Silverhead - More Than Your Mouth Can Hold - The Complete Recordings 1972-1974

The son of a Marquis, Michael Des Barres started acting while he was in private school with an uncredited role in Drop Dead Darling with Tony Curtis and his first credited role in To Sir With Love with Sidney Poitier among his early appearances.  In 1971, Andrew Lloyd Webber saw him performing in the musical The Dirtiest Show In Town and asked him if he had written any songs.  While he hadn't actually written any, he told him he had and went home that night and wrote the song "Will You Finance My Rock 'N' Roll Band".  He then played it for him on acoustic guitar the next day and with the support of Webber and Tim Rice, the wheels were set in motion.  They then set out to find the remaining band members which ended up being guitarists Rod Davies and Steve Forest, future Blondie bassist Nigel Harrison and drummer Pete Thompson.  Unfortunately, the band was a little ahead of their time and ended up being short-lived, releasing two killer albums, both of which should have been huge, but instead had minimal commercial success.  Thanks to the new six CD box set More Than Your Mouth Can Hold - The Complete Recordings, both of these albums have been compiled in one collection along with Live At The Rainbow, which was released in Japan in 1975 (after the band’s demise), two cuts recorded for the abandoned third album, single mixes, B-sides, a couple early Des Barres single tracks, tracks from the BBC’s In

Concert and three live discs.  

While their appearance definitely screamed glam rock, and there are elements of that to their sound (look no further than the hook-heavy, gritty glam of “Rolling With My Baby”), to call them a glam band would really be an injustice.  They make their presence known right out the gate on their eponymous debut with “Long Legged Lisa”, a sleazy, down and dirty, bluesy rocker that has some great slide guitar.  A couple other tracks, like the gritty, Stones-y ballad “In Your Eyes” and “Sold Me Down The River”, a slow and slinky cut that’s fleshed out with horns and piano, also tap into their blues side.  Other highlights include “Underneath The Light”, which has a bit of a Deep Purple feel (along with some cowbell), the straight-ahead “Ace Supreme” complete with some killer power chords and a hint of The Who, and “Wounded Heart”, an epic sounding ballad with a strong Faces vibe with keys that take it to another level.  Then there’s “Rock ‘N’ Roll Band”, the song that under its initial longer title, was the simple acoustic guitar and vocals track Des Barres played for Webber that resulted in him managing him.  Clocking in at just under six minutes, it starts off as a no frills straight up rocker with a bit of a pub rock feel, before turning into an everchanging track that shifts into a slower Stones-like bluesy section, then into an instrumental section with a really solid guitar solo, then a jam-like singalong between Des Barres and the background singers, accompanied with handclaps.  Also include on disc one of the box set are three bonus tracks, the seven-inch versions of “Ace Supreme” and “Rolling With My Baby”, both of which have a somewhat crisper, fuller production (especially the latter) and “Oh No No No”, the b-side to the “Ace Supreme” single, which is a good straight-ahead rock track with a touch of glam.

When it came time to record their sophomore album “16 And Savaged”, guitarist Forest had quit the band and was replaced by future Robert Plant guitarist Robbie Blunt.  They kick things off with “Hello New York”, a definite album highlight, with the glam of T Rex (complete with horns) meshed the the blues rock of The Faces.  The influence of The Faces is also evident in the next two tracks, “More Than Your Mouth Can Hold”, which also throws in a little Stones, and the soulful “Only You”, the album’s sole ballad.  After starting off with a bluesy glam groove, “Bright Lights” shifts into a hard charging Led Zeppelin flavored tune that keeps picking up the pace until it’s bordering on punk towards the end.  The following two tracks find the band showing a little of their funk side.  “Heavy Hammer” is a solid rock track with a slinky funk groove and “Cartoon Princess”, another album highlight, is a rocker with a hint of a funky swagger and some outstanding slide guitar that gives it a bit of an Allman Brothers feel.  They miss the mark a little on the next two track, “Rock Out Claudette Rock Out” and “This Ain’t A Parody”.  They aren’t bad cuts, but there just isn’t really anything about them that makes them stand out from the pack.  Closing the album out is the title track, “16 And Savaged”, which musically is another really strong song shifting back and forth between galloping blues rocker and slower Zeppelin-like passages, but lyrically the track has not stood the test of time and is rightfully very politically incorrect today.  Disc two has four bonus tracks, starting with two that were recorded for their abandoned third album.  It’s a shame this album never saw the light of day, because based on these two tracks it might very well have been the one to break them open.  “James Dean” is a catchy, hard-charging rocker with strong elements of glam and a punk edge, while “Marilyn” follows a similar path, but is a little more on the mellow side.  The other two bonus tracks are from Des Barres’ first solo single that was released following the demise of the band.  “Leon” and “New Moon Tonight” were both written and previously recorded by singer/songwriter Phillip Goodhand-Tait.  Des Barres’ versions are very slickly produced pop tunes and quite far removed from anything Silverhead recorded.  

Disc three kicks off with their 1975 live album Live At The Rainbow. This eight song set was recorded in London on November 9, 1973 while the band was opening for Nazareth and features a good mixture of tracks from both albums as well as the unreleased “James Dean”.  Having said that they don’t sound like an opener.  The show was professionally recorded and sounds great.  Their performance is very high energy and extremely tight and Des Barres definitely has command of the stage.  Also included on this disc is a previously unreleased five song set recorded at Paris Theater in London on August 31,1973 for BBC In Concert.  The performances here are just a strong as the others, but since they were for the BBC and not feeding off a live crowd in a club they are a little more restrained.  

The final three discs contain the rare and hard to find live albums Show Me Everything, recorded on July 29, 1973 at London’s Alexandra Palace (along with six more recorded in Japan on January 19, 1974), Berlin Backlash, recorded on February 2, 1973 at The Sportpalast in Berlin and Live In Japan, recorded at Nakano Sunplaza in Tokyo on January 19, 1974.  All three discs are bootleg quality, and as stated in the liner notes, “Whilst every effort has been made to produce the best possible audio, limitations in some of the material used for the bonus tracks means that the quality may not be up to the standard usually expected. All tracks have been included for their historical importance.”  Having said that they are very listenable and again show just how good they were live.  Most notable is the Tokyo show, which not only sounds the best but also is a full one hour and thirteen minute and the band comes across like they are long-time music veterans.  It's a performance that allows them to stretch out the songs with plenty of solos (check out the near eleven minute version of “Rollin’ With My Baby”).  While they never got their just due, it's obvious that plenty of bands that made it big after them were paying attention to what they were doing.  As usual, Cherry Red and HNE hve done a great job compiling this collection and I would highly recommend giving it a listen. 

(HNE Recordings)