, it's party time all
the way. As you can tell by the titles,
the songs do not have much prophetic reasoning
behind them. All the lyrics are about
living, loving, drinking, and surviving
on the road. At three minutes and thirty
seconds of the second number in 'Home
In My Hand', the band gives the song a
false ending, only to come crashing straight
back in with another verse louder than
previously played, and breaking into an
acopella verse before finally finishing
the song. Showing off the dynamics learnt
by the band during their continuous touring.
Add to this Dave Peverett's between song
stage banter, and some explosive slide
guitar from Rod Price, particularly during
the two versions of the hit singles ‘I
Just Wanna Make Love To You' and 'Slow
Ride', which are both extended to eight
minutes. See what I mean about the songs
now? I wonder what those two are about?
You have got a truly entertaining, nearly
forty minutes, great Rock 'n' Roll. Now
this is where Mott gets rowdy. Thirty
eight minutes, thirty eight seconds is
not long enough for today's C.D.s. I am
sure that when these concerts were recorded
that Foghat were on stage for more than
forty minutes. So there must be some more
recorded songs that could be slotted back
in, now that we have the longer CD format.
Forty minutes may have been O.K. in the
days of vinyl because of time constraints,
but a CD can take up to seventy two minutes
without any loss of sound quality. Then
when you add to that the slipshod recording
from the original, you can see why so
many people get disillusioned by the music
business. It says on the packaging ''Digital
Re-mastering by Bill Inglot and Ken Perry
at K-Disc.‘ Well, obviously at K-Disc
re-mastering consists of putting the vinyl
L.P. on, press play on record to CD, do
not check the levels, (dramatic loss of
bottom end from the vinyl edition), have
a beer, and wait till it’s finished.
What a waste. Still, someday somebody
will probably do it properly.
Later Foghat would get the Spinal Tap's
and almost have a revolving door policy,
with bass players in particular lasting
alarmingly short times between coming
and going. (I counted at least nine on
their rock family tree including at sometime
both the talents of Robbie Alter and Kenny
Aaronson.) In 1986 there were two Foghat's,
one under the leadership of drummer Roger
Earl, and one with Lonesome Dave Peverett,
with none of the other founding members
in either band. Even Spinal Tap did not
have those problems. But in 1989 wise
heads prevailed and Roger and Dave patched
up their differences, while Tone and Ron
were recalled to the ranks. For ten further
years the original members of Foghat ate
up that ‘Road Fever’, after
which Rod Price called a halt to his Foghat
days and went solo.
In 1991 Lonesome Dave was cruelly taken
from us by cancer of the kidneys. Still
today Roger Earl and Tone Stevens keep
the Foghat flag flying, playing live the
length and breadth of the United States
of America together with new vocalist
Charlie Huhn - dedicating every night
to Lonesome Dave.
'Live' is a fine album from the seventies,
which is just begging for a proper upgrade.
If you want to have a listen anyway, remember
to turn the bass up.
Pawed by Mott The Dog
Remastered by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
