Let's talk about the Sensational Alex Harvey!

They had that footage of him on the Whistle test re-run recently - brilliant. That was the first thing I ever heard of his, actually maybe Nick Cave's version of the hammer Song was.

I alwasy thought it weird that the title track of his first 4 albums was a cover even though he wrote loads of his own stuff.

Thank God, Alex Harvey is dead Arthur or he would have hunted you down and made a haggis out of your internal organs!

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/dre500/e523/e523071339a.jpg

anyway great article, I really enjoyed reading it.

There was a good wee documentary on him on Radio 2 on Saturday. About his winning the Tommy Steele contest, I never realised that Sydney Devine came second and they went on tour together (Joe Moretti who played guitar on everybody's records in the sixties and even posted to Popular once came third)!

Still the greatest showman I've ever seen on a stage. "The Faith Healer" is some song all right.

http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/features/display.var.1164835.0.0.php

Music ya can't dance to. Hah. I had both Tear Gas LPs. One is duff, the other, simply entitled Tear Gas, is sort of a Scottish version of Cactus. Davey Batchelor, who became Alex Harvey's producer or engineer or something, sang. Fear Gas is apt. Good album, way too hard rock without a distinguishing frontman. Some Zep moves, some Jeff Beck via Zal.

I heard it! What a man! Purest Glasgow!!

and this is just genius:

NEXT

SAHB Stories is late period and not one of their best, sad to say, apart from "Boston Tea Party."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg9FcXmwnYo&mode=related&search=

This footage of "Vambo" is great.

I'm slowly digitizing my singles and I came across this which must have been one of the first ever singles I bought (in Boots for the improbable sum of 52p iirc).
Tremendous (even with Steve Wright talking over it)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JvHroG3u5E

"Whosoever touches one hair on yon grey head, dies...... like a dog"

This may be my favourite Youtube clip ever: look at the masked string players - spooky!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqx5j-FuqeI

man....he was really something.

So hard to pick just one or two songs to put on a mix. The Hammer Song, The Faith Healer, Give My Compliments To The Chef, or Tomorrow Belongs To Me? Any others?

Alex has been nominated for in an STV 'greatest Scots' poll.

On the website "The panel debate the reasons behind why there have been no musicians nominated for the title of The Greatest Scot." (!)

LOL. Sir Alex was pretty punk rock, so I don't imagine he would care about not being considered a musician.

Great film of early SAHB complete w/ John Peel interviewing Alex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chJR94zG4_M

... continues ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8zONBeYef0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAEhhHzil8w

^warning contains a little bit of festival nudity so NSFW

Alex shouting at a bunch of dozy Norwegian hippies, what could be finer?

i love everything about this. he was just 34 here. crazy! it also seems crazy that it is 40+ years since he left us. i first heard and fell in love with his music that day as Tommy Vance did a tribute on The Friday Rock show and played Action Strasse and Midnight Moses both of which blew my mind.

talking of Midnight Moses the pre S.A.H.B. Alex Harvey version of that rools -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97my_nlkY_4

a sad follow up post, my friend Max Maxwell who fronted S.A.H.B. post Alex Harvey left us today. A true underground hero.

i love everything about this. he was just 34 here. crazy

He was 39!

so he was. arithmetic fail.

I got to see Alex once, the only time he came to Minneapolis. He warmed up for Aerosmith (just blowing up with Toys in the Attic) and Edgar Winter. The show started very late so Alex was reduced to three songs: "Faith Healer," "Framed" and "Anthem." (I suppose they figured since they had a bagpiper along... ) Venue turned the house lights on in the middle of the last song, which was disappointing/depressing.

He did spray paint VAMBO ROOL on what I remember was one of Aerosmith's speaker cabinets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRGsuOXJwgI