Next

This would be much better if I didn't understand English.

Ah! Different times! The next time I am feeling a bit down I am gonna organise a good old fashioned Gang Bang to help wash away those blues! Haha! I enjoyed this way more than I should have done I think.

Didn't really do anything to me- kind of mediocre glam rock and a lot of questionable lyrics. I'm sure this was influential at the time, but it didnt impress me.

This was ridiculous, but also kinda fun? I'm a sucker for glam and trash.

2.0

Märklig karnevalrock. Kändes ok i början men med en del underliga ljud. Efter ett tag blev det dock relativt tjatigt och inget jag längtar tillbaka till.

Härö ja teatraalinen glam rock-levy, joka paranee edetessään. Samankaltaisuuksia löytyy Sladesta ja varhaisesta Alice Cooperista.

There's a little bit of everything 70s in this album. I'm a big fan of varied albums, so this was a good one to me. I was a big fan of the really weird songs like The Faith Healer and the title track. They sound like early versions of Pink Floyd songs to me in a weird way. The bluesier songs like Gang Bang and Giddy Up a Ding Dong are gonna be stuck in my head at work today, too. Anyways, I think it's a funny idea that there's always a chance that the people that write all of these songs about sex have never actually had it in their lives and they're just writing it to make it sound like they do. Granted, I've never been a part of a 27-person gangbang in my life. I can't even say I've been in a 3-person gangbang, so I can't say with any certainty whether or not Gang Bang is functionally accurate, but it's still funny to think that there's a (probably small) chance Mr. Harvey hasn't even done the two-person stuff and is just posturing. Ignoring my goofy speculations, it's a great albu

Being lascivious AND boring is a hell of a choice.

Sleazy, theatrical and aggressively 70s - feels like something Rocky Horror Show's Frank N Furter would listen to in his downtime.

I went through a pub rock phase, desperate to find a better, undersung Elvis Costello or at least an on-par Slade. Paths lead me to Alex Harvey over and over and each time, he wasn't it.

It sounds kind of like a British take on Alice Cooper: theatrical, campy and sleazy. Harvey is a full-throated character who commands your attention, whether you want to or not, and occasionally veers into uncomfortable territory, as on “Gang Bang.” But “Vambo Marble Eye” is hard rock of the highest order, and I’m guessing these guys were something to see live. Really like the sound the producers got on the drums and guitars.

Is it audacity, or stupidity, to cover Brel's "Next" only 5 years after Scott Walker did it (and did it so much better that I would have been embarrassed to release this had I been SAHB). There are some bands you wonder why they never broke though in the US, and some where regional fame was exactly appropriate.

Glamtastic!

Menacing sex cabaret

Good sound lots of variety, enjoyed this a lot more than I expected I would. 3.5 starrs which I shall round up

The first two tracks interested me, and then it devolved into stuff I didn't enjoy. Rating: 2

Good

AC / DC if they weren't hard Australian blokes

I think there should be a rule where any album that mentions gonorrhea automatically gets the lowest rating possible

TIL they wrote Faith Healer.

bang

Lyrical genius

Schizophrenic compilation of boring rock and weird cabaret, and I feel like I'd have preferred to listen two an album of each than whatever this mess is, even if they'd still be 2 stars apiece.

Was ok

I vaguely remembered the name Alex Harvey, but nothing more, so I wasn’t sure quite what to expect. The music sounded promising - bouncy 70s glam - but then I started listening to the lyrics. It says something when a Jaques Brel song is the least offensive thing on an album, lyrically speaking. I’m pretty sure I know what Swampnake and Giddy Up A Ding Dong are referring to, but the song Gang Bang is probably the most unpleasant thing I’ve heard in a long while. Yuck.

Alright, I've at least heard of The Sensational Alex Harvey Band from one of the many artists who covered "The Faith Healer" on this record. Fronted by singer-songwriter Alex Harvey, this Scottish glam rock act was well known for blending blues, hard rock, and cabaret, and for incorporating theatrical performances into their sets. Hell, the band members themselves dressed up as harlequins and other vaudeville-type folk for their shows. As for the music on their second record, Next, I can see how it influenced Bon Scott-era AC/DC and early Nick Cave. This is full-on cock rock, between Zal Cleminson's loud guitar riffs, Hugh McKenna's hard-hitting piano work, the tight rhythm section of Chris Glen and Ted McKenna, and Alex Harvey's electrifying, abrasive vocals. That latter element is especially poignant here, as Alex is poised in the center of the mix, offering such crass tales of fervent sexual desire that aren't even thinly veiled, including the rampant euphemisms throughout "Swampsnake" and "The Last of the Teenage Idols" and him putting his hands on someone's body under the pretext of being a supposed religious figure on "The Faith Healer." There's even a song called "Gang Bang", for crying out loud. But for as much as Alex Harvey penned some truly graphic tunes, his choices of covers were just as potent. Freddie Bell's "Giddy Up a Ding Dong" is very much about likening one's penis to a horse, which seemed on brand here. But even more intense was Jacques Brel's "Next", serving as the title track here. That song used the historical context of how the French army ran mobile brothels to supply prostitutes to the soldiers during the World War campaigns to offer an over-the-top story of how a young man lost his innocence on two different fronts: the sex and the war - "All the naked and the dead/Should hold each other's hands/As they watch me scream at night/In a dream no one understands." Can this album be a bit much in its crass humor? Yes, I can freely admit that. But more often than not, I was intrigued by the showmanship and musical technicality of Alex Harvey and his band to sell these tales of debauchery. Again, I can see how this would be influential. That just leaves me with a few issues I need to bring up. First, for as much as "The Faith Healer" is the iconic song from this record that many have covered, I just feel like the buildup from the monotone electric piano motif took longer than it needed to. That intro could have been trimmed down by at least thirty seconds, and you wouldn't miss out on much. Second, there were some glaring panning issues on the closing track, "The Last of the Teenage Idols", where it started cutting to the left speaker toward the end of the last chorus, then immediately shifted to the right for the switchup to the doo-wop-esque final movement, before the mix was corrected partway through. I don't know why the track was mixed like that. Nevertheless, I had a good time with Next as a very cocky record. The Sensational Alex Harvey Band continued to put out music until their disbandment in 1978, and Alex himself would die of heart failure four years later. There had been some reunions by the backing band since, but nothing too concrete. Still, at this point, their legacy had been set in the glam rock and even punk scenes.

This is all midrange, and a LOT of it. There is almost no dynamic; it's at a 10 straight out of the gate. Cocaine is a helluva drug. "Ain't Nothing Like a Gang Bang" is a strong choice. "Can I Put My Hands On You" (The Faith Healer) just comes across as creepy. None of the music is anything special. This is Dorm Room Slop.

Some good variety and good fun- however, I found most of the lyrics quite boring and tasteless. Favourites: Swampsnake, Vambo Marble Eye. Least favourite: Giddy up a Ding Dong.

10/6 Shitty album

I'm not into Glam Rock, but this is far more interesting as T-Rex. Campy and fun, always on the edge of being way too cheesy. Might get back to this, but it probably won't become a favorite.

Like The Rolling Stones but not boring.

I think it's evident that the best song on here is a Jacques Brel cover. Some great ideas but just let down by the fact it's covered in 70s schlock.

I don't quite get the hate this gets here. Is it absolutely essential listening? No. But you can certainly hear its influences (and what it was influenced by). Rocky Horror comes to mind - but they definitely had their influence on AC/DC both in the subject matter of their lyrics and the simplicity of their groove. That said, they usually have a bit more of a swing to their groove than AC/DC, courtesy of a piano and horns. AC/DC albums have an average rating of more than 3.5 here, while this has a 2.7 at the time of writing. Seems not quite justified both ways.

Sophomoric, jocular, silly. To find out they predated and influenced AC/DC didn’t surprise me, but there’s something lacking in SAHB that AC/DC figured out. It’s not awful (most of the time…musically) but the lyrics are just so juvenile and attempting to be deliberately edgy. If I was in high school in Scotland at the time I’d have likely been briefly enamored, instead that phase of my life was “One Fierce Beer Coaster” by Bloodhound Gang. Different generations have different shames to bear.

I don’t know what to say about this. It’s not terrible, but it’s not a masterpiece either. I suppose it’ll get a 3.

Why did we need to cover next? Scott is already bad enough

Man. Some people on this site are miserable prudes. This was a lot of fun and musically very varied. I think his vocals take getting used to, but if Gang Bang doesn't give you a good chuckle or put a smile on your face, you are dead inside.

Music was good. Lyrics were, I don’t know what.

It was interesting there is definitely something there. Might have to check out some of their other stuff.

If you told me I would be listening to a jazzy ragtimey song about a gang bang at 6:30 Wednesday morning I probably wouldn't have believed you, Cassandra. Goofy but not unlikeable. Are these songs all about peen? This probably tells you everything you need to know about me but I'll take this over 90% of Bowie's catalog every day.

meh

Ich muss diese Reviews wirklich schneller schreiben. Kann mich an das Album kaum noch erinnern. Es klang irgendwie nach 70er-Glam Rock, aber deutlich unspektakulärer und simpler als Bowie oder T.Rex. Auch die Texte fand ich relativ stumpf, wobei ich es schon witzig fand, dass es in dem Song "Gang Bang" tatsächlich um das geht, was man bei dem Titel im Kopf hat. Die ersten beiden Songs haben mich wirklich gar nicht bekommen, den darauffolgenden "The Faith Healer" fand ich aber recht spannend, weil er über seine 7 Minuten ständig ankündigt, gleich so richtig drauf los zu rocken, aber das dann nie so richtig zulässt. Eine schöne Atmosphäre. Danach gingen Songs mal in Richtung Stones oder Rock 'n' Roll, was ich ganz cool fand, mal mehr Richtung Musical, was ich nicht so cool fand. Der letzte Song schielt stark in Richtung Queen inkl. Kinderchor, bekommt aber gerade noch so die Kurve. Insgesamt also ein ganz okayer Gemischtwarenladen.

Am Anfang kam ich gar nicht mit der Produktion klar. Das war völlig überladen und ich habe mich gefragt warum das so völlig drüber klingt. Ob das das Normal der Zeit war und die „guten“ Aufnahmen nur mit entsprechendem Background von Labels etc. In der zweiten Hälfte hat es mich aber irgendwie gecatcht. Ich finde die Musik irgendwas zwischen wild und spannend. Ich fürchte aber dass es dabei bleibt. Solide 3. Wäre die Band noch regelmäßig unterwegs wäre ich aber vermutlich mal hingegangen.

Ich habe hier deutlich schlimmeres erwartet, war sogar angenehm überrascht. Aber warum das auf der Liste ist verstehe ich trotzdem nicht

Absolutely insane. I love this record so much. Wow what a treat.

Just because you call your band sensational doesn't make it true... This was like some weird cross between the Rocky Horror soundtrack, Frank Zappa and I don't know what all else, but it didn't work for me. At all.

Musically it's like a raucous mix of blues and rock and roll with a quasi-punk attitude. But the lyrics, man... those lyrics are idiotic. Pure sexed up cock rock. What a waste of half decent song arrangements. It just put me off completely.

Swampsnake 3.3 Gang Bang 3.5 The Faith Healer 3.5 Giddy Up a Ding Dong 3.2 Next 3.4 Vambo Marble Eye 3.4 The Last of the Teenage Idols 3.5 Score: 3.4

Ah, yes, this goes straight into my songs about gangbangs playlist...

Me gustó bastante más que varios de los últimos que me tocó escuchar. Buen rock movido. Lo disfruté.

Not familiar with this one. Gang Bang?

What the heck? Why is this on the list? Pitchfork: n/a Rolling Stone: n/a

No. This is annoyingly juvenile.maybe an instrumental version would work.

Funny that I just listened to my first Alice Cooper album. This is very similar. I like the band’s musical sound. But mixed with the singer and the lyrics, it’s too theatrical and stalkerish. It’s as good as Cooper, but not as influential and focused. A 2.

First listen. This started off ok and I wasn’t feeling it. The latter half of the album is bonkers good though. I can see where Geordie Greep got his inspiration from.

Very cool! Lots of high energy songs. And big impact.

This album and band is great. How could I not have heard of them before? Released in 1973, this Scottish band "played a theatrical blend of hard rock, blues rock, and glam rock, layered with elements of progressive rock, cabaret, and British music hall." Alex Harvey was a great front man and the band is awesome with horns, piano and an awesome guitar player (Zal Cleminson). It's fun, rocks, and theatrical musically and apparently visually. They remind me of The Tubes from a performance perspective. Bon Scott liked them and they were definitely an influence on AC/DC. I also hear AC/DC, Led Zep, Black Sabbath and the New York Dolls. All the songs are good and vary in style/influence: Swampsnake - Blues and Rock with driving piano and screaming guitar Gang Bang - Cabaret rock The Faith Healer - Prog Giddy Up A Ding Dong - Rock and Roll Next - Ok but not as good as Scott Walker Vambo Marble Eye - Trampled Under Foot The Last of the Teenage Idols - Black Sabbath

Ajoittain oikeinkin toimivaa soundia mutta välillä ei taas ollenkaan. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Idk the gang bang song was rlly weird

Alex Harvey and his band pack a lot of ideas into 35 short minutes. This is primarily a glam rock album, but they also try their hand at blues to prog rock to rock n roll, and they do a good job of combining these inspirations into something that feels cohesive. There's even a cabaret-inspired track in the middle of the album, and they pull it off surprisingly well. There's a raw, unpolished quality to the production that appeals to me a lot, and adds a real sleazy energy that serves this sort of glam rock well. What really ties this album together is Harvey's wild performance, which is a perfect mix between wide-eyed theatricality and hard-nosed rock swagger. It feels like watching a band in a grimy dive bar put their all into their set, even though there's only a few patrons watching.

I listened to pretty much this whole album while on the toilet with diarrhea, and I’m not really sure which one was the better experience

i'm ngl this album is kinda fun. i agree with what someone else said - terrible lyrics, good sound. "next" is kind of a terrible song but other than that the album was alright. i was expecting another mid rock album but it's weird enough that it stands out.

fine. Interesting and quirky. Not enough groove for me I guess, it just kinda went in one ear and out the other.

Three-leaning-four.

I guess it was more influential in Europe. It does nothing for me.

Eww. No. I did NOT need to hear this before I die.

The musicianship here is quite good, but I get the distinct feeling that this music is very much a product of its era rather than a timeless classic.

Wow, some of this is catchy and there is some good musicianship, certainly, but it is polarizing nonetheless. If nothing else, the personality and energy are explosive here. Maybe I’m supposed to hate this, but I can’t. 1 listen Favorite Tracks: Swampsnake, The Faith Healer

I kind of like this but mostly don't and wouldn't later seek it out.

I can hear the influence on Nick Cave clearly, I'm just glad he didn't copy the subject matter as well.

damn! hot album!

I'm really happy I listened to this. I guess it's bad and good at the same time? There's so much variety here, which is something I really appreciate. I really disliked the first song and wasn't looking forward to the rest, but with each song the style changed. But it doesn't have the quality to make it an excellent album, sort of just an oddity. Something you should listen to, but likely not something you'll keep coming back to. I've added it to my listen again list, just because it's fun and varied. Also it's quite short, so that keeps it manageable. Basically all the points here come from the uniqueness and variety in this album.

Mais pourquoi?

Gros bof... Fallait être là à l'époque, je suppose. On pouvait aimer ça dans le temps que ça se passait, je suppose.

J'ai déjà vu un éléphant voler plus haut que ça. C'est vraiment trop mauvais pour qu'on puisse prendre le temps de reconnaître les qualités que ça a.

27/100. I don’t even know how to describe this album. Horny glam rock theatrical cabaret? They were referencing some classics on this record, well at least through the instrumentation. Also impersonating different genres. My main issue with this album is that it’s 35 minutes too long. Definitely not for me.

I wasn't messing with this at all, but at some point in the third song it started to grow on me a little. His voice was still annoying, but in sort of a fun way instead of just a really annoying way. And then he did Next, which I figured out pretty quickly was the same Next as the Scott Walker song (which I enjoy quite a bit), so that was fun. It was still not really my thing, but by the end I didn't even mind it that much. Favorites: The Faith Healer, Next, Vambo Marble Eye

Some okay-ish songs, some annoying.

If I could give this a -10 I would. The gang bang song should be burned and never played again. What an f-ing disgusting song. I suggest removing this album from your list. It's pretty awful.

#447 There was enough weirdness and some bluesy rock to pique my interest but at the same time, I wasn’t blown away. The album cover had me thinking this would be from the 90s so I was a little surprised to find an early 70s album. They certainly seem to have a high opinion of themselves judging by their name, but maybe it’s tongue in cheek. Heard before? ❌ Would I revisit?❓ Listen before you die?❓ Fave track(s): Next Rating: 6/10 ⭐️⭐️⭐️

The String Band was not, in fact, Incredible. And The Alex Harvey Band turned out to be somewhat less than Sensational. I am seeing a pattern here.

Not for me

Dogshit

Wow - so this is Glam Rock? Not sure if it’s all a joke or it’s suppose to be serious?? In any case - lyrics are terrible, music not bad … so I give it a 2. No need to listen again.

I enjoyed the sleazy, dark, theatrical nature of this album. It felt like a preview of all the musical developments to come in the next decade or so that I love all wrapped up in a single album. I acknowledge that between liking Next and 69 Love Songs, I’m never beating the allegations that I’m secretly three 12-year-old boys in a trench coat. Oh well. And please, no more screaming gonorrhea before my morning coffee.

If you take this album seriously it’s atrocious, but if you assume Alex Harvey is in on the joke then it’s kinda fun. I am going to assume this a proto-steel panther album and just go ride with it.

I think “I swear on the wetness of my first kiss of gonorrhea” is up there with one of the strangest lines I’ve ever heard. I don’t know that I’ll revisit anything on this album but I was certainly entertained and kept on my toes.

I think if someone enthusiastically showed me this album and told me it was the best thing ever or simply hilarious, I might feel more favorably about it. When I listened to this, I felt like I didn't really get the joke. I can see the AC/DC inspiration mostly through the lyrics that feel like were written by a 13 year old boy... almost like a less funny or creative Frank Zappa. It did have some redeeming qualities in terms of being pretty well executed musically, there were some heavy grooves that were pretty enjoyable, and I do appreciate that it does feel entirely unique... I just didn't really get a ton of listening enjoyment out of this one.

Sensational is a pretty accurate descriptor for this band; this is some of the sleaziest, most over the top, and ridiculous glam rock I've ever heard. Probably not my favourite discovery from the list, but I had a good time and am happy to have heard it.

Didn't get much from this album! It was just fine, but nothing noteworthy really. Favourites: Giddy Up A Ding Dong Vambo Marble Eye

This has some fun moments and surprised me as an album that I had no awareness of but ultimately not super exciting for the era.

Ain’t nothing but a hound dog—oops I mean gang bang.

This album was gross

I think even without having to invoke the f-slur rule, I'd still give this a 1 star. No one at any point needed a song dedicated to a gang bang or losing your virginity in a whorehouse or any of the other things discussed on this album.

Glam rock, hard rock.

What hole did this guy crawl out of. Wasn't stoned enough to enjoy this one.

I didn't like this one. Just the guitar riffs are so predictable, just what I'd put to lyrics like what the album has. The vocals are just the same, that easily distinguishable glam singing. The songs just were very off from what I want in a song. Only real exception is "Giddy Up a Ding Dong" - which I wasn't expecting to like because of the cheesy song title. I don't see myself returning to this one. Highlight Song/s: "Giddy Up a Ding Dong"

If you want to call yourself "sensational", please have the decency to be, you know, sensational.

For how puerile this album is, there're some real chops here. It's either 10 years too late musically, or 10 years too early. Haven't decided. It's a buffet of rock sounds that are done surprisingly well for the subject matter (ding-dongs) and I was really taken by surprise by the journey that The Last Of The Teenage Idols took me on - way better than anything I heard on my recent listen of Tommy. So yeah, don't know why this is dinged so low. I guess everyone doing this project hates fun? It's stupid, but it's fun.