The Climax Blues Band

Live @ the Brewery in East Lansing

1973

To be truthful I had not known much about the Climax Blues Band when I sauntered back into my favorite club. At that point, I had been attending MSU for three years and had checked out all the clubs. I loved seeing the Woolies at Lizards and I saw Byrds front man Roger McGuinn @ a small bourgeois chain of clubs known as the Coral Gables but I always preferred the Brewery. It had more of a working class feel and the price for beer was reasonable. I had nothing better to do so I hooked up with my best buddy “the Nabber” and made it to the how on time. After several beers and an opening act I cannot remember, Climax Blue Band took the stage. The lead guitarist and singer Peter Haycock wad the focal point. He could play guitar like ringing a bell – straight up 12 bar blues with or without the slide, hard rock, boogie, country, pop – he could do it all. He was just a sprite of a man, the rest of the group towered over him. The bassist Derek Holt kept a strong bottom and he was a great harmony singer while Colin Cooper blew a mean sax and he could sing leads with his smooth supple baritone. They opened the show with the sultry and sensuous All the Time in the World. It is a mid-tempo rocker that is a mature statement about sex and love – a masterpiece that should have been a #1 hit – only it went on for six minutes. I Am Constant followed. It is a pop-oriented ode to honesty

I Am Constant

As the morning star
Shines out of the sky
And I am constant
Never knowing if it's

Truth that's in your eyes,
As unchanging as the rivers flow,
But heaven knows I've tried
Rearranging different music

But still the same inside
I am constant...
I am constant
As the morning star

Shines down from above
And I am truthful
But who knows the truth
When jokers fall in love

Dust and ashes take the best of us
But what goes on before
Superficial as humanity
When people go to war

I am constant...
I am you...yes I am...

They followed with Flight an extended jazz/blues jam with a unique interplay between the lead guitar, bass, keyboard and saxophone. It meandered a bit but it allowed the musician to stretch out and get down. The band went back to their origins with a knockout version of Willie Dixon’s masterpiece Seventh Son. Standing by the River and So Many Roads are a back-to back blues rockers that pay homage to the bands early influences. The use the 12-bar format to stretch out and jam with Haycock’s brilliant guitar work and extended keyboard and saxophone flourishes. It was during this extended jam that I got up and danced in front of the band pulling up my smiley face tee shirt over my head and bouncing around like a happy lunatic. They didn’t seem to notice and as I continued to listen to the band and appreciate their great music I felt just like a fool. The leader Colin Cooper takes the vocals on the upbeat rocker You Make Me Sick. Haycock ripped it up with some brilliant slide work.

At this point of the show, they performed Shake Your Love, a hit on our college radio station. I loved the rawness and the heat of this lurid tale of sex and debauchery. It has a speeded up Bo Diddley beat and screaming harp that is deliciously primal. The lyrics don’t hold anything back

Mama mama when you hear me call

It’s time to rock and it’s time to ball

Can be rough so hold on tight

We gonna shake some love tonight

Gonna shake some love tonight

Gonna jump and shout, gonna scratch and bite

Gonna Shake your love tonight

Rolly Polly jump the gun

We’ll keep on shaking till the morning come

I can tell by the look in your eyes

You just won the super prize

Up and down and in and out

I’m gonna show you what it’s all about

You don’t need your high class friends

Cos  I’m gonna shake your love again\

The show ended with Wilbert Harrison’s magnificent peace and brotherhood anthem Let’s Work Together - a perfect closer. Last time I heard about the Climax Blue band they had a radio hit with Couldn’t Get it Right, not a bad song but it had nowhere near the power and artistry of the songs they performed at the Brewery in 1973. By the mid-eighties Colin Cooper was the only member left from that classic lineup in 1973.  Through the ensuing years Peter Haycock was involved in several projects including a tour with a re-formatted Electric Light Orchestra. But in 1973 he was on top of his game, a real master of the art of blues based rock & roll. 

Badfinger Live @ The Brewery

Badfinger in 1974

Live @ the Brewery in East Lansing

Badfinger is one of my all-time favorite bands. I have a bitter sweet memory of their great live performances and uneven yet compelling recorded body of work. Dan Matovina authored a definitive history of the band in 1997 entitles Without You; The Tragic Story of Badfinger. Mantovina weaves a masterful tale of this star crossed band that deserved more than it ever got. The villain proved to be Badfinger’s manager Stan Polley who controlled the band’s finance and set them up with near subsistence wages while collecting 30% of the gross receipts. It was criminal. But I never realized the financial burden Badfinger lived under during their recording and touring heyday.

I attended my first Badfinger concert in December 1970 @ the Midland High School gymnasium. One of the deejays  Scott  Seeburger, a precocious teenage wunderkind deejay who operated a unlicensed public access radio station in the basement of his parent’ home ala Wayne and Garth in Wayne’s World. It was a great show. The opener was Michigan rocker Third Power. They did a rockin’ set that included their version of Little Drummer Boy. It was a good warm up for what happened next. Badfinger hit the stage to a mild response. They looked awkward, a bit shy with no electrifying pop star stage presence. They opened with a rousing version of I Can’t Take It and proceeded to play almost the entire No Dice LP including  kick-ass versions of No Matter What and Waterford John. Molland’s compositions Love Me Do and Better Days were a counterpoint to Ham’s more melodic songs. Ham’s poignant reading of We’re For the Dark was a perfect illustration of his sense of melody and lyricism. Pete Ham’s Voice was incredible. He possessed a four octave range that could reach way down low and then hit the stratosphere. His country tinged Blodwyn got a mild response for a crowd that seemed to prefer rock & roll. Badfinger reached back to their eponymous debut LP with Crimson Ship (about Paul McCartney), Midnight Sun – another great mid-tempo rocker penned by Ham. The band closed the show with Rock of Ages breathlessly sung  by bassist Tom Evans. It was stunning working-class performance without any frills or pretension, just good music.

 I continued to follow Badfinger throughout the next four years culminating in another great Badfinger performance in 1974 in my final year at Michigan State University. In my four years there, I became a regular at the Brewery in East Lansing. It was the most important venue on campus. It was just a bar but the folks at the Brewery were true believers. In my last two years in town I attended shows by Joe Walsh & Barnstorm, the Climax Blues Band, and the glorious Rory Gallagher. I will write up review of those incredible gigs as well so stay tuned.

As I waited for Badfinger to hit the stage I noticed that there weren’t any roadies setting up the equipment.  The band was doing their own set-up. I got the gumption and wallowed my fear and approached Badfinger drummer Mike Gibbins. We talked about Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run – Gibbins opined “that’s a good one” a well as their latest disc Badfinger and I praised several songs including Give it Up and Andy Norris – two hard rockers penned by Joey Molland, Gibbin’s Why Don’t We Talk and Pete Ham’s funky Matted Spam. I was pumped!

After an extended and loud sound check Badfinger took the stage. They opened with Molland singing Only You Know and I Know (penned by Dave Mason) and proceeded to rock hard and loud with a triumvirate of songs from their ASS LP -Constitution, Blind Owl and Timeless.  This was not the Badfinger I saw in 1970. They were much louder, so loud that I yelled at them to turn it down. People around me told me to “shut up.” I did. And I got use to the volume as the show progressed   It was apparent that they were no longer the Beatlesque mop-tops from 1970. They updated their sound and the dynamic interplay and the harmonic leads between guitarists Molland and Ham was astonishing, inspired.  It was apparent that Badfinger had been listening to the twin lead harmonics of the Allman Brothers and was able to incorporate it into their power pop-oriented framework.  Molland seemed to be at the front and center of this phase of Badfinger, assuming more of the spotlight with his hard rocking tunes.  He contributed the raucous Give it Up, Feelin’ Alright (another Mason song), Suitcase and Andy Norris. Pete Ham was still the putative leader and he commanded attention whenever he sang with his rich, full range tenor. He contributed a rock hard versions of Name of the Game, I Can’t Take It,  Day After Day,  and Take it All. It was a masterful performance. I left feeling that Badfinger was at the top of their game and had a bright future ahead of them. Instead it all fell apart. Badfinger’s tragic end was one of the most inglorious chapters in a corrupt music industry. They deserved better.