I’ll admit to The Harvey’s being one of my favourite bands since I was at school. Having their logo emblazoned on my school bag. They were formed in Glasgow in ’72 by bringing Alex together with the hard rocking band Tear Gas. It was a mix of theater and killer tunes. They were always painting pictures with the stories that were told. They were insultingly compared to Alice Cooper, as the journo’s could not pin them down, and he was the nearest visually to what they were doing.
Starting off with the excellent Dance To Your Daddy, then things move up a few gears with one of my favourite SAHB tunes, Amos Moses. Killer riff and epic groove, and Zal letting loose on the guitar. Worth the price of admission alone kiddies! Jungle Rub Out is next, and in typical SAHB fashion, we take a little left turn musically where Alex is doing his best lounge lizard impression before the heavy chorus kicks in. Side 1 ends with Sirocco, the most unusual track on the album, a slow middle eastern meets blues/jazz crossover.
Side 2 begins with the one SAHB track that everyone should have heard of, Boston Tea Party. Top 20 in the charts, and rightly so – it is a great track. It wasn’t their highest single chart placing – that would be a cover of Delilah. Sultans Choice is next up and a great riff from Zal announces its arrival. It’s just an old rock n roll tune updated somewhat. The rock funk of 25$ For A Massage slides on in, and is another killer tune with a great groove. The last track on the album would also be the heaviest track the band would put on record – the fantastic Dogs Of War. What an end to the album! That huge riff and the lyric about mercenaries.
Released in ’76, it still holds up well and I still play it often.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
