Although often lumped in with the Glam Rock movers and shakers of the early to mid-70s, Alex Harvey was simply a law unto himself. Born in a tough part of Glasgow, he cut his teeth on the Skiffle boom and Dixieland jazz and was even being styled as a budding Scottish Tommy Steele in the cultural void that was Britain before The Beatles.
During the '60s, Harvey was in college in London and worked in theatre, his CV including a credit as part of the pit band providing the soudtrack for the London production of the crossover hit 'Hair'. He was gradually seduced by rock'n'roll and - demonstrating a knack for under-statement - formed The Sensational Alex Harvey Band with guitarist Zal Cleminson, bassist Chris Glen, keyboard player Hugh McKenna and his cousin Ted on drums.
And, for a couple of years, the SAHB were one of the most bitchin' bands to tread the boards. The group were tight, drilled and heavy; Harvey's overgrown Dennis The Menace persona ensured he would morph into one of the most compelling performers of the age and their first two albums 'Framed' (1972) and 'Next' (1973) provided a breath of likeably foul rock'n'roll air at a time when double-necked guitars and sleeves by Roger Dean ruled the roost.
'Live At The BBC', then, presents SAHB in their natural environment: playing for the crowds and the cameras and whipping up the proverbial storm. Sure, some of it's simply no-nonsense heads-down boogie ('Hole In Her Stocking', 'Giddy Up A Ding Dong') and at times it's about as PC as a Nuremberg Rally ('Gang Bang') but well, they were different times and -at their best – SAHB sure could deliver the frentically-charged goods and take on the best of them.
With the selections coming pretty much exclusively from 'Framed' and 'Next', CD1 contains most of the really incendiary stuff. 'Midnight Moses' – SAHB'S very own 'Back Door Man' – leads off and the excitement's palpable, with the band kicking up an exquisite racket and Alex even getting away with rhyming “fever” with “Geneva”. Nuff respect. Further bawdy highlights like 'St. Anthony' and the bizarre ragtime refrains of 'No Lights On The Christmas Tree Mother, They're Burning Big Louie Tonight' follow through in its' wake and the album peaks with a tremendously eerie and powerful version of 'Faith Healer': still arguably Harvey's most resonant song to this day.
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Primarily, the band's function is to rock hard and Cleminson often plays with a dirty power akin to The Stooges' James Williamson. Harvey's theatrical bent often lurks in the wings, though, and he gives full vent to it on songs like 'Last Of The Teenage Idols' with its' surprising, Shangri-La's-style refrain and a remarkable version of Jacques Brel's 'Next'. OK, it's not quite as great as Scott Walker's, but I can't imagine many mid-70s acts relishing the chance to regale a BBC audience with a tune about gonorrhea.
There is a distinct let-up in intensity on the second CD, which is mostly made up from Whistle Test performances from 1975 – '77. Both the SAHB'S biggest hits, 'Delilah' and 'Boston Tea Party' are featured, though it beggars belief that both made the Top 10. 'Delilah' is indeed the Tom Jones one and comes with waltz-time choruses and more than a touch of Berthold Brecht about it, while the, er, historical 'Boston Tea Party' is also unorthodox to say the least. 'Pick It Up And Kick It' and 'Smouldering', though, suggest the sponge was beginning to be squeezed dry and indeed Harvey would shortly leave the band for pastures new. By the sound of these songs, he clearly knew Punk was about to eat his band alive.
Harvey survived the fallout of Punk and tried his hand with a new outfit, The Electric Cowboys at the turn of the 1980s. Sadly, his story was curtailed when he suffered two fatal heart attacks on a ferry travelling from Zeebrugge while on tour during 1982 and while his best work was probably behind him, the music scene certainly lost one of its' most colourful and larger-than-life characters as a result. 'Live At The BBC' is a timely reminder of his creative peak and is well worth snapping up along with the twofer of 'Framed' and 'Next' still doing the rounds at budget price.
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