Back Street Crawler "The Band Plays On" 1975***

Last week I bought this 2nd hand LP from my neighborhood; coincidentally at the time I was reviewing Herman Brood's Shpritsz, and each LP features a track called "Rock N Roll Junkie". Like Brood, Kossoff's equally famous for his junkie ways and as a musician - his death from drug-related pathological causes at the age of 26 has made sure of that. As the lead guitarist of Free (1968-1973) he was among the most prominent instrumentalists of his generation - not that he was happy being considered to be the next Clapton or Hendrix; apparently the high expectations stressed him to no end. Despite his important contribution to Free's success, Kossoff was too unreliable a partner and probably the main reason behind the band's split. Free's Paul Rodgers and Simon Kirk teamed up with guitarist Mick Ralphs (ex-Mott the Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (ex-King Crimson) to form Bad Company, while Kossoff first made a solo album, and then recruited an unknown British singer (Terry Wilson-Slesser) and 3 Americans: Tony Braunagel on drums, Michael Montgomery on keyboards, and Terry Wilson (no relation) on bass - all ex-members of a band called Bloontz. Together they formed Back Street Crawler, a name they borrowed from the title of Kossoff's solo LP. Montgomery wrote most of the songs; he also sings lead on 2 tracks. He's got a bit of a glam/hard rock singing style, and he manages to nail the Aerosmith-like "All the Girls Are Crazy", but kind of lets you down on "Survivor" - his vocals at least, the piano part is quite good. Terry Wilson-Slesser has a deeper, bluesier tone reminiscent of... well, Paul Rodgers, actually. Not a good thing - I mean Rodgers is one of the best singers in rock, no shame in sounding a bit like him, it's just that comparisons were inevitable with both bands being Free offshoots and the records released at the same time - not to mention them lying physically next to each other in the record shop bins, being so close alphabetically. A couple of decades later, the Back Street Crawlers would get filed next to Backstreet Boys, not much competition there. But Bad Company, now... their debut was full of mega hits, all still staples of classic rock radio. The songs on The Band Plays On, on the other hand, are perfectly fine bluesy hard rock but sound derivative. "Train Song", and in particular "Stealing My Way", sound like Free outtakes. The excellent semi-ballad "Jason Blue" also reminds me of Free's "Mister Big", but the addition of horns is a fresh orchestration idea. Probably my favorite song here "It's a Long Way Down to the Top" with its slow tempo and slightly country-ish vocals sounding uncannily like -once again there's no avoiding the comparison- Bad Company. Opener "Who Doo Woman" is another personal favorite, one which sticks out because of its funkiness. "Rock & Roll Junkie" is another strange one: its upbeat tempo reminds me of Santana, but the chorus sounds more like Kiss - by the way, Bloontz and Kiss played a lot together in the early days, and even guested together on some LP's. Closer "The Band Plays On" (a song written by bassist Terry Wilson during his Bloontz period) is a great hard rocker with groovy organ fills that somehow bops along to a different, more original, rhythm to the rest. The musicianship in this album is in general excellent, Kossoff in particular shines without resorting to overlong solos. He's still held in high esteem as a guitarist, but one wonders how much larger he could have been if he had kept himself together instead of messing up time after time: most of the the concerts booked for the promotion of this album were cancelled due to his drug-related health problems, while the band's second LP 2nd Street (1976) was mostly recorded without him. A hired studio hand (W.G. 'Snuffy' Walden) played guitar on that album, with Kossoff overdubbing some solos after the fact. April 1976 should have seen Back Street Crawler tour as headliners, supported by AC/DC. With Kossoff healthy and sober, this would have been a momentous tour, but it wasn't to happen; he died on March 19, mid-flight from LA to New York. The cause of death was deemed to be pulmonary edema caused by opioid overdose. The rest of the band continued for a while as plainly Crawler (I have their first LP, and will post the relevant review in time) before going their separate ways. For a while I wasn't sure whether I should go with a 3* or 4* rating. In the end I went with 3*: while it's pleasant listening for classic rock fans, there's not much here that sticks out or calls for repeated listening.

**** for Who Doo Woman, It's a Long Way Down to the Top, Jason Blue, The Band Plays On

*** for New York New York, Stealing My Way, All The Girls Are Crazy, Train Song, Rock & Roll Junkie

** for Survivor