Crowbar. Rock band, formed in the summer of 1969 as And Many Others to accompany Ronnie Hawkins. Taking the name Crowbar, and making its base in Ancaster, near Hamilton, Ont, it left Hawkins early in 1970 after one LP and several US appearances, then backed individual members Blake 'Kelly Jay' Fordham, John Rutter and King Biscuit Boy on record. King Biscuit Boy's album Official Music and single 'Corrina, Corrina' were the most successful releases.
Personnel changes left Crowbar in 1971 with 'Kelly Jay' (vocals, keyboards, harmonica), Rheal Lanthier (lead guitar), John Gibbard (slide guitar), Josef Chirowski (replacing Richard Bell, keyboards), Roly Greenaway (bass guitar) and Sonnie Bernardi (replacing Larry Atamuniuk, drums). King Biscuit Boy continued as a frequent guest performer through 1971.
The most popular of Crowbar's singles were 'Oh What a Feeling' (1971) and 'Million Dollar Weekend' (1974). The band made three LPs 1970-2 for Daffodil - Bad Manors (SBA-16004), Larger than Life (And Liver than You'll Ever Be) (2-SBA-16007, recorded in concert at Massey Hall) and Heavy Duty (SBA-16013) - and one in 1973 for Epic, KE32746 (KE-32746). The compilation Crowbar Classics: Memories Are Made of This (SBA-16030) followed.
Crowbar's rousing rock, blues and boogie made it one of Canada's most popular touring bands of the early 1970s. It appeared in Great Britain but otherwise made little impact outside of Canada, perhaps the result of the strong nationalistic fervour that characterized its performances. Disbanded in 1975, it was revived in 1977 for a tour of eastern Canada and again by Kelly Jay and others intermittently during the 1980s for club work in southern Ontario.
1. The Frenchman's Cherokee Boogie Incident (M. Mullican, W. Chief Redbird) - 0:27
2. Let The Four Winds Blow (D. Bartholomew, A. Domino) - 2:23
3. Cane On The Brazos (Roly Greenway, Kelly Jay) - 5:15
4. In The Dancing Hold (Kelly Jay) - 3:52
5. Where Were You? (Kelly Jay) - 3:56
6. Lay One Down (Roly Greenway, LOVE) - 4:28
7. Oh Never Be A Dodo (Kelly Jay) - 0:19
8. Murder In The First Degree (Sonnie Bernardi, Kelly Jay) - 5:15
9. Trilby (Kelly Jay) - 2:41
10.Dead Head Out Of St. John's (Kelly Jay) - 3:45
11.Tits Up On The Pavement (Kelly Jay) - 7:47
12.Happy People (Jozef Chirowski) - 2:58
13.Oh What A Feeling (Roly Greenway, Kelly Jay) - 4:20
Tracks 1,2,4,7,8,13 from 1970 LP "Bad mannors"
Tracks 3,11 from 1971 LP "Larger Than Life"
Tracks 5,6,9,10 from 1972 LP "Heavy Duty"
Track 12 Previously Unreleased, original recorded 1970
Crowbar
*Sonnie Bernardi - Drums, Vocals
*Jozef Chirowski - Piano, Organ, Vocals
*John Gibbard - Lead, Rhythm, Bottleneck Guitar, Vocals
*Roly Greenway - Bass, Vocals
*Kelly Jay "Blake Fordham" - Vocals, Piano
*Rheal Lanthier - Lead Rhythm Guitar, Vocals
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thank you.Good music from this band...
ReplyDeletewhat a wonderful bunch of songs! Crowbar was a favourite band among my friends and I, growing up on the edge of Toronto. They played our high school once and we fell in love with their sound- great guitar and keyboards, and Kelly Jay was born to be a front man.
ReplyDeleteSeeing them with King Biscuit Boy made being a small-town teenager a lot easier- we'd drive all over the province for the chance to hear them again.
Thanks for the chance to hear these tunes again. I'm sure i still remember all the words....
respect,
d
http://soundseen.blogspot.ca/
Had a great night dancing to a great band at Sheffield University student union 1972/3, not many in crowd, but all rocking & bopping ♥️😃
ReplyDeleteSo y'all know why they got the name Crowbar, eh? Seems when Ronnie got pissed at the band for whatever reason he used to say "'y'all are so bad you coudn't tune a crowbar". He was always very colorful in his expressions. Obviously he liked them enough to keep them as a band for some time, but he certainly didn't hold back any criticism!
ReplyDeleteThx Doc!
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