N.E.X.T. Next. What a way to start a song. As Alex
Harvey spells out the letters of the title, before leering the word into
the microphone, the band breaks into a tango beat to support him, which
is perhaps one of the defining moments in the career of “The
Sensational Alex Harvey Band” and its inspirational leader.
In 1972 Alex Harvey had reached the grand old age of
38, way too old in those hedonistic days of music to consider becoming a
Pop Star. But tragically, Alex’s younger brother by some ten years,
Leslie, had been killed in an electrical accident during a sound check
with his group “Stone the Crows” at the Top Rank in Swansea. The
cause was an unearthed microphone. This tragic event spurred Alex on to
have one more go at cracking the big time. At the time Alex was earning
a crust in the orchestra of James Rado’s iconoclastic musical
‘Hair’, but was persuaded by his manager, friend, and mentor Bill
Fehilly, to go up to his native Glasgow, Scotland, to check out a gritty
Progressive outfit called Tear Gas. The band was in the throws of giving
up all dreams of stardom and going back to ‘normal jobs’. They were
so broke that in true Scottish tradition they had resorted to haggis
hunting up the side of mountains to find sufficient nutrition to
survive.
However,
Alex, recognizing talent when he saw it, coerced the band to stick
together and plant him in as lead singer and inspirational genius.
Putting “Sensational” into the title of the band, they went into the
studio and in six days had recorded their first album, released in early
1973, before starting to play live anywhere that would have them. Not
surprisingly, they quickly built up a reputation of one of the hottest
acts on the live circuit.
Out front was Alex himself, skin tight jeans, dirty
red handkerchief hanging from his back pocket, black and white looped
T-shirt, with Alex’s huge head sticking out the neck (with all the
creativity going on in this head, it needed to be a big one), topped off
by an unruly mop of unruly jet black hair, the perfect leader.
Next to him was Zal Cleminson in a green rubber
jumpsuit with cake white clown’s make-up, which exaggerated his
gurning face as he cut loose during the solos, and becoming a complete
maniac, the perfect foil.
On the other side of the stage on bass was a man who
could have made a living as an Elvis impersonator, or at least one of
Elvis’ bouncers Mr. Chris Glen, the perfect man to have on your side
if the chips were down.
On keyboards, as befitting this lot, was Hugh
McKenna, who looked more like a university music teacher than a Rock
‘n’ Roll star, the perfect musical director. And keeping it in the
family, on drums you had Hugh’s brother, Ted, the perfect rock onto
which to hoist your Rock ‘n’ Roll flag.
The first album was a reasonable commercial success,
but for once the record company saw the potential in this group. Later
that year they booked a full month for the band to record their follow
up album and brought in top Glam Rock producer Phil Wainman. The results
were ‘Sensational’. Alex sung with such pathos you cannot help but
love him. Nobody else at the time could have gotten away with singing
the title track, the J. Brel tribute to European brothels, or ‘Gang
Bang’ poking fun of an unmentionable subject.
Zal Cleminson’s guitar playing throughout is
nothing short of brilliant, and the band supports him note for note. All
of the songs here were to stay in the band’s stage act in one way or
another until the end, especially ‘The Faith Healer’ with its
throbbing Tooltelbug drone opening, which was to become the band’s
standard bearer and opening song. (The sight of Alex staggering to the
front of the stage screaming “can I put my hands on you” used to
send the audience into raptures.)
‘Vambo Marble Eye’ became a saga that Alex was
going to take to higher plains on the live stage. Final number ‘The
Last Of The Teenage Idols’ was inspired by an event way back in 1957,
when Alex Harvey won a Daily Record organized competition to find the
Scottish Tommy Steele (true - I promise!), which brings the album to a
fitting rocking climax before we are lulled away by a final burst of
do-wop.
In another year, “The Sensational Alex Harvey
Band” was the biggest touring band in Europe, quite a turn around from
Haggis chasing. Unfortunately, the work load was just too much and after
suffering declining health, Alex left the band in 1978, after which the
band imploded. Later in 1982, Alex would die of a heart attack while on
tour in Europe, a day before his 47th Birthday. Although Alex’s career
did not really catch fire until late, when it finally did, it sure
burned bright. If “The Sensational Alex Harvey Band” is a mystery to
you, pay attention. Alex Harvey was one of the greatest ring masters to
have ever strode across the field of Rock ‘n’ Roll. The first two
“Sensational Alex Harvey Band” albums, “Framed” and “Next”,
have just been released as a special 2-for-1 box set, a bargain not to
be missed.
This
book, Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination, was published by
Picador paperbacks last year (ISBN 0-330-43274-5) and was written by Helen
Fielding, who the book cover told me, was the creator of Bridget Jones,
subject of two books and screenplays. This showed me the total failure of
my education, having never heard of this Bridget Jones, even though Mr.
Google later showed me 615,000 entries for same.
Mott’s CD review: The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Next
5
Stars *****