Customer Reviews

Fool For The City

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I'm one of the oddballs who never did care for "Slow Ride", though I recognise that others loved it. So I want to mention for those of you looking for the full-length version of that song, I believe this particular CD is the only way you can get it. All the 'best of' albums and 'various artists' compilations that I know of just include the much-shortened radio edit version of that song. This was my first Foghat album when I was 16 years old in the 70s. Sure there's only seven songs, but what great songs they are! And back then it was the norm for an album to contain 7 to 10 songs totaling 40 minutes or so. There's not a bad song on this album. This ties for 1st place with "Night Shift" for my favorite Foghat album. Nice, clean, hard-rocking recordings on both albums. Actually, all their albums were nicely produced and I love them all. But these two are my favorites due to their extremely upbeat nature. Great tunes to cruise Main Street with. Not sure if that's even done anymore, but I burned a lot of gas listening to this group.

If you want an anitidote for Britney Spears, Matchbox 20, and
the rest of the pablum that passes for popular music these
days, buy this. I'm presuming the person that's reading this
wasn't a teen in the 70's like me. Let me tell you, this
Foghat album was what passed for top 40 music in those days.
Believe it or not, this was the MAINSTREAM stuff-the stuff you
heard out of the car radios in the summer.I can't think of a
better memory than hot summer nights in the 70's with Foghat's
I JUST WANNA MAKE LOVE TO YOU, SLOW RIDE, and FOOL for the CITY
blaring from car radios...ESPECIALLY slow ride.
If you want just a glimmer of how it was to grow up in the 70's,
buy this CD now. And yah, all the top 40 stuff kicked in those
days. Synyrd, Boston, Bad Company, Zep, Floyd, even ALICE
COOPER, all were at our local K-Mart top 40 album bins. They
used to display them next to the # in the top 40 they were,
along with the 45's. The albums were about 5 bucks, and the 45's
were a buck. Funny thing is, I think that worked better than
all the web stuff we have now for some reason. It was simple
but look at the great music that was available! Now we have
high technology with no music to match. Maybe there is a connection there. Think of it. The more technology, the more
it took away from the roots and grittiness of the music.
Maybe if we get rid of the web and go back to records and
k-mart, ROCK as we used to know it may come back again.
Until then, buy this album!

I can't figure out why there are not more reveiws for this album. Foghat is great. They play loud, boogie metal. I have listened to this album so many times it's not funny. This and Bad Company's debut are the two most worn albums I own. If you like 70's metal, you must own this. The band is tight and they just blow the socks off of most other bands playing heavy rock in the 70's. I almost think they were better then Zeppelin.....

I love "Fool For The City" I have also always loved Savoy Brown "Looking In" and didn't know until recently that Lonesome Dave was the singer and most of the Savoy Brown band went on to form Foghat. If you are a Foghat fan you should check out "Looking In" by Savoy Brown. If you've heard other stuff by Savoy Brown and didn't like it, don't be discouraged because "Looking In" (and only "Looking In") is essentially Foghat. There were a lot of changes in Savoy Brown personnel through the years and the guys that did Looking In were the best.

Fool For The City and Slow Ride (which Lonesome Dave has described as a 'sleazy' song) were the tunes that launched Foghat and popped them forever into the rock and roll hall of fame!

Plus there are a couple added benefits - Terraplane Blues, Drive Me Home, and Take It Or Leave It. The original Foghat lineup of Lonesome Dave Peverett, Rod 'The Bottle' Price, Tone Stevens, and Roger Earl.

If you're unfamiliar with Foghat, this is probably the album to best introduce you to them. It's got arguably the two biggest hits they've had to date.

I was fortunate to see Foghat live in '98 or '99. They opened for the Doobie Brothers.

The DOOBIE Brothers?!?!? Sheesh.

They did their hits from this release and everything still sounded great. They sounded so good, in fact, that I didn't make it through three songs by the Doobie Brothers. When Foghat left the stage, my interest left the concert hall. The Doobies were doomed by having to follow such an act!

Foghat fans, it doesn't get any better than this!

This album smokes - period. The production is so good on this and they are tight as can be. Rod Price - what a player. Lonesome Daves voice is infectious. Everything else just lends to this. If you don't like this record you've got a serious problem.

Allright, it wasn't the most intelligent rock music, but it is still great to listen to when you're driving in the highway or having a good time with people that also dig 70's long-haired rock'n'roll.

That said, about the songs: "Slow Ride" is the classic (or at least the AM hit), very well produced and the grand finale is pretty much devastating. "Fool for the city" is another strong hard boogie and "Terraplane Blues" the perfect booze-rock. The rest is also gung ho rock'n'roll, with the exception of "Take or live it", a ballad with keyboards and a mood quite different from the no-frills electric attack of the album, but it is still allright.

Even being more commercial than Foghat's previous works, it is arguably their best album. Just let Foghat rock! It is quite possible that one of the boys in "That 70's Show" someday will appear with a T-shirt of the band or that "Slow Ride" will be played in the show. And that would be groovy!

I'm not sure why some of the other reviewers only like Slowride. That's a great song, of course, but so are the other songs on this cd. Terraplane Blues is my favorite Foghat song. I also like Fool For The City and My Babe. If the other reviewers had heard these great songs on the radio over and over for years like they heard Slowride then they would be talking about what great songs they are too. It's a shame when people just accept what the radio dj's give you and just assume the rest of a cd is no good. Many of my favorite rock songs have never been played on the radio.
If you like Foghat you'll like this whole cd.

After listening to this album, I can't believe this band hasn't gotten more publicity. This is a classic! This is a great album to play on cartrips. Crank the volume to 11 and enjoy a slowride with great blues infused hard rock. My only complaint with this album is that the vocals seem a little drowned out. When the lead singer belts out "I'm a fool for the city!!!" or "Slowride....take it eassyyy!" I don't think it was recorded at a high enough volume. Oh well, still a great album.

Fool for the City: The title track, and it rocks. A great chorus and riff. 10/10

My Baby: A pretty good song 9/10

Slowride: A classic. Seems a little drawn out, but not by much. A great ending guitar onslaught. A great chorus too. 10/10

Terraplane Blues: A great Robert Johnson cover. 9/10

Save your Lovin (for me): Another great song 9.5/10

Drive Me Home: Sounds a little like the songs, but not bad 8.5/10

Take it or Leave it: A slower song with mostly keyboards. Not bad at all. 8.5/10

Overall, I rate this album as a 9.2/10 A classic album, and it sure beats the crap out of new rock and rap albums. I guess I'm behind the times, growing up in the 90's, but there's nothing better than 70s hard rock and roll.
Rock on!

on febuary 7 foghats lead singer lonesome dave died from a long battle with cancer i love there music it is straight ahead rock and roll long live foghat