Live

It’s no wonder so many consider Foghat’s Live one of the greatest rock ’n’ roll albums ever. It simply smokes. (It also sold in excess of 2 million copies, making it the band’s biggest.) The opener, “Fool for the City,” sets the tone and finds a band playing with enough passion, verve, and voracious riffage to incite a packed arena. Then, with monster power chords, dueling solos, and the potent vocals of ex–Savoy Brown man Dave Peverett, the extended (and declarative!) Willie Dixon jam “I Just Want to Make Love to You” shows why it became a late-’70s FM radio anthem. The three-chord blueser “Road Fever” is the song equivalent of an 18-wheeler motoring down the freeway, while Rod Price’s inventive soloing highlights the Bad Company–like “Home in My Hand.” The hip-swaying power of the band classic “Slow Ride” gives new, deeper context to that song’s meaning. In short, there isn’t a Foghat studio album that matches the fire of this release. It also shows how this British band sounded more like American hard rock than most Yankee outfits of the era.