This is one of the bands from back in the original Mad Rocker days of late 1976-77 that I played the bejesus out of. Their album was called "Red Card" and I had never heard of them whilst residing in southern, middle Tennessee. No surprise there. I was hooked from the very first song...
Christ, what a voice! I had no idea who Roger Chapman was. Neither did I recognize the guy on slide in the video above, John "Charlie" Whitney. My eighteen-year-old mind was blown and I HAD to learn more about these guys. Discovered an earlier debut album by them and also their previous band called Family.
Nope, Streetwalkers was more to my liking. Taped (cassette...I was way ahead on that curve) a copy of the first album and admired the credited performers. Where do I start? Well, let's just go alphabetical so nobody gets offended. Boz Burrell: Bassist/singer in King Crimson before, started some band called Bad Company right after; Michael Giles: Also King Crimson and had just played drums on a Roger Glover solo project; Ric Grech: Was in Family (again, didn't know that) but more known as the bassist in Blind Faith and Traffic; Tim Hinkley: Had tinkled keys on a few records before and went on to do so with Al Stewart, Humble Pie, the aforementioned Bad Co., Whitesnake and Thin Lizzy (I'll tie those in shortly); Neil Hubbard: One of his first bands included a guy who later became Elton John, was also in the core bands on Jesus Christ Superstar OC and Joseph's Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and later spent many years with Brian Ferry/Roxy Music; Linda Lewis: Vocalist who worked on Cat Stevens' Teaser & the Firecat and Catch Bull At Four as well as Bowie's Aladdin Sane; Max Middleton: Jeff Beck Group; and John Wetton: Also in Family, Rare Bird, and was a recent addition to Crimson for Lark's Tongues in Aspic. Whew! Needless to say, the first album was excellent with all the guest contributions. For "Red Card," the band added Bobby Tench as a permanent member (that made me laugh knowing there was only one more studio album done before the band split up), who played guitar and sang with the Jeff Beck Group and another hot band at the time, Widowmaker. The drummer on the record was Nicko McBrain, lasting only the one album before doing two with Pat Travers and then making a name for himself with Iron Maiden. For the last album and tour (horrible live album...sound quality terrible and performances reeked of obligation knowing they were finished due to the rise of punk in the UK), the drummer was David Dowle and bassist was Mickey Feate. Dowle later became a member of Whitesnake in its bluesy, pre hair-metal incarnation and Feate and Tench became part of Van Morrison's band for his masterpiece, "Wavelength." Chapman had a respectable solo career in Germany and the UK and Whitney essentially disappeared from the music scene.
Now that the history lesson is done, you can see there was a large amount of talent in the band...yet zero success in the States. One reviewer of the "Live" double album said it would "only appeal to the band's half-dozen fans in the US." Well, I was one of the six and I didn't like it, either. A news blurb several months ago heralded (bemoaned) the discovery of two live shows from the same tour that produced the lousy original. Somebody dug them out of the trash, cleaned up the recordings and declared them superior. Riiiggghhhttt... Still, I checked the set lists and found them the same except for the track "Dice Man," which spoke to me because I loved dice games and craps and one of the lyrics was "makin' me loose, drinkin' Tennessee juice." Hence the purchase of Rainbow and not Demontfort. The twelve-plus minute version is the record's highlight among highlights. There may be some slight flaws in the masters which couldn't be corrected, but they do not dull the performance. As I listened, I heard Chapman's voice grow eerily similar in places to the power and warble of another great rock singer who would debut with his band the following year. Any guesses? What about Jimmy Barnes of Cold Chisel. Let's hear one more...
It's very difficult to believe that this album and these videos were culled from the same tour which produced the crappy one from 36 years ago. Their label had tried to catch the same wave that was carrying along fellow roster member, Thin Lizzy (there it is...finally!), in spite of the punk movement, and it didn't pan out. I now believe that Mercury Records spent as little money as possible on the original live recordings and the band knew it and tanked the shows. There is way too much evidence here to support my belief.
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