Foghat 1972 Album

Foghat

Foghat busted free from their Savoy Brown chains and promptly released an album which was not too stylistically different than their former crew, but in many places, more cutting edge and personable. That said, other than a few tracks, we are a long ways from the group's mid-70's heyday, and if you really want to split hairs, it's only the lead-off cover of "I Just Want to Make Love to You" which really sets them apart from the competition. The flipside of this, is quite the arty, atmospheric cover of "Gotta Get to Know You", brought to a different kind of life thanks to weird keyboards, Mellotron, and other studio tricks you wouldn't normally hear from these supposedly rednecky Foghat dudes. In between, they veer between average down-in-the-dumps drinking songs ("Trouble, Trouble", "A Hole to Hide In"), Lonesome Dave's heartfelt ruminations on love ("Sarah Lee"), road tunes ("Highway"), and more covers ("Maybelline"), which would be typical band fare for albums to come. It's just that they would make this stuff sound more relevant on subsequent efforts. For now, a decent, if somewhat tenuous (in spots) debut, boosted by the awesome bookend tunes.