Alex Harvey and His Soul Band (1964)
The Blues (1964)
Roman Wall Blues (1969)
The Joker is Wild (1972)
Framed (1972)
Next (1973)
The Impossible Dream (1974)
Tomorrow Belongs to Me (1975)
The Penthouse Tapes (1976)
SAHB Stories (1976)
Rock Drill (1978)
The Mafia Stole My Guitar (1979)
Soldier on the Wall (1982)
Hot City: The 1974 Unreleased Album (2008)
Even though he is not there this band are still excellent, I have seen them about 3 times in the last 5 years and they were superb. Zal has left the band now which is a shame, following Zal's departure, the band is now: Hugh McKenna; Ted McKenna; Chris Glen; "Mad" Max Maxwell; and Julian Hutson-Saxby.
“Heaaaar This…the Tale of the Giant Stonnnneeatah!!!”
In 1979 I had front row center balcony for a Triumph concert in which the Baby’s were supposed to open but were taken off the bill a few weeks prior to the show. Opening the show was the Paul Pope Band from Cleveland featuring ex-lead vocalist/guitarist of the theatrical Molkie Cole band…Paul Pope. Triumph was spectacular that night but Pope left a lasting impression on me that still carries on to this day when he travels through the Buffalo area once a year. Pope hit the stage that night with mime make-up making some of the craziest faces I had ever seen. He had the crowd chanting “Hey Hey Hey” during one heavy rocker with a cool riff. A couple years later I was legal to drink & get into the clubs. I always went to see Pope as he would come to Buffalo almost every weekend. “Midnight Moses” was the name of that show stopper with the “Hey Hey Hey” chants & it was incredible to see this performed live. One day I was reading a local club scene magazine & there was a review for a band from PA called Tarkus. The review mentioned they closed the show with a classic by Alex Harvey called “Midnight Moses”.
I never knew it was a cover song because Pope mostly played original material but now I had to find out more about Alex Harvey.
One day in the early 80’s I went to Buffalo’s largest record store “Record Theater” in search for something by Alex Harvey in which I had no luck until I looked through the bargain bin. For $1.99 I came across Alex Harvey ‘The Mafia Stole My Guitar’ so I bought it. I thought the album was a little strange but there was something about it that hooked me in. It had a cool almost new wave cover of Johnny Kidd’s “Shakin’ All Over” & even a cover of Louis Prima’s “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody” which pre-dated David Lee Roth’s cover. The title track was pretty different than anything I’d heard but it was really a pretty wild cool tune. I was in another record store which was a small shop called “Home of the Hits” that specialized in imports & I came across a double Album titled ‘The Best of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band’ so naturally I bought it. I was disappointed “Midnight Moses” wasn’t on it but it didn’t matter because with one listen & a look at the gatefold I was a fan. Alex’s thick Scottish accent was a bit tough to get used to at first but it was similar to Bon Scott’s voice. I now learned of SAHB & how theatrical the band looked by the photos & the lead guitarist Zal Cleminson had full mime make-up on (Now I knew where Paul Pope got that from!). Songs that stood out for me were the bluesy “Framed”(of Richie Valens fame), “Next”, “Vambo”, “Tomahawk Kid”, & a Metal/Vaudeville cover of the Tom Jones classic “Delilah” which has to be heard! My sister was friends with an oldies DJ from Toronto & I mentioned to him that I had just discovered Alex & was really into his music. The DJ said “Great man, it’s a shame he passed away”. I was kind of shocked & the guy told me how he had died of a heart attack about a year ago. Later that year I went to Toronto & for the first time I hit up the record stores on the Yonge Street strip. I went crazy as I was able to find a bunch of Alex Harvey records: ‘Framed’, ‘The Impossible Dream’, ‘The Penthouse Tapes’, & ‘Live’.
It was now the mid ‘80’s & Paul Pope was coming around only a few times a year & although the mime make-up was gone he had also added Alex Harvey’s “Gang Bang” (complete with an inflatable doll) & “Framed”(which was a tribute to Alex as Pope copied Alex’s humorous theatrics placing a stocking over his face just as the photos of Alex on his ‘Live’ album)to his set list along with “Midnight Moses”. I had spoke to Pope about SAHB & he was a huge fan who seen them live at least 10 times.
Alex began his musical career in the late 50’s after trying his hand at many other jobs including (rumor has it) a Lion tamer. In 1959 he formed Alex Harvey’s Big Soul Band & the band had a great reputation around Scotland playing classic blues & rockabilly even backing up John Lee Hooker, Eddie Cochran, & Gene Vincent. In the early 60’s they became regulars on the club circuit in Hamburg, Germany where they even opened for the Beatles. The band landed a recording contract with Polydor Records & released a live album recorded at the Top 10 Club in Hamburg called ‘Alex Harvey & his Soul Band’ which is a great album featuring some great Blues covers including an early version of “Framed” which was a showstopper later with SAHB. In 1965 he & his brother Les recorded ‘The Blues’ for Polydor which was an acoustic album that commercially failed. He came back in 1966 releasing 2 singles the first being an Edwin Starr cover “Agent 00 Soul” which featured Steve Winwood on piano & “Work Song” which had kind of a cool jazzy feel to it. Unfortunately, Alex was considering giving up music by this point as he felt he wasn’t going anywhere. 1967 looked up a bit for Alex as he landed a gig in the back-up band in the London production of the popular musical ‘Hair’. In 1969 he, Les, & an outfit called Rock workshop joined forces to release ‘Roman wall Blues’ which is a really cool album that featured an early version of the SAHB classic “Midnight Moses” in a different arrangement featuring a horn section. The album also featured a great version of the Stones “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”. In 1970 he released an album with Rock Workshop which has since been rereleased on CD as Alex Harvey ‘Ice Cold’. This album is worth it for the stinging guitar solo by Les on “Wade in the Water”. In 1972 Alex hooked up with a failing progressive/hard rock band called Tear Gas which featured Zal Cleminson on guitar, Chris Glen on Bass, Ted Mckenna on drums, & Hugh Mckenna on Keyboards. Together this outfit became the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (incidentally Tear Gas did release a couple of albums). Alex’s brother Les had joined Stone the Crows (Featuring the great vocals of Maggie Bell) but unfortunately in May of ’72 he was electrocuted onstage. On the inside Alex never recovered from his brother’s death.
SAHB was a very theatrical band with a great sense of humor in fact there is a couple great live versions of “Framed” out there. Alex usually took on the persona of a leather jacketed hoodlum who breaks through a wall of fake bricks wearing a stocking on his face. He would remove the nylon stocking from his head, ball it up, shove it in his mouth & sing a verse or two mumbling like Marlon Brando from the Godfather. As I said there are a couple of wild versions out there: on the CD ‘British Tour ‘76’ instead of the hoodlum he takes on a hilarious version of Adolf Hitler & on ‘The Gospel According to Alex Harvey’ he becomes Jesus Christ. SAHB’s music was pretty wild as it mixed Hard Rock with old blues, Jazz, rockabilly…you name it!! The band’s first release was titled ‘Framed’ & was released in 1972. The album was a solid hard rock album filled with plenty of gems including the anthem “Midnight Moses” in an influential guitar hero form. The album featured a vaudeville type rocker which is one of my favorite song titles of all-time “There’s No Lights on the Christmas Tree Mother, They’re Burning Big Louie Tonight”. The title track, a cover of “I Just Want to Make Love to You”, & “Buffs Bar Blues” revisit a big soul rhythm & blues review & the closing number is another heavy hard rock tune called “St. Anthony” which has a riff that will kick your ass.
1974 brought SAHB their sophomore release with “Next” which was another solid rock album that featured the sensational “Last of the Teenage Idols”. The title track is a Jaques Brel cover dealing with getting drafted, getting hit on by a ***** lieutenant, catching gonorrhea for the first time, & being willing to cut a limb off to survive. If that song isn’t enough there is also “Gangbang” in which a ****** meets up with no less than 27 guys!
The band was reaching its peak by 1974 with the release of ‘The Impossible Dream” which introduced us to their superhero “Vambo” as they became a touring machine. “Vambo/ The Hot City Symphony/Man in the Jar” is an incredible 14 minute medley that needs to be heard as does “The Tomahawk Kid” but the stand out track for me is Anthem which is a beautiful piece of music. ‘Tomorrow Belongs to Me’ came out in 1975 & featured some great tunes including “Action Strasse”, “Soul in Chains”, & “Snakebite”. Later in 1975 ‘SAHB Live’ was released featuring an electrifying version of “Vambo” & a show stopping 11 minute version of Framed. The opening number “The Faith Healer” is another great track but the highlight of the album is the band’s highest rated single, the Metal/Vaudeville version of the Tom Jones classic “Delilah”. ‘The Penthouse Tapes’ was released in 1976 & was an album of basically covers & B-sides including cool covers of Jethro Tull’s “Love Story”, Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out”, & a rocking version of the Osmonds’ “Crazy Horses”. The album kicks off with “I Want to Have You Back” which sounds like an old AC/DC tune from there ‘High Voltage’ era. My favorite tune is a bit strange but I love it. It’s called “Jungle Jenny” & is about a little girl who gets lost in the jungle & is raised by gorillas. Also in ’76 the band released ‘Stories’ which featured their final hit “Boston Tea Party”. The two other standout tracks were “25 Dollars for a Massage” & a cover of Jerry Reed’s “Amos Moses”.
By this time in time alcoholism was beginning to take its toll on Alex & his liver. If that wasn’t enough a scaffold collapsed on him in Germany & he severely injured his back. Alex took time off & looked into the legend of the Lochness Monster & recorded a spoken album about “Nessie” for K-Tell Records. The band went into the studio & recorded an album without Alex called ‘Fourplay’ which was released in ’77. The back cover featured the band in a soundbooth with Alex Tied up & duct taped on the floor. Alex & Hugh Mckenna got into a bit of a misunderstanding & Hugh was replaced by ex Joe Cocker keyboardist Tommy Eyre. The band released their final album ‘Rock Drill’ in 1978 which wasn’t bad but not as good as the previous albums. “Who Murdered Sex” is probably the best track off the album.
The band decided to end it at this point. Zal Cleminson went on to join Nazareth on ‘No Mean City’ & ‘Malice in Wonderland’ while Ted Mckenna & Chris Glen became members of the Michael Schenker Group. Alex released ‘The Mafia Stole My Guitar’ & ‘Soldier on the Wall’ & had a new band called the Electric Cowboys but after only a few shows Alex passed away from a Heart Attack one day shy of his 47th birthday.
SAHB reunited in 1993, added Steve Dougherty on vocals, & released a CD titled ‘Live in Glasgow 1993’ & they toured around for a while under the name The Party Boys. In 2006 they reunited again with singer Max Maxwell & released ‘Zalvation: Live in the 21st Century’ which was a double live cd with some cool reworkings of classic SAHB.
The band is still together but Zal has left the band
Thanks for all the reviews here, some really good stuff there, I love all the stuff they have done. I recall when I saw them in Scotland at the Wicker Man festival and the lead singer said, " where were you, I was in a queue buying SAAB tickets just like you" and he pointed straight at me. At the time we were stood next to a scottish post man who delivered to Zal's father. They started early and my friend was just taking a bite from a burger when he heard the first bars of " faith healer", the burger never got to his mouth it went straight in the bin. What a classic gig!!!
You've done it again Bucky excellent historical background on Alex Harvey as usual. I saw a couple of his albums a few weeks ago in my travels, I will have to see if they are still available.
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