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George Thorogood – 1979.03.25 – Le Palace, Paris, France [FM]

George Thorogood  is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware.  His “high-energy boogie-blues” sound became a staple of 1980s rock radio, with hits like his original songs “Bad to the Bone” and “I Drink Alone“. He has also helped popularize older songs by American icons, such as “Move It on Over,” “Who Do You Love?” and “House Rent Boogie/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer“, which became staples of classic rock radio.  Thorogood began his career in the early 1970s as a solo acoustic performer in the style of Robert Johnson and Elmore James after being inspired by a John P. Hammond concert. However, he soon formed a band, the Delaware Destroyers, with a high school friend, drummer Jeff Simon. With additional players they developed their own sound, a mixture of Chicago blues and rock and roll. Their first shows were in the Rathskeller at the University of Delaware and at the Deer Park Tavern. Eventually, they shortened the band’s name to The Destroyers.  George Thorogood‘s demo, Better Than the Rest, was recorded in 1974, but was not released until 1979. His major recording debut came in 1976 with the album George Thorogood & The Destroyers, which was released in 1977. In 1978, Thorogood released his next album with the Destroyers titled Move It on Over, which included a remake of Hank Williams‘ ” Move It on Over“. “Please Set a Date” and their reworking of the Bo Diddley song “Who Do You Love?” both followed in 1979.

Free – 1972.10.14 – Bracknell, Berkshire, UK [SBD]

Free was an English rock band formed in London in 1968 by Paul Rodgers (lead vocals), Paul Kossoff (lead guitar), Andy Fraser (bass), and Simon Kirke (drums).  They disbanded in 1973, and Rodgers became the frontman of Bad Company along with Kirke.  Kossoff formed Back Street Crawler and passed away from a drug-induced cardiac arrest.  Fraser went on to form Sharks.  When they played their first gig on 19 Apr 1968, Fraser was 15, Kossoff was 17, and Rodgers and Kirke were both 18.  They were best known for their 1970 hit song “All Right Now“.  This hit, from the Fire and Water album, helped to secure them a spot at the huge Isle of Wight Festival, playing to 600,000 people.  This bootleg is a nice quality soundboard bootleg from Bracknell, Berkshire, UK in 1972.  This was the ‘classic’ Heartbreaker lineup.   Rolling Stone magazine has referred to the band as “British hard rock pioneers”.  They ranked Rodgers as 55 in its list of the “100 Greatest Singers of All Time”, and Kossoff received 51st place in the list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”.

Black Sabbath – 1970.08.31 – Montreaux, Switzerland [SBD]

Following the break-up of their previous band Mythology in 1968, guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward sought to form a heavy blues rock band in Aston, Birmingham. They enlisted bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne, who had played together in a band called Rare Breed.  The new group was initially named the Polka Tulk Blues Band^.  The Polka Tulk Blues Band featured slide guitarist Jimmy Phillips, a childhood friend of Osbourne’s, and saxophonist Alan “Aker” Clarke. After shortening the name to Polka Tulk, the band again changed their name to Earth  and continued as a four-piece without Phillips and Clarke under the name Earth. During this time, they recorded several demos written by Norman Haines such as “The Rebel”, “Song for Jim”, and “When I Came Down”.  In December 1968, Iommi abruptly left Earth to join Jethro Tull.  His stint with the band would be short-lived and unsatisfied with the direction of Jethro Tull, Iommi returned to Earth in January 1969. While playing shows in England in 1969, the band discovered they were being mistaken for another English group named Earth. They decided to change their name again. A cinema across the street from the band’s rehearsal room was showing the 1963 horror film Black Sabbath starring Boris Karloff. Following that, Osbourne and Butler wrote the lyrics for a song called “Black Sabbath“, which was inspired by the work of horror and adventure-story writer Dennis Wheatley, along with a vision that Butler had of a black silhouetted figure standing at the foot of his bed. The song’s ominous sound and dark lyrics pushed the band in a darker direction, a stark contrast to the popular music of the late 1960s, which was dominated by flower power, folk music, and hippie culture. Inspired by the new sound, the band changed their name to Black Sabbath in August 1969, and made the decision to focus on writing similar material.

Kiss – 1977.08.16 – Cow Palace, San Francisco, CA [SBD]

Kiss  is an American rock band formed in New York City in January 1973 by Paul Stanley, Gene Simmons, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley. Well known for its members’ face paint and stage outfits, the group rose to prominence in the mid-to-late 1970s with their elaborate live performances, which featured fire breathing, blood-spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits, and pyrotechnics. The band has gone through several lineup changes, with Stanley and Simmons the only remaining original members. The original and best-known lineup consisted of Stanley (vocals and rhythm guitar), Simmons (vocals and bass guitar), Frehley (lead guitar and vocals) and Criss (drums and vocals).  With their make-up and costumes, they took on the personae of comic book-style characters: The Starchild (Stanley), The Demon (Simmons), The Spaceman or Space Ace (Frehley) and The Catman (Criss). Due to creative differences, both Criss and Frehley had departed the group by 1982.  This excellent soundboard bootleg finds Kiss right in the middle of their meteoric rise to stardom, in 1977 at the Cow Palace.