Harvey has long merited a proper compilation. The first disc is devoted to his pre-Sensational Alex Harvey Band days in the ’60s and finds him experimenting with everything from blue-eyed soul (a blistering version of “Shout” which knocks Lulu’s for six) and the musical Hair to psychedelia and free jazz. But his art clearly found its ideal home in SAHB, which is the sole focus of the second disc. The brutal theatrical rock of “The Faith Healer” and avant-glam of “Swampsnake” sound amazingly contemporary, and his simultaneously hammy and frightening renditions of Brel’s “Next” and Tom Jones’ “Delilah” can still induce awe.
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