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Foghat to get the weekend rolling. Still around since their inception in 1971 (with only founding member, drummer Roger Earl in the current lineup) – Foghat were a staple in the FM underground diet since their debut album in 1972 – barely an hour went by where you wouldn’t hear at least one (or several) Foghat tracks.
The band initially featured Dave Peverett (“Lonesome Dave”) on guitar and vocals, Tony Stevens on bass and Roger Earl on drums, after all three musicians left Savoy Brown in 1971. Rod Price, on guitar/slide guitar, joined after he left Black Cat Bones in December 1970. The new line-up was named “Foghat” (a nonsense word from a Scrabble-like game played by Peverett and his brother) in January 1971. Foghat relocated to the United States after signing a deal with Bearsville Records. Its debut album, Foghat (1972), was produced by Dave Edmunds and featured a cover of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You”, which received considerable airplay, especially on FM stations. The album also included a remake of Savoy Brown’s bluesy ode to the road “Leavin’ Again (Again!)”, and “Sarah Lee”, a classic blues burner featuring Price’s slide guitar solo. The band’s second self-titled album went gold. It was also known as Rock and Roll for its cover photo of a rock and a bread roll. Energized (1974) came out, followed by Rock and Roll Outlaws (1974) and Fool for the City (1975). In 1974, Stevens left the band due to its relentless touring schedule and was temporarily replaced by producer Nick Jameson for the recording of Fool for the City. During the next year, Jameson was replaced by Craig MacGregor, and the group released Night Shift (1976), a live album (1977) and Stone Blue (1978), each attaining gold status in record sales. Fool for the City spawned the hit single “Slow Ride” (which reached No. 20 in the United States and No. 14 in Canada), but the greatest sales figures were reached by Foghat Live, which went double platinum. More hits followed: “Drivin’ Wheel”, “I Just Want to Make Love to You” (from the live album), “Stone Blue” and “Third Time Lucky (First Time I Was a Fool)”. Price left the band in November 1980, unhappy with the group’s still constant touring and the shift away from the hard boogie sound toward a more new wave-influenced pop direction. By February 1981, after months of auditions, he was replaced by Erik Cartwright.
In case you missed them the first time around, here is a sample of what was one of the defining hard Rock bands of the early 70s.
Luckily, I think for everyone, this soundboard recording was preserved by mixer George Geranios who had the foresight to hit “record” on the cassette machine. Cassette recorders became standard equipment on many sound engineers rigs starting in the 70s and were usually located on racks somewhere near the amps and processing equipment. Not only were they used as reference recordings for bands assessing their own shows, they were also a way of preserving moments of memorable tours for future listening.
A lot survived but a lot were tossed, destroyed, lost or stolen – nature of the beast, as it were. But these represent a true (or as close to true as possible) picture of an artist or band during various periods of their careers – in some cases, they may be the only representation of a band who broke up before a debut album was made. So these glimpses are important and do nothing to demean an artist or cast them in an unfavorable light. This is history and is as legitimate and vital as anything else that represents a view of the past – not as a means of nostalgia, but as a means of understanding and informing.
So enjoy and take notes – there might be a quiz.
