Alex Harvey (musicista)
Figura leggendaria e atipica del R&B inglese del '60 e leader di successo della The Sensational Alex Harvey Band nei '70. Alex Harvey (February 5, 1935patria - February 4, 1982, GB) scozzese, suona nei '50 in gruppi di skiffle, vincendo nel 1956 il titolo di "Tommy Steele di Sozia". Del 1958 è la formazione della Alex Harvey's Big Soul Band, con General Jimmy Grimes al basso, McGarin alla batteria, Wally Diamond alle percussioni e 2 sassofonisti, oltre lo stesso Harvey alla chitarra. La formazione decisamente insolita per il periodo, durò sino al 1966, con una invidiabile reputazione in terra di scozia accresciuta dalle collaborazioni come backing band per Eddie Cochran e Gene Vincent in tournée. Il gruppo pubblica il primo LP soltanto nel 1964; Alex Harvey and His Soul Band (Polydor1964,Ger ) live è registrato dal vivo ad Amburgo, dove il gruppo si è nel frattempo trasferito. In Germania, nei primi anni '60 la Soul Band riscuote il successo mancato in patria, stringendo legami con gli altri gruppi inglesi "in esilio" in particolare con Kingsize Taylor & The Dominoes. Due membri dei The Dominoes, Gibson Kemp e BobbyThompson, suonano in Alex Harvey and His Soul Band (Polydor1964,Ger ) live invece di Grimes e McGarin. In Germania Harvey pubblica inoltre numerosi singoli sotto pseudonimo, eseguendo covers di classici R&R e R&B per rifornire i juke-box dei piccoli clubs. Fra i numerosi nomi di fantasia citiamo Bruce Wellington & His Robber Band, Ian Other, Mary Somebody & The Playmates, Jimmy Doyle. Nel 1964 il gruppo torna a Londra e suona per la prima volta nella capitale, senza successo e in fase di disgregazione. Col solo Jimmy Grimes rimasto del vecchio organico e con il fratello Leslie alla chitarra Harvey pubblica The Blues (Polydor 1964, GB) strana "compilation" di brani altrui rifatti in chiave del tutto personale. Nel 1966, dopo due singoli su Fontana (Agent 007 Soul e Work Song), Harvey torna a Glasgow, disilluso, formando un nuovo gruppo ancora con il fratello Leslie Bobby Patrick. Per la Decca nel 1967 escono altri 2 singoli (Sunday Song e Maybe Someday); poi, dopo un timido tentativo di psichedelia con i Giant Moth e un effimero trio con Ian Ellis e Dave Dufont, Harvey finisce nel cast di Hair e lì resta fino al 1972, come musiista. Un quarto album, Roman Wall Blues (Fontana1969,GB), viene pubblicato nel 1969 e sembra la fine della carriera di Harvey; l'artista è stanco e deluso, colpito oltretutto negli affetti più cari dalla morte del fratello Leslie (in palcoscenico con gli Stone The Crows). Nei '70 troverà invece ancora energia per fondare la The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, con cui finalmente otterrà fama e successo.
Alexander James Harvey (5 February 1935 – 4 February 1982) was a Scottish rock and blues musician. Although his career spanned almost three decades, he is best remembered as the frontman of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, with whom he built a reputation as an exciting live performer during the era of glam rock in the 1970s.
Biography
Harvey was born in the Kinning Park district of Glasgow, a working-class neighbourhood, where he grew up. By his own account, he worked in a number of jobs, from carpentry to being a waiter at a restaurant to carving tombstones, before finding success in music. He first began performing in skiffle groups in 1954. On Friday, 20 May 1960, at the Town Hall in Alloa, Alex Harvey and his Big Beat Band opened for Johnny Gentle and His Group, "His Group" being the Beatles (John, Paul, George, Stuart Sutcliffe and Tommy Moore), on this the opening night – and biggest audience – of the Beatles' seven-date tour of Scotland with Gentle.
His musical roots were in Dixieland jazz and skiffle music, which enjoyed considerable popularity in Britain during the late 1950s. From 1958 until 1965, he was the leader of Alex Harvey's Big Soul Band, playing blues and rock and roll songs and spending considerable time touring in the United Kingdom and Germany. He also won a competition that sought "Scotland's answer to Tommy Steele". Harvey became strongly identified with British rhythm and blues music, although he was equally able to play rock songs.
After leaving the Big Soul Band, he briefly tried for a solo career but with little success. By 1967, he found a positive direction for his career, when he became a member of the pit band in the London stage production of the musical Hair. This band recorded the live album Hair Rave Up, which contained Harvey originals and other songs not from the stage show. In 1970, Harvey formed Rock Workshop with Ray Russell; their first, self-titled album contained an early version of "Hole in Her Stocking", later to appear on Framed. Harvey remained with Hair for five years.
Harvey was also instrumental in the formation of the band Stone the Crows by introducing his younger brother, Leslie "Les" Harvey, to singer Maggie Bell. Also in Stone the Crows was bassist James Dewar, later of Robin Trower fame. Les Harvey was electrocuted in a freak accident while performing with the band in 1972.
In 1972, Harvey formed the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (often shortened to SAHB) with guitarist Zal Cleminson, bassist Chris Glen, and cousins Hugh and Ted McKenna on keyboards and drums respectively, all previous members of progressive rock act Tear Gas. SAHB produced a succession of highly regarded albums and tours throughout the 1970s. The band never achieved acclaim in the United States the way it did in Great Britain, but it had a cult following in certain US cities, especially Cleveland, where the group first played at the Agora Ballroom in December 1974. Thanks to airplay from WMMS, songs like "Next" and "The Faith Healer" became very popular. Cleveland remained a city where the Sensational Alex Harvey Band had a devoted following. However, they were unable to replicate that popularity in most other US cities.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band had Top 40 hits in Britain with the single "Delilah", a cover version of the Tom Jones hit, which reached number seven in 1975, and also with "The Boston Tea Party" in June 1976. After Harvey left the group later that year, the other members continued as "SAHB… without Alex". Harvey re-joined the group for 1978's Rock Drill, but they disbanded shortly afterwards.
On 4 February 1982, a day short of his 47th birthday, Harvey suffered a massive heart attack while waiting to take a ferry from Zeebrugge, Belgium, to England after performing a Belgian gig with his new band, the Electric Cowboys. He suffered a second, fatal attack in an ambulance on the way to hospital. He left behind his second wife, Trudy, and two sons (Alex, by his first wife, Mary Martin, and Tyro).In 2002, a biography of Harvey by John Neil Munro was published: The Sensational Alex Harvey. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were voted the fifth greatest Scottish band of all time in a 2005 survey. After Harvey's death, they released two live albums, Live in Glasgow 1993 (1994) and Zalvation (2006), which feature many classic SAHB songs. On 4 February 2012, a rowan tree was planted in memory of Harvey on the grounds of the People's Palace museum in Glasgow. The tree was planted by Alex Harvey Junior and the remaining members of the band. A limited edition book entitled Alex Harvey: Last of the Teenage Idols, photographed by Janet Macoska and edited by Martin Kielty was released for the 30th anniversary of his death.
Two novels by Christopher Brookmyre, The Sacred Art of Stealing and A Snowball in Hell, reference SAHB's work.
On March 18th 2016 Universal Music released an all encompassing 14 disc box set of Harvey's work, entitled The Last Of The Teenage Idols. This multi-disc set was the most comprehensive compilation of Harvey's music to date, including many rare and out of print titles, and was released to great acclaim.
Discography
Studio albums
Alex Harvey and His Soul Band (1964)
The Blues (1964)
Roman Wall Blues (1969)
The Joker is Wild (1972)
Framed (1972)
Next (1973)
The Impossible Dream (1974)
Tomorrow Belongs to Me (1975)
The Penthouse Tapes (1976)
SAHB Stories (1976)
Rock Drill (1978)
The Mafia Stole My Guitar (1979)
Soldier on the Wall (1982)
Live albums
Hair Rave Up (1969)
Alex Harvey Talks About Everything (1974)
Live (1975)
Alex Harvey Presents: The Loch Ness Monster (1977)
BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert (1991)
Live in Glasgow 1993 (1994)
Live on the Test (1995)
The Gospel According to Alex Harvey (1998)
British Tour '76 (2004)
Zalvation (2006)
Live at the BBC (2009)
Compilations/other records
Band on the Wagon (1969)
Alex Harvey and His Soul Band, 20 unreleased tracks, CD only (1999)
Hot City: The 1974 Unreleased Album (2008)[12] (an earlier version of The Impossible Dream, unreleased at the time)
... Delilah, (Spectrum 1994)
Considering the Situation (Universal 2003)
Hot City (2009)
Big Hits and Close Shaves (1977)
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band (Old Gold 1997)
Teenage A Go Go (Alchemy Entertainment 2003)
All Sensations (Vertigo 1992)
The Best of the Sensational (UK chart peak: #148)[13]
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band Collection [ CD Castle Communications 1986 ]
Last of the Teenage Idols a 14-CD / 217-track box set including 21 previously unreleased songs, 59 songs on cd for the 1st time and a number of rare recordings plus a hardback book of photographs (2016)
Risultati di ricerca
Alex Harvey:To Make My Life Beautiful - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeMTWugSQkY
Risultati di ricerca
Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Midnight Moses - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNwLxwZHMOw
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Underneath the green veranda
Singin' a song for mad Miranda
They call me the Midnight Moses
Everything I touch is comin' up roses
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Tell me where I'm goin'
I've got no way of knowin'
I wish I was a forest ranger
Danger, danger, danger
Hey, hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey, hey
I had an afternoon fever
When I flew off to Geneva
I just took me a notion
To fly right across the ocean
They call me the Midnight Moses
Everything I touch is comin' up roses
I had an afternoon fever
When I flew off to Geneva
Compositori: Alex Harvey
Testo di Midnight Moses © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Risultati di ricerca
Alex Harvey - Hare Krishna & Willie The Pimp - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OybPRz4cPqM
Alex Harvey - Roman Wall Blues - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wc4IIx7PwQ
21 feb 2012 - Caricato da DataCode
Alex Harvey's song "Roman Wall Blues" from his final album Soldier On The Wall (1982)
Risultati di ricerca
Hammer song - Sensational Alex Harvey Band - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swQ44pWBAa8
Risultati di ricerca
Alex Harvey Band - The Faith Healer - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqJ-ETSG4fs
If your body's feelin' bad
And it's the only one you have
You want to take away the pain
Go out walkin' in the rain.
You watch the flowers go to bed,
Ask the man inside your head
Your spirit never has to grieve
All ya got to do's believe.
The faith healer
The faith healer
All ya got to do is feel
Your body's going to start to heal
The fingertips of holy fire
Everlasting sweet desire
It don't matter what the doctor said
The healer man will sail away
Immortality for two
The miracles, they will come to you
The faith healer
The faith healer
Can I put my hands on you?
Can I put my hands on you?
The faith healer
The faith healer
Faith, and hope and charity
The simple relativity
He can make you understand
All you've got to do is take his hand
It don't matter what somebody said
Ask the man inside your head
The fingertips of holy fire
Everlasting sweet desire
The faith healer
The faith healer
Can I put my hands on you?(six times)
The faith healer.......(3 times and end)
Written by Steven Lindsay • Copyright © BMG Rights Management US, LLC
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