Foghat - Boogie Motel 1979 / Tight Shoes 1980 (2001)

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Foghat - Boogie Motel 1979 / Tight Shoes 1980 (2001)

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Boogie Motel 1979

After toying with a more commercial sound on Stone Blue, Foghat decided to continue in the same vein on their next album. The resulting album, Boogie Motel, brought the group some commercial success but also unfortunately found them straying even further from their trademark sound. The album's success was primarily derived from "Third Time Lucky (First Time I Was a Fool)," a power ballad that became a hit single. It's lightweight stuff, especially by the standard of past Foghat hits, but it benefits from a strong melody and a tight arrangement that boasts some soaring slide-guitar leads. Sadly, it's the one really good track on the album. The big problem with Boogie Motel is its production downplays guitars in favor of an overall radio-friendly slickness. It's the wrong strategy, because it makes a once-ferocious band sound positively toothless: "Somebody's Been Sleepin' in My Bed" loses the dynamic power inherent in its arrangement due to the blunted sound of the guitars and drums, and the title track's slick arrangement (complete with horn arrangement) and radio-friendly mix make it sound pleasant instead of ferocious. Boogie Motel also suffers from uninspired material that downplays the band's classic boogie rock style for a more middle-of-the-road radio rock approach: The worst example is "Comin' Down With Love," which suffers from painfully sappy love lyrics and a dull soul-pop arrangement that strangely feels like an attempt to emulate the sound of Boz Scaggs. All in all, Boogie Motel is a dull, disappointing album that lacks the guitar firepower and rootsy charm that define the best Foghat albums. Even the most devoted Foghat fanatics may want to think twice before picking this disc up.

by Donald A. Guarisco, AMG

Tight Shoes 1980

When Foghat founder Lonesome Dave Peverett (lead vocals and guitar) started his career with Savoy Brown in the late '60s, there was still something progressive about young Brits tackling American blues, R&B, and even some rockabilly, but as the musician entered his third decade of recording, artistic compromises and commercial success had watered-down the entire genre of blues-based hard rock, thanks largely to bands like his own. Although Foghat had released a string of very successful recordings, the group's final two releases of the '70s, Stone Blue and Boogie Motel, both suffered from declining (although still substantial) sales. Peverett's response to the suddenly suspect viability of his group's arena rock sound was to take his songwriting in a more modern (if not quite fitting) direction on Tight Shoes. New wave and punk had emerged out of the U.K. in the late '70s, largely in response to the somewhat formulaic and self-aggrandizing hard rock that had somehow overtaken the entire non-disco musical landscape. Although listeners might cringe while trying to imagine a musical amalgam somewhere between "Slow Ride" and "Watching the Detectives," assessing Foghat's attempt at eclecticism isn't quite as simple as it may appear. The group's musicianship and studio finesse keep tracks like the single "Stranger in My Home Town" and "Baby Can I Change Your Mind" from becoming awkward attempts at timeliness. Instead, Foghat successfully incorporates stripped-down sonics and simpler, almost pop arrangements into Tight Shoes, making it more than a hopeless grasp at musical relevance, making it worthwhile.

by Jason Anderson, AMG

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Foghat - Boogie Motel 1979 / Tight Shoes 1980 (2001)

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Foghat - Boogie Motel 1979 / Tight Shoes 1980 (2001)

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Foghat - Boogie Motel 1979 / Tight Shoes 1980 (2001)

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