Sometimes when you
break up a Family, you get Streetwalkers.
The same thing would appear to happen
in rock 'n' roll, when Family finally
decided to call it a day after seven highly
acclaimed psychedelic/progressive Rock
albums and four top thirty hits.
The two mainstays and the writing partnership
of both Roger Chapman, he of the gravel
throated vocals and a penchant for shattering
tambourines and smashing his mike stand
through the stage (always popular with
concert hall owners), and Charlie Whitney,
perhaps one of the finest slide guitarists
of his era, decided to stay together and
give it another go. They soon released
one album aptly named Streetwalkers as
a duo backed by session musicians, ditching
Family's layered progressive sound in
favor of a far more gritty forceful rock.
Needing to take the music out on to the
road, a new band was put together.
The first recruit was a strange one;
they enlisted the extremely talented singer/guitarist
Bobby Tench. Although Bobby Tench is a
seriously great musician (his Dog feels
he has never really scaled the heights
that his obvious talents deserve), both
positions, the vocalist and lead guitar,
were already filled by the founding members
of the band. But then suppose it's always
better to have plenty of ammunition in
reserve.
Next two young musicians were brought
in to give the band real enthusiasm in
the rhythm section. Jonathan ‘Jon'
Plotel, who was enticed away from ‘Casablanca’
and an unknown young drummer named Nicko
McBain. After a quick tour of clubs and
colleges they retired to the studio to
record the first proper Streetwalkers
album, a nice little album. It was not
exactly breathtaking, but none the less
a noble effort and enough to get them
booked on a short headline tour of Europe,
and appearances to great critical acclaim
at many of Europe's major rock festivals.
So upon arrival back in the studio the
band was ready to get down to business.
The results were released in June of 1976.
Red Card, which was a bit of a naff title,
and so was the albums artwork, but the
important bit, the music inside, was classic
mid seventies rock 'n' roll. Red Card
went Top Twenty across Europe, reaching
number sixteen in Britain. Fame and fortune
were beckoning, the door was open, all
they had to do was walk through, just
a few steps. Did they? Of course not,
life just isn’t like that in rock
'n' roll.
For some unfounded reason, probably not
even knowing why themselves now, within
three weeks of Red Cards release, the
trio of Chapman, Whitney, and Tench decided
to fire Plotel and McBain. (It certainly
could not of meant on musical inability
in Nicko's position as he later went and
worked with the demanding Pat Travers
before going back to his homeland and
drumming for French Rockers 'Trust'. While
he was still with 'Trust', he was asked
to sit behind the drums for heavy metal
giants 'Iron Maiden', where he has been
for the last twenty five years.)
The remaining trio then expanded the
lineup to a six piece adding Mickey Feat
on bass, Dave Dowle on drums and Brian
Johnson on keyboards. If Plotel and McBain
were punk, then their three replacements
were jazz/funk. It was a bit like replacing
your Ferrari sports with a nice sedate
sedan. The Band went back into the studio
to record another album, 'Vicious But
Fair'. A great title and great sleeve
artwork, but the music inside was abysmal.
The music press murdered them. Their loyal
audience, many of whom had been carried
over from the Family days, spoke with
their feet and the tour to promote the
album was a dismal affair.
The band members went their own ways
on its completion. The record company
though still owed one more album. So posthumously,
that old stalwart of the seventies, a
double live album was put out and this
is it. How six so relatively talented
musicians can sound so poor is beyond
me. You get a smattering of tracks from
each of the four studio albums that had
come out under the Streetwalkers’
banner, including the butchering of two
from Red Card, ‘Me An' Me Horse
An' Me Rum’ and the suitably titled
‘Crazy Charade’. Then, possibly
to try and appease the fans, two of the
classic tracks from probably Family's
finest album 'Bandstand' are taken out
and given an airing. It's a crying shame
though to hear them treated with such
little respect. ‘My Friend The Sun'
sounds as though the band has never even
rehearsed it before, whilst during the
mundane version of Burlesque they sound
positively bored. A sad case of "If
Only". If you want to hear Chapman/Whitney
at their best, get ‘Red Card’
or ‘Bandstand’, but avoid
this one.
Butchered by Mott The Dog
Carved up by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
