Los Angeles, California: Hard rock guitar legend Pat Travers continues his deep dive into the concert archive with one of the earliest concerts yet, Heat In The Street Tour - 1978, recorded at the Cleveland Agora, and hitting the streets in just a few weeks time, on May 30.
First, however, a new single peels away the album, a seething rendition of the title track readying the world for one of the most explosive shows he ever played.
SINGLE: https://orcd.co/pattravers_heatinthestreetsingle
Newly relocated to the US after spending a couple of years in London, Travers and bassist Peter “Mars” Cowling stepped away from the trio format they had relied on in the past, by adding ace guitarist Pat Thrall (Stomu Yamashta, Automatic Man, Glenn Hughes, Meat Loaf etc).
With drummer Tommy Aldridge (Black Oak Arkansas, Whitesnake, Ozzy Osbourne etc) also now on board, the mighty Heat On The Street was released on the eve of their next tour, itself a marathon trek that kicked off in September and just kept on getting better.
“This band was vicious,” Travers reflects. “And by the time we hit the Agora Theatre [on November 27], we were jaw dropping live!”
Their set that night truly represents Travers and co at their best. Surprisingly, just two numbers from the new album made it into the show, “Heat on the Street” and their phenomenal cover of Australian songwriters Harry Vanda and George Young’s “Evie,” a 1975 hit for former Easybeats frontman Stevie Wright and, coincidentally, a highlight of the latest Suzi Quatro album too.
The majority of the show, then, drew from Travers’ three previous albums, his eponymous debut (1976), and Makin’ Magic and Putting It Straight (both 1977). In the hands of this new outfit, however, the music blazed with unprecedented ferocity, the blues at their most magnificent… and Little Walter’s “Boom Boom (Out Goes The Lights)” had never sounded so vivacious - unless you’d already seen the band perform.
There again, you could say the same thing about every song on Heat In The Street Tour - 1978; in fact, no matter how well you think you know Pat Travers (and with 20+ albums behind him, that’s a lot of knowledge), this show’s gonna make you a heap of fresh introductions.
Track listing
1. Rock 'N' Roll Susie
2. Hooked On Music
3. Need Love
4. Gettin' Betta
5. Heat In The Street
6. Go All Night
7. Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights)
8. Life In London
9. Evie
10. Makes No Difference
CD/VINYL: https://cleorecs.com/search?q=pat+travers+heat+in+the+street
DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/pattravers_heatinthestreettour1978
