Alexander James Harvey 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.
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock, as well as several earlier psychedelic rock albums. Miller left his first band to move to San Francisco and form the Steve Miller Blues Band. Shortly after Harvey Kornspan negotiated the band's contract with Capitol Records in 1967, the band shortened its name to the Steve Miller Band. In February 1968, the band recorded its debut album, Children of the Future. It went on to produce the albums Sailor, Brave New World, Your Saving Grace, Number 5, Rock Love, Fly Like an Eagle, Book of Dreams, among others. The band's Greatest Hits 1974–78, released in 1978, sold over 13 million copies. In 2016, Steve Miller was inducted as a solo artist in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1972. Fronted by Alex Harvey accompanied by Zal Cleminson on guitar, bassist Chris Glen, keyboard player Hugh McKenna and drummer Ted McKenna, their music was a blend of glam rock, blues rock and hard rock, with cabaret elements. Their stage performances incorporated theatrical elements. The band were popular in continental Europe, and influential in Australia, most notably on AC/DC and on the young Nick Cave and his first band The Boys Next Door.
Songs from the Mirror is the third solo album by Scottish singer-songwriter Fish, released in 1993 as his final album for Polydor. It does not contain any original material; instead it is a cover album featuring Fish's versions of songs by artists who inspired him before his career started. It reached 46 on the UK Albums Chart.
Sad Café are an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1976, who achieved their peak of popularity in the late 1970s and early 1980s. They are best known for the UK top 40 singles "Every Day Hurts", "Strange Little Girl", "My Oh My" and "I'm in Love Again", the first of which was their biggest hit, reaching number 3 on the UK Singles Chart in 1979. The band also had two US Billboard Hot 100 hits with "Run Home Girl" and "La-Di-Da".
Alistair Macdonald "Zal" Cleminson is a Scottish guitarist, best known for his role in the Sensational Alex Harvey Band between 1972 and 1978. He was subsequently a member of Nazareth for three years. In 2017, Cleminson put together a new rock band - /sin'dogs/, which recorded and released a four-song CD and toured Scotland and England at the end of that year.
The Party Boys was an Australian rock supergroup with a floating membership commencing in 1982. Created by Mondo Rock's bass guitarist, Paul Christie, with founding member Kevin Borich as a part-time venture for professional musicians with downtime from their other projects; the group had temporary members from Status Quo, the Angels, Sherbet, Skyhooks, Rose Tattoo, the Choirboys, Australian Crawl, Divinyls, Models, Dragon and Swanee, plus international stars such as Joe Walsh, Eric Burdon, Alan Lancaster, and Graham Bonnet.
Framed is the 1972 debut album by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. The title track is a cover of a Leiber and Stoller song originally recorded by The Robins. Other tracks include a cover of the Willie Dixon song "I Just Want to Make Love to You", originally performed by Muddy Waters. Both of these songs had appeared on Alex Harvey recordings as far back as the 1963 live recording from Hamburg, released in 1964 as "Alex Harvey and His Soul Band". "Hammer Song" and "Midnight Moses" are two Harvey originals that first appeared on his solo LP Roman Wall Blues in 1969. "Hole In Her Stocking" had been recorded by Alex Harvey in 1970 on the Rock Workshop eponymous release of the same year.
Next is the second album by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, released in 1973.
The Impossible Dream was the third album by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, released October 4, 1974. The album was released separately on CD but can be hard to find; however, the CD is widely available on a 2-in-1 album, the other album being Tomorrow Belongs to Me. It was the band's first release to chart, peaking at No. 16 on the UK Album Chart. "Anthem" was the last single released by SAHB in the U.S.
Live was the first live record by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, released in 1975. It features a cover version of the Tom Jones song "Delilah". Donald A. Guarisco of AllMusic writes "Live is a double-triumph for the Sensational Alex Harvey Band because it functions both as a strong live souvenir for the group's fans and also as a solid introduction to the group's highlights for the novice".
Tomorrow Belongs to Me is the fourth studio album by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. It was released in 1975 on Vertigo Records. While no A-side singles were released from this album, three compositions were used as B-sides to other SAHB singles: "Soul in Chains", as a live version taken from the subsequent tour, "Shake That Thing" and "Snake Bite". The album's title track was a cover of a key song in the 1966 musical Cabaret and its 1972 film adaptation.
The Penthouse Tapes is the fifth studio album by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. Unlike previous releases comprising predominantly original compositions.The Penthouse Tapes consists largely of covers, ranging from The Osmonds' "Crazy Horses" and Alice Cooper's "School's Out" to Lead Belly's "Goodnight Irene". Of the three originals, "I Wanna Have You Back" and "Jungle Jenny" open side one; a third, "Say You're Mine", was written by Alex Harvey and appears on side two. The album was released in 1976 on Vertigo Records.
SAHB Stories is the sixth studio album by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, released in 1976. It features their hit single "Boston Tea Party", as well as a cover of the Jerry Reed song, "Amos Moses". Harvey left the band shortly after this album was released, but returned in 1977. The album was re-released in 1984 on the Sahara Records label.
Fourplay is the seventh studio album by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, and the first of the group's albums to be made without Alex Harvey: the band was identified as "SAHB " on the album cover. Harvey had quit the group and was recording another album called Alex Harvey Presents: The Loch Ness Monster at the time. Most of the group had recorded two albums under the name Tear Gas in the early 1970s, and John Neil Munro states in his 2002 book The Sensational Alex Harvey that they had been planning to record without Harvey for at least a year prior to the split. Harvey helped to select songs for the album and contributed some production assistance. Some songs, such as "Smouldering" and "Outer Boogie" had been road-tested by the group during portions of shows for their 1976 tour of Europe during which Harvey was required to rest. In 2004, Ted McKenna told John Clarkson:
Rock Drill is the eighth studio album by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, which was released in Europe in 1977 and in the UK in 1978. The album includes Tommy Eyre on keyboards; the band's original keyboardist Hugh McKenna was absent due to an internal dispute - however, three songs from the album are co-credited to him. McKenna has since recorded his regrets at the dispute, given what lay ahead in the next five years.
Zalvation: Live In The 21st Century is a live album, released in 2006, which served as a The Sensational Alex Harvey Band reunion notwithstanding that Harvey himself had died in 1982. This was the third SAHB album to be made without Alex Harvey, the others being the band's seventh studio album, Fourplay and another reunion album Live in Glasgow 1993. This album features Max Maxwell on vocals, and sees the return of Hugh McKenna to the band, his last appearance being on the Fourplay album, for which he had been vocalist. The album commemorated a reunion tour, but was also intended as a farewell tour; however the tour had been so successful that the band decided to continue. The album release contains 2 CDs and comprises new versions of songs written or covered by the original SAHB. Although four fifths of the group on Zalvation were responsible for 1977's SAHB album Fourplay, no songs from this album are included.
Christopher John Glen, known simply as Chris Glen, is a Scottish rock musician. He is best known for playing with the Sensational Alex Harvey Band from 1972 to 1977, and Michael Schenker Group from 1980 to 1984, 2008 to 2010, and 2016 to 2020. He also performed with Michael Schenker Fest; featuring original MSG band members.
Chain are an Australian blues band formed as The Chain in late 1968 with a line-up including guitarist and vocalist Phil Manning and lead vocalist Wendy Saddington. Saddington left in May 1969 and in September 1970 Matt Taylor joined on lead vocals and harmonica. During the 1990s they were referred to as Matt Taylor's Chain. Their single, "Black and Blue", is their only top twenty hit. It was written and recorded by the line-up of Manning, Taylor, Barry Harvey on drums and Barry Sullivan on bass guitar. The related album, Toward the Blues, followed in September and peaked in the top ten. Manfred Mann's Earth Band covered "Black and Blue" on their 1973 album Messin'.
Dutch Tilders, born Mattheus Frederikus Wilhelmus Tilders, anglicised as Matthew Tilders, was a Netherlands-born Australian blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. He performed and released material as a solo artist and also issued a blues-rock album with Kevin Borich, The Blues Had a Baby and They Called It Rock'n'Roll. He has toured with John Mayall (1974), Brownie McGhee, and Taj Mahal. Tilders was diagnosed with oesophageal and liver cancer in May 2010 and died on 23 April 2011, aged 69. In May 2012 Australian Guitar magazine listed him in the top 40 on their Definitive Australian Guitarists of All Time.
