The 1979 bookend album for the five original Bad Company albums in the Seventies, Desolation Angels, contained a rare Boz Burrell composition, “Gone, Gone, Gone”, which the 21st century incarnation (minus Burrell, unfortunately, who passed away) still can crank out to this day. Witness this fiery performance of “Gone, Gone, Gone” by original Bad Company members Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs, and Simon Kirke at suburban DFW Verizon Theater in July 2013, straight off the stage, no overdubs. –Redbeard
Tag: Bad Company
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The Babys- Head First 45th Anniversary- John Waite, Jonathan Cain
In January 1979, their third album, Head First, garnered considerable rock radio airplay for England’s The Babys, peaking at #22 sales and another lucky #13 single,”Every Time I Think of You”, but with keyboard player Michael Corby departing, the three remaining band members Wally Stocker on guitar, Tony Brock on drums, and John Waite on bass guitar and vocals recruited Americans Jonathan Cain and Ricky Phillips to tour in support of red hot Journey. Cain and Phillips actually wrote and played on the 1980 Union Jacks album which delivered “Back on My Feet Again” and the infectious “Midnight Rendezvous”, and the Journey/Babys double bill that year is recalled as a legendary tour. This is how the #13 hit “Isn’t It Time?” by British band The Babys was introduced to America in late 1977, coming from their second album in barely six months, Broken Heart: driving home late at night during Autumn 1977 in a 1965 Ford Fairlane with an AM-only radio, a song came on that opened with a melancholy naked piano melody. Then a lush orchestra joined in as a male voice with just a hint of an English accent sang,”Falling in love was the last thing I had on my mind…”. Then a solo trumpet repeated the melody the singer had just sung, but mariachi-like. Then these female backup singers come in prominently on the bridge to this huge hooky chorus. But wait: the lead singer switched places with the girl singers, who then take over belting out the chorus. What??!
And the song “Give Me Your Love” on Broken Heart really shows their influences, particularly guitarist Wally Stocker, as the song could have fit easily on Free’s Heartbreaker finale five years earlier.
( Union Jacks front l-r Tony Brock, Wally Stocker, John Waite; back Jonathan Cain & Ricky Phillips)For this retrospective John Waite and Jonathan Cain put on their big boy pants for a frank conversation about The Babys, a promising band which had some unfortunate breaks which ultimately stunted their growth the first time around. –Redbeard
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Mott the Hoople- Mott- Ian Hunter
One of Britain’s most beloved party bands this side of The Faces, Mott the Hoople is still revered fondly there. Just ask Brian May of Queen and Joe Elliott of Def Leppard. We were so fortunate to have Mott the Hoople main man Ian Hunter join me In the Studio for a career retrospective, centered around 1972’s All the Young Dudes and the July 1973 Mott. In the early 1970s there was a very British rock scene that owed little to various styles which had immediately preceded it, such as psychedelia, protest folk/rock music, or Woodstock. Christened Glam Rock ( short for “glamorous”), it featured bands with a fondness for the three chord simplicity of rock’n’roll’s American originators, but a fashion sense that was modern, outrageous, and often androgynous, all eye shadow and sequins and feather boas and stacked high heels. And the girls got dressed up, too!
( Ian Hunter onstage with Mott November 2013 in London, right )
The Holy Trinity of Glam rock included Ziggy-era David Bowie, T Rex’s Marc Bolan, and a loose lovable quintet named Mott the Hoople (a character from a William McManus novel ) which in its prime was fronted by singer Ian Hunter and guitarist Mick Ralphs, plus Pete Overend Watts, Verden Allen, and the late Dale “Buffin” Griffin. It is vital to understand that all of Mott’s many hits came AFTER they had broken up with four albums out but no money coming in, including “All the Young Dudes”, “Roll Away the Stone”,”All the Way from Memphis”, “The Golden Age of Rock’n’Roll”, and “Drivin’ Sister”.
( L- Mick Ralphs, Ian Hunter Nov 2013 London O2 Arena)
Even Mott’s own record label got it wrong recently when they reissued All the Young Dudes on vinyl, with a sticker stating “…’All the Young Dudes’, a song written for them by David Bowie.” My guest Ian Hunter refutes that contention, clearly explaining that Bowie intended to release his version but felt that David’s recording of “All the Young Dudes” simply wasn’t satisfactory, whereas Mott the Hoople’s version, produced by him, is ranked on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list at #484. After Mott the Hoople broke up mid-1970s, Ian Hunter went on to a successful solo career with hits “Once Bitten, Twice Shy”, “Cleveland Rocks,” and “Just Another Night”, which he discusses here as well. – Redbeard
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Paul Rodgers- Burning Love- unreleased demo 2-93
“Are you bootlegging me ?” Legendary Free, Bad Company, The Firm, and even once upon a time Queen vocalist Paul Rodgers with me February 1993 in a studio somewhere in the desolate outskirts of Los Angeles, proving that even a legend needs an audience when there’s a new song needing singing. Even if it’s only an audience of one. Here’s an exclusive performance of “Burning Love (Dancing in the Firelight)” (not the Elvis hit ) which would have fit nicely onto 1972’s Free At Last or ’73’s Heartbreaker, and to my knowledge has never been released. -Redbeard
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Bad Company “Bad Company”- Dallas/ Ft. Worth 7-10-13
One of those odd quirks of rock trivia concerns the fact that the original Bad Company, a band synonymous with Seventies arena rock, never released a live album. The reformed band of Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs, and Simon Kirke who toured in 2008 and a fortieth anniversary tour in 2013, though, had no such allergy to recording their concert performances. Submitted here as proof is one of their encores, straight off the stage with no overdubs whatsoever from July 10, 2013 at the Verizon Theater between Dallas and Ft. Worth Texas. –Redbeard
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Bad Company- Movin’ On- Dallas-Ft Worth 7/10/13
As we prepare to host the members of Bad Company next month to mark the band’s forty-fifth anniversary, it takes only a cursory glance at their set list from their most recent reunion tour to be impressed by just how strong the songs on that May 1974 debut indeed were, as “Ready for Love”, “Movin’ On”,”Can’t Get Enough”, and the song “Bad Company” all remain staples of the live show to this day. Here is Mick Ralphs‘ three minute musical tour diary. Get well Michael. –Redbeard
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Bad Company- Rock and Roll Fantasy- Dallas 7-10-13
The tributes to Mick Ralphs are still still pouring in, and well they should: when Bad Company came out of the starting gate on that hot July night in Texas 2013 with “Rock and Roll Fantasy”, they put the adoring Dallas/Ft. Worth audience on notice that they were in for the real deal. Here are Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirke, and the late Mick Ralphs of Bad Company completely live, no overdubs. –Redbeard -
Hard+Heavy Box- Deep Purple, Whitesnake, KISS, Bad Company, Heart, Judas Priest, Boston
When entities outside of the rock world try to define it, I usually hold my breath and cover my eyes, but in 2008 the folks at Time- Life did a pretty impressive job collecting hard rock genre-defining classics from Deep Purple, Whitesnake, KISS, Bad Company, Heart, Judas Priest, Boston, Ted Nugent, and many more in a nine CD box set Hard + Heavy. I asked Roger Glover and Ian Gillan, David Coverdale, Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, Paul Rodgers, Ann and Nancy Wilson, Rob Halford, Tom Scholz, and Ted Nugent each to share their respective “Rock’n’Roll Fantasy” and each agreed to “Shout It Out Loud” here In the Studio. –Redbeard
