07-11-2014, 01:02
The Story of Elmer Gantry, a compilation by Stretch from the nineties. I have most of the album tracks already, but it contains some material labelled as 'live at the BC', which I take to mean sessions recorded live in the studio. I remember some of these, particularly You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover, being played in the late seventies by rock DJ Alan Freeman. You Can't Judge a Book is even better than I remembered and is amazing. I think Jerome mentioned, in the context of Supertramp and Mike Oldfield, how every now and again an album comes along which really stands out and this does for me. A few years ago, I attended a talk on drums and drumming by the Stretch drummer, Jeff Rich, and he was great (he was a Status Quo drummer for a while). Stretch are best known for: (i) the funky hit single Why Did You Do It?, (ii) having lead guitarist Kirby who was, and is again, guitarist with Curved Air and (iii) being the bogus Fleetwood Mac which caused a stir in the seventies. However, they are an outstanding hard rock band in their own right and I recommend them to anyone who likes Status Quo, Wishbone Ash, etc.
âThe fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.â William Shakespeare, As You Like It