As we await the Police reunion tour with bated breath, it's perhaps a good time to look at some of the older bands, and ask if they have anything to offer in the 21st century. Is new music so submerged in its own cool, that it is deaf to the sounds drifting up to it from the murky waters of rock music's past?
Today, I'd like to give a shout to two bands, One English, One American, who were thought to have faded into obscurity as the seventies bade a cautious welcome to Punk.
Firstly, Blackfoot Sue This Midlands based band scored mightily with their debut single "Standing in the Road" on the Jam label, the B-side being the equally impressive "Celestial Plain". However, their Second single, "Sing Don't Speak, just crept inside the Top 40. Fate, and record companies were unkind to them over the next few years, as they tried to shake off their ill-fitting Glam tag.By the mid-seventies, as far as the British Public were concerned, they were history.
They flirted with further success through a series of Name changes- as Liner they nearly made the 40, and as Outside Edge the released an album in France, and played Reading Rock in '86.
But enough of this preamble, suffice to say, a reunion album recorded in 98, resurfacing in 2003 as "Red on Blue" firmly gives credibility to the name Blackfoot Sue.
Its a great, no-nonsense Hard Rock album that some of the younger pretenders would do well to heed. The band sadly once again fragmented, but as of January this year, were spotted onstage in London, with the orginal 1972 line-up!
Secondly, Jo Jo Gunne This American band formed by ex-Spirit keyboardist Jay Ferguson struck gold with the classic "Run Run Run" back in '72, but struggled to reproduce their early promise, despite fantastic songs like "Ready Freddy". The band initially featured future Heart stalwarts Mark and Matthew Andes, but a new guitarist. John Staehly was brough in for their Fourth and final album "So..where is the show?" The band had a highly distinctive sound, driving guitar married with pounding piano lines, all dressed up with Fergusons easily recognizable vocals. They floated off the map in the mid-70s and Ferguson embarked on a successful solo career, notably "All alone in the End Zone."
However, following hastily snapped-up CD reissues of their early albums, the rumour mill got busy and in 2005, a brand new album surfaced, "Big Chain" containing new material and reworkings of some of their early classics, played by the original line up! Its a great album, and totally unlike anything else on the market. They sounded different in the 70's and they sound different now. This is classic rock, and like a good wine, it gets better with age!
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