Pat Travers Band “Live! Go For What You Know”

 

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#220 in the Series) is Pat Travers Band,  Live! Go For What You Know.

Bring up Pat’s name in any conversation involving music and you’ll almost always get one of three responses:

1.)Who? (A response by a music fan that generally doesn’t care for guitar slingers.)

2.) Oh yeah, the “Boom Boom” guy. (A response by the general mainstream music buying public.)

3.) He’s the best F’n guitarist around! (If you get this response, you’ve just met a die-hard Travers fan, affectionately referred to as a Hammerhead.)

Pat was one of the solo act, high energy blues rock guitar heroes popular during the mid to late 70’s residing alongside the likes of Robin Trower, Frank Marino, Ronnie Montrose, Tommy Bolin, Rory Gallagher, etc.

Live! Go For What You Know, a 1979 release, was a surprise hit for Pat, released simply as something to cover the stop gap between the studio albums Heat In The Street and Crash & Burn.  It was never intended to be a big seller, yet shortly after its release and the surprise hit single “Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)” it became Pat’s biggest selling album at the time. Boy, was it a barnstormer and it really elevated Pat’s blip on the rock & roll radar screen after four studio releases.

His band at the time is considered by many as the “classic” lineup, the one everybody salivates over. Mr. Travers (ex- Ronnie Hawkins Band!) on lead guitars & lead vocals, Pat Thrall on 2nd guitar (ex-Automatic Man & future Hughes-Thrall, Meatloaf & Asia), Tommy Aldridge on drums (ex-Black Oak Arkansas & future Randy Rhoads era Ozzy Osbourne, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy and a bazillion other bands) and Pat’s trusty sidekick Peter “Mars” Cowling on bass (ex-Flying Hat Band with Glenn Tipton who would later go on to form Judas Priest). Production & engineering was by Tom Allom, whose other notable work included Judas Priest, Black Sabbath & The Strawbs.

Besides the high energy blues rock, there are great moments of funk, R&B, and touches of prog rock in the song structures. And lots of fiery guitar solos! Hard for me to pick any particular favorite tracks, but some highlights would be “Hooked On Music”, “Makin’ Magic” and “Heat In The Street”.

Pat’s still out there slugging it out and recently released a new album called Fidelis featuring a more matured songwriter’s approach. And lots of fiery guitar solos!

— Bill Harper

Track Lisitng

Side One

1. “Hooked on Music” (Pat Travers) – 6:26
2. “Gettin’ Betta” (Mars Cowling, Travers) – 4:52
3. “Go All Night” (Travers) – 4:02
4. “Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)” (Stan Lewis) – 5:05

Side Two

1. “Stevie” (Travers) – 6:21
2. “Makin’ Magic” (Travers) – 4:00
3. “Heat in the Street” (Jeffrey Lesser, Travers) – 4:24
4. “Makes No Difference” (Travers) – 7:03

Personnel

• Pat Travers – guitar, vocals
• Mars Cowling – bass
• Pat Thrall – guitar, backing vocals
• Tommy Aldridge – drums

Links

To PURCHASE FIDELIS check out Alexus Records Website: www.alexusrecords.us (It can also be purchased from Pat’s site listed below)

OFFICIAL PAT  TRAVERS BAND WEBS SITE:

Pat Travers Band, Live! Go For What You Know peaked at # 29 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart.