Say Something Interesting About Foghat

We Brits don't 'get' Foghat.

Chuck said Foghat were very Foghat-like in Stairway To Hell.

not too helpful I guess

I believe you're thinking of Grand Funk Railroad.

Sometime in the Summer of 1996, Foghat played after a minor-league baseball game in Louisville with Mountain and Iron Butterfly (I didn't actually witness this, unfortunately). According to my friends who were present, Foghat started the set by having the lead singer ask the audience, "Do we have your permission to JAM?!?!?" When he received a positive, enthusiastic response, he then yelled "Then jam we must!!!!" and they broke into a 20-minute version of "Slow Ride," which was basically their whole set. My friend Chris took off his shirt and twirled it 'round his head.

"Our FOG hat is off to you!"

(these are all from Foghat.com's letters section)

"Anyway, so much for pleasent memories! I'm gonna chect your concert conection to see if the band is headed my way!"

I also get edgar and johnny winters confused.

George Smith, in the Village Voice last week:
"The effort electrifies, but ultimately comes up a few volts short of the Superbees' intimidating stage presence. (Hardly hard-rock atypical—-Foghat, for example, didn't commit the juice they delivered in person to vinyl until five albums in, on *Fool for the City.*)"

Other stuff: Their live album, besides having an impossible-to-file die-cut cover, only had six songs on it. And they possibly didn't do "Take Me to the River" better than Talking Heads, they definitely did "Honey Hush" better than Elvis Costello. Also: GREAT fu manchus!

Pod People, I love you.

... then i actually listen to the foghat ...

no one mentioned the lawrence/go kart mozart song. so here it is.

Paul Westerberg said that the show that inspired "I Bought A Headache" on Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash was Pat Travers and Foghat

Paul Westerberg wishes he had sold as many records as fans of Foghat have accidentally lost when they move.

Foghat Live II recorded in El Cajon, California, birthplace of the Saint of Cough Syrup, Banger Lestroony, who hated them. But Lonesome Dave outlasted that guy.

I read an article on Foghat once in Creem. It was written by Lestroony and all that was in it was: "Boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie boogie."

Foghat came to America to make money, which is what they were having a hard time doing in Savoy Brown. Foghat went straight to the top of the arena circuit. Savoy Brown went straight to the middle of the mid-sized theatre circuit.

There New Wave phase -- Zig Zag Walk, Boys to Chat, Tight Shoes -- resulted in mass defections, from the fans as well as band members.

Foghat reformed in the mid-90's and made a studio album after Rick Rubin became enthusiastic. It was not so good. Then they made a live CD, which was very good.

Then Lonesome Dave died and so did Rod "The Bottle" Price, Foghat's slide guitarist. The rhythm section trudged on, hiring ex-Ted Nugent hack Charlie Huhn (replaced Derek St. Holmes in Nugent's band) to do Lonesome Dave's parts.

Made an album called Family Jewels which was a good hard CD but not at all like Foghat. And I have it!

Were hired to be headliners at the Bethlehem Music Fest in the Lehigh Valley, a week long -do- known for its snobby love of poverty stricken blues, folk and miscellaneous nuisance Americana acts. The fest also has a rule where the week's headliner is chosen from a name act whose frontperson is either dead, or of which the backing band consists of ringers trying to get you to think they're the originals.

Anyway, Foghat rock El Cajon on Foghat Live II which recreates the art of Foghat Live. Live, it doesn't matter that Charlie Huhn isn't Lonesome Dave. They don't do their new songs, restricting themselves to the oldies jukebox, from which they have much to choose.

Like Molley Hatchet's Flirtin with Disaster -- Live, it matters not that half the band's dead. It only matters that the hacks can deliver the vibe and tone onstage. Foghat fans don't remember what anyone looked like in the band, anyway, nor do they remember more than Lonesome Dave's name, if that. They just remember that someone must screech "Are you re-eh-eh-eh-eh-ehdy to take a Slooooo-ooooooo Ri-ede?!" At the beginning of the song.

The rhythm section is the classic Foghat line-up and that's almost all that matters. No one does arena boogies and shuffles like Craig McGregor and Roger Earl. (Ah ha, purists, Tone Stevens is not present, but he whiffed before the band broke big in the States, and so isn't "classic.")

FOGHAT make jokes on the new album about people who wish they were still in the Seventies, showing a gentle and human sense of self-deprecation.

Foghat rule on Foghat Live II. They are unafraid to include many photos of themselves into the package and they are not good-lucking fellows as they enter the middle part of their third chapters.

You only wish you'd be able to rock like FOGHAT when your teeth are beginning to fall out from difficult to shrug off and overlook places in the smile. Roger Earl looks like Stan Lee in "Who Wants to Be a Superhero?"

And you're never gonna be able to play the wah-wah like even the FOGHAT second-stringer in "I Just Wanna Make Love to You," no matter how many tunes you cycle through your pansy MySpace page. FOGHAT don't need a MySpace page because fans have thrown away more of their records by mistake than you have people on your shitty Friend's List.

I'd write liner notes for FOGHAT's next LIVE record if they asked. I just did it for George Brigman.

xhuxk, you have my permission to crosspost this to Rolling Metal just to irritate that guy who tried and failed to dis you today.

I have been checking out lots of older 60s and 70s rock over the past few years. I like two Foghat records I have picked up, the s/t debut and Fool for the City. Outside the big three that classic rock radio played over and over (Slow Ride, Fool for the City and I Just Wanna Make Love to You) there are a few other good songs on these two. I really like their version of Terraplane Blues and the song Sara Lee off the first one is ace. I would definitely not mind hearing the couple of albums in between the debut and Fool for the City.

I also picked up a Savoy Brown collection, about half of which features Lonesome Dave and it is also pretty good blues rock.

oh keep yr pants on Gorge, chuck knows I got love for him and am just ribbing him and besides as the guy who started the first rolling metal thread I think I'm within the bounds of camaraderie to give him some shit about how he sometimes mistakes those threads for the "what's chuck's into" thread

Just to show they care, FOGHAT recreate most of the second side -- the good part's anyway -- from the Savoy Brown LP, A Step Further, tacked onto Chateau Lafitte '59 Boogie. (You should definitely get Step if you like what you hear re Savoy Brown.)

In terms of Foghat inbetween the debut and Fool, go for Energized next. Rock n Roll is a bit of a dip from the debut. Not much, just slight, making the next one -- which was Energized -- a clear winner.

"They're mentioned in Jim O'Rourke's sleevenotes to his 'Terminal Pharmacy' alb."

Plus he claims his Women of the World is totally inspired by Slowride.

They totally stole Vertigo/Lethargy's commercial thunder.

I have Foghat's 2CD The Definitive Rock Collection, released this year or last year. It's good, but I think I have all I need.

Loudest band I've ever seen.

It's good, but I think I have all I need

Yep, you probably do Phil. However, for the enthusiastic fan, whose natural reaction to Foghat Live II would be, "Yeah, sure," it does truly kill. I was naturally skeptical but couldn't resist the challenge but figured I could trade it in easily enough. It goes over the top when the band's rhythm section reverts to the primeval thump and methamphetamine scrape off Savoy Brown's A Step Further, which is a pretty primitive-sounding slice of blooz rock. Of course, the casual fan isn't gonna recognize where they're mining it from, although Huhn asks the crowd if they've ever heard of Savoy Brown. Completely unexpected move, and I have had all their stuff at one time or another.

It's two discs and the second is as smoothly stadium pulverizing as that genre got in its time. Foghat, for the fact they were all Britishes, were the most American-sounding of bands. Well, now half of 'em are Yanks. Fundamentally, they're banking on and taking advantage of the fact that the people who are coming to seem them as an oldies act expect something very strong. Plus, you can commit the stage sound to disc much better than you could at the time of Foghat Live, which was and is their best-selling record.

And I doubt if anyone's ever going to be interested in any new stuff they compose. They sneak in a couple, and they're better than the studio versions from a year earlier, which was standard for Foghat up until their studio sound caught up with their live attack on Fool for the City.

The songs benefit from stage time, pretty much a truism in the development of heavy rock, something that's been lost in translation to the present.

So, like - yeah - trust your instincts in the store when you see the anthologies. Get Fool For the City first if you want the 70's album experience. Then Energized and Foghat Live.

But if you're still interested in old men making a fantastic live record and want to add to your Foghat collection, then this is something you'd be pleased with.

The biggest problem I have with Foghat is that they're not heavy enough. I have the same problem with Humble Pie; they don't have the same primeval crunch as Cactus or Beck, Bogert & Appice (whose Japanese live album is pretty much my gold standard for 70s rock). But maybe this live stuff will be up my alley. I'll see how my disposable income's lookin' down the road.

my love for savoy brown is a lot deeper than my love for the hat. but their records are definitely strong and shouldn't be written off as hits+filler by anyone. if anyone does that. i wish i still had those liner-notes i wrote. i'd reprint them here for mass hilarity. total k-tel levels of hard rock hyperbole hackery. it was fun!

phil, do you own the west, bruce, & laing albums? or the baker gurvitz army albums? just wondering. cuz they will give you the heavy you seek.

but, also, yeah, foghat live were a lot less tame than on studio wax.

9 minutes of baker gurvitz army:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=F1iylzwLZe0

i could watch adrian play guitar forever, but that's just me. you have to wait 6 minutes or more for the killer solo, but it's worth it.

9 minutes of mountain just for the hell of it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Iqj6XQ65OqU

For sure Foghat weren't as heavy as Cactus or BBA live. But it's a bit of apples and oranges. Cactus didn't really write any songs. They wrote freak outs, riffs and jams and hung words on them. BBA were better in that regard. They played songs written by others and came up with one great hard rock tune, Livin Alone. Completely odd that Epic never saw fit to release BBA's Live in Japan anywhere but in Japan. That was a big mistake. Could have made BBA more than an extravagant footnote.

Lonesome Dave, on the other hand, wrote almost all of Foghat's material and he definitely was a bit of a songwriter, combining lots of the rootsy old American rockabilly and blues things in the tunes. The live material from Savoy Brown's Blue Matter and A Step Further, both with Lonesome Dave, are fairly heavy things, particularly Louisiana Blues. And Foghat's version of It Hurts Me Too, which didn't show up in its definitive recorded live version until the reformation in 95 for Road Cases, is a mighty heavy wail.

As for Humble Pie and heavy, if it's the crunch one is looking for, you get Rockin the Fillmore and then full stop, more or less. When others cover Humble Pie, they always pick 4 Day Creep and Stone Cold Fever.

But it's a bit of apples and oranges.

Yeah, to some degree. I also like Black Oak Arkansas better than Foghat, though. Their 2CD comp is also very solid.

Cactus didn't really write any songs. They wrote freak outs, riffs and jams and hung words on them.

This morning I was noticing how awful Deep Purple's lyrics were. Laughably bad. But then there's another huge riff or guitar solo or ultra-distorted organ explosion, and it's all okay again.

lots of the rootsy old American rockabilly and blues things

I think the first four or five cuts on the Foghat comp I have are covers - "I Just Wanna Make Love To You," "Ubangi Stomp," "Maybellene," a couple of others.

I keep meaning to pick up the West, Bruce & Laing stuff. Maybe I'll order that from Amazon today, along with the Free Chronicles 2CD set. Customer reviews say the track listing is better than Molten Gold, even though they use the shorter single mix of "All Right Now" instead of the album version. I think I'm okay with that, though, since I grew up with the single mix on classic rock radio.

You get a lot of mellow stuff with Free, too. Free often declined to rock in favor of channeling melancholia. Besides Paul Kossoff going to hell, it more or less explains why Rogers and Kirke joined Ralphs in Bad Company, so they could do more All Right Nows and be giants all over the world. I tend to greatly prefer Free.

So many of these bands went to another place live and Free was like that, too. Out went the pastoral and attempts at art, in came the cock rock. Their live album, in its original form, was OK. However, the remaster with bonus cuts restored the entire show and put much more oomph into it.

I have 10 From 6 by Bad Company, and again I think that's all I need. Good singles band (were those tracks singles? I don't even know), but that's about it.

Either outright singles or stuff played to death on AOR radio. I'm not sure what I have by Bad Company anymore. Probably just the first album. They existed in the exact same space as Foreigner.

So I'm looking at the aforementioned Free comp, a Baker Gurvitz Army best-of (16 tracks from all three albums, remastered, on Castle) and the West, Bruce & Laing studio album. Not ready to pull the trigger on the live disc until I hear the studio output. Anything else I should know about at the moment?

how are you set for mott the hoople? the first four are essential. just saying. everyone should at least own one or two.

I have the recent-ish reissues of All The Young Dudes and Mott. Don't remember liking them much (too smart for their own good), but might give 'em another listen.

how are you set for mott the hoople?

have em all and someone was kind enough to get me the box set for xmas. :-)

I really like the solo Ian Hunter records a lot, including the recent ones even.

"I have the recent-ish reissues of All The Young Dudes and Mott."

i repeat, the first four are essential. a different beast altogether.

if i had to pick two out of the four, i would say go for Mad Shadows and Brain Capers. Heavy, powerful stuff.

It's funny, but what I adore about Free is all the sad acoustic stuff. So fucking beautiful. they were the kings of sadness. and they were so young! jeez, kossoff was only 25 when he died. what an unbelievable body of work for someone so young. don't get me wrong, i love the rockin' and bluesy stuff too. come to think of it, i probably love the dreamy introspective side of savoy brown just as much too. and that mike vernon production. just godly.

i love that late-night stoner bloze minimalism. it's where i live. the bible would have to be:

http://static.rateyourmusic.com/album_images/733974.jpg

one of my fave records ever. not heavy really, but incredibly HEAVY. if you know what i mean.

"stoner blooze" minimalism that should be. which is why bare wires is my fave mayall album.

Instead of going for the comp, I would just get the remasters of the first three Free albums. Those first three records are about perfect. After that their records get really spotty, mostly because Kossoff was a mess. Free are one of those bands that could have been huge but things just didn't work out.

The first Mott the Hoople record is also really fab. Mott's version of "Laugh at Me" which was written by Sonny Bono is definitely an epic bloozy tune for some late-night buzzed out listening.

Not many nationally known bands have been willing to play Tupelo; Foghat is one of those bands.

a Baker Gurvitz Army best-of (16 tracks from all three albums, remastered, on Castle

Now there's an odd and idiosyncratic one. They were an unusual bunch, not prone to living up to any poor man's Cream or power rock ideal. They did a lot of jazzy, swirling, sometimes muddy, almost arty things with one piece of fabulous and hilarious storytelling, Mad Jack, by Ginger Baker. They were truly their own thing, being not even much like Three Man Army, the band that spawned them after Tony Newman left to play for Bowie and Baker was invited in.

I like my Baker-Gurvitz Army but they're definitely an acquired taste for most.

And seconded on the idea for grabbing the first three Free on CD. Or abridging even that, Tons of Sobs and Fire & Water.

my fave Free would probably be the self-titled album, Highway, and Heartbreaker.

is their a Free boxed-set? all re-mastered? with 5 discs of rarities? okay, now i'm greedy. but i would buy one. even though my vinyl is fine. i no longer own a copy of Free At Last. That might be my pick for the lesser of all Free albums. I need another copy though.

Three Man Army would probably be my fave Gurvitz outlet. Even more than Gun. And I do love Gun. And I dig Baker Gurvitz Army a bunch as well. But he really went wild on those Three Man Army albums. A Third Of A Lifetime is probably my fave album. But I don't own them all on vinyl! Another boxed-set I would buy.

I have the Three Man Army 2-CD box (everyone gets a box!) on Castle and it's pretty good. They were reliably heavy. My favorite box of all time was the 2-CD one for Billion Dollar Babies! What chutzpah! Who'd a thought Billion Dollar Babies would have merited a box set?! The complete demo and studio versions of the Billion Dollar Babies one album plus their one and only live gig!

The magnum Free box set is Songs of Yesterday. It's five CDs, the first three of which contain special single mono mixes, alternate takes and so on. Invariably, Free alternate takes were never that different -- with only one or two notable exceptions -- to the songs that made it to record. CD 4 is the complete live set from Croydon (part of which became Free's live record) and some stuff from another live gig. And the last CD is a composite from bands right after the break-up of Free (Paul Rogers in Peace -- they sound like Pearl Jam), Andy Fraser in Sharks with Chris Spedding (the first Sparks album is very much like old Free, the second -- Jab It In Your Eye, was not because Busta Cherry Jones replaced Fraser), stuff from the Kirke/Kossof/Tetsu/Rabbit record and cuts from Rabbit's solo album.

Obviously, I really dig it. But I'm always crazy for Free. Some people might be dismayed that it REALLY IS a box set of unique stuff, not just a repackage of the main catalog. However, Free's music was so basic yet elegantly played, there really isn't a phenomenon of we-dragged-all-this-stuff-out-of-the-archives-to-milk-it going on.

when i have some extra cash i will definitely pick that up.

i used to have that billion dollar babies album. wish i still did. i'll come across it again. i might have given mine to chuck. maybe. same with the spiders from mars album. maybe he remembers.

Foghat apparently went through something of a "new wave" period, circa 1978-80 (Stone Blue/Boogie Motel/Tight Shoes era)

How new wave we talkin' here?

If you say Foghat with a British accent, it kind of sounds like Fuck It.

What does Foghat new wave sound like? I was going through some old radio playlists since I was heavy into radio as a kid...I just realized how HUGE Foghat were with the "older" kids back then (I was a wee one who couldn't go to concerts). You wouldn't know it looking at the charts. Seems like Foghat might be a good choice if you want to explore more 70s rock.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d195/richhunt35/Fool_for_the_City.jpg?t=1306071344

Trainer-riffic!! Too many stoners liking them is what scares people away.

neither foghat nor david gedge were too delicate to rhyme 'easy' with 'sleazy'

god bless them both

"Take it or Leave It" on Fool is how album closers should be done.

I saw The Who in 1979, first tour with Kenney Jones replacing Moon I believe, and they were good, in a safe, super-rehearsed kind of way. But Foghat was the opener, and I liked them better; a really ripping powerdrive blues rock band.

balls hinted at Foghat's "new wave" phase in the Spotify thread, so now I'm listening to a few of the 1980-83 albums and loving what I'm hearing. Kind of a cool and unexpected turn for a Tuesday afternoon.

https://24.media.tumblr.com/aed6eb790a515475e4ce38d629f10b96/tumblr_myu3eiC3HM1r7dgeuo1_500.jpg

It just came to my attention that you can upgrade your ticket for at least one stop on the current Foghat tour to include a meet & greet with a wine tasting round.

Foghat.

And wine tasting.

That's America, everybody.

drink wine out of a hat

Slow Wine, drink it easy...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cce_XBWW0AALP73.jpg

I Just Wanna Drink Wine With You

I'm a Fool for the Shiraz

i stand by "drink wine out of a hat"

My wife: "This can't be a thing that happens. I refuse to believe it."

you know the rhythm is right

They played a gig in the late 70s with Muddy Waters. Maybe more than one? I remember seeing it on, maybe Kirschner or Night Flight. It was, I think, a pretty solid show. The most memorable thing about it was that Muddy called the band "the Froghats."

“slow ride” and “funky town” are spiritual cousins

Happy record store day. The only thing I bought was a 4 dollar copy of Foghat’s Rock and Roll Outlaws. I think I’m up to 5 Foghat albums now. After a few beers and a THC gummy they’re really fun to play loud.

If you say Foghat with a British accent, it kind of sounds like Fuck It.

― Moka, Saturday, August 8, 2009 6:51 PM

I was listening to Jonesy's Jukebox (Steve Jones) on the radio many years ago, and he said this is the true story of their name. I've recounted this somewhere on ILX before, but not here.

I got that Foghat Complete Bearsville CD box years ago after having a couple on LP and CD. They were a pretty consistent band, you like what they do, you will probably find some music to like on all their Lps.

You just have to remember that lineup also made 4 albums in Savoy Brown and a couple of those like "Raw Sierra" are pretty fab too.

They seemed to always be on tour and they played around Indiana a bunch when I was growing up in the 80s. They did a gig in Muncie at one point.

This was a while ago but kinda fun...

http://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/342656819_760336372479364_5762334114811384711_n.jpg?_nc_cat=110&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=BHGTO_SKz6sAX9Mworm&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=00_AfD8BfxTaebtHw_cKJwLAANzvXJUgCGLmlhbXTsQBQVt7Q&oe=644A7866

http://scontent-lga3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/342667636_179999231631201_3084468711191629324_n.jpg?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=dvV-MzHTIU0AX9lMEu1&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-2.xx&oh=00_AfDz5JhWAVw9m5VO8JS_SdTESAw4frgY7QAkuDgiMG5r9Q&oe=644A286F

A buddy and I in college used to boast that "we wrote scripts for 227" -- just oddball enough that people believed it.