J.GEILS BAND Original Album Series (5-CD)

The J. Geils Band

(You Are My) Leanin Tree

The J. Geils Band

Homework

The area around Boston wasn't exactly a blues rock stronghold, but the J. Geils Band did their best to change that. The group was founded in the mid-1960s by guitarist John Geils, bassist Danny 'Dr. Funk' Klein and bluesharpist Richard Salwitz, who performed under the challenging stage name Magic Dick, originally as an acoustic blues formation. Complemented by drummer Stephen Jo Bladd, lead singer Peter Wolf and organist Seth Justman, they soon moved to the electric camp.

In 1970 the J. Geils Band signed with Atlantic Records and released their debut album of the same name. From the beginning the guys showed a good taste in the selection of their cover songs, mostly unknown blues and soul songs. This first LP featured new recordings of Big Walter Price's Fair And Square pack, the cunning Motown-jewel First I Look At The Purse by the Contours, Albert Collins' frosty instrumental title Sno-Cone and Homework, originally released in 1962 on the only single Duke Records from Houston by left-handed Chicago guitarist Otis Rush. Written by Rush, the Duke/Peacock promotion man Dave Clark and singer Al Perkins (who recorded his own version for U.S.A. Records in the mid-60s), the song should have been a career springboard for Rush, but obviously had the reverse effect.

"I was under contract to Duke for five years. I got a record out of them," says Rush. "That was a shame, five years. These people mostly wanted to bind the artists to themselves and take them out of circulation. Record them and put them away. "There was no control in the music world."

J. Geil's band fared much better with Atlantic. This debut already reached the lower ranks of the charts in early 1971, and the band continuously improved their placements afterwards: Later in the year with their second LP'The Morning After' (from which their first chart single was released, a remake of Looking For A Love by the Valentinos),'Live - Full House' 1972 (recorded in Detroit, where the band was particularly popular) and 1973'Bloodshot'.

The group celebrated their greatest success after switching to EMI America and swapping their bar-band roots for a more modern rock style. Their single Centerfold reached the top of the hit parade in early 1982 and Freeze-Frame reached number 4 shortly afterwards (the'Freeze-Frame' LP topped the album charts and achieved platinum status). Wolf went his own way in 1983, but the band lasted until 1985, mostly with Justman on the microphone. Since then the band got together from time to time; Geils and Magic Dick dedicated themselves to their blues roots again in the early 90s in a formation called Bluestime.

Various - Electric Blues

Plug It In! Turn It Up! Vol.4 Electric Blues 1970 - 2005 (Deutsch)

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