I first saw them live in 1973 between their muscular blues-influenced debut Framed and its glossier follow-up, Next. Crunchingly good they were too, with a really weighty bottom end thanks to Chris Glen's subterranean bass locking tight with the taut, efficient drumming of Ted McKenna, the keyboard dexterity and composing nous of Hugh McKenna and Alex's attention-grabbing theatrics counterbalanced perfectly by Zal Cleminson's manic guitar strangulations.

 

My fave SAHB gig was the London Palladium in 1974, I'll never forget the devastatingly great performance of the mighty Faith Healer that opened that show, a gig that saw an increasing penchant for 'rock theatre' that Genesis were conteporaneously exploring too. Alex was just amazing at this gig as a perfect master of ceremonies, with the stage being rigged out as a seedy street, complete with street lamps as the band debuted The Hot City Symphony from their third album, The Impossible Dream.

 

1975 saw another classic gig as the Hammersmith Odeon performance in May was recorded for a live album. Their fourth studio outing (and Alex's masterpiece, in my view) Tomorrow Belong To Me was released in the spring and at last gave them some substantial album chart action. Displaying the kind of broad eclecticism that I value the most in any artist, SAHB were painting on a broad canvas by now, from the prog influenced The Tale of the Giant Stone-Eater with its historical sweep, to the atmospheric masterstroke Give my Compliments to the Chef which opened with the broodingly sinister couplet, "Mother dear, did you hear, how they're teaching me to do the goose-step" as the music brewed and stewed in an exemplary display of the art of dynamics.

 

The Hammersmith gig included the definitive take of the Reed/Mason murder ballad, Delilah, recorded live and giving SAHB a big hit single. The gig was also filmed but the video was later advertised but then withdrawn, much to the dismay of SAHB fans - will it ever emerge on DVD, I wonder? 1976 saw the patchier SAHB Stories album which appeared to falter for direction a bit before Alex's final album with the band, the underrated Rock Drill, well worth checking out for the four-part Rock Drill Suite on side one, although by this time keyboard maestro Hugh McKenna had been replaced by Tommy Eyre, although he continued to write with Alex for a while.

 

The last time I saw Alex Harvey was at the Bridge House pub in Canning Town, East London when he performed a gig with Kangaroo Kourt (later to become his New Band) and it was a sad affair - the band played a collection of covers as court action had prohibited Alex from performing any of his classics, after a management fiasco. I'll always remember the moment I made eye contact with Alex at one point during this gig, when he'd been staring at my SAHB badge with such a look of sadness in his eyes. His 1979 album for RCA with his New Band was another winner for me and very much overlooked, with several adventurous tracks penned with his old partner Hugh McKenna, the 9/8 rhythm anti-war song Wait For Me Mama and the two-part epic The Whalers (Thar She Blows) standing out.

 

Alex Harvey died of a heart attack on the eve of his 48th birthday in February 1982 but his music lives on - one of the true originals of the rock era.

 

 

 

 

Saw them in '75 when Tomorrow Belongs To Me was new.   Along with The Tubes, SAHB is the best live band I've ever seen, period.  They were both amazingly tight and yet free and loose with the material.  Some of the best musicianship ever.  Of course, playing 250 gigs a year like a lot of bands did in the 70's helps make that happen.  Bands today play 8-10 gigs and call it a tour.    Sh*t, I played in bar bands through most of the later 70's and 80's and We did 100-150 gigs a year.

I can't believe SAHB is not prt of PA (or the Tubes for that matter) .  Both would sit well in Prog Related I'd think.

He go home now.

             "Mummy today I learned to do the goosestep"