Customer Reviews

Live

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

...THE SENSATIONAL...ALEX HARVEY...BOND! So begins LIVE (after the Intro) with a pulsating FAITH HEALER. This wonderful, mesmerizing live document should be anyone's first choice for this entertaining band. As others have noted, their studio recordings merely hint at the excitement they generated onstage. Here are all definitive versions of their best: TOMAHAWK KID, VAMBO and a hilarious FRAMED. Too bad more live stuff wasn't recorded for release but you cannot go wrong here. TURN UP THE VOLUME AND ENJOY

Vambo rules! If you're into crazy music, ranging from almost soul like sounds to pure rock, mingled with the best guitar solo's you've ever heard: buy this one! And the voice of Alex is as complex as you will ever hear: Scottish sounding English with broad American hints. A guess where he really came from.

If you are thinking about Bowie, well ...almost. Zappa? Close. SAHB rules.

It's a gas, folks, hey hey

Take one powerful voice and blend with four seasoned musicians to create a dynamic live stage performance. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band is undoubtably one of the finest live acts to be recorded and are in my top five which include the Allman Brothers "Live at the Fillmore East", Lou Reeds "Rock & Roll Animal", Wishbone Ash "Live Dates" and Genesis "Live (the early 70's album with Peter Gabriel).
From the opening "Fanfare" and the Alex's introduction, this band dives into the classic "Faith Healer" and you're hooked. Hugh McKennas keyboard and Zal Cleminsons guitar wizardry trade licks back and forth with ther solid tandem of Chris Glenn (bass) and Ted McKenna (drums) grinding it out.
The Tomahawk Kid has got to be one of the best rock songs written for a live concert. Close your eyes and you can imagine the high seas scuttlebutt only Robert Louis Stevenson could have penned when he wrote Treasure Island. The song is melodic as well as energetic and Harveys voice alternates beautifully. Great back-up vocals round out a terrific rhythym.
Vambo rools!!!!!! The SAHB standard brought to life from the "Impossible Dream" album. Cleminsons guitar work is brilliant.
"Give my Compliments to the Chef" begins as a gutsey blues tune and renders itself a hard rock gem. The band gives its all and comes back to deliver Tom Jones "Delilah" and Leiber & Stollers halarious redition of "Framed". I guess you'd have to be there but this is as close as you can hope to get if you didn't get the chance to see them live.
This is a must for any live concert lover and is like fine Scotch Whiskey. The older it gets the better it is.

If you ever needed a good starting point with the SAHB, this is it, live, no safety net or overdubs, just 5 colorful personalities weaving stories of superheroes, Tomohawk Kids and much more! Onstage this band delivered the goods!

Musically, it rocks hard, guitarist Zal Cleminson's appropriately snarly guitar helps weave the tales (ya gotta love a lead guitarist that looks like the Caesar Romero Joker on Batman!), while tart keyboards and a thunderous rhythm section hold you spellbound. "The Faith Healer" is a great chilling, opening with its throbbing synth and Alex demanding t let him put his hands on you. "Vambo" just grabs you by the throat as Alex tells the story of a superhero that's a cross between Spiderman and Santa Claus. The cover of "Delilah" is great hilarious high-camp, while "Tomohawk Kid" brings on flashbacks to reading "Treasure Island".

Tight ensemble playing and a spirit of unabashed fun make this disc a must have.

Unfortunately, I was unable to see this band live. My one opportunity was in Philly, but the band cancelled. I believe I read that Alex was suffering from exhaustion at the time. This live album is fabulous and I never get tired of listening to it. The band is real tight and the sound quality is top notch. Most people I know have never even heard of the SAHB. It's their loss, believe me. This album is high on my all-underrated list and I can only hope that some live tape is found sometime so I can actually see them in some way, shape, or form.

One of my favorite live albums of all time. If you aren't jumping up and turning the volume switch to high (or using your remote) by the time "Faith Healer" is about 30 seconds in, you're either dead or a pansy that should be spinning discs by J-Lo or some other phony. This is the stuff! "Faith Healer" and "Vambo" just kick the doors in heavy duty with blazing guitar work by Zal Cleminson and some pretty sweet keyboard and synth licks to boot. If you've already been hooked on some of the SAHB's studio stuff but have yet to catch them live, grab this. It won't disappoint. It'll only make you mad that the guy is dead and you'll never EVER get the chance to see this musical genius live and up close. And THAT really depresses me...

Great CD. A must have in any collection of ANY music..

Ah, the 1975 release of the Live Sensational Alex Harvey Band!
I remember buying this album back then and I still can't let it
get too far away from my turntable. These guys had their own act.
I never got to see them live but DID see them on TV on "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert" and I think it was from this same tour. From the opening chords of "Faith Healer"(my favorite)and into "Tomahawk Kid" right on through the rest of the tunes this album rocks, is entertaining and has excellent sound quality for a live album. If you like alternate non-commercial rock from the mid '70's get your hands on this album! Give My Compliments To The Band and all who recorded and produced this album. Another good one by them is "The Impossible Dream" studio release from the same era. VAMBO RULES!!

Growing up in Philly in 1975, this was the second concert I ever went to, first one I got stoned at. Alex Harvey was the ultimate band live. The guitarist was excellent in addition to being a mine. He played behind alex and provided the comic relief through out the show. If you ever wondered what the lead guitarist is thinking behind the singer's back, all you had to do is watch this guy. As far as the music goes, it's crunchy bluesy rock growled by dear dear Alex. The classic's are here: Vamboo, the urban legend to the rescue. Alex would start the song with a big old dusty book and start to read. He would then spray paint the stage VAMBOO and the song would begin. It ends with framed. Alex screaming "I WAS FRAAAAMMMMED......."

Man,everyone has already said all there is to say about this album,but my two cents here:essential! I bought it,now YOU should. It's a real, LIVE rock album from the 70's...no B.S. on this release. Alex Harvey truly was one in a million.
Again,buy this CD.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band had a hardcore following in the U.S., and "rustbelt" cities like Cleveland, Ohio - at the Agora nightclub - were frequent stops for the group.

The band was known for great live shows, with the vocals of Harvey capturing the storytelling found in the blues and R&B, along with the crisp guitar of Clem Cleminson - his face painted in clown makeup - and the heavy bass of Chris Glen. The drums and keyboards were played by Ted and Hugh McKenna.

The CD captures the band in 1975 when they were actually receiving a domestic push from the record company. A tour date was recorded for future airing on FM rock stations and the band made an appearance on the popular Don Kirshner's Rock Concert.

Live aptly demonstrates the energy the band had before an audience. After the introduction - Fanfare - the SAHB tears into Faith Healer and Tomahawk Kid. Harvey is in fine form when singing about the urban superhero, Vambo, and keeps the set smoking hot with Give My Compliments to the Chef. But it is just the entree to the main course.

The band plays a bluesy rendition of Delilah - a SAHB hit single in England, following the success with the song by Tom Jones - with Harvey playing the role of the down-and-out urban dweller, whose luck may have run out, in Framed.

Harvey never wandered away from his musical roots and his stage presence heard 30-plus years later still sounds great. Live was a fitting tribute to a band who made their live dates something special for the fans.