Music Is My Weapon

I never got into Foghat, but I lost a bet at the office, so now I get to write about them. In fact, the only time I ever heard of them was when I watched an episode of Aquateen Hungerforce. So I sat down and listened to about two hours of live recorded Foghat, so I could write an intelligable review. Now that I embraced their music, I see why they became so big: Foghat is a full-on party band. Like so many other bands who formed in the early '70s, Foghat's sound was based upon the wails and moans of the blues guitar. There was no stagy sounding patter, no virtuosity overplayed musicianship. Foghat took this basic structure and added a rowdy four-bar boogie feel to it, cranked the amps to 11, and unleashed a series of LPs that would achieve gold or platinum status. Best of Foghat captures the band's finer moments. "Slow Ride" with its funky-boogie bass line and guitar harmony leads was every air-guitarist's dream come true, and the long breakdown at the song's mid-point that finally erupted into scorching fret work epitomized the "big rock ending" of the 1970s. "Fool for the City" was another rush of rock and roll adrenaline, with its repeated chorus and steady straight four/four beat. "I Just Want to Make Love to You" also demonstrated singer Dave Peverett's bluesy growl, an influence that often seemed more prevalent in the band's guitar work.

At the peak of their power they released a live CD, aptly named "Foghat Live." After Peter Frampton and Kiss proved in the late 70's that you could throw a live album onto the market and not only sell it in tonnage, but establish your career with it, the floodgates were open. Not everyone fared as well as those two first waves, but one of the bands that did was Foghat. Their six song volume-splintering "Foghat Live" was what every good live album should be, energetic, powerful and adrenaline inducing.