S/T
Heavy Metal Kids
ATCO, 1974
Track list:
Side One
1. Hangin' On
2. Ain't It Hard
3. It's The Same
4. Run Around Eyes
5. We Gotta Go
Side Two
1. Always Plenty of Women
2. Nature Of My Game
3. Kind Woman
4. Rock N Roll Man
5. We Gotta Go (Reprise)
Los Angeles is such a fucked up place. We've had some seriously legendary radio stations and record stores...but LA has that well worn reputation for not only lacking history, but preferring to bury it. I picked up this KMET play copy at Aron's Records, apparently at some cosmic intersection of tradition and obsolescence. Sad face.
There's a handwritten description on the back of the jacket, yet another idea once common and now missing, "combination of Humble Pie + Silverhead"...which sums up what you're getting in this record better than my ramblings could hope to. This is some serious British Boogie Rock, with singer Gary Holton doing his best to channel Steve Mariott/Paul Rodgers and the band bouncing around from Glam to Blues Riffs. There's some solid, backable jams like "Hangin' On" and "Nature Of My Game". And then there is a horrible reggae(?!?) sounding ballad, "Run Around Eyes" that should be played for every college student with an acoustic guitar. It would be like holding up a mirror to their Sublime-covering soul, the brutal honesty shaming them in to never attempting to filter a style built on reefer, sunshine, and poverty through their hands again. Put down the Bob Marley records, Chad...you just aren't getting it.
Legendary/Tragic Aspect: Singer Gary Holton died of a morphine/alcohol overdose in 1985.
Check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KMET_(FM)
Availabilty: Easy to find on CD and Vinyl.
RIYL: Humble Pie, Boogie Rock, Sweet, Free, Sam Velde, England
