The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - Vambo

Editor's note: Here's one of those promised sporadic appearances of. ...in a perfect world. I'm still focusing pretty intently on my ongoing job search, so wish me luck. I'm going a little stir crazy. 

I became a music fan very early in life, a few years before I began learning to play guitar. I carried a small, pocket-sized AM transistor radio around with me everywhere I went, a cheesy little white plastic earpiece attached to an equally-cheesy little cable plugged into a jack on the radio's side. When I was 11, my folks gifted me with my first guitar on Christmas. It was a Decca acoustic, with a sunburst finish and a black plastic pickguard inscribed with vines and flowers. But like most imported instruments in the 1970s, it was a horrible and cheaply-made monstrosity that made you suffer for your art every time you laid fingers upon the fretboard.

But in spite of that, I learned. Upon encouragement from my guitar teacher, my parents sprung for a really good guitar made by Gibson. It didn't have the typical red and white Gibson label with the model and serial number pasted inside the guitar and visible through the soundhole, but I finally was able to identify it just last year as a Gibson Jubilee, a fairly uncommon model. My playing and learning improved immediately once I had an instrument that wasn't inflicting both sonic and physical pain each time I picked it up.

The next Christmas I got and AM/FM radio that replaced my little AM radio, and I went off exploring for music when I wasn't playing. Each new discovery was a revelation. Not long after, TV began playing catch-up with popular music. NBC's "The Midnight Special" and ABC's "In Concert" both aired late Friday night, and I would flip between the two shows to see who was playing. On late Sunday nights, "Don Kirshner's Rock Concert," a syndicated show, aired on our local CBS affiliate. I watched them all, and I discovered even more music.

"In Concert" was where I first encountered The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. It was in 1974, and glam

rock/glitter rock was in full swing, and even performers who didn't necessarily fit into that genre would glam things up onstage, since audiences of the time began expecting shows that were as visual as they were musical. SAHB was more of a bare-knuckle rock and roll band (with the occasional theatrical flourishes), but when their set began on that TV show, I was taken at first by the band's look. Lead vocalist Alex Harvey looked pretty normal, decked out in jeans, striped t-shirt and a tuxedo jacket (complete with tails). Cousins Hugh McKenna and Ted McKenna were obscured behind keyboard rigs and drum kits, so they couldn't really contribute to the costumed visuals.

That left things up to bass player Chris Glen and guitarist Zal Cleminson. Glen was pretty outrageous in his electric blue spandex jumpsuit, complete with what appeared to be a silver codpiece. Cleminson was another story...in his green spandex jumpsuit, his face was painted stark-white, with bright red lips and a bit of black makeup around the eyes. He looked like a demented mime in harlequin paint, or perhaps a rock-n-roll Joker. I found him a bit frightening, but I couldn't look away.

But it soon became obvious that this was a band that could play. Cleminson in particular was a formidable guitarist...his bluesy riffs and solos propelled the SAHB along behind Harvey's excellent vocals, which today remind me a bit of the late Bon Scott from AC/DC. I'm willing to bet they were influenced by the Scottish rockers.

I never really heard much from The Sensational Alex Harvey Band after that TV appearance. They were huge in Great Britain and Europe, but they never managed to break big in the United States. Local radio didn't play them; even the one AOR station I could pick up didn't air their music.

From the band biography at AllMusic:

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band formed in 1972 when veteran vocalist Alex Harvey (February 5, 1935, Gorbals, Glasgow, Scotland; died February 4, 1982, Zeebrugge, Belgium) teamed with struggling Glasgow group Tear Gas. Zal Cleminson (born May 4, 1949; guitar), Hugh McKenna (born November 28, 1949; keyboards), Chris Glen (born November 6, 1950, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland; bass), and Ted McKenna (born March 10, 1950, Glasgow, Scotland; drums) gave the singer the uncultured power his uncompromising rasp required and were the perfect foil to the sense of drama he created. Armed with a musical and cultural heritage, Harvey embarked on a unique direction combining elements of heavy rock, R&B, and the British music hall. He created the slum-kid Vambo, celebrated pulp fiction with "Sergeant Fury," and extolled a passion for B-movie lore in "Don’t Worry About the Lights Mother, They’re Burning Big Louie Tonight." Framed, SAHB’s 1972 debut album, was accompanied by a period of frenetic live activity, while Next... reflected a consequent confidence that was especially apparent on the title track, a harrowing, atmospheric rendition of a Jacques Brel composition.

But Harvey's health was failing, exacerbated by the band's harsh touring schedule. He left the band in 1976, and ended up in the hospital.

He [Harvey] entered hospital to attend to a recurring liver problem, during which time the remaining members recorded Fourplay as SAHB (without Harvey). Hugh McKenna was then replaced by Tommy Eyre and in August, 1977 Harvey rejoined the band to complete Rock Drill. However, three months later he walked out on his colleagues during a rehearsal for BBC’s Sight and Sound program, and despite the ill-feeling this caused, it was later accepted that his return had been premature given the extent of his illness. Despite pursuing a solo career at a more measured pace, Harvey died as a result of a heart attack on February 4, 1982.

You can find a bit more on The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, including videos, at this link.

Guitars mentioned in this piece:

My first guitar, a Decca acoustic. Long gone now.

My Gibson Jubilee, which I still own and play