Don’t know if we’ve mentioned Sensational Alex Harvey Band at all here at RR. Don’t know why I got to thinking about this gem that I covered in a hard rock band years ago.
SAHB did some other good stuff, but there’s also a lot of nonsense on their albums. This is their masterpiece, for me at least, a song that would likely make my all-time Top 25. It’s clearly the blueprint for Bon Scott AC/DC, up there with just about anything else in my book. (My favorite rock singer of all-time, Bon admitted mimicking Alex Harvey’s vocal style. As always, everything’s a copy of something else.)
It’s also a great example of how, for me, vocals are way more about melody and flow and iambic pentameter and sounding good together than about what’s being said. Do you know what the hell Alex is singing about? I have no idea. But it sounds great.
Alex Harvey died suddenly of a heart attack, now long ago in 1982. His birth date is before my dad’s.
This video is about as cool as a lip-synch can get:
1) Much better looking guy when his mouth is closed.
2) Mimes are creepy.
3) Surprised no one else has used the “everyone gets a red box to put their foot on” look. It’s a winner.
4) Excellent song, with remarkable and dramatic restraint, though kind of weird to rhyme They call me the Midnight Moses with Everything I touch is coming up roses. I mean, when I think of Moses I think of the parting of the red sea, the burning bush, and that old porn musical, let my people come.
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