Foghat. Yeah. Nothing reveals a member of my generation like a Foghat reference. They dominated the album rock formats in the late 70s and early 80s… and then sort of fell off the map, radio-wise.

Which is a shame, because these guys could play and sing some great Rock ‘n’ Roll. In the studio or live, you got what you saw: four dudes that knew what they were doing around a 12-bar blues number. No frills, straight-no-chaser hard rock. Multi-purpose music that had no pretensions about it whatsoever.

Foghat Live has six tracks, kicking off with a rousing “Fool for the City,” then getting into the upbeat and energetic “Home in My Hand.” Personally, I’m not a fan of the next cut, “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” but that’s for lyrical reasons, not instrumental. I just don’t like the lyrics, but I have to hand it to Foghat because they play the heck out of this one.

Side two is a great run… manic fun with a one-two pairing of “Road Fever” and “Honey Hush” – that last song taking the Yardbird’s arrangement of the blues standard, “Train Kept A-Rollin'” and giving it totally different lyrics. And then…

ARE YOU READY…
ARE YOU READY TO TAKE A…
SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW RIIIIIIIIIIIIIDE?

Eight minutes and twenty-two seconds of “Slow Ride.” Live. Insane slide guitar frenzy at the end. Dude.

If you don’t know what a Foghat sounds like, start here and be ready to be amazed. If you remember Foghat, you’re already singing “Slow Ride” while you look this up on Amazon, iTunes, or YouTube.

8 out of 10. It’s solid and great fun. I’m in the mood and the rhythm is right. Groove to the music, we can go all night.