Alex Harvey - The Impossible Dream

Alex Harvey was a British journeyman rocker who enjoyed a brief period of widespread popularity in the mid-'70s after decades of struggle. Growing up in Scotland, he turned to music in his late teens and was in a skiffle band by 1955. By 1959, it had evolved into the Alex Harvey Big Soul Band. Harvey took the group to Hamburg, West Germany in the early '60s, there recording his first LP, Alex Harvey and His Soul Band, in the fall of 1963, which did not feature the band. He and his group made their London debut in February 1964, and the same year he recorded The Blues, which essentially was a solo record. In 1965, Harvey dissolved the Big Soul Band and later returned to Glasgow. But he was back in London in 1967, assembling Giant Moth, a psychedelic group that existed only for a short time. He then accepted a job working in the pit band of the musical Hair and while doing so recorded Having a Hair Rave up Live from the Shaftsbury Theatre. In 1969, he released Roman Wall Blues, his first solo effort in five years. Up to this point, none of his musical efforts had attracted much attention. But in the early '70s, he recruited the Scottish band Tear Gas -- consisting of Zal Cleminson, Chris Glen, Hugh McKenna, and Ted McKenna -- christening the resulting quintet the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

Their first two albums, Framed (1972) and Next (1973), didn't sell, but in the fall of 1974 The Impossible Dream became Harvey's first chart record in the U.K. (It briefly made the American charts in March 1975.) Tomorrow Belongs to Me followed in the spring of 1975, hitting the Top Ten along with the Top Ten singles placing of Harvey's flamboyant cover of the Tom Jones hit "Delilah." With that, Next belatedly made the charts, and in September Sensational Alex Harvey Band Live came out and reached the Top 20 (also making the Top 100 in the U.S), as "Gamblin' Bar Room Blues" became a Top 40 single. This commercial success continued into 1976, with Penthouse Tapes entering the LP charts in April and becoming a Top 20 hit, "Boston Tea Party" making the singles charts in June and making a Top 20 showing, and SAHB Stories following in July and just missing the Top Ten.

In 1977, Harvey and the band recorded separately, SAHB without Alex (as it was billed) issuing Fourplay, while the leader made Alex Harvey Presents the Loch Ness Monster. A final album together, Rock Drill, was followed by the group's breakup. Harvey was back with his New Band in 1979 and an album called The Mafia Stole My Guitar, but his moment, so long in coming, had passed. Nevertheless, he kept on rocking and was on tour in Belgium when he succumbed to a heart attack in 1982 just before his 47th birthday. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Yup, this is a good un! This album almost equals the strength of SAHB in live performance. Well maybe it doesn't completely get there, but it's definitely got an atmosphere of it's own and features some interesting sides to the band.

The album opens up with some heavy beating of the skins which leads us into Vambo, a number I'm sure you've all familiar with and part one of a piece titled The Hot City Symphony. This features an extremely bizarre music sequence between axe man Zal Cleminson and keyboard man Hugh McKennam (and) leads into Man in the Jar which opens up with a familiar tune, and leads into an Alex Harvey Marlon Brando cum Mickey Spillane type rap. The musical arrangement is neat and it features a nice solo from Zal.

River of Love features a heavy riff, laced with Spanish guitar which makes an odd combination. Gosh, I do believe it's a love song.

I do believe that Harvey's album was going to be called Can't Get Enough. Well I would take the track that closes side one and is called Long Hair Music as the title track. A good ol' rocker, this track would definitely make a nice single. And don't take the stylus off too quickly at the end. Sergeant Fury seemed to be a tailor made hit, yet it didn't even touch the charts as a single. It opens up with some trad-jazz type music which then leads into a Harvey riff. The band are solid and punchy while Harvey sings lyrics like, "I wanna be rich and famous" with insane credibility - you never know when to take this band seriously.

Weights Made of Lead has a basic train beat with a bizarre Cleminson lick over the top. Harvey sings the blues. To portray the full lunacy of this band, what more do you need than a medley of Money Honey and The Impossible Dream?

You find yourself writhing on the floor in mass confusion while the next track, Tomahawk Kid opens up quietly and leads into a rather heavy-orientated track where Harvey takes on the role of story teller. (What a versatile character.) The final track, appropriately titled Anthem, builds up to a thunderous climax featuring choirs and things like that.

This album has caught the full dynamics and insanity of the group, and everyone should have one installed in their homes. Then Alex may be able to achieve his impossible dream?"


















Track Listings
1. Hot City Symphony: Vambo/Man in the Jar
2. River of Love
3. Long Hair Music
4. Hey
5. Sergeant Fury
6. Weights Made of Lead
7. Money Honey/Impossible Dream
8. Tomahawk Kid
9. Anthem


Link http://www.mediafire.com/?ooymmqzyrlw

Alex Harvey And His Soul Band1964 & The Blues1965

Alex Harvey And His Soul Band - 1964
















Alex Harvey (5 February 1935 - 4 February 1982) was a Scottish rock and roll recording artist. With his Sensational Alex Harvey Band, he built a strong reputation as a live performer during the 1970s glam rock era. The band was renowned for its eclecticism and energetic live performance, Harvey for his charismatic persona and daredevil stage antics.[citation needed]

His younger brother Leslie Harvey was also a musician and became guitarist for Glasgow band Stone the Crows.




Harvey was born at 49 Govan Road, Plantation, Glasgow. His musical roots were in Dixieland jazz and skiffle music, which enjoyed considerable popularity in England and Scotland during the late 1950s. During this period, he won a competition that sought "Scotland's answer to Tommy Steele".

In 1959, Harvey formed Alex Harvey's Soul Band, and recorded blues and rock and roll material, with modest success. In 1966, Harvey found more success as a member of the pit band in the London stage production of the musical Hair. This band recorded the live LP Hair Rave Up which contained Harvey originals and other songs not from the stage show. In 1970 Harvey formed Rock Workshop with Ray Russell [1]; their first, self-titled album contained an early version of "Hole In Her Stocking", later to appear on Framed.















1. "Framed"
2. "I Ain't Worrying Baby"
3. "Backwater Blues"
4. "Let The Good Times Roll"
5. "Going Home"
6. "I've Got My Mojo Working"
7. "Teens Ville USA"
8. "New Orleans"
9. "Bo Diddley Is A Gunslinger"
10. "When I Grow Too Old To Rock"
11. "Evil Hearted Man"
12. "I Just Wanna Make Love To You"
13. "The Blind Man"

Link http://www.mediafire.com/?twwrt2nynyn

Alex Harvey - The Blues 1965

For his second album, Harvey eschewed the full R&B combo sound of his debut for a solo set of traditional blues, accompanied only by a couple of guitars. No one would mistake this for a hard-bitten set by a wizened Delta bluesman, but Harvey doesn't make an attempt to disguise the fact that he's a hard-living, life-loving Scotsman plunging full-tilt into the music he loves. As British trad blues efforts go, this is pretty good. Harvey attacks standards with a gusto that is wrenching and jolly (sometimes both at once) on this set of fairly raw performances. - Richie Unterberger

---

1. Trouble In Mind
2. Honey Bee
3. I Learned About Women
4. Danger Zone
5. The Riddle Song
6. Waltzing Matilda
7. The Blues
8. The Big Rock Candy Mountain
9. The Michigan Massacre
10. No Peace
11. Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out
12. St. James Infirmary
13. Strange Fruit
14. Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
15. Good God Almighty

Link http://www.mediafire.com/?wmn0gmn0l24

Alex Harvey - Roman Wall Blues

Alex Harvey was born February 5, 1935, in Glasgow, growing up in the hardscrabble projects of that industrial Scottish city.After leaving school at 15, as the story goes, he tackled as many as 36 different professions, including lion tamer, before turning to music. In 1954, Alex Harvey made his professional debut playing trumpet at a Glaswegian wedding celebration. HarveyFamily.gif

boyalex.gifIn the early '50s in Great Britain there was a resurgence of '20s-style jazz, soon to be eclipsed by the imports of rural southern American music. By 1955, Alex had played with a number of different Dixieland and jazz ensembles, particularly honing his musical skills in two bands with saxophonist Bill Patrick. (The Clyde River Jazz Band played "trad" jazz, while the Kansas City Skiffle Group banged out the country/folk-flavored "youth music" of the time.) By 1956, when Memphis trucker skiffle.gif Elvis Presley's interpretation of "race music" had become firmly entrenched in British culture, Harvey had won a newspaper competition as Scotland's answer to British teen idol Tommy Steele. He covered Big Bill Broonzy and Jimmie Rodgers tunes until the skiffle craze petered out; then, transformed into the Kansas City Counts, Alex Harvey's band played pop covers.

skiffle.gifBy 1959 Harvey was fronting the Alex Harvey Soul Band, also known as Alex Harvey's Big Soul Band. With this incarnation Harvey gained regional fame, playing regular gigs in Edinburgh as well as Glasgow. The Big Soul Band also backed such American stars as Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and John Lee Hooker on their local tours. Like many other British blues-based groups of the time, Harvey's local popularity led to a contract at the famous Top Ten Club in Hamburg, Germany. Residency there garnered the band a recording contract with Polydor Records and the release of Alex Harvey and His Soul Band, a live album, in March, 1964. (Interestingly enough, the Soul Band was replaced on the German recording by Liverpudlian rockers "Kingsize" Taylor & the Dominos). Several singles culled from those sessions, including covers of Willie Dixon's "I Just Want to Make Love To You" and Muddy Waters' "Got My Mojo Workin'", were released in both Britain & the US.

soulband.gifAfter returning to Britain, Harvey retained his modestly successful position in the burgeoning rock and blues club scene, although failing to gain the bigger breaks of such contemporaries as the Yardbirds or the Bluesbreakers. In 1965 he'd teamed up with his brother Les to record The Blues, fulfilling his obligations to Polydor.

alex1.gifThe Blues was a spartan effort, just the Harvey brothers with sparse acoustic guitar accompaniment. A commercial failure, the album consisted of such varied (but un-Soul Band-like) numbers as "Strange Fruit" and the Aussie novelty tune "Waltzing Matilda". Alex released another Polydor single under the "Soul Band" moniker, "Ain't That Just Too Bad", then disolved the band, now declaring himself a folksinger.

Harvey's folkie career was shortlived, however, as evidenced by his next single release -- a rollicking cover of Edwin Starr's "Agent Double-O Soul". (The B side, "Go Away Baby" would gain recognition with its inclusion on the compilation disc British Blue-Eyed Soul, released in 1968.) Another single, "The Work Song" was released during this time, but basically a disillusioned Alex Harvey considered giving up the music business (perhaps for another stab at lion taming).

sadalex.gifReturning to Glasgow in 1966, the Harvey brothers teamed with local musicians (including Alex's crony Bill Patrick and singer Isobel Bond) to form the short-lived Blues Council, an attempt at cashing in on the Big Soul Band's (and therefore, Alex's) R&B reputation.Alex2.gif After that group disintegrated, Alex briefly fell in with the psychedelic band Giant Moth, a gig that landed him a solo deal with Decca Records. (Neither of the Decca singles, "Sunday Song" or "Maybe Someday", both backed by Giant Moth bandmates, made any real chart progress.) By 1967, Alex had found steadier work in the backup band for the London production of Hair.

sahb.gifHis next solo release, Roman Wall Blues (1969), was a heavy-handed "concept" album. Despite backing by brother Les & the jazz-tinged group Rock Workshop, Roman Wall Blues failed to gain Alex the recognition he sought. With his career rapidly declining, Harvey lucked into a fortuitous discovery -- Glasgow prog rockers Tear Gas, fronted by guitarist Zal Cleminson and featuring Hugh and Ted McKenna with bassist Chris Glen. Together, they morphed into the Sensational Alex Harvey Band in 1972. That same year, Alex's brother Les, now guitarist with vocalist Maggie Bell's Stone the Crows, was freakishly electrocuted onstage at a gig in Swansea, Wales.

sahb.gifLeslie's death prompted Harvey to work his new band hard on the college/club circuit, where they developed the theatrical rock style that fueled the band's cult status. A pair of U.K. hit singles, 1975's Delilah (a quirky remake of Tom Jones' 1968 hit) and 1976's Boston Tea Party,helped propel the Sensational Alex Harvey Band into one of the most sought-after international headline acts.

Recurring back problems exacerbated by his physically demanding stage antics forced Harvey to announce, in October 1977, imagehis retirement from full-time rock 'n' roll.Following a rare European tour, Harvey was stricken in Zeebrugge, Belgium, with a fatal heart attack. Rock lost one of its most enigmatic and original proponents on February 4, 1982, the day before Alex Harvey would have turned 47.
















ROMAN WALL BLUES

Over the heather the wet wind blows,
I've lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose.

The rain comes pattering out of the sky,
I'm a Wall soldier, I don't know why.

The mist creeps over the hard grey stone,
My girl's in Tungria; I sleep alone.

Aulus goes hanging around her place,
I don't like his manners, I don't like his face.

Piso's a Christian, he worships a fish;
There'd be no kissing if he had his wish.

She gave me a ring but I diced it away;
I want my girl and I want my pay.

When I'm a vetran with only one eye
I shall do nothing but look at the sky.

W.H. Auden

1. "Midnight Moses" (Harvey)
2. "Hello L.A. Bye Bye Birmingham"
3. "Broken Hearted Fairytale"
4. "Donna" (Rado/Ragni/MacDermot)
5. "Roman Wall Blues" (W. H. Auden/Harvey)
6. "Jumping Jack Flash" (Jagger/Richards)
7. "Hammer Song" (Harvey)
8. "Let My Bluebird Sing"
9. "Maxine"
10. "Down At Bart's Place"
11. "Candy"

Personnel

* Alex Harvey - Guitar
* Leslie Harvey - Guitar
* Mickey Keene - Guitar
* Bud Parks - Trumpet
* Derek Watkins - Trumpet
* Derek Wadsworth - Trombone, brass arrangements
* Frank Ricotti - Alto sax, percussion, brass arrangements
* Ashton Tootle - Baritone sax, flute
* Laurie Baker - Bass guitar, electronics
* Maurice Cockerill - Keyboard
* Pete Wolfe - Drums
download Link http://www.mediafire.com/?tzh40tjktiw