J. Geils C/D

Notwithstanding the crazy list of demands, I find that whole story kind of endearing.

RIP.

http://www.wcvb.com/article/guitarist-known-as-j-geils-found-dead-in-massachusetts-home/9263211

RIP. It was always weird to me how he was like the fourth best known member of the band named after him. But a fine R&B guitarist.

RIP. It was always weird to me how he was like the fourth best known member of the band named after him. But a fine R&B guitarist.

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, April 11, 2017 7:46 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/j-geils-band-tour-2014/

got a real soft spot in my heart for the dragged-into-the-style "new wave" LP Love Stinks, gonna miss the dude

What Tipsy said. Wolf fronted the band, Justman co-wrote most of their songs, Magic Dick blew harp.... which left their namesake to play guitar, which he did really, really well.

In my youth I saw a double bill with Peter Frampton (basically doing the same show that would become Frampton Comes Alive) and then J. Geils. Frampton was a tough act to follow in those days, but Geils came out and kicked the party into overdrive. It occurs to me this was about the time Blow Your Face Out was recorded, so that was probably more or less the setlist that night. I'm listening to it tonight, for the first time in forever. RIP.

The Creem movie page on FB shared this color pic of Lester Bangs sitting w/Geils on typewriter (chronicled in his famous story for the magazine)

https://scontent-ort2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/53892589_2306825056273450_987309571422814208_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_ht=scontent-ort2-1.xx&oh=d8965bdc072a593d9eae3c79bbf39e20&oe=5D1510DD

Isn't that Tony Clifton?

Picked up a dollar bin copy of Bloodshot today, haven’t heard it since high school. Man, this is hitting every monkey nerve, such a fun record.

Was it a RED copy?

No, but it was a buck, and it’s pretty clean for the price.

Also picked up Foghat’s Energized and Richard Betts’ Highway Call, all high school faves, about seven bucks all told. Rockin’ out tonight!

That's a good haul. Energized bangs.

I've been curious about the red Bloodshot. I lucked into what looks like a clean black German audiophile press copy awhile back from somebody that didn't realize what it was for like $5.

I had the red one when it was new, but sold it when I went new wave. When I brought mine to the counter today the clerk said “is it red?” and I’m like “for a dollar?” I don’t think they’re particularly rare/valuable these days though.

Was listening to the extended Blow Your Face Out a couple days ago - man I wish I could have seen them live in the 70s.

Only saw them once, on that tour, as noted above. Memories are fuzzy but they totally brought the goods. I wish I had been as into them then as I am now.

That Live Houseparty Rockplast DVD Eagle Vision put out awhile back is terrific. An abridged Sanctuary-era performance.

Was interesting to read in the Replacements book Trouble Boys that Seth Justman was brought in to produce (I wanna say Pleased To Meet Me?) but got fed up after a single day and bolted the studio, the band chucking empty vodka bottles at him as he fled.

so here was a band that worked hard, a huge live act in several big markets, and ten years after it was signed to a major label had three indelible hits that everyone (maybe just white folks) under 70 and over 40 knows, and instead of producing a follow up with more hits, promptly broke up.

1. I picked up the Houseparty anthology from '93: it does not include "Come back," which am I or am I not correct in asserting is the fourth most famous cut they did? On one hand, I would think that since it's a Rhino comp, licensing cuts from their stint with Capitol is somewhat prohibitive, and they absolutely had to get the major shit from Freeze Frame and Love Stinks. On the other, it was a big single, played on MTV early on? alternately, maybe the band didn't like it, being that it is transparently a DOR bid for "Miss you/Do you think I'm sexy" $$$, and in the early 90s, that kinda shit was unfashionable.

2. But goddamn that song and "Flamethrower" and some other cuts from the late 70s GET DOWN, whereas the early 70s shit sounds too studious, too concerned with sounding exactly like, I dunno, Hank Ballard & the Midniters… not coincidentally Jon Landau repped hard for this band in RS and other spots, his agenda being artists should sound as much like Hank Ballard as possible: he approved of this band because they sounded like 50 R&B, the authentic essence of real rock and roll, notably moreso than the mainstream rock music he considered to have strayed too far from the verities of, again, real rock and roll… then of course his meal ticket entered his life…but he must have been real tight with the Geils guys, right? he certainly made it his business to buddy up to musicians who could be useful in advancing his interests.

3. Anybody who was around Boston or New England in the 70s: was there a Springsteen--ish hometown pride in the Geils band? They were big in Detroit and other midwestern markets, but were they a particularly big live draw in Boston, or like, Providence? It is often said that Aerosmith were disdained by many aesthetes for imitating the Stones too baldly (apparently Mick Jagger cannot fucking stand the fawning Steven Tyler) but is there something to Aerosmith ripping off the Geils band?

There was a lot of hometown pride for J. Giles around New England in the early 80s, moreso than Aerosmith who were clearly losing steam, as Joe Perry was off doing his solo stuff at Club Casino in Hampton Beach like every weekend if the ads I remember on AOR radio are to be believed. Hometown pride for The Cars and Billy Squire, too, but even less 'cause they didn't stick around. We were quite excited in my high school that J. Giles himself and one Asmith (was it Whitford?) had homes in the affluent town next door. We never saw them. Someone I knew tiled one of their bathrooms though. Encounters with greatness.

Peter Wolf lives in my neighborhood, and even though he's in his late 70's, you would never mistake for not being a rock star.

I've actually run into him in the local record store flipping through the new releases, and I got a bit self-conscious because J. Geils Band records are pretty plentiful and usually priced at like $2, but I imagine he's pretty used to clogging up the dollar bins.

Like true journeymen, they were lapped by an unbelievable range of their opening acts: Yes, Van Morrison, Billy Joel, Tom Petty, U2

https://www.concertarchives.org/bands/the-j-geils-band?page=7#concert-table

I heard that the J. Geils draw in Boston was big enough to fill large halls, just as Bob Seger was popular enough to fill big places in Detroit, and each would often ask the other to open up in their respective hometown to throw them some quick cash.

xxxp used to see Peter Wolf (and Tom Hamilton as well) on the reg at Newbury Comics in Harvard Square.

J. Geils were a huge point of pride in the Boston area. The classic “(Ain’t Nothin’ But A) Houseparty” riff was played all the time on TV as an ad for the preeminent classic rock station, WBCN. Wolf had been a famous DJ for them (before Geils, I believe). And after having been one of the biggest American live draws in the 70s, they had one of the more unlikely #1 records.

I think mention upthread but my 8th grade math teacher and basketball coach was super into them – he’s the one who got me into them and he had all their records. So I had to as well. They are def. my first “I’m obsessed with them” band.

30+ years later, I can still sing 85% of the lyrics to their songs (including the really oddball ones on Freeze Frame) and yet I’m still kind of routinely surprised at what a broad fucking career they had. In addition to a sneakily enormous stylistic range (yes, Stones and New Wave but also disco and prog), they have a ton of killer ballads and some very tasty playing, mostly from Magic Dick, Justman and Geils.

Perhaps most surprising is what a complete frontman Wolf turned out to be. There are definitely moments where the Woofa Goofa in the mid-70s can be a little too much to take, but the guy could move from macho Jagger-y growl to convincing white soul revue leader to sensitive balladeer pretty effortlessly.

If I thought we’d get more than 10 people, I’d run an artist poll on them on ILM. They really do deserve one.

Elvis T. was asking about vintage live clips upthread...I didn't know they did The Test in '73.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmSB2CZuDjI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S755FSgGEo0

"Looking For A Love" & "Floyd's Hotel"

Feel I should also add that as a tall, thin geriatric millennial who started having knee/leg problems in his late '30s, this is insanely painful music video to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwOzeaL08Gg

Wow thanks for those live clips. Impossible to not move after that

30+ years later, I can still sing 85% of the lyrics to their songs (including the really oddball ones on Freeze Frame)

Yeah this bit from “Insane Insane Again” just popped into my head, as it does about once a week: open fire, shell shock, knee jerk, lock step, shrink wrap, clap trap, mind bend, echo send, chicken coop, drug soup, nerve food, solitude, back track, meat rack, cardiac yakety yak