Steve Gibbons Band from Birmingham England, recommendations please

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by manicpopthrill, Apr 9, 2012.

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  1. manicpopthrill

    manicpopthrill Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    ICT, Kansas
    I just heard the title cut off of Down In the Bunker......:pineapple:.....gotta have more. How did I not know about this guy before?
     
  2. proufo

    proufo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bogotá, Colombia
    Savoy Brown's?
     
  3. manicpopthrill

    manicpopthrill Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    ICT, Kansas
    Alexis Korner's?



    According to wiki, a former manager of the Who saw them in a pub and before long they were the Who's opening act circa '75.
     
  4. Telegramsam

    Telegramsam Forum Resident

    The whole album is very good. I remember listening to it a lot in the late 70´s.
     
  5. These are the must haves:

    Any Road Up

    Caught in the Act

    Rollin' On

    Down in the Bunker


    THese if you need more:

    Street Parade

    Saints & Sinners

    Dylan Project

    but it really comes down to whatever you can find on vinyl or cd
     
  6. manicpopthrill

    manicpopthrill Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    ICT, Kansas
    I've been reading great things about the live album, Caught In the Act. A great deal of his stuff is back in print through RGF Records, although quite expensive. Even on the used market, everything is in the $20-30 range.

    http://www.rgfrecords.demon.co.uk/current_releases.htm
     
  7. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    Down In The Bunker is a classic album in my book, chockful of good songs.

    I saw the Steve Gibbons Band open for The Who in Paris in 1975. They were very good, but Parisian rock fans have limited tolerance for opening acts. Young men throughout the audience were expressing their displeasure by turning their backs to the stage, pulling down their trousers and shooting the moon at Steve & Co.
     
  8. manicpopthrill

    manicpopthrill Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    ICT, Kansas
    Thanks Guy. All signs point toward Bunker as the must-have album.

    Yeah, indifference is one thing, but dropping trou is a whole 'nother level.
     
  9. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    And the live album (Caught in the Act), which wraps up the best of what he'd done previously.
     
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  10. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    Yeah, I'd never seen anything quite like it growing up in Illinois. And the venue in Paris felt like a County Fairgrounds pavillion - there were bleachers on the sides (where we were sitting), but most of the crowd was sitting & standing on the haystrewn main floor. I'd guess that 30 guys shot the moon at the stage during that opening set... it wasn't just a few. I liked the band well enough that I sought-out their albums when I returned to the US.

    One night in the summer of '76 I was at CBGB and Steve Gibbons was standing next to me at the bar. I said "hello" and told him I was a fan... we talked for a minute. I told him I'd been at the concert in Paris the year before with the moon-shooters and he laughed.

    Down In The Bunker and Big J.C. got a fair amount of airplay that year on WNEW, but Dire Straits' Dylanesque Pub Rock hit the big time while Steve Gibbons pretty much fell off the radar.
     
  11. keef00

    keef00 Senior Member

    Yep, Down in the Bunker is the one to get. I don't remember what prompted me to pick up Down in the Bunker back in the day... maybe the Rolling Stone review or some mention of the Who connection. Anyway, it's definitely a lost classic.
     
  12. Guy E

    Guy E Senior Member

    Location:
    Antalya, Turkey
    This is going to be the easiest music for you to find by the Steve Gibbons Band...
    it was just reissued this year on the BGO label.

    [​IMG]

    They're both very good albums from 1980 and 1981 respectively, both originally on RCA.

    The Street Parade disc includes all 14 songs that were released on the American and UK versions of the album.
     
  13. Six String

    Six String Senior Member

    I used to have that live album back in the 70s but it disappeared or got ruined in the flood of '90, I'm not sure. It was a good album though I never ventured any further with Gibbons, a loss on my part no doubt.
     
  14. Artery1

    Artery1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Coventry UK
    I saw The Steve Gibbons Band supporting The Who in Leicester in 75. They were terrific. I also met Steve in somewhat bizarre circumstances. I was on teaching practice at an inner Birmingham Junior School in 79/80 and I had a lad in my class called Dylan Gibbons. Turns out this was Steve's son. A leather jacketed Steve Gibbons called in one day to talk to me. I was a bit star struck and have no memory at all of why he called in. It must be said though that young Dylan was no angel!
     
  15. privit1

    privit1 Senior Member

    I was dragged along to an SG band show last year and was blown away by how good they were !!
     
  16. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    'No Spitting on the Bus' is a great track from that album. Quite a bit of Entwistle influence in the lyric writing.
     
  17. bigtone1348

    bigtone1348 Well-Known Member

    I saw Steve Gibbons Band in January in Lincolnshire UK. He looked bored & mumbled the lyrics. Check the gig on YOUTUBE Steve Gibbons 2012 Skegness.
     
  18. manicpopthrill

    manicpopthrill Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    ICT, Kansas
    Well, I see what you mean, but the guy is getting up there and has not aged particularly well. Moreover, I don't see what that has to do with whether or not he made some good records back in the day.
     
  19. hifidelitybill

    hifidelitybill Forum Resident

    I remember hearing Sultans of swing on the radio for the first time and thinking wow Steve Gibbons finally might have a big hit here and his new guitar players great...
     
  20. bigtone1348

    bigtone1348 Well-Known Member

    Absolutely...Tulaine was a big hit over here & when he had Trevor Burton (ex Move) on guitar they really cooked live. Are you aware that he formed 'the world's first super group' (not my quote) with Trevor Burton around 1969? They were called 'Balls' & sank without a trace.
     
  21. manicpopthrill

    manicpopthrill Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    ICT, Kansas
    Yeah, I did read that. First, The Ugly's, then Balls........how did those fail? Actually, they probably would've worked just fine ten years later.
     
  22. ibis

    ibis Happy as fish and gorgeous as geese

    Location:
    UK
    Any currently available SGB with good dynamic range?

    I have the 2005 '2000 Fruitgum' CD of Rollin' On and its pretty compressed (DR7)
     
  23. Paul J

    Paul J Forum Resident

    Location:
    Baltimore
    Highly, Highly Recommended
    http://www.amazon.com/Gibbons-Steve-Band-Live-Rockpalast/dp/B004HZ14V8
    To Be Alone With You may be on youtube and Paralyzed
    I love this guy, underrated to the Nth degree. Great voice, writer & Dylan interpreter unequaled in my opinion. Whatever you can get your hands on, get it.

    Not being a golfer, I was surprised to discover the dual meanings of the lyrics of Down In The Bunker after 30 years of intimacy with the song.
     
  24. You Better You Bet

    You Better You Bet Forum Resident

    Agreed. The Rockpalast performance is above reproach. Be warned, however - the CD mastering is very LOUD.

    [​IMG]
     
  25. cgw

    cgw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    Is he still playing? I was looking at his bio and he was a 20 year veteran when Down in the Bunker was recorded.
     
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