Customer Reviews

Highway Song: Live

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
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This is one of the better live recordings ever released. The band is tight and well polished through out this recording. Starting out with the blistering "Gimmie, Gimmie, Gimmie" and heading into the pulsating "Every Man Should Know" this recording captures the energy and passion that Blackfoot put into every one of the shows they played. The guitar players intermingle lead licks without missing a beat. Speaking of beats, Jackson "Thunderfoot" Spires provides a solid back bone to all the songs on this disc. "Highway Song" and "Train Train" plus "Fly Away" are the songs that really stand out. I wish the band had included "On the Run" from "Tomcattin" on the record, but other than that omission, all of Blackfoots best material is represented on this disc. This band will probably never re-unite which is a shame, because they are of the best to ever grace the rock and roll stage. Buy this recording! It is awesome

BLACKFOOT IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE HARD ROCK BANDS LIKE
WHITESNAKE, UFO, MOTORHEAD, THIN LIZZY WERE BIG IN EUROPE
BUT ONLY SMALL FOLLOWING IN USA. RADIO AND MTV JUST DIDN'T
PLAY THEM BUT FUNNY THEY ARE ALL AS POPULAR AS EVER! WHERE
ARE ALL THE MINDLESS GARBAGE FROM THE 80'S? GONE! HIGHWAY
SONG LIVE IS ONE OF THE TOP TEN LIVE ALBUMS OF ALL TIME.
IT REMINDS ME OF SAXON OR UFO OR MOTORHEAD LIVE. BRILLIANT.
THE SONG SELECTION, THE PLAYING, THE CROWD THE WILDMAN RICK
MEDLOCKE MAKES YOU FEEL YOU ARE THERE! IF YOU NEVER HEAR
THEM AND LIKE GREAT 80'S HARD ROCK BUY THIS NOW!!!!!!!!!

HIGHWAY SONG is a great live album by the original lineup of Blackfoot. The versions here are a little rawer than the classic studio versions- a bit TOO raw, perhaps- but this recording is good enough to make you wonder why it wasn't released in the United States in 1982.

Well what can you say if you saw these guys back in day I dont need to rehash the not very well known fact that this was one of the most stompin bands you could ever catch in concert and this disc is an improvement over flower hour.As with most bands this might not be the best place to start if you dont know any of their stuff but even if you buy this before their studio stuff just put it on, sit back, crank it up and enjoy.

This "Live" Recording is all doctored up. Dont get me wrong. I Love Blackfoot and some of these versions of the songs are better than the studio records. BUT, when listening to Dry County, there are 2 guitars panned left and right with a solo line played after each vocal line during the verses, so unless they had 3 lead guitarists in that performance....5 stars for a great album!

Short and sweet: If you like blistering, buttkicking rock and roll ... in massive doses ... this is the album for you. If "Train, Train" isn't one of the best rock and roll songs ever written, well, I guess it's time to give up on music. This album rocks that's all there is to it. Buy it. Enjoy it. This is rock and roll at it finest.

Train Train and Highway song alone make this cd worth buying.The overall transfer to cd is great.If you like blackfoot this album captures them at their best.Wounded Bird did a great job on this one and also vertical smiles is just as good.......

Plan and simple one of the greatest live rock records ever!! Train Train and Highwaysong are blistering, Rick, Greg ,Jakson and Charlie PLEASE REUNITE FOR ONE LAST TOUR !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to start my review by stating that I am an early and long time fan of Blackfoot since their earliest days playing the clubs in northern NJ. They were clearly the best of a number of excellent bands playing in our area throughout the 70's and I probably saw them play 30 or 40 times over those years, everything from being the opening act (and blowing off the stage)the original Moutain (Leslie, Felix,Corky and Steve Knight)and other local concerts to playing the many shot and beer bars that were their real bread and butter in those days. They would play often to a crowd of 50 people a night (or less). One local NJ club (The Final Exam) had Blackfoot every Thursday night for about a year as I remember, but on to this album.

This album captures their power and skill as musicians better than any other.One listen to "Good Morning" shows how tight and powerful this band was. If you like good metal (old school) or southern rock with killer power, don't miss this CD. It is great. The recording was done using the Rolling Stones Mobile truck and is one of the best live albums you will ever hear from that period. Huge drum and bass sound with Jackson and Greg locked perfectly.Charlie's leads are incredibaly fluid and melodic and Rickey's vocals and slide playing for me, is better than anything from that era.What are you waiting for!!!!

Note: Take a pass on another Blackfoot live CD that was recorded a few years later for a King Bisquet Flower Hour show. At that point they had Ken Hensley in the band but neither the performance or the poor recording quality comes close to energy of "Highway Song Live".

In 1982 Britain was invaded by four men from Jacksonville, U.S.A. Like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, those four desperadoes of Blackfoot swept across the British Isles taking all before them. This Dog was lucky enough to take them on at Newcastle City Hall, where part of this recording came from. Until that night I had heard of Southern Rock, and was the proud owner of several 'Lynyrd Skynyrd' albums. I had seen them blow my beloved `Rolling Stones' off the stage at Knebworth, and then touring as support with `Golden Earring'. I had seen 'The Skynyrd' just about finish off the career of the Dutch band. I mean how do you follow `Freebird'?

But on that dark and windy day in Geordie Land (man, it blows a gale up there, freezing my Southern English bones to the core) seeing Blackfoot in the flesh, whipping the notoriously difficult to please Newcastle crowd into a frenzy, made me understand what it was all about. Attitude. Before I met Blackfoot I thought Jack Daniel's was the President of Texas (well, I got that bit right); Snakebites were what you got from angry Anacondas; pussy was an affectionate name for next door's moggy; and Tai-Wan, Tai-Pai, and Thailand were all the same place. It was also about that time that I realized how much my parents had learned in between me being 14 and 21. (I just hope my young daughter learns that her parents cannot actually be as stupid as she thinks). Blackfoot were the band that made a generation of Geordies grow their hair long, wear Cowboy boots, start drinking alcohol other than Newcastle Brown Ale, and realize there was a Rock 'n' Roll world out there aside from `The Animals' and `Lindisfarne'. In other words it was an education, a privilege, and a revelation to see these guys go about their business. You knew it was going to be a special night when you arrived at the City Hall to see the Blackfoot tour bus outside emblazoned down one side, in big red letters, was the legend `Liquor in the Front and Poker in the Back'.

As soon as Blackfoot hit the stage they owned the place. Unlike the neutron bomb this bunch knocks the building flat and leaves the people standing stunned in awe. There was no warning. They just hit the stage, plugged in, and mugged you.

In the middle of the stage was the huge Ricky Medlocke - part redneck, part God - as he belted out the lead vocals ripping solos out of his axe with the venom mixed with joy only a man completely in charge of his Karma can do. Next to him sharing lead guitar duties (there was no rhythm guitar in Blackfoot, definitely two lead guitars) was Charlie `Daddy Long Legs` Hargrett, high stepping out to the edge of the stage to grin, nod, and leer at the bewitched rabble. All out of our seats, drunk on the heady intoxicating cocktail of Rock 'n' Roll, Blackfoot was letting us have.

As with all good bass players the most sinister member of the band was the silent, but deadly Greg T. Walker, who locked each song down with his gut wrenching bass. Then behind the bins was Jakson 'Thunderfoot` Spires, and if you really need to find out why he was called Thunderfoot, just listen to opening song 'Gimme, Gimme, Gimme', and you know.

When you're around these dogs you do not want to come out with silly words. So if you need to say anything spell it like B.A.L.L.A.D.S., because there is nothing like that in this band's repertoire. This is music to rock out to, let your hair down, and let go - enjoy yourself. The music has more teeth and venom than a pit full of rattlers and once you've been bitten you never want to find the antidote. Do not expect any words of wisdom in the lyrics, it's all about being on the road, drinking, passion, sinning, and having a real good time. All of `Blackfoot's best songs are on this disc, on what has to be the `livest' recording ever released, the audience becoming the fifth member of the band. The final two songs of the set 'Train Train' and 'Highway Song' (Blackfoot's own version of `Freebird') clocking in at 15 minutes, are unstoppable and impossible to follow, leaving the Geordie fans singing the Newcastle anthem `Howay the Lads` to their new found heroes.

Wounded Bird Records have finally got the rights to release this album worldwide. Amazingly it was only given a limited release back in 1982 as a British first-time round on vinyl, but it has finally been released on C.D. and a very good job Wounded Bird have done with the production. It still sounds as fresh as if it was recorded yesterday. A must have for any serious lover of Rock 'n' Roll.

Of course it was too good to last, but that tour in 1982 Blackfoot's only headlining tour of Britain will remain in the minds of all that were lucky enough to see them. Ricky Medlocke has now joined his brothers in the re-formed `Lynyrd Skynyrd' while his old band mates play under the banner of `The Southern All Stars', America's version of `Pop's Pattaya all Stars'. Get some Blackfoot, we are unlikely to see their like again.
By Mott the Dog
Edited by Ella Crew