If you were looking for a band with substantial blues roots, technically excellent playing both individually and collectively, and a live excitement that grabs and never lets go, you couldn't do much better than the Climax Blues Band. This English quartet has been around in roughly the same form ever since Rod Stewart and Long John Baldry were obscure blues singers; and FM Live is a fine sampler of their live act, using uptempo blues-rockers to establish a primal intensity sustained throughout a spirited set. Colin Cooper's booming baritone vocals and inventive sax blowing (he plays lines like pre-Thirties Chicago blues guitarists) are spectacularly well-blended with Pete Haycock's tastefully flashy guitar, all of which is intertwined around the urgent poundings of a highly sympathetic rhythm section. The result is a lengthy but not excessive show that's highly enjoyable -- the product of a tight, talented professional unit.

- Gordon Fletcher, Rolling Stone, 4/11/74.

Bonus Review!

Good time rock, spiced with a bluesy feeling, is the happy calling card of this band heard in a concert in New York. Its vocal blend is basically in the midrange with simple guitar breaks and drums that don't drive you nuts. "All The Time In The World" and "Flight" showcase the fine musicianship of Pete Haycock on guitar, Colin Cooper on sax and guitar, Derek Holt on bass and John Cuffely on drums. The music tends to run a little fuzzy ("Goin' To New York"), but it's livable.

- Billboard, 1974.

 Main Page | Readers' Favorites | The Classic 300 | Other Seventies Discs | Search The RockSite/The Web