Back Street Crawler
Atlantic Years 1975-1976
(Cherry Red)

8/10

By Decibel Report - Aug 20, 2020

With the final break up of Free finding Rodgers and Kirke forming Bad Company and Andy Fraser joining Sharks, of most interest was what would Paul Kossoff do next? With a well-received promising solo album under his belt leading to the formation of a band named after his Back Street Crawler album, Koss and Co produced a couple of studio albums which more than stand up to close scrutiny as this 4CD box attests.

Much loved and much missed, this tidy collection of British blues-rock band Back Street Crawler’s two studio albums, Live At Fairfield Hall, Croydon, and Kossoff’s final performance at The Starwood Club, Los Angeles plus two outtakes and a couple of unreleased songs make a good round-up of this garlanded group’s recording career.

Gathered into a slipcase format that will fit tidily into any music lovers collection, the lack of liner notes with, instead, a fold-out assemblage of rag-out articles gleaned from news cuttings and magazine reviews would make a very interesting read if you had a magnifying glass as a visual aid. Nevertheless, it’s clear the intentions of the compilers are to supply a caught in amber reportage of when this band were red hot evidenced by Ahmet Ertegun, no less, signing them up to Atlantic Records

Fronted by a fine belting blues singer in Terry Wilson Slesser and, on their second album release, latter-day Free and future The Who keyboard player John ‘Rabbit’ Bundrick, Koss plays beautiful stinging guitar parts on both studio releases. However, the real magic occurs on the Live at Fairfield Hall, Croydon recording where an enthusiastic crowd palpably will Koss onto greater flights of fretboard fancy.

Koss plays beautifully across these albums that represent him in glorious light. Terry Wilson Slesser also gives a masterclass in blues wailing phrasing on these consistent compositions. Both unreleased tracks Evening Time and She’s Gone should entice true fans to buy into this release with the final performance’s official release to boot being of historical importance.

The final CD in this box is also the last ever show Kossoff played two weeks prior to his death on a flight from LA. This slightly ropey fan captured recording of seven songs is a compelling final testament to a massive talent lost far too young to his family and fans.

The stonewall classics across the two BSC studio albums can also be witnessed live with Slesser, magically backed up by guitarist John Buckton, regularly taking the live show Kossoff…The Band Plays On out on tour, faithfully representing this timeless music proving that The Band Plays On and on.