Steve Gibbons Band - Rollin’ – The Albums 1976-1978

Steve Gibbons initially started his career in the Birmingham music scene in the early 60’s before becoming the frontman for The Uglys until the demise of the band in 1968.  The following year he founded the band Balls with Trevor Burton (The Move) and Denny Laine (The Moody Blues, Wings), but that band only lasted for about fourteen months.  In 1971 he joined the final incarnation of The Idle Race, which eventually evolved into The Steve Gibbons Band.  While they eventually never really took off in the States, they had a fairly successful career in England meshing blues, country, pub rock, pop and even a little jazz.  Rollin’ – The Albums (1976-1978) contains the four studio albums and one live album they released during that period and also includes twenty-three bonus tracks ranging from Peel Sessions, studio outtakes and a live radio performance. 

Kicking things off on disc one is their debut Any Road Up.  Opening tracks, “Take Me Home” and “Johnny Cool” do a really good job setting the tone, with the former being a good straight ahead bluesy rocker and the latter taking a step back with a quirky, yet catchy R&B shuffle.  Other highlights include “Rollin’”, a really pretty, slow burning, midtempo blues rock cut with some great guitar work, and one of my favorites here, the poppier “Standing On The Bridge”, a tune that really sets itself apart from the others, and “Speed Kills”, a punchy rocker with an interesting funky bass line and more killer guitar work.  A couple of other songs of note are “Spark of Love” and “Strange World”, which are both really nice mellow poppier tunes, but with a bit of a jazz element that at times brings to mind Steely Dan.  There are a few weaker cuts and a definite misstep with “Natural Thing”, which sounds like a dance tune and doesn’t fit in here, but overall this is a very solid release.  Closing out disc one are a couple of really impressive bonus cuts in “Back Street Cat”, a straight-ahead bluesy rocker and “Dick Malone”, a hard driving rock tune that is heavier than anything on the album.  Both tracks are stronger than a few of the album cuts and definitely would have been welcome additions. 

Although it’s a little more on the pop side, sophomore effort Rollin’ On follows a fairly similar path to their debut.  It also contains what would become the biggest hit of their career with their cover of Chuck Berry’s “Tulane”, which hit number twelve in the UK and retains the spirit of the original, but gives it more of a rock edge.  Opening the disc are a couple of really solid pop tunes with “Wild Flowers” and the edgier “Light Up Your Face”.  The band then moves in more of a country direction with “Now You Know Me”, which has a rock undercurrent, and the acoustic Tex-Mex sounds of “Till The Well Runs Dry”.  Some of the other highlights here include the fun R&B storytelling “Mr. Jones”, “Cross Me Over The Road”, a really pretty tune that’s a bit slower and has a nice gospel vibe, the upbeat rock of the title track and “Please Don’t Say Goodbye”, and a great cover of Jerry Reed’s “Tupelo Mississippi Flash”.  Closing out this disc are five more bonus tracks starting with “Gave His Life to Rock n' Roll”, an upbeat rock tune with really strong pop hooks that was originally a non-album single.  “Make The Good Times Last” is another solid rocker with a really strong Jerry Lee Lewis boogie woogie vibe and “Dick Leaps In” continues the story of Dick Malone and is reminiscent of a Jerry Reed tune.  The last two bonus tracks are versions of “Please Don’t Say Goodbye” and “Right Side Of Heaven”/”Rollin’ On” taken from a February 1977 John Peel BBC Session.

Next on the agenda for the band was the live album Caught In The Act, which showed that all the pieces really seemed to come together when they were onstage.  In contrast to the poppier Rollin’ On, most of the songs here are cranked up with more of a rock edge. Amongst the twelve cuts are several covers, some tracks from the prior two albums, one from Gibbons 1971 solo album and one written for and recorded by Roger Daltrey.  Tracks like “Light Up Your Face” and “He Gave His Life To Rock n’ Roll” really come to life here with an added jolt of energy, while “Speed Kills” has more of a Southern Rock sound that really wasn’t found on the album.  Alongside a great version of Chuck Berry’s aforementioned “Tulane” are a bluesy rock take on Dylan’s “Watching The River Flow”, some doo wop / rockabilly with “Git It”, a slow, funky cover of The Coasters’ “Shopping For Clothes” and The Beatles’ “Day Tripper”, which has some really nice harmonies.  Also of note is Gibbons early solo cut “You Gotta Play” (from his album Short Stories), a hard driving rock tune that really showcases the musicianship of the band, and “One of The Boys”, which was on Daltrey’s album of the same name, and ironically has a bit of a Who feel to it.   Four more bonus tracks are tacked onto this disc, all from a July 1977 John Peel BBC Session.  In addition to new versions of “Tulane”, “The Music Plays On” and “He Gave His Life To Rock n Roll” is a excellent take on Carl Perkins’ “Boppin’ The Blues”.

After working with producer Kenny Laguna on the first two albums the band changed producers going with Tony Visconti for their next release, Down In The Bunker.  From the opening percussion heavy Bo Diddley beat of “No Spitting On The Bus” it’s obvious that the band has moved in a new direction here.  The rock sound of before is largely gone and has been replaced with a diverse collection of tunes that are for the most part really good, but are definitely a change.  Upbeat tracks like “Any Road Up”, with it’s handclaps, and the quirky “Mary Ain’t Goin’ Home”, which has some really good lap steel guitar, are strongly reminiscent of JJ Cale.  Other highlights are “Big J.C.”, which has a Dylan-ish country vibe (Gibbons vocals have a Dylan-like quality to them quite frequently on this album), the very percussive “Down In The City”, which has a bit of a calypso feel, the fifties throwback of “Eddy Vortex” and “Chelita”, which opens with a sax solo and sounds like early Springsteen and Southside Johnny.  Disc four wraps up with eight more bonus tracks and while it's pretty evident why a some of these didn’t make the cut, there are few really solid songs here.  “I Am Here” is a really nice laid-back ballad that would have definitely been a welcome addition, as well as “Satisfying Moods” and “Little Suzie” (flipside to the “Eddy Vortex” single), both of which have more of their earlier rock sound with the latter even moving a little towards the punk side of things. 

Disc five is a fourteen song BBC Radio One In Concert show from November 17, 1977 that once again shows the band really shines when they are playing live. They kick things off with an explosive take on “One of The Boys”, settle into a nice groove for “Johnny Cool” and then pick it up with a very strong “Speed Kills” and another take on The Coasters’ “Shopping For Clothes”, which has some nice guitar work.  Next up are a couple of tracks from the yet to be released at that time Down In The Bunker, starting with the title track, although at this time it was called “Girl In The Bunker”.  Here it has a little more rock edge and to me sounds better, while “No Spitting On The Bus” sticks pretty close to the studio version as do “Mr Jones” and another cover of “Boppin’ The Blues”.  Three more covers follow as they tear through “Tulane”, do a little doo wop with “Git It” and then an absolute killer take on “Tupelo Mississippi Flash”.  Closing out the show is a driving “He Gave His Life To Rock n Roll”, a version of “Rollin’” that will have you wondering why it wasn’t a hit, and another take on “Day Tripper”.  To be honest, this set really outshines Caught In The Act.  Wrapping up this box set is a booklet with a band history featuring contributions from Gibbons and Laguna.   

(Esoteric Recordings)