Below the Belt (Boxer album)

Last updated
Below the Belt
Below the belt album cover.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJanuary 1976
Recorded1975
Genre Rock
Length37:23
Label Virgin, EMI
Producer Boxer, Richard Digby-Smith
Boxer chronology
Below the Belt
(1976)
Absolutely
(1977)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Christgau's Record Guide B+ [2]

Below the Belt was the first album by Boxer, released on the Virgin label in January 1976. The album attracted less attention for its music than for its artwork. Photographed by Alex Henderson with graphics by Richard Evans, the cover featured model Stephanie Marrian spreadeagled and nude but for a pair of shoes, with a man's arm reaching up between her legs and his boxing-gloved hand hiding her genitalia. The back cover at first showed Stephanie in complete full-frontal nudity, but later pressings covered her up with the band's belt-styled logo. The cover was completely re-designed for the US market using the band photo from the inside of the UK gatefold cover. [3] The lineup on this album is a live show quartet with keyboardist Chris Stainton brought in during the recording sessions.

Contents

Track listing

  1. "Shooting Star" (Mike Patto, Ollie Halsall)
  2. "All the Time in the World" (Halsall)
  3. "California Calling" (Patto, Halsall)
  4. "Hip Kiss" (Patto, Halsall, Keith Ellis, Tony Newman)
  5. "More Than Meets the Eye" (Patto)
  6. "Waiting for a Miracle"(Halsall)
  7. "Loony Ali" (Patto, Halsall)
  8. "Save Me" (Patto)
  9. "Gonna Work Out Fine" (Patto, Halsall)
  10. "Town Drunk" (Terry Stamp, Jim Avery)

Personnel

Notes

  1. "Review Below The Belt". AllMusic . Retrieved 9 January 2017.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: B". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies . Ticknor & Fields. ISBN   089919026X . Retrieved February 22, 2019 via robertchristgau.com.CS1 maint: discouraged parameter (link)
  3. Below the belt Boxer at Allmusic

Related Research Articles

<i>Force It</i> 1975 studio album by UFO

Force It is the fourth studio album by the British rock band UFO, released in 1975. It became their first album to chart in the United States.

GRIMMS was an English pop rock, comedy and poetry group, originally formed as a merger of The Scaffold, the Bonzo Dog Band, and the Liverpool Scene for two concerts in 1971 at the suggestion of John Gorman.

<i>Black and Blue</i> 1976 studio album by The Rolling Stones

Black and Blue is the 13th British and 15th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 23 April 1976 by Rolling Stones Records.

<i>June 1, 1974</i> 1974 live album by Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Brian Eno and Nico

June 1, 1974 is a live album of songs performed at the Rainbow Theatre in London on the titular date. The album is officially attributed to Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Brian Eno and Nico, although other well-known musicians, including Mike Oldfield, Robert Wyatt and Ollie Halsall, also contributed to the concert.

Ollie Halsall

Peter John "Ollie" Halsall was an English guitarist best known for his role in the Rutles, the bands Timebox, Patto and Boxer, and for his contribution to the music of Kevin Ayers. He is also notable as one of the few players of the vibraphone in rock music. He was known by his childhood nickname 'Olly' or 'Ollie' which was simply a corruption of his surname. The Ollie Halsall Archive was established in 1998, with the aim of documenting and promoting his work.

Centipede (band) English progressive rock group

Centipede were an English jazz/progressive rock/big band with more than 50 members, organized and led by the British free jazz pianist Keith Tippett. Formed in 1970, it brought together much of a generation of young British jazz and rock musicians from a number of bands, including Soft Machine, King Crimson, Nucleus and Blossom Toes.

<i>David Live</i> 1974 live album by David Bowie

David Live is the first official live album by English musician David Bowie, originally released by RCA Records in 1974. The album was recorded in July of that year, on the initial leg of Bowie's Diamond Dogs Tour, at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, PA, a suburb of Philadelphia. The second leg, a more soul-oriented affair following recording sessions in Philadelphia for the bulk of Young Americans, would be renamed 'Philly Dogs', as reflected on a different live release, Cracked Actor (2017).

Falling in Love Again (Cant Help It)

"Falling in Love Again " is the English language name for a 1930 German song composed by Friedrich Hollaender as "Ich bin von Kopf bis Fuß auf Liebe eingestellt". The song was originally performed, in the 1930 film Der Blaue Engel, by Marlene Dietrich, who also recorded the most famous English version, which became her anthem. Dietrich is backed by the Friedrich Hollaender Orchestra.

Tempest was a British progressive rock band active from 1972 to 1974. Its core members were Jon Hiseman on drums and Mark Clarke on bass. They released two studio albums before breaking up.

<i>Its Only a Movie</i> 1973 studio album by Family

It's Only a Movie is the seventh studio album by the British progressive rock band Family, released in 1973, and their last original studio album before they disbanded that year.

Keith Ian Ellis, was an English bass player. He was born in Matlock, Derbyshire. He is known for his associations with The Koobas, The Misunderstood and Juicy Lucy. He was also a member of Van der Graaf Generator from 1968 to 1969. Ellis worked with Mike Patto and Ollie Halsall's band Boxer from 1975 until late 1976 when the original line-up split.

Patto were an English progressive rock band, formed in London in 1970.

Timebox was an English 1960s psychedelic pop band. They formed in October 1965, in Southport, Lancashire.

<i>Yes We Have No Mañanas (So Get Your Mañanas Today)</i> 1976 studio album by Kevin Ayers

Yes We Have No Mañanas is the seventh studio album by Kevin Ayers, released in June 1976. This LP marked Kevin Ayers' return to the leftfield Harvest label. Producer Muff Winwood employed a straightforward pop production that clipped some of Ayers' usual eccentricities from the tapes.

<i>B.B. King in London</i> 1971 studio album by B.B. King

B.B. King in London is the nineteenth studio album by B.B. King, recorded in London in 1971. He is accompanied by US session musicians and various British rock- and R&B musicians, including Ringo Starr, Alexis Korner and Gary Wright, as well as members of Spooky Tooth and Humble Pie, Greg Ridley, Steve Marriott, and Jerry Shirley.

<i>The Rutles</i> (album) 1978 soundtrack album by The Rutles

The Rutles is a soundtrack album to the 1978 telemovie All You Need Is Cash. The album contains 14 of the tongue-in-cheek pastiches of Beatles songs that were featured in the film.

Boxer were a rock band formed by keyboardist Mike Patto and guitarist Ollie Halsall in 1975. They signed to Virgin and three albums followed, Below the Belt (1975), Absolutely (1977) and Bloodletting (1979), which also featured Bobby Tench and Boz Burrell. The band dissolved after Absolutely when Patto became ill.

<i>Bloodletting</i> (Boxer album) 1979 studio album by Boxer

Bloodletting was an album by the rock band Boxer, released on the Virgin record label in 1979. Their third album in order of release, it had in fact been recorded in 1976 after their debut Below the Belt. It was also a posthumous release for band leader Mike Patto, who had died of lymphatic leukemia in March 1979, and for bass player Keith Ellis, who had died December 1978. Patto was credited as writer of all the album's original songs. Also featured were cover versions of "Hey Bulldog" by Lennon and McCartney, Leonard Cohen's "Teachers", "Dinah Low" by Terry Stamp and Jim Avery and "The Loner" by Neil Young. The cover artwork was by Tony Wright.

<i>Absolutely</i> (Boxer album) 1977 studio album by Boxer

Absolutely was the second rock music album recorded by the band Boxer, released during 1977 on the Epic record label. Singer/pianist Mike Patto had assembled a new-look lineup including bassist Tim Bogert from Vanilla Fudge, guitarist Adrian Fisher from Sparks, Chris Stainton from Joe Cocker and many others and drummer Eddie Tuduri from the American band Wha-Koo.

<i>Patto</i> (album) 1970 studio album by Patto

Patto is the first studio album by the jazz rock band Patto. It was released in 1970 on Vertigo Records.