Archive Review: Eric Gales’ The Story of My Life (2008)

Not to be confused with acclaimed jazz guitarist Eric Gale, Memphis-born blues-rock phenomenon Eric Gales first picked up the instrument at the young age of four years old. Tutored and encouraged by his older brothers Eugene and Manuel (better known as Little Jimmy King), Gales learned how to play the Fender Stratocaster upside-down and left-handed, as per his brothers’ lead. At age eleven, the youngest Gales was already smoking other players at blues competitions, with his brother Eugene backing him on bass.

Gales earned his first recording contract at age 15, releasing The Eric Gales Band album in 1991, followed by Picture of A Thousand Faces in ‘93. Fueled by Gales’ incendiary fretwork, the albums yielded a pair of rock radio hits and put the young player on the radar as an up-and-coming guitar god. Gales worked with both his brothers for 1996’s Left Hand Brand, and then disappeared for five years until the 2001 release of That’s What I Am on MCA Records. Since then, Gales’ association with Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney has been, perhaps, the most prolific period of his life, resulting in three recordings to date, including Gales’ seventh studio album, The Story of My Life. 

Eric Gales’ The Story of My Life

From the very beginning, The Story of My Life is a roller-coaster ride of bent-strings and machine-gun notes…only the pace of the individual song is in question, as Gales approaches each song with a scatter-gun assault of solo flurries and rhythmic hurricanes. Featuring the guitarist’s trademark blend of traditional blues and soulful, Memphis-flavored, psychedelic-tinged blues-rock, The Story of My Life offers up a wealth of red-hot guitarplay that will singe the ear-hair right off your head. 

“Save Yourself” is a throwback to Gales’ earliest work, a rocker with a heart of gold that channels Hendrix by way of Robin Trower, Gales’ soaring fretwork supported by a blast-furnace rhythm section in bassist Steve Evans and drummer Jeremy Colson. The slow-walking “I Ain’t No Shrink” mixes some Texas-blues stew with a side-dish of Chicago-styled Westside shuffle, while the title track does an admirable job of updating a big-sounding early-1970s stadium rock vibe with an inventive arrangement, vocal harmonies, and time changes.

The Sound of Electric Guitar

Sounding like a 1960s-styled space-rock freak-out, Gales’ amps up the psychedelic tones for the ear-bashing six-string workout “The Sound of Electric Guitar.” Featuring one of Gales’ most inspired performances, the song’s blister-and-peel fretwork is matched, grenade-for-grenade, by Evans and Colson’s diesel rhythms. “Cut and Run” is a romp across the boogie-rock landscape, the band doing its best Foghat impersonation as Gales’ lays down his lightning-quick fretboard runs on top of the song’s choogling framework. 

The squirrely notes that kick off “Borderline Personality” disguise the song’s menacing, chaotic soundtrack, which teeters on the edge of psychosis throughout much of its six-minute run, Gales’ six-string screaming in perverse delight as the band whomps up a bunch of new big-beat ear-crackers. “Bringin’ the Hammer” down is bound to be a live audience fave, with a larger-than-life overall sound and tightwire guitar fills. The bluesy power-ballad “Gypsy” offers up a subdued, truly nuanced guitar performance from Gales, complimented by his serviceable vocals. 

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

You’ll hear a lot that’s familiar on The Story of My Life: scraps of Hendrix, shreds of Stevie Ray, impressions of Robin Trower; dare I say, even a hint of Curtis Mayfield. Gales has too often been criticized as being “derivative” or of “over-playing,” but in reality, the string-shredder is working in a well-trodden, time-tested blues-rock genre where there’s little truly new under the sun. As for Gales’ alleged “over-playing,” that’s a matter of opinion, really…some of us like manic OTT string-bending in a bluesy vein.

Gales’ vocals are soulful in places, raw in others, but he is always trying to transcend his limitations. For Eric Gales, his guitar does most of the talking, and it speaks loudly on The Story of My Life. Lest we forget, Gales is still relatively young by blues standards, and his continued evolution as an artist, a songwriter, and even as a guitarist is impressive to watch. (Blues Bureau International, released 2008)

CD Review: Steppin’ Out: The Roots of Garage Rock 1963-1965 (2026)

When Elektra Records released the Lenny Kaye-curated Nuggets album in 1972, little did they know that they were not only scratching an itch experienced by hundreds of thousands of rock ‘n’ roll fans ill-served by the hard rock and prog of the time, but that they were kick-starting a “garage rock” cottage industry that continues unabated to this day. Aside from the numerous, varied Nuggets-related albums released over the past 50 years, you have a heaping handful of prolific Nuggets-adjacent series like Pebbles, Killed By Death, Back From the Grave and, most recently, Brown Acid that have explored the depths of garage, psych, and proto-metal rock.  

Into the fray jumps Cherry Red Records in the U.K. The archival label has released some mighty fine compilation box sets of late – last year’s Motor City Is Burning offers the most complete overview of Detroit’s rock ‘n’ soul history as you’ll find on three discs while the previous year’s Pushin’ Too Hard: American Garage Punk 1964-1967, as I wrote at the time, “really shines is by presenting and preserving more obscure garage rock nuggets by not only those marquee artists but odds ‘n’ sods ‘n’ true rarities that all but the most rabid collector may not have heard.” Steppin’ Out: The Roots of Garage Rock 1963-1965 is this year’s edition, Cherry Red’s Strawberry Records imprint doing yeoman’s work in compiling another high-quality, 94-track, three-disc box set.

Steppin’ Out: The Roots of Garage Rock 1963-1965

Mitch Ryder

Steppin’ Out isn’t necessarily a “garage rock” compilation but is ostensibly a look back at a lot of the artists and music that inspired the shambolic late ‘60s garage rock revolution. As such, you have a bit of this and a soupçon of that, with early rock ‘n’ roll and radio-friendly pop to psychedelic rock and surf music all represented here. Like any compilation of this sort, there are bands that are readily familiar (The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Mitch Ryder, Paul Revere & the Raiders); bands that are vaguely familiar (Sir Douglas Quintet, the Sonics, the Misunderstood, Link Wray); and those that are largely obscure except to record-hoarding fanatics (Sir Frog & the Toads, Merrell & the Exiles, Ognir & the Nite People).

The most impressive aspect of Steppin’ Out, aside from the collection’s sheer quantity of music, is the nearly-seamless flow of songs and styles that compliment each other. So, you get the Chantells’ classic instrumental “Pipeline” segueing into the Dartells’ soulful dance tune “Hot Pastrami.” Jan & Dean’s teen melodrama “Dead Man’s Curve” rolls right into the rowdy, garage-adjacent party tune “Farmer John” which, itself, is a sort of spiritual cousin of the Kingsmen’s “Louie Louie” (which is included here as well). The Trashmen’s manic classic “Surfin’ Bird” leads into the Astronauts’ esoteric, otherworldly instrumental “Baja,” and so on…

The Puddin’ Heads, The Beefeaters & The Sonics

The Sonics

Rather than bore you, the gentle reader, with the familiar – we all know that the Beach Boys’ “I Get Around,” the Byrds’ “I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better,” the McCoys’ “Hang On Sloopy,” and the Lovin’ Spoonful’s “You Didn’t Have To Be So Nice” are great songs – I’ll instead cover the hidden gems and truly obscure tracks found on Steppin’ Out that make it worth the outlay of cash to buy the set. Disc One, for instance, includes the frenetic, punkish, British-flavored “Now You Say We’re Through” by the Puddin’ Heads, the B-side to the American band’s lone single rattling and shaking like a runaway train. The Beefeaters, as any ‘60s rock fan can tell you, were the pre-Byrds band with Roger McGuinn, David Crosby, and Gene Clark. Their lovely, poppish “Please Let Me Love You” displays some of the same magic their latter band would capture.

The previously-unreleased 1965 track “Get Away From Me” by Philadelphia garage rockers the Angels (not the girl group that released “My Boyfriend’s Back”) features a pair of female vocalists with attitude who clearly aren’t playing around, their fiery vocals complimented by a smooth instrumental groove. The Sonics are cult favorites, not widely known outside of their Pacific Northwest territory, but the influence of tunes like the young, loud, and snotty “The Witch” extended around the globe, the band’s punkish delivery and bludgeoning instrumentation creating an instant rock ‘n’ roll classic. Even more obscure are Merrell & the Exiles, genius bandleader Merrell Fankhauser a fascinating cat that dabbled in all sorts of rock ‘n’ roll styles under a number of band names. “Let Me Go” is a lo-fi rave up from 1964 or ’65, with jangly guitar and clamorous backing instrumentation adding to the excited performance.

Sir Douglas Quintet, The Wailers & Sir Frog

Sir Douglas Quintet

Second disc openers the Sir Douglas Quintet don’t get nearly enough acclaim for their groundbreaking Tex-Mex sound; the band’s “She’s About A Mover” masterfully blends British Invasion rock with Doug Sahm’s Texas roots to create a mesmerizing slab o’ proto-garage rock circa 1965. The Avengers (not the San Fran punks but rather SoCal high school kids) strike a Beatle-esque pose with their 1965 single “When It’s Over,” which is raw, primal, and gutsy while still retaining a monster sense of melody. The Surfaris – best known for their classic instrumental romp “Wipe Out” – were twangmasters of the highest order, the previously-unreleased “Storm Surf” slapping some high-energy Link Wray licks onto a trembling rocker. Hailing from Detroit, the Human Beings’ 1965 single “Ain’t That Lovin’ You Baby” presages the high-octane Motor City scene of a few years hence, the song’s bluesy sound and shards of livewire guitar punctuating a tale of unrequited love.

Like the Sonics, the Wailers were Sasquatch-weaned wildmen from the Pacific Northwest, and their 1965 tune “Hang Up” is grungy, loud, and recklessly rocking, threatening to blow out your speakers with every note. The Gentry’s “Keep On Dancing” appears on every compilation of this sort and should need no introduction, but the Memphis band’s foot-shuffling keyboards ‘n’ drums dancefloor rhythms are always worth revisiting. The Bobby Fuller Four are forever remembered for “I Fought the Law,” but this 1965 single, “Never To Be Forgotten,” is an equally-infectious slice of Buddy Holly-styled pop while Sir Frog & the Toads (so named by their label owner for whatever reason) attempted to kick-start a dance craze with the R&B infused “The Frog.” The fact that we’ve never heard of them since is no reason not to enjoy the song’s wiry guitarplay and liver-quivering rhythms. 

Johnny Winter, Ognir & the Nite People, The Spades & The Groupies

Johnny Winter

Texas bluesman Johnny Winter pioneered a rootsy blues-rock sound in the ‘70s, but this unreleased 1965 recording showcases the guitar wizard as a blues-eyed soulster with an emotionally-impactful heartbreak tune. Disc three opens with the psych-tinged, British Invasion-styled Brogues and their frenetic “Don’t Shoot Me Down,” which manages to hit all the right spots with raging guitars and keyboards. The Rationals, from Detroit, are one of my Motor City faves and their “Look What You’re Doin’ (To Me Baby)” showcases frontman Scott Morgan’s soulful vocals and the band’s rowdy, guitar-driven R&B sound. The oddly-named Pennsylvania quintet Ognir & the Nite People (‘Ognir’ being ‘Ringo,’ as in ‘Starr,’ spelled backwards). The band’s young, loud, and snotty take on the Stones resulted in the pulse-pounding “I Found A New Love” while the Sonics reappear with the rattletrap rave-up “Cinderella,” a 1965 single that will shake the furniture at the right volume.

The all-sisters band the Girls deliver an engaging 7-incher with the moody “My Love” while Roky Erickson’s pre-Elevators band the Spades and their 1965 single “We Sell Soul” offer a curious glimpse of pre-LSD era Roky and his underrated vocal and songwriting skills. The Misunderstood have a cult following that continues to grow to this day, and for good reason. The unreleased (at the time) song “Bury My Body” showcases a band taking their British Invasion influences to the gym and pumping iron until they became something entirely fresh and exciting. Indiana band the Jokers only made one single, “What’cha Gonna Do,” but it’s a winner, a bluesy garage-romp with soaring vocals and harmonica play that veers across Dylan’s turf. NYC rockers the Groupies mustered up this lone single, “Primitive” a bluesy gutbucket caveman stomp that was later be covered by the Cramps, thus provided a cherished place in the punk-blues canon.       
      

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

    
Too much of the third CD of Steppin’ Out is comprised of well-worn songs by Nuggets-certified bands like the Standells (“Dirty Water”), the Leaves (“Hey Joe,” 1965 version), the Knickerbockers (“Lies”), the Strangeloves (“Night Time”), and the Thirteenth Floor Elevators (“You’re Gonna Miss Me”), which seems like a bit of a gyp. As great as all these songs may be, they’ve been anthologized to death on previous compilations and their inclusion here seems like lazy curation. 

You could easily cut a dozen of these songs from Steppin’ Out and still have a three-disc, 80-song too-cool-for-school compilation that would kick plenty of ass. Still, this is a minor cavil, at best, and Steppin’ Out delivers plenty o’ bang for your bucks, the box – along with Cherry Red’s Pushin’ Too Hard – providing perfect bookends to the original Nuggets album, song overlap be damned. After all, you can’t have too much garage rock in your collection! (Strawberry Records/Cherry Red, released January 23rd, 2026)  

Buy the CD box from Amazon: Steppin’ Out: The Roots of Garage Rock 1963-1965

Archive Review: Corey Harris's Fulton Blues (2013)

The wonderful thing about acoustic bluesman Corey Harris is that you never really know where he’s going, musically, from album to album – you just know that it’s going to incorporate some fine Delta-inspired blues in amidst the other musical influences. For many fans, the last time we heard from Harris was with 2009’s critically-acclaimed blu.black album for Telarc. What many don’t know is that the artist released an album titled Father Son, Mother Earth back in 2011with the Rasta Blues Experience on his own independent Njumba label. While information on that release is sparse, at best (I haven’t heard the album, so I can’t comment on it), fans should know that Harris released the excellent Fulton Blues album earlier this year, and if you don’t have it, you should track it down via Amazon.com or CD Baby ‘cause this one’s a keeper!

Fulton Blues starts out with the throwback romp “Crying Blues,” which kind of mixes a Chicago blues vibe with an R&B big band sound to great effect, Harris drawling out the vocals like a modern-day Cab Calloway as the horns swing buoyantly behind him. As proof of my opening statement, Harris switches gears so fast as to derail the train, the Delta-tinged “Underground” featuring Harris’ mournful vocals and eerie acoustic fretwork, the two meshed perfectly with his haunting lyrics to create a smothering, malevolent ambiance. The song’s socio-economic commentary is cleverly hidden between the lines, which isn’t the case with the brash title track, which pairs a Piedmont blues soundtrack akin to Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee with modern lyrical concerns, Harris’ vocals and fine git pickin’ assisted by Hook Herrera’s blustery harp play. 

While most of the songs on Fulton Blues flow brilliantly from Harris’s pen, he does add a couple of perfectly-chosen covers in Skip James’ “Devil Got My Woman” and Robert Petway’s “Catfish Blues.” The former is delivered with a languid pace, sprawling harp and guitar, and Harris’ best Mississippi drawl while the latter is provided a bigger band accompaniment with Harris picking up a Gibson ES-165 electric to show that he knows how to lay down a groove with the best of them while Chris “Peanut” Whitley’s chiming keyboards create a dissonant space for Gordon Jones’ bigger-than-life, jarring blasts of sax. It’s the bluesiest take I’ve heard on the song yet, and further proof that while you never know what you’re going to get from a Corey Harris album, you know it’s going to be good! Grade: A- (Njumba Records, released January 31st, 2013) 

Archive Review: Lightnin Malcolm's Rough Out There (2013)

Steve “Lightnin” Malcolm was schooled in the blues by none other than the notoriously cranky T-Model Ford, the guitarist later receiving an advanced degree by hanging around and playing with various members of the Burnside and Kimbrough families in Northern Mississippi. Malcolm was one-half of the Two Man Wrecking Crew with drummer Cedric Burnside, the duo releasing a pair of well-received albums before Malcolm stepped out to record his acclaimed 2011 solo debut Renegade. A couple years later, Malcolm is paying the bills by touring with his buddies in the North Mississippi Allstars, releasing a sophomore album on his own indie label. Rough Out There pretty much picks where Renegade left off, the new album showcasing a similar mix of ramshackle No. MS blues styles and juke-joint rhythms driven by Malcolm's fiery, over-clocked fretwork. 

As engaging as Malcolm can often be, some of this stuff borders on the embarrassing. The title track, for example, offers a mix of old-school psychedelic soul and modern hip-hop aspirations that might play in nearby Memphis, but crashes and burns in light of the sophistication of today's bluesmen-and-women. Much better are Malcolm's more heartfelt moments, like the enchanting “Dellareesa,” with its island lilt, the song's frothy pop construct matching 1970s-era soul with a contagious melody and swaying rhythms. The haunting “Mama” reminds of Shuggie Otis, with wistful vocals and swirling, innovative guitarplay while “Reality Check” blends Bob Marley with British blues-rock in an interesting and entertaining musical experiment. 

A man out of time with contemporary blues currents, Malcolm is at his best when shooting straight from the hip, and while the production on Rough Out There is steady in spite of what was surely a low budget, the guitarist would benefit from a guiding hand in the studio to help shape his lofty (and often inspired) artistic vision and highlight his obvious talents. Grade: B- (ShakeDown Records, released Septmber 10th, 2013)

Archive Review: Cyril Neville's Magic Honey (2013)

New Orleans music legend Cyril Neville (he of the Meters and the amazing Neville Brothers) has been touring the world as of late as part of the Royal Southern Brotherhood with Devon Allman and Mike Zito. That band's Louisiana hot sauce-laced musical gumbo surely struck a chord with blues fans almost everywhere, perhaps delaying Neville's return to what has been an acclaimed and moderately successful solo career. Following his RSB bandmates over to the esteemed Ruf Records label, Neville recorded Magic Honey, his first solo effort since 2009's critically-lauded Brand New Blues album. One thing that's apparent from the first note of the album-opening title track is that Neville hasn't lost a step in these ensuing years, but rather sounds positively inspired after his stint playing with talented younger artists like Allman and Zito.

Magic Honey follows a musical blueprint familiar to any Cyril Neville fan, or to Royal Southern Brotherhood fans for that matter, the album providing a satisfying blend of New Orleans funk, old-school soul, Delta blues, and Southern rock styles that go together like Boudin sausage and crawfish Etouffee. Neville's take on "Something's Got A Hold On Me" is downright back alley scary, the song's swamp-blues vibe assisted by producer David Z's stinging fretwork, while the Walter Trout co-write "Running Water" benefits from the big man's scorched-earth guest-star guitar, which manages to rock the studio to the rafters even while it achieves an undeniably funky groove. 

A cover of Michael Bloomfield's "Working Man" is pumped up on steroids by Zito's six-string switchblade, a hard rocking soundtrack, and Neville's powerful vocals, the song neatly bookended by a blustery version of Paul Butterfield's "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" that features some nice razor-blade guitar. Neville's original "Blues Is the Truth" is the pitch-perfect heartbeat of the album, a "ready for primetime" romp where studio ace Cranston Clements' stellar guitarplay really has a chance to shine and Neville's expressive vocals speak multitudes between the lines. Overall, Magic Honey is a transcendent collection by a wily, multi-talented veteran still capable of pulling a few new tricks out of his bag. Grade: A (Ruf Records, released September 10th, 2013)

CD Review: The Damned’s Not Like Everybody Else (2026)

Almost 55 years of listening to, collecting, and writing about music have taught me to be suspect of “cover songs.” Far too often, the song being covered is less an homage to the original artist – ostensibly beloved by the person doing the ‘covering’ – than a coldly-calculated, computer-generated, demographic-tested and corporate-approved ploy for airplay and sales by tying a sinking band or solo artist to a former chart favorite in a desperate attempt at relevance. 

On the other hand, I usually dig entire albums of cover songs like David Bowie’s Pin Ups, Metallica’s Garage Days Revisited, Willie Nelson’s Stardust, or the Ramones’ Acid Eaters. If an artist takes enough time to arrange and record enough songs of material they truly love to fill out an entire album, there’s usually a good bit more passion behind the project than just a ‘Hail Mary’ at scoring a hit single. Featuring ten red-hot and ready to roll covers of classic rock songs by folks like the Yardbirds and the Stones, the Damned’s recently-released Not Like Everybody Else is a covers album unlike anybody else’s.

The Damned’s Not Like Everybody Else

British rockers the Damned have spent nearly five decades defying everybody’s expectations. With better than a dozen albums to their credit ranging from pioneering punk (Damned Damned Damned, Machine Gun Etiquette) and trailblazing Goth (Phantasmagoria) to new wave (The Black Album) and good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll (Strawberries), the band has dabbled in garage-rock, British pop, psychedelia, and other forms of musical expression. Not Like Everybody Else is more than merely a ‘covers’ album, however, but rather a tribute to their fallen comrade and band co-founder Brian James (dead at age 70, March 2025). The album is a heartfelt collection of some of James’ favorite songs, from the artists that influenced and helped shape his chainsaw guitar style.

As such, Not Like Everybody Else is a stroll backwards in time to relive the glorious ‘60s through the decade’s groundbreaking music. Some of the covers here are easily recognizable to even the most casual rock fan while others – like the album-opening R. Dean Taylor track “There’s A Ghost In My House,” co-written by Taylor with the legendary Holland/Dozier/Holland team at Motown – are obscure even by the Reverend’s lofty standards (tho’ it was a big U.K. hit in 1974!). Damned vocalist Dave Vanian’s sonorous baritone wraps around the words like a moth-eaten blanket while the instrumental clamor behind him bangs and crashes like a car crash even while keeping the melody intact.

Summer In The City

The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer In the City” (a chart-topping hit in 1966) plays it fairly straight, although Vanian’s vox will never be mistaken for Spoonful frontman John Sebastian. The band revs up the arrangement, so the song rolls by at a comfortable 90mph, with a few urban street noises thrown into the mix for authenticity. Although reasonably obscure stateside, the Creation was an extremely influential band in the U.K. Their “Making Time” is a cult favorite, if only for the impactful opening riff, and it’s since been covered by folks like Das Damen, Television Personalities, and the Circle Jerks. The Damned rock out like it’s still ’66, with Captain Sensible providing some hot git licks and good ol’ Rat Scabies banging the cans with reckless abandon, delivering a pulse-pounding performance.

The Stooges had an outsized impact on bands that followed in their wake, and the Damned are no different. “Gimme Danger,” from the Stooges’ 1973 Raw Power album, is tailor-made for the Damned, Vanian’s low register vocals reminiscent of Iggy’s while keyboardist Monty Oxymoron adds some spooky keyboards to what is an unbridled (and possible unholy) marriage of gonzo Motor City rock and British Goth. Sensible’s low-slung guitar solo is mid-way in the mix, but leaps out of your speakers like a pirate with a knife in his teeth nevertheless. 

Damned guitarist Brian James

Heart Full of Soul

Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play” is a great song, and the band provides their version with plenty of psychedelic instrumentation and swirling notes. Sensible’s vocals are a bit wan but are just good enough to stand out against the busy musical backdrop. The Kinks’ “I’m Not Like Everybody Else,” from which the album takes its name, was the B-side of the chart-topping 1966 single “Sunday Afternoon” (later included on the Face To Face album), but soon took on a life of its own to become an enduring Kinks fan favorite. 

Written and sung by Dave Davies, the song’s defiant lyrics and musical stance make it an influential punk touchstone, so it’s no wonder that the Damned cover the song with cacophonic aplomb. Vanian’s vocals here are the best on the album, while the vocal harmonies, eerie keyboard hum, subtle but biting fretwork, and booming drumbeats make a powerful statement. The band’s cover of the Yardbirds’ 1965 hit “Heart Full of Soul” (Top 10 in both the U.S. and the U.K.) is delivered with a similar fervor, the Captain building on Jeff Beck’s intricate raga-spiced guitar lines to take the song into another universe. 

The Last Time

Representing the core of Not Like Everybody Else, these two songs deliver on every promise the Damned have ever made. You’d think that following up these two stunning performances would be difficult, but then the band offers a truly obscure cover with a delightful performance of Fred Cole’s “You Must Be A Witch,” recorded in 1968 by the Lollipop Shoppe. The Damned’s version does the song’s garage-bred psychedelia proud with scorched earth guitars, thunderclap drumbeats, and a spirited vocal performance. 

One would think that a cover of the Animals’ 1966 single “When I Was Young” is a bit too on the nose, but the song only achieved modest success in the U.K. (Top 20 in the U.S. though…). The cover version is somewhat perfunctory, with Vanian’s vocals sounding a little too much like Eric Burdon’s, although the instrumental textures behind him are pretty groovy. The album-closing cover of the Rolling Stones’ 1965 chart-topper “The Last Time” is an inspired choice, and features Brian James’ razor-sharp guitarwork from a previous live recording. It’s a banger, to be sure, with lively vocals, Scabie’s trainwreck drumming, and a heavy bottom end that all spirals into chaos at the end.

 

British punk pioneers The Damned

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

  
Not Like Anybody Else features The Black Album (1980) band line-up of vocalist Dave Vanian, guitarist Captain Sensible, bassist Paul Gray, and drummer Rat Scabies, the same guys that recorded the pop-psych classic Strawberries LP two years later. Keyboardist Monty Oxmoron (a/k/a Laurence Burrow) hooked up with the Damned for 2001’s Grave Disorder and has been with them ever since, providing a bit of gravitas and classical influence to the band’s Goth-punk ‘Sturm und Drang’. With Not Like Anybody Else, the Damned have provided a raucous, rockin’ tribute not only to Brother Brian but also to those artists whose influence helped make the Damned one of the most enduring bands in rock ‘n’ roll history. (E.A.R. Music, released 2026) 

Buy the CD on Amazon: The Damned’s Not Like Everybody Else

Fossils, Classic Rock Relics, Volume 3: More 1970s & '80s

Once upon a time, rock ‘n’ roll fanatics had to learn about new album releases through label advertising in rags like Creem, Trouser Press, Rolling Stone, Zoo World, Phonograph Record, Bomp! and other music zines of the 1970s and afterwards. There was no internet and no social media to hype new tunes from your favorite artists. These ads could be inane, they could be insulting, and they could be inept but when they were good, they featured a level of artistry on par with an album's carefully-crafted cover art.

With this third volume of Fossils, award-winning rock critic and music historian Rev. Keith A. Gordon peers through the looking glass into the past and these “classic rock relics,” reconsidering vintage album ads from the 1970s and ‘80s. Offering insightful and informative commentary on 76 more ads along with images of each, the “Reverend of Rock ‘n’ Roll” explores this often overlooked creative aspect of the classic rock era and makes the case for album advertising as art with its own merits and history.

Rev. Keith A. Gordon has been writing about rock and blues music for over 50 years for over 100 print publications and websites worldwide, including Creem magazine, Rock ‘n’ Roll Globe, High Times, Blurt magazine, Book & Film Globe, the East Village Eye, Perfect Sound Forever, Blues Music magazine, and The Blues (U.K.).

Fossils v3 is a 164pp 5.5” x 8.5” paperback with B&W photos and is only available in paperback at $16.95 with shipping (no eBook version of this one, kids!). Get your copy through the handy Amazon.com link below or buy an autographed copy direct from Excitable Press:

Fossils, Relics of the Classic Rock Era, Volume Three

Buy an autographed copy direct from Excitable Press (PayPal):

CD Review: Very 'eavy, Very 'umble...Humble Pie Live! (2026)

Humble Pie, in my…ahem…‘humble’ opinion, are one of the great lost bands of the 1970s. To my knowledge, they’ve never even been considered for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (for what that’s worth), much less ‘snubbed’ even if Pie frontman Steve Marriott was honored as part of an oddly unsatisfying dual induction for the Small Faces and the Faces. Although Humble Pie’s oversized influence on later outfits like the Black Crowes, the Georgia Satellites, and Badlands, to name but a few, is out of proportion to the band’s modest commercial returns, there’s no denying frontman Marriott’s impact on generations of artists to follow in his wake.

Although Marriott tragically died in a house fire in Essex, England in April 1991, his work lives on through regular reissues of Humble Pie’s ten studio albums circa 1969 and 1981, as well as the band’s stellar live release, 1971’s Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore (no, I don’t count 2002’s Back On Track…). Marriott’s Small Faces albums remain more-or-less eternally in print and are an essential addition to any British rock fan’s collection, while various solo projects like 1976’s solo Marriott album or The Legendary Majik Mijits (recorded in 1981 with Small Faces bandmate Ronnie Lane and finally released in 2001) showcase different facets of Marriott’s talents.

Humble Pie’s Sunset Blvd 1969

Jerry Shirley, the band’s original drummer, Humble Pie archivist, and “keeper of the flame” for his former mates has ensured that the band’s legacy carries on through a series of unreleased live albums, some of which should have definitely remained in the can collecting dust and cobwebs. For better than a decade, a number of these semi-bootleg albums have been released by Cleopatra Records (or their Deadline Records subsidiary). There’s a lot of chaff to sort through among these 21st century archival releases, but Cleo has found a real winner in the recently-released Sunset Blvd 1969 album.

As you may have glommed from my comments above, Humble Pie was formed when singer, songwriter, and guitarist Steve Marriott left his popular 1960s-era teen-beat outfit the Small Faces to hook up with fellow teen idol Peter Frampton (from The Herd), a fine guitarist in his own right, bassist Greg Ridley (from Spooky Tooth), and drummer Shirley (ex-Apostolic Intervention, which enjoyed a 1967 hit single in the U.K.). Signing with former Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate Records imprint, Humble Pie released a pair of exquisite records – As Safe As Yesterday Is and Town and Country – both in 1969.

Sunset Blvd 1969 features a dynamic performance by the original band line-up at the legendary Whisky A Go Go club in Los Angeles in December 1969, during Humble Pie’s first U.S. tour. Although the album’s scant five songs may seem to short-change the diehard Pie fanatic, they nevertheless stretch across fifty minutes of playtime. The party starts with a brilliant cover of the 1965 Yardbirds hit “For Your Love,” with Shirley’s tribal drum patterns setting the stage for Frampton’s graceful, almost jazzy guitar lines to introduce Marriott’s soulful vocals. Although bluesier, of sorts, than the Yardbirds’ version (which featured Eric Clapton on guitar), Marriott and Frampton and the gang take the song through unexpected sonic detours, fleshing out the single from its original 2:38 length to a staggering nine-minute-plus, dancing across esoteric soundscapes in the creation of a mesmerizing listening experience.

A cover of Johnny Kidd’s classic “Shakin’ All Over” – a 1960 U.K. hit for Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, and later covered by the Who on Live At Leeds – is provided plenty of room to breathe, a bluesy hippie jam with every flavor of guitar, bass, and drums available in a busy, albeit fascinating performance that clocks in at an impressive 12 minutes but could have seemingly played on forever, given the band’s energy level. A pair of songs that would later grace Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore are included here: a swinging reading of Ray Charles’ “Hallelujah, I Love Her So,” which captures the magic of the song’s R&B roots while Dr. John’s “I Walk On Gilded Splinters” is provided an airy instrumental romp gradually extending to over 20 minutes of stunning and soaring instrumentation. Marriott’s “The Sad Bag of Shaky Jake,” off Town and Country, growls like a hungry wolf, raw-boned and semi-metallic with wiry guitar solos and an overall menacing blues-metal vibe that would later spawn bands like Badlands.

Humble Pie’s Live In Cincinnati 1983

There were a lot of highs and lows for Humble Pie between 1969 and 1983, including fleeting stardom and subsequent obscurity. The band’s self-titled 1970 A&M Records debut and the following year’s Rock On pushed Humble Pie onto the lower rung of rock ‘n’ roll success stateside, and Performance sealed the deal, solidifying the band’s status as mid-card festival performers and occasional headliners. Frampton bolted after the release of Performance to pursue a solo career that would strike gold a half-decade later. Adding second guitarist Clem Clempson (ex- Colosseum), the band hit its stride with 1972’s Smokin’ (peaking at #6 stateside and selling at Gold™ Record levels) and 1973’s Top 20-charting Eat It.

Subsequent releases like Thunderbox (1974) and Street Rats (1975) – a Pie album in name only, really, given Marriott’s lack of involvement – saw diminishing returns on investment and the band broke up. Marriott resurfaced years later with a brand new Humble Pie featuring drummer Shirley, former Jeff Beck Group guitarist Bobby Tench, and American bassist Anthony “Sooty” Jones, the line-up recording two albums, On To Victory (1980), and Go For the Throat (1981), neither of which barely grazed the Billboard album chart. Marriott relocated from the U.K. to Atlanta, Georgia in the early ‘80s and put together yet another version of the Pie featuring Tennessee guitarist Tommy Johnson, Atlanta bassist Keith Christopher (The Brains, The Georgia Satellites), and drummer Fallon Williams III. Johnson was later replaced by Phil Dix, and this is the roster that performed in Cincinnati in December 1983. Touring as “Humble Pie” out of necessity rather than desire – Marriott was trying to launch a new band rather than rest on the laurels of his former outfit as he struggled to find a record deal – this Cincinnati performance is nevertheless a real banger. 

Live In Cincinnati 1983 features a set list mixing Small Faces and Humble Pie songs with favored covers and a splinter of new material. The diminutive frontman with the larger-than-life voice sounds great here, the band well-practiced and ready to rock. The Small Faces’ “Whatcha Gonna Do About It” opens, sounding little like those British pop-rock stalwarts as Marriott and his freshly-baked Pie deliver a scorching take on the song that features Marriott’s powerful vocals, band harmonies, and a grinding instrumental soundtrack. Marriott resurrects “Fool For A Pretty Face” from On To Victory, the medium-strength former FM-radio hit pumped up on ‘roids and rolled out with a rollicking performance that mimics “I Don’t Need No Doctor” later in the set.

The Pie fan favorite “30 Days In the Hole” is raucous recreation of the hit single with introductory drumbeats leading into Marriott’s leather-lunged vox and lusty guitar riff. For those of us who love the song, it’s a welcome reminder of how electrifying Marriott could be on stage, even at this late date. Ditto for “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” an Ashford and Simpson-penned R&B gem that Pie pumped-up and pumped-out into the world on Performance, an edited version of that nine-minute jam achieving mid-level chart success when released as a single back in the day. This 1983 version doesn’t lack in enthusiasm or energy, Marriot belting out his vocals like it was his first day on the job. Marriott’s “Big Train Stops At Memphis” appropriately bleeds into a cover of Rufus Thomas’s Southern soul classic “Walkin’ the Dog,” both songs delivered by the band with reckless abandon, shimmering guitars and wailing vocals matched by a deep instrumental groove that infects both songs with joy.   

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Before embarking on what would be the last Humble Pie tour (disillusioned by the record business, and with his marriage on the rocks, Marriott returned to England at the end of 1983 and played with various short-lived and mostly unremarkable bands until his death), the singer/songwriter had taken his 1982 version of Humble Pie into Pyramid Eye Studios in Chattanooga, Tennessee (where the Allman Brothers Band recorded Reach For the Sky), to record three demo tracks after a deal with the beleaguered Capricorn Records label fell through. Two of those (previously-unreleased?) studio tracks are tacked onto the end of Live In Cincinnati 1983, proving that the battle-scarred rock ‘n’ roll veteran was still firing on all cylinders. “Trouble You Can’t Fool Me” is a smoldering, mid-tempo R&B tinged number with a funky groove and blazing horns while “Lonely No More” is a gorgeous ballad with a rockin’ undercurrent, Marriott’s emotional vocals, band harmonies, and a subtle, soulful backing soundtrack.      
   
The quality and brilliance of these studio tracks – both Marriott originals – present the eternal question of “what if?” the band could have gotten a record deal and further explored Marriott’s new musical fascinations. Of the two live releases, Sunset Blvd 1969 offers the better sound quality, remarkably so for a recording of its vintage, while Live In Cincinnati 1983 is noisier, muddier, and closer to a soundboard bootleg (but still quite listenable…turn it up!). Both albums offer high-octane performances from different versions of the band, and the Cincinnati set includes lengthy, insightful liner notes from music historian Dave Thompson (a former editor of mine). Both albums will thrill Humble Pie fans, a legion that continues to grow 40+ years after the band’s unfortunate demise. (Cleopatra Records, released November 2025 & March 2026)

Buy the CDs from Amazon:
Humble Pie’s Sunset Blvd 1969
Humble Pie’s Live In Cincinnati 1983

Also on That Devil Music: Humble Pie’s On To Victory/Go For the Throat CD reviews 

Andy Anderson's Help! There's A Fire - Reflections On Nashville's '80s New Music Scene

Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, Nashville was known as the “home” of country music. Although several significant rock ‘n’ roll albums were recorded in the ‘Music City’ by artists like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and others, the growing metropolis had little or no rock music scene until the early 1980s when bands like David Olney & the X-Rays, Cloverbottom, The Smashers, the White Animals, and Jason & the Nashville Scorchers took the first steps at establishing a foothold for rock music in the Music City.

This fledgling music scene was nurtured, aided, and abetted by the Nashville Intelligence Report. Over the course of a little more than three years from 1982 to 1985, Nashville Intelligence Report zine publisher/editor Andy Anderson and his dedicated crew of rock ‘n’ roll fanatics published 28 issues of the city's first rock music-oriented publication. 

The zine’s intrepid reporters were quite clever in worming their way backstage and grabbing interviews with superstars-in-waiting like R.E.M., the Police, the English Beat, Katrina & the Waves, and the Bangles, talking with many of them early in their careers. They also spoke with established artists like Johnny Ramone, Iggy Pop, and Joe Strummer along with lesser-known, but no-less-influential bands like Black Flag, the Meat Puppets, Violent Femmes, and Minor Threat.

Help! There’s A Fire offers a selection of  some of the best writing from the Nashville Intelligence Report as curated by Anderson and N.I.R. contributer Rev. Keith A. Gordon. The profusely-illustrated book includes a number of previously-unpublished vintage photos of bands like R.E.M., U2, The B-52's, and Pylon from the collections of photographers Tony Frost and Terry Allen and the writing is representative of the quality and diversity of content published by N.I.R. during its tenure, capturing the magic of the music being made at the dawn of the Nashville rock scene.

"The Nashville Intelligence Report always will hold a special place in my heart. The influence of the NIR on the nascent Nashville rock scene of the early 1980s cannot be overestimated. The NIR gave coverage to a wide array of bands that no one else was even aware of. Andy Anderson had his hand on the pulse of the exploding Southeastern music scene, and helped it along immeasurably. It gave us crazy left field rockers some self validation when we needed it most. On top of all that, the writing was excellent. Indeed it was world class, all done on a shoestring budget. I read it cover to cover every time it came out." – Jason Ringenberg, Jason & the Nashville Scorchers

Help! There's A Fire is a 224pp 7.5” x 9.25” paperback with B&W photos and is available in paperback at $16.99 with shipping. An eBook is available for $3.99 from Amazon [eBook link].

Get your copy through the Amazon.com link below or buy copies direct from Excitable Press:

Help! There's A Fire (Reflections on Nashville’s ‘80s New Music Scene...) [Amazon link]

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