From My Collection #68: Foghat – Live

Welcome to another edition of From My Collection. No matter how you slice it, the 70s was the decade of the live album. Every act worth their salt released at least one live album, although many released two or more (i.e. KISS, Grand Funk Railroad, UFO, etc.) Decades down the line, we’d learn that many of these “live” albums weren’t truly live in the first place, but that’s another discussion for another day. Today, we tackle one of the heaviest, rowdiest, and all-out electric live albums that virtually nobody seems to talk about these days, Foghat’s Live. If you’re among those reading this and thinking, “That 2 hit wonder band my dad likes?”, prepare to have your mind blown with a boogie metal history lesson for the books. Buckle up for a “Sloooowwwww riiiiidddeee”!

Before their unlikely rise to platinum certified arena sellout superstardom, Foghat formed as a humble spinoff of British blues rock veterans Savoy Brown. The year was 1971 and Savoy Brown was riding high on the success of psych blues masterpieces like Raw Sienna (1970) and Looking In (1970). Sure, they weren’t a household name, but those in the know owned these albums and respected them. So you could only imagine the shock of founder Kim Simmonds when his entire band decided to up and quit to form a new band. That’s right. Singer/rhythm guitarist “Lonesome” Dave Peverett, drummer Roger Earl, and bassist Tony Stevens walked away from Savoy Brown to form their own outfit, Foghat.

It was no easy ride for these boogie rockin’ Brits. While they immediately scored a deal with the American label Bearsville, their first few albums did little to nothing in the way of commercial success. Granted, most of these albums would eventually sell upwards of 500k copies in America alone, and their cover of the blues standard “I Just Want to Make Love to You” would become an FM radio standard. However, this wouldn’t occur until 1975, when Foghat achieved unlikely superstar status with their fifth studio album, Fool for the City.

In hindsight, 1975 was an interesting year in rock history. Disco was roughly a year or two away from breaking big, and collective taste was shifting less from the post-psychedelic, trippy haze of the decade’s first half to more streamlined, no frills, meat and potatoes rockers. Taking this into consideration, it’s no surprise ’75 was the year both KISS and Aerosmith exploded onto the scene with mega selling albums, as did Foghat. Whatever leanings of their Savoy Brown heyday heard on earlier outings were now traded in for in your face arena rock anthems, and it shows. “Fool for the City”, “Slow Ride”, “Drive Me Home”: These songs were tailormade for legions of drunken, ‘luded out teens to headbang, air guitar, and rowdily sing along to.

The runaway success of Fool for the City gave way to Night Shift (1976), which while not as successful, still went gold and spawned a rock radio hit in “Drivin’ Wheel”. With 2 stone cold blockbusters under their belt, fans rediscovering their earlier work, and their newfound arena headliner status, it was time for the next inevitable step in their rock n’ roll journey: the live album. Simply titled Live, this 1977 collection of hard and heavy rockers scratched the itch of every burnout who hadn’t seen Foghat live, or had seen Foghat live and couldn’t wait for them to lay waste to their local sports arena next year.

As we drop the needle on side A, we’re greeted by the title track to their 1975 album, “Fool for the City”. While the studio version is a punch to the face, this live version is a kick to the nuts and establishes the overall mood of this release. If there was any drastic studio trickery done on this album, it’s rather hard to detect. The guitars are pummeling, roaring through your stereo speakers with the ferocity of an old movie monster, while the rest of the band is equally as unrelentingly loud. The energy of both the band and the audience show throughout this entire album, making it truly one of the finest examples of its era.

Following “Fool” is “Home in My Hand”. Off of their 1974 album, Energized, this too is an example of a live rendition being significantly heavier than the studio version. While the original is a force to be reckoned with in its own right, a meaty, knuckle dragging boogie rock singalong, the live rendition ups the heaviness tenfold, and is even slightly more uptempo in an anthemic fashion. It’s far from the point of being a proto-thrasher, although we’ll get to that later.

Closing out side A is a lengthy rendition of “I Just Want to Make Love to You”. Now recognized by fans as a bonafide hit, this live version is the whole 9 yards and then some. Before shifting into full throttle, “Lonesome” Dave sings the first verse in between bursts of guitar, frantically repeating the line, “I don’t need your money!”, while the crowd hollers their heads off. The band then kicks off an extended, jam-laden version of this classic. Lead guitarist Rod Price gets to show off his soloing chops and the crowd joins as an unofficial 5th member of the band, singing along to the chorus.

As we flip over to side B, “Road Fever” kicks off the second half of this outing strong. Similar to “Home in My Hand”, “Road Fever” is another song that could otherwise have been relegated to deep track status if not for its inclusion on this album. Yes, the original smokes, but this live version obliterates the live version. It’s the perfect amalgamation of blues n’ boogie that Foghat set out to play from the beginning, with no shortage of heavy handed riffing and tasty slide soloing scattered about. With the latter channeling America’s favorite power trio ZZ Top, it’s hard to believe Foghat was a band of redcoats!

We then make our way to the most metallic cut on this album, “Honey Hush”. Originally an old blues song by Big Joe Turner, Foghat rev up their engines and go into full blown proto-thrash mode. If you don’t believe the members of Metallica and Slayer weren’t cranking this as teenagers in the late 70s, you’re simply in denial. The riffs are as breakneck as one can get for 70s standards, “Lonesome” Dave spits old time rock n’ roll with venom, and drummer Roger Earl lays down double bass drumming that’s closer to “Philthy Animal” Taylor and Les Binks than Ian Paice and Carmine Appice. His name must be mentioned in the discussion of influential metal drummers, if only for this song alone.

Closing it all out is a hopped up rendition of the song which put Foghat on the map, “Slow Ride”. Granted, while the radio version was severely edited (Good luck playing an 8 minute boogie metal jam on Casey Kasem!), this live rendition duplicates the original studio version in all its sleazy, swaggering glory. On stage, the members of Foghat were able to go past the limitations of the album version, with Price going absolutely insane with his slide guitar solo and Earl bashing the daylights out of his drums, again utilizing those double bass kicks for punishing effect. It’s a mystery more stoner/southern metal bands haven’t covered this song.

Unsurprisingly, Live was a massive hit out the gate. It charted at #11 on the Billboard 200, and went on to sell over 2 million copies in America alone, making it the best selling album of Foghat’s career. While they’d never duplicate the commercial success of Live, the Foghat train has kept a rollin’ in some capacity or another ever since, even if 3/4 of this album’s lineup is no longer with us. Peverett succumbed to kidney cancer in 2000, Price a heart attack in 2005, and bassist Craig MacGregor lung cancer in 2018. This leaves founding drummer Earl, proudly carrying his drumsticks in one hand and the Foghat torch in the other, spreading the heavy boogie gospel to fans all around the globe in 2023 and beyond. What else is there to do when you’re a “Fool for the City”? Keep rockin’ Roger! Foghat forever!