Mad Rocker Show Road Trip

Per the previous post, I had selected a dozen tracks suitable for the "WPRK Midday Flashback."  Since I had them out, I decided to take the twelve CD's to be the soundtrack to a 10.5 hour drive back to Orlando, which began at 2:45 AM, CDT.  Thought I would highlight said CD's for a brief departure and a refresher course on the original version of the Mad Rocker!
 

I don't do lots of collections like "Best Of" or "Greatest Hits" because I already have the songs and/or disagree with the selected tracks or tracking sequence.  Musical snob, I know.  But when they are right, they are right.  As it turned out, I had used several of my early fave collections for the  Flashback show, and the initial disc was this one.  Beginning from the home of Bonnaroo in the wee hours, Max Webster kicks off the journey.  If you like great guitar & keys, intelligent lyrics, and a bit of wit in your rock, these friends of Rush (click here Rush fans) are for you.  They were a great live band, and though the video quality is crap, the song is lyrically dead-on.  Live footage from 1980...




Max got me through Chattanooga, and the Ian Gillan Band took over at the GA line, taking me down to that big lake with five exits...

One of Rock's great vocalists.  And I absolutely loved the three albums this line-up released.  Here is a live version of "My Baby Loves Me" from Scarabus.  My God, that's hot!  That is a crack band, no doubt (you young folks, that means good, not on...)  And most reviewers of IGB back then seemed to think Ian was uncomfortable with this jazz/funk/metal/fusion.  Bullshit. This record was more funk than jazz fusion, and Ian's voice is right where it should be, up front.  Not a weak spot to be found on this 1977 release.

Yep, Rick Derringer.  This grouping happened about three years after "R & R Hoochie Koo", and I happened to like the debut and its followup, "Sweet Evil."  The other band members later went on to play separately with Black Sabbath, BOC, Joan Jett, etc., and collectively for one album as Axis.  So the musicianship is spot-on.  Good variety of songs and styles, and I've always liked his vocals and pickin'.  Other guy is good, too.  Listen to this private live concert cut from this album.  Glad I found that.  Smokin'! 

So I'm through Hotlanta as the record ends...

...and this band plays to greet the light of day.  City Boy was an English band that had many comparisons to Queen and others like Yes or ELO.  For me, they were a British Styx.  The producer of all their albums was some rookie named Robert John "Mutt" Lange.  Yeah, you know the guy, ex-Mr. Twain.  Or maybe you know some of the other bands he produced that hit it big right after "Book Early," like AC/DC, Def Leppard & Foreigner.  Safe to say that City Boy had a good knob-spinner.  This was actually a Top 30 song in the US...

Damn, I feel like VH1 Classic showing that. 
City Boy gets me to the Macon bypass, and for the forthcoming stretch of South Middleofnowhere, GA, I need something that gets me pounding the steering wheel...

That'll work.  Or Angel City as they were known here.  An intelligent version of AC/DC.  Not as punk-y as Rose Tattoo.  All three named bands were Vanda & Young clients.  I'd say that qualifies as a stranglehold on the genre at the time, which was 1979 for "Their Finest Hour."  One funny thing I always got from them was every album contained flashes of "we wanna be the Rolling Stones for one minute."  No complaints from me because I liked the Angels' "Rolling Stones" better than the real ones (you guessed it, not a big fan).  This track is one of my favorites (and it could have been mistaken for a Rose Tattoo song) and I found a neat live version of it...

 

Around ninety seconds in, if you're not pumping a fist, pounding your foot or slam dancing around the room, then...well, I feel sorry for you.  That, my friends, is what rock & roll was all about back in the day.

My journey had reached the core of South Middleofnowhere, GA, and I needed a couple more records to reach FLA.  What would they be...?