When does a band stop being the band it was and become something totally new?
If a group has seen too many personal changes, deaths, or splits, is it still
the group we first got into? Should Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey still use
The Who moniker? I just don’t know the answer to this cosmic question, but I
do know that when Foghat lost lead singer ‘Lonesome’ Dave Peverett and guitarist
Rod Price, they soldiered on. Roger Earl, the only original member left, has
kept it all alive with an impressive bunch of players on their latest Last
Train Home, as powerful a blues album as you’re likely to hear!
Who couldn’t love the nasty slide guitar of Bryan Bassett and Charlie
Huhn’s raspy vocal on opener “Born for the Road”? Roger Earl’s brother
Colin takes to the piano on “Needle & Spoon.” By the time we get
to the title track, we are in some really delicious commercial blues wailing,
especially with Bassett’s slide. Indeed, “Last Train Home” could be
a hit single. We get a remake of “Shake Your Monkey Maker” showcasing
Earl’s solid drum work, while brother Colin returns for more piano and Lefty
“Sugar Lips” Lefkowitz blows some ridicules smart harp.
“Feel So Bad” is a fun my-woman-done-left me blues with lines like,
“I feel so bad/I feel like a ballgame on rainy day…” The instrumental
“495 Boogie” features that double attack of Colin Earl and Lefkowitz’s
formidable lips. “Rollin’ & Tumblin/You Need Love” simply kicks
ass, loud and nasty, with Alvin Lee loudness courtesy of Huhn, who is rather
spectacular throughout this album.
Last Train Home is the culmination of a dream Earl and Peverett
had way back in the day when Foghat played a star-studded, blues concert in
1977 at New York City’s Palladium. Earl calls it, “the highlight of my
musical career” as Foghat played behind such blues greats as Pinetop Perkins,
John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and the man who guest stars on this record
— 86 year-old Eddie ‘Bluesman’ Kirkland. “In My Dreams”
shows Kirkland still has the clear pipes, while his guitar slinks all over “Good
Good Day.” Whatever is or isn’t left of the original Foghat, the spirit
of real blues is alive, well and kicking ass on Last Train Home.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
