In 1982 Jacksonville, Florida’s BLACKFOOT was on tour in the UK. The band having built a reputation after years playing their trade and with 5 records under their belts were in fighting shape coming off a trio of moderately successful releases and decided to capture a performance on the Rolling Stones’ mobile recording unit. “Highway Song Live” captures that time in history over 30 years ago when wild-eyed Southern boys rocked and rolled and brought spit and shine to English audiences. Newly remastered and reissued this rare live recording is the penultimate BLACKFOOT time capsule. The band drives their way through ten songs of hard rockin’, Southern flavored, bluesy goodness. Being a new fan of BLACKFOOT, if you can believe it, I never had the chance to see the band perform but it’s apparent that their performances were fiery fronted by the powerhouse, crowd-raising of singer / guitarist Rick Medlocke who leads his band in an attack of raw, driving, tightness. Live the band sounds very heavy, especially on ‘Good Morning’ which is almost Thrash like at the beginning. The crowd sing-alongs add to the energy and satisfaction, as also witnessed by the audience chanting at the end of ‘Highway Song’, dubbed its own track ‘Howay The Lads’. The album showcases a good overview of the band’s more recent catalog along with a couple of exclusive tracks, namely their old blues covers of ‘Rollin’ & Tumblin’ and ‘Trouble In Mind’. Apparently this was the last of the heavier era of the band as they added a keyboard player and tried to chase commercial success to no avail on subsequent releases. Thankfully we have this testament to relive the band’s youth and hunger and remember some good ol’ days. For all additional BLACKFOOT information check out www.blackfootband.com, www.facebook.com/officialblackfoot, www.rockcandyrecords.com