I just heard one of the old (70's) singles from them on the radio and was JAMMING to it. I forgot how many great songs they had. Anyone own their albums? Greatest Hits collection?

Opinions?
Thoughts?

none, other than i'm pretty sure it's Geils.

I have Blow Your Face Out (Live) and it is pretty fucking hot...I don't listen to it a lot, but it is a fun party rekkiid. Must of Got Lost owns.

Did I dream it, or did they play at the original Woodstock in some form? I could swear VH1 told me so.

Early houseparty Geils is still great fun, like '69-77 or so. The 80's hits are great for radio, but I don't need to hear them much again.

I have "Flashback: The best of the J Geils Band" and I guess they're ok. Pretty much just one of those 80's pop bands to me. Were they really around at Woodstock? I thought they started in the mid to late 70s.

"Take out your false teeth, mama, I wanna ssssssuck on yo' gums."

I've got a few Geils albums. They used to be a pretty cool R&B band, and I always liked Peter Wolf as a front man - but over their career they've probably put out more dud albums than good ones. Their 3rd studio album Bloodshot has their semi-reggae hit "Give It To Me" but the '72 live set Full House might be the best of their 70s work. "Whammer Jammer" is essential for anybody interested in the outer limits of the harmonica as a lead instrument.

Monkey Island and Sanctuary are both pretty good as well, but then came Love Stinks and Freeze Frame and mainstream success. The success was deserved, but the albums themselves were pandering and hollow.

Trivia note: the cover of their second album The Morning After" was photographed the morning after a raging hotel party attended by members of War, the cast of Jesus Christ Superstar, and the Bay Area Bombers roller derby team.

This alone makes them cool.

Isn't there some Murphy/Jagger song on one of his solo albs that is supposed to be pretty qual?

I still can't believe the song's title is actually spelled out as

"Must Of Got Lost"

Worst. Title. Ever.

My dad loves them.

I know Jagger and Richard both guested on Wolf's last solo album Sleepless, but I can't remember much of it. I ended up selling it 'cuz it was waaay too slick. And I'm not making that judgement flippantly; I still own and enjoy Fool's Parade - I think it's a fine example of mainstream classic rock done right - but Sleepless went totally overboard on the studio polish.

1. You buy too few cds to waste one of them on the J Geils Band.
2. I'm admittedly only familiar with their most popular, radio friendly albums/songs like love stinks and centerfold which are terrible songs/albums
3. This post would have been more negative before I read Radcliffe's post and noted point #2
4. I stand by point #1

np: Willie Hightower S/T

heavy rotation on my turntable that year.

If you are judging all of J. Geils' output by Love Stinks and Centerfold, you might as well say that every band that made a couple of bad pop albums in the 80s should be written off.

Todd, get their live record "Full House Live". They were the quintessential small club live rock/boogie act in the early 70s and the album slays.

Wasn't it the J Geils Band that Lester Bangs appeared on stage with, typing out a gig review of the concert while actually on stage with the band?

That's the only thing I know about them cos I'm not as old as Radcliffe.

Yeah.
But great song.
It's the tune that inspired this thread.

And Billy... it is duly noted, as is your comment, Matt. (Although I think the quintessential live club/pub band of the 70's was Brinsley Schwarz, myself. At least in the UK... did they make it over here, much?)

Still, a conumdrum, indeed.

I'm sure all their stuff isn't as bad as those albums, but are you saying that you haven't to have heard all of a band's work to have an opinion about them? If so, I highly disagree.

I'm not even completely writing them off. I'm just saying given that Todd doesn't buy that many cds anymore, there ought to be higher priorities than a J. Geils cd. Just my opinion.

yes.

billy g, do you ever feel like you buy too MUCH music not to write a book or something?

But you're judging them on arguably their worst two albums.

Naw...not unless it was a very short book that provided a tax strategy to expense my collection. I do buy too much though. Given that I'm not all that interested in current music, I expect one day I'll wake up and think that's enough. I still have a decent sized shopping list though so it probably won't happen soon.

I've tried so many times over the years to get into the J Geils records but have been unable to. Saw'em open for The Stones in '81 @ Candlestick Park and they put on a decent live set. Just didn't like their songs very much.

np - third man soundtrack

You can never buy "too much"
Isn't that part of the reason we're all here in the first place ?

np - "the cuckoo clock" - OW

Look I'm not claiming to be an expert on J. Geils and I'm not "judging them" except in the sense that we all judge bands based on a sample of their work and decide whether or not we deem them worthy of further exploration.

I don't doubt for a minute that these albums are near the bottom of their collection but I'd have to hear a kernel of potential from them to think that their earlier material was worth my time. For example, I'm not a fan at all of disco era Bee Gees, but wasn't shocked to find they they were capable of a grand orchestral pop album like Odessa cause they do have good voices. I don't hear anything in the J. Geils music I've heard to think that they'd be capable of producing a great album.

Maybe J. Geils put out some music Todd would like, but I don't think I was making an outrageous statement/pre-judgement to say that his money would be better spent on something else. For example, as much as Todd claims to like Tom Ze, Cesaria Evoria, and Caetano Veloso, I don't think he owns much by them.

np: Mandrill "Fencewalk"