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Sensational Alex Harvey Band returns 2004
I was in two minds about going to this gig and revisiting my memories of the great SAHB gigs I saw during the 70s. I’d seen a SAHB gig advertised at a pub in Felling and couldn’t quite believe the band had reformed without Alex. I didn’t go to that gig, but when I saw the band were touring in 2004 I couldn’t resist in the end. David was studying in Leeds at the time, and I’d already been to the Roscoe with him once to see the Groundhogs, so we decided to go along. The new band line up was the original SAHB band (Zal Cleminson guitar, Chris Glen bass, Hugh McKenna keyboards, and Ted McKenna drums), with the brave Max Maxwell on vocals and stepping into the big man’s shoes. The place was completely packed and the band got a great reception. Max did his own take on the songs, rather than trying to recreate Alex’s personna, which was probably the best way to approach it. Zal still had the make up. They played all the favourites that night. A live CD Zalvation: Live in the 21st Century was released a couple of years later, and includes the following tracks: Faith Healer; Midnight Moses; Swampsnake; Next; Isobel Goudie; Framed; Give My Compliments To The Chef; Man In The Jar; Hammer Song; Action Strasse; Vambo; Boston Tea Party; Delilah. The set that night was similar. It was good to see the old songs played again, and Max did a great job. But for me the night was tinged with sadness for the great man for wasn’t there and yet was as much there as any of us. PS note the typo on the ticket 🙂

SAHB without Alex Redcar Coatham Bowl 1977
In early 1977 Alex Harvey was busy producing an album Alex Harvey Presents: The Loch Ness Monster. The album is spoken word, apart from a very short track at the end, and features Alex interviewing locals and an eye witness about Nessy. The album is now very rare and quite sought after. While he was bust tracking down Nessy the rest of the band decided to record their own album and went on tour to promote. Several of the tracks on the album were instrumentals, and on those tracks which had vocals they were handled bu Hugh McKenna, Ted McKenna and Zal. Alex does not appear on the album, but he is pictured on the back tied up and gagged while the other four members sing into a microphone. A group of us went to Redcar on a Sunday night to see SAHB (without Alex), as they were billed. The gig was good and featured tracks from Fourplay. I remember hoping they would play some SAHB songs, but I guess I knew that wasn’t going to happen. Set list: Smouldering; Chase it into the night; Jungle Rub Out; Big Boy; Outer Boogie; Love You for a Lifetime; Young and Rich (a Tubes number); Stay (a Bowie number); Pick it up and kick it; Too much American Pie; Theme from King Kong. Encore: Zal’s Riff.

The New Alex Harvey Band Newcastle City Hall 1980
The last time I saw Alex Harvey in concert was at Newcastle City Hall in January 1980. Alex left SAHB in 1977, after their performance at the Reading Festival. He released a solo album, The Mafia Stole my Guitar, in 1979. This gig was announced at relatively short notice, with very little publicity. I went with Marie, unsure as to what to expect. The concert was very poorly attended with the crowd filling only the front section of the stalls. There can’t have been more than 200 people there. I read that at a gig at his home venue Glasgow Apollo the night before, they were giving tickers away in the street to try to fill the venue. Alex was dressed in a white jacket, black shirt and white tie; very much the gangster image. His band featured Matthew Cang on guitar, Simon Charterton on drums, Tommy Eyre (who had been a member of SAHB in the last days) on keyboards, Gordon Seller on bass and veteran sax and horns player Don Weller. The set was a mix of tracks from the new album and a few old favourites (Midnight Moses, Framed, Delilah I think) plus a couple of covers: Shaking All Over, and Just a Gigolo feature on the album, but I also recall Alex playing a couple of other older standards. As a performance it was ok, but I had the grandeur and madness of SAHB in my mind, and I’m afraid this didn’t compare to Alex’s past glories. A couple of years later Alex sadly passed away as a result of a heart attack after a gig in Belgium. He was 47. We will never see the like of Alex again. He was larger than life, crazy, without fear, and for a few short years SAHB were the best live act on the circuit, and were one of the bands who laid the foundations for the punk revolution which was to follow. Vambo Rool.

Sensational Alex Harvey Band on tour 1976
SAHB toured again in May 1976. I have a programme for the tour, which I think must have come from The Who concert that I attended at Charlton at the end of May 1976. SAHB shared the bill, headlined by The Who, with Little Feat, The Outlaws and Roger Chapman’s Streetwalkers. I’ll blog on that event when I come to cover The Who. I also have a vague memory of sneaking into the City Hall to see the encore of a SAHB gig at Newcastle City Hall that year. The band played two nights at the City Hall in early May as part of the tour, with support from Pat Travers. I didn’t buy a ticket (big mistake, in hindsight) as I knew I was going to see them at Charlton at the end of the month. I’d been out in Newcastle, and wandered along to the City Hall with a couple of mates. The gig was coming to an end and the doors were open to let people out. We wandered into the Hall and caught the band playing Delilah and The Faith Healer. The programme for the 1976 tour comes in the form of a comic book, complete with a free banger (see below) just like the ones that came free with our comics in the 60s. The cast was: The Teacher: Alex Harvey; The Actor: Zal Cleminson; The Punk: CHris Glen; The Buffer: Ted McKenna; The Professor: Hugh McKenna; Dr Killjoy: As himself. The story is Vambo v Dr Killjoy with, SAHB as superheroes saving the word through Vambo Rool! The story starts: “England is under the oppressive rule of Dr Killjoy – Sinister head of the Ministry of Boredom! His rule has ground the will from the people.” Vambo coming to the rescue… Vambo, featured in the song Vambo Marble Eye, was a teenage punk and super hero of the future. When performing the song Alex would spray paint an imitation brick wall with the slogan ‘Vambo Rool.’ Alex and band were one of the best live bands around at the time, and certainly went down well with the Charlton crowd. I saw Alex and the guys once more after this tour, at the (very very muddy) Reading Festival 1977, which was their last live performance. Alex was reportedly not so well by that stage of their career, and it wasn’t their best gig, but still a strong point of the festival. I did see Alex once more in concert in 1980 and I’ll blog on that gig tomorrow. Typical setlist from the 1976 tour: Love Story, School’s Out, Tomahawk Kid, Isobel Goudie, Dance to you Daddy, Amos Moses, Framed, Midnight Moses, Vambo Marble Eye. Encore: Delilah, The Faith Healer.

Sensational Alex Harvey Band Newcastle City Hall 1975
By the time of this gig SAHB had released four albums: Framed (1972); Next (1973); The Impossible Dream (1974) and Tomorrow Belongs to Me (1975). The band were at the top of their game and were selling out concert halls up and down the country. SAHB had graduated from playing the clubs to playing venues like the City Hall, but their show remained as crazy and intimate as ever. Seeing SAHB was very much a show, with Alex as Master of Ceremonies. The 1975 programme explains it well: “He [Alex[ class it simply a 1975 song-and-dance act, yet it inevitably comes off as something of a morality play. The show is often surreal, difficult to follow, but there emerges, beyond Harvey’s unadorned, solid presence (which suggest sailor, lion tamer, master of ceremonies) beyond the more defined roles (paperback detective, leather-jacketed, graffiti-scrawling, framed prisoner) and in paradoxical contrast to the blazing cynicism he projects, a clear and present appeal to sanity, to escape from the repression and yes, to respect for freedom. His warning: ‘Don’t pish in the water supply'”. Beneath all the show and bravado, Alex was a bit of a philosopher, and came over as an authentic, moralistic guy, a teacher, a role model, the older brother. He would tell us (in hos own words, also from the programme): “Dear Boys and Girls, As we start on our British tour – be good, don’t smash any windows or throw any rubbish. We look forward to seeing you because we love you and that’s why we don’t want you to get into any trouble, Love Alex xxxx”. So what we experienced in these concerts was part vaudeville, part morality lesson, part theatre, part madness, part proto-punk (and setting the scene for what was to come) and some great rock n roll music. We have never seen the like since and perhaps never will again. Yes it was that unique and ahead of its time. Setlist from 1975 (from Glasgow Apollo site): Faith Healer; Action Strasse; Tomahawk Kid; Give My Compliments To The chef; Delilah; The Tale Of The Giant Stone Eater; Vambo; Midnight Moses; Dance To The Music; Tomorrow Belongs To Me; Gang Bang; Framed

Sensational Alex Harvey Band gigs in the early to mid 70s
I first saw the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (or SAHB as they became to be known) at a gig at Sunderland Locarno. It must have been in 1972 or 1973, as it was at the time of the Framed album, and the band were unknown at the time. I was totally blown away by them; their name was correct; they were truly sensational. Their stage show was innovative, powerful and totally crazy; Alex was the ultimate frontman, having honed his craft with his soul band in the sweaty clubs of Glasgow and Hamburg. The guy had no fear, and took total command of the audience. And the rest of the band were also pretty sensational: Zal Cleminson playing the mad, evil guitarist in his white-faced pierrot make-up and suit; Chris Glen leering at us, wearing a codpiece on top of his jeams, and Hugh and Ted McKenna on electric piano and drums respectively. Framed is a very strong debut album, and the songs were great live: The Hammer Song; Midnight Moses; the epic tale of the Scottish witch Isobel Goudie; and St. Anthony. These are all great rock songs and the band performed them with a craziness, syncopation, and faultless choreography that no other band could match at the time. Framed was one of the last songs; it seemed like Alex was speaking the words directly to you. He would put a stocking over his head and fill his mouth with a bar towel. It was truly awesome to see them close up in a small ballroom, with a reasonably size, but by no means packed, crowd. There went down so well they were booked again and came back a few weeks later.
I then saw SAHB at Newcastle Mayfair, at Newcastle City Hall, and at several festivals: Reading 1973 (low down on the bill), Reading 1974 (headlining the Friday night), Buxton 1973, Knebworth 1974, supporting Yes at Stoke Football ground in 1975, supporting the Who at Charlton in 1976, and back at Reading in 1977. The Buxton and Stoke gigs stick in my mind for similar reasons. On both occasions Alex took control of a difficult crowd situation. At Buxton the festival was over-run by Hells Angels who were driving their bikes through the crowd, harrassing us all, and fighting amongst each other. When Alex took to the stage he negotiated with the Angels to behave themselves, talking directly to theie leader and telling him to get his guys to behave themselves. At the Yes Stoke gig, a fight broke out down near the front, and Alex jumped straight into the crowd and pulled the guys apart. As I said earlier, this guy had no fear, and was so impressive and captivating. Other memories are of them playing The Faith Healer at Reading and thinking how different it was, with the opening rhythms throbbing across the field, and of those great and off the wall covers. I can think of Del Shannon’s Runaway, the Osmonds’ Crazy Horses, Jethro Tull’s Love Story and Alice Cooper’s Schools Out. These songs all got the crazy SABH treatment. And then of course there was Delilah. There was truly no-one like the Sensational Alex Harvey band on a good night, and indeed every time I saw them in those early days were great nights! I’ll blog a little more on SAHB, and a few specific gigs over the next few days.