Eddie & The Hot Rods released two great EPs at the beginning of their career to capitalise on their success as a great live band.
These are now available as bonus tracks on the reissue of their first album, Teenage Depression
Category: Proto Punk & Pub Rock Live Albums
Proto Punk & Pub Rock Live Albums
Proto Punk is a phrases that has developed after the event to describe the bands that influenced the creation of punk and new wave.
If the punks were rebelling against the excesses and music flatulence of prog rock groups like Emerson Lake & Palmer and blues rock groups like Led Zeppelin, what were their influences?
Early songs by The Who were an obvious source but by the mid seventies The Who had well and truly ruined their reputation with their rock operas Tommy and Quadrophenia.
After all what is punk rock all about?
Attitude, aggression, speed and the motivation to get out there and just do it.
Sources of inspiration can be traced back to The Velvet Underground, MC5, Iggy Pop & The Stooges, Flamin’ Groovies, Patti Smith and the New York Dolls provided the attitude. In Britain, Mott the Hoople and Slade provided a hard edge to glam rock
The Modern Lovers provided a DIY spirit.
Speed came from Dr Feelgood, Eddie & The Hot Rods and The Ramones. In Britain.
Pub rock developed in the UK in the early 1970s with a back to basics approach to music with an emphasis on R&B, funk and country rock.
There was nothing flashy about the music created by the pub rock groups. That was the entire point.
Groups included Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, Kursaal Flyers, Kokomo, Dr. Feelgood and Kilburn & The High Roads.
Graham Parker and the Rumour caught the end of pub rock as it was overwhelmed by punk and new wave music.
But pub rock had done an important job. It had provided an alternative to the flashiness of prog rock and hard rock and made live music a viable alternative in many pubs around London. This gave the punk rockers small venues to appear in at the beginning of their careers.
Pub rock also supplied some of the proto punks that influenced punk rock and Joe Strummer of The Clash played with the 101ers and Ian Dury led Kilburn & The High Roads. The Strangers were effectively a pub rock group with a punk rock attitude.
For a music genre that thrived live, it’s said that many of the best pub rock groups don’t have their own live albums.
Eddie And The Hot Rods – Live In Concert 1977 & 1978
MC5 – Kick Out The Jams 1968
Graham Parker – The Parkerilla 1978
Velvet Underground – Velvet Underground Live 1969
Velvet Underground Live at Max’s Kansas City 1970
Live at Max’s Kansas City is a live album by The Velvet Underground recorded in one of the last concerts that featured Lou Reed in August 1970.
Velvet Underground Live at Max’s Kansas City
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Eddie And The Hot Rods Live In Concert 1978
BBC Radio One Live in Concert is a live album by Eddie And The Hot Rods that was recorded for the a radio broadcast.
Eddie and the Hot Rods were a group that emerged from the pub rock scene in Britain playing louder, faster and more aggressively than normal. They helped open up the market for punk rock and the Sex Pistols and The Clash.
Their earliest success was with the Live at the Marquee EP featuring a blisteringly fast version of Bob Seger’s Get Out Of Denver.
Unfortunately it didn’t do them any good. They weren’t punks but they didn’t fall into the classic rock or the emerging AOR categories either.
I think this album comes from concerts in 1977 and 1978.
Eddie And The Hot Rods Live In Concert
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Velvet Underground Live 1969
Velvet Underground with Lou Reed Live 1969 was a live double album that has since been reissued as two separate CDs, part 1 and part 2.
Two new songs were added when this spilt occurred with Heroin added to part 1 and I Can’t Stand It on part 2.
The “cheeky” album sleeve always catches my eye.
Velvet Underground Live 1969
Dr Feelgood Stupidity 1975
Stupidity is the first live album by Dr Feelgood. It compiled songs from two concerts – Sheffield in May 1975 and Southend in November 1975.
The album went to #1 in the UK album charts in October 1976 as British rock fans were waking up to a grittier experience.
At this stage, Dr Feelgood had only recorded two studio albums but it was felt that neither captured their true sound. While I’ve classified them as a pub rock group, this is energetic, sweaty R&B.
Beware there is also a Stupidity + with later bonus tracks.
Dr Feelgood Stupidity
MC5 Kick Out The Jams 1968
Kick Out The Jams was the debut album by punk pioneers MC5 and it was recorded live in Detroit in October 1968.
I always smile because I remember the time when I was at school and we were invited to bring in albums and play them. One of my heavy metal friends brought this and played the title track with its famous cry at the start “Kick out the jams, motherf***er1”
It caused quite a stir.
MC5 Kick Out The Jams – 21/30
Graham Parker The Parkerilla 1978
The Parkerilla is the first live album by Graham Parker & The Rumour released to the general public from the Stick To Me tour in 1978.
It had three LP sides live and an alternative studio version of Don’t Ask Me Question on the fourth side. This made it controversial and following the disappointing Stick To Me album, there was a critical backlash against Graham Parker in favour of Elvis Costello.
In 1991, Rolling Stone ranked The Parkerilla number 64 on its list of 100 greatest album covers.
Graham Parker The Parkerilla
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Graham Parker Live At Marble Arch 1976
Live At Marble Arch is a rare live album by Graham Parker and The Rumour recorded in London in 1976.
It was recorded as a promotional album and sent to music journalists and DJs to show off the raw pub rock/R&B style of the group. It has been a popular bootleg.
It was included in its entirety on a Graham Parker compilation – Vertigo: The Best of Graham Parker – which I was lucky enough to buy when it came out in 1996. At that stage it was also the only way to get the classic Squeezing Out The Sparks album.
Live At Marble Arch has also appeared on That’s What You Know, a double CD with one disc of acoustic demos and the second has this live album.
Graham Parker Live At Marble Arch 1976
Graham Parker Live In San Francisco 1979
Graham Parker Live In San Francisco 1979 captures Parker live in concert with his great band The Rumour on the Squeezing Out The Sparks tour.
Graham Parker should have been huge with his high energy, caustic R&B inspired songs. Even though it was the time of punk rock, few acts could match the intensity he built up in concert.
Graham Parker & The Rumour really were “the best kept secret in the West” as he sings in Mercury Poisoning as he rants against his previous record company.
I believe this album was only released in 2010. I bought it as soon as I saw it.
Graham Parker Live In San Francisco 1979 – Overall Rating 29/30
My Overall Rating – 28 out of 30 – an excellent live album that should not be overlooked.
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