rtbuck
Senior Member
Alex Harvey
Official Website
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)
The Soldier On The Wall (1982)
Alex Harvey was a showman who lived life to its fullest. From 1957 until his untimely death at age 46 (one day prior to his 47th birthday) Alex entertained fans around the world whether it was with his Big Soul Band in the early 1960’s, his psychedelic phase in which he was in the short lived Giant Moth, his years as a member of the pit band for the musical ‘Hair’, or his Theatrical rock group The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
Alex’s music career began after he won a talent contest in search of Scotland’s answer to Tommy Steele (a very popular singer/songwriter in the UK). From there he formed Alex Harvey’s Big Soul Band (which went through a few name changes prior) where he performed covers of “I Got a Woman” & “What’d I Say”. Even back then Alex had a wild stage presence running through the crowd like Tarzan, picking up a Girl, & carrying her to the stage on his shoulders. As the band’s popularity increased Alex & the band supported & backed artists such as Eddie Cochran & John Lee Hooker. The Soul Band crossed paths at one gig where their support act was an embryonic version of the Beatles called the Silver Beatles. The Big Soul Band may have crossed paths again with the Beatles as they had regular gigs in Hamburg, Germany at the Star Club & the Top 10 Club from 1962 – 1965. The band recorded a live album which was released on Polydor Records in 1964. The album contained a bunch of rock & roll standards including “Reeling & Rocking”, “Let the Good Times Roll”, “I Just Wanna Make Love to You”, & “Framed” (which became an important part of his stage show in the 1970’s). That same year Alex recorded a second album for polydor this time adding his 16 year old brother Les on guitar. Unfortunately neither record did anything on the charts but one of the albums sold 1200 copies in 10 days which was okay (especially for a club band) but Polydor never printed any additional copies (only the first pressing & once they were gone that was it)
The Hamburg scene was beginning to die out & Alex was becoming frustrated with the music business. In 1966 Alex formed a short lived psychedelic band called Giant Moth which never amounted to anything. In 1967 Alex’s wife Trudy was pregnant with their first child & Alex needed work so he sang old standards in restaurants (kind of a lounge singer). A friend told Alex he had to check out this guy named Jimi Hendrix & after witnessing him Alex became rejuvenated. He ended up getting a regular gig for the next four years playing in the pit band for the musical ‘Hair’. During that time he went into the studio with members of the ‘Hair’ band & recorded his first solo album ‘Roman Wall Blues’. The album is a decent album & included songs such as the “Hammer Song” & “Midnight Moses” which later ended up being reworked for the Sensational Alex Harvey Band. The album also included a really cool different sounding version of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”. By 1972 Alex was done with the ‘Hair’ band & was once again in a rut. He formed a trio but before they really got started tragedy struck. Alex’s brother Les was playing guitar in Maggie Bell’s Stone the Crows & was electrocuted onstage & the news devastated Alex who never completely recovered.
Alex’s close friend, promoter Bill Fehilly, had seen star power in Alex if he could only find the right backing band. A friend of Fehilly’s was managing a band called Tear Gas who had great potential but despite having 2 albums which sold well over 5000 copies each the band was struggling financially. Tear Gas had opened for one of Alex’s band at one time & Tear Gas guitarist Zal Clemenson was not impressed with Alex or his guitar playing but was impressed with his charisma onstage. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band was born featuring Alex, guitarist Zal Clemenson, bassist Chris Glen, drummer Ted Mckenna, & Ted’s cousin Hugh Mckenna on keyboards. Tear Gas had a small but loyal following & their fans were not too happy with Alex at first. Alex was 15 years older than the other members & the band that was used to playing in the style of Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin was now also playing blues, jazz, country, cabaret, & old time standards. Alex wanted the band to appeal to teeny boppers & the serious music fan.
Theatrics were to play a big part in S.A.H.B. Alex always wore a black & white striped shirt, Zal wore a green & yellow leotard & mime make-up(looking like a cross between Marcel Marceau & the Joker) & bassist Chris Glen had your typical long hair rock star look. In concert Alex would dress as a private investigator with a hat & grubby raincoat singing under a streetlight. He would also dress a street thug sporting slicked back hair & a leather jacket & he would spray paint on an imitation fake brick wall. During his classic showstopper “Framed” Alex would punch out a hole from behind the wall & crawl through it. He would put a lady’s stocking over his head & even bunch up the stockings, put them in his mouth & sing a verse or two sounding like Marlon Brando from the Godfather. One never knew what to expect from Alice live because on one occasion in Germany Alex performed “Framed” dressed as Hitler & another time while performing the song he dressed as Jesus Christ changing the lyrics to fit the character. He also dressed as a pirate, had scantily clad woman dance Cheek to Cheek with him onstage, & even brought a bagpipers band onstage with him.
S.A.H.B.released their first album ‘Framed’ in 1972. The record was recorded in 6 days & despite the quick recording the album came out great. It features the Heavy sounding “St. Anthony” & “Midnight Moses” (which is my favorite all-time Alex Harvey song). The title track is another great song as is the cool remake of “I Just Wanna Make Love to You” but the wildest song on the album & probably my favorite song title of all-time is the brilliant rag time/cabaret style of “There’s No Lights on the Christmas Tree Mother They’re Burning Big Louie Tonight”. Unfortunately despite successful touring the album sold poor.
1973 brought the band’s next album…”Next” to the record store shelves & this is another solid rocker by the S.A.H.B. featuring the outstanding raunchy “Gangbang”. The title track ended up being another showstopper. “Next” was a tango/cabaret number written by Flemish singer/songwriter Jacques Brel. There is not a bad song on this record. “Faith Healer” became the opening song for their shows & is probably the strongest track on the album. The album rocks through “Swampsnake” & the remake of the 50’s classic “Giddy Up a Ding Dong”. “Vambo Marble Eyed” introduces us to a street punk/superhero named Vambo who became an important character on the next album & the final track on the record “Last of the Teenage Idols” is another incredible piece. Once again the album failed but did become a hit a couple of years later when Alex was at his height in popularity.
...MORE TO COME!!!!
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