Somehow, this was the album which broke the band's lengthy streak of records which went either gold or platinum in the U.S., which was strange, because it's not radically different than the ones which came before it. The only real change is from the production end, where you notice more New Wave elements creeping into the mix, but other than that - the goddamn record is called Boogie Motel, so if you were a fan of this kind of music - was there anything else missing? Well, I guess - from a hardened barfly rocker sort of perspective - the first two or three tracks could be seen as some sort of minor sellout, but I like them. "Somebody's Been Sleeping in my Bed" is the only cover here, and oddly enough, an R&B one, with noticeable dance-floor overtones among the normal slide riffs and drunken chants you find on a Foghat tune. "Third Time Lucky (First Time I Was a Fool)", though, is a bit more of an anomaly - not like ballads and slow songs were foreign to these guys, but this was an out-and-out pop ballad eyeing chart success, and sort of getting it - it made the Top 30 in late '79. I mean, it's nice and thoughtful and well-intentioned, but so syrupy one starts to wonder if the correct record is playing or not. Then, the quasi-New Wave/disco bass-line of "Comin' Down with Love" pumps through your stereo, and you really begin to wonder, until "The Bottle" and his guitar attacks with aplomb.
Furthermore, there's "Paradise Alley", a track which brings back those forlorn, desperate feelings as earlier tracks like "Midnight Madness" and "Hate to See You Go" did - this time describing Dave's encounter with a long-lost love turned street-person. Everything on this track dials into the desperation and overwhelming sadness of the story - amazing how this so-called no-name party band had such a knack for material like this. And then they turn around and cut a cheesy mother of a party tune if there ever was one, which is the title track, replete with butt-wiggling bass and guitar lines, sax solos, and stupid stories about shacking up in a sleazy motel which is somewhere "between heaven and hell". Cheap entertainment at its' finest. For my money, they probably could have cut the album right there, but there are two more tracks ("Love in Motion" and "Nervous Release") which end up feeling rather nondescript next to what has come before it.
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