House Party – Live In Germany

J. Geils Band

Studio/Label: Eagle Vision

Release Date: February 24, 2015

Review Date: February 22, 2015

You couldn’t possibly have listened to the radio in the late seventies and early eighties and not have heard the J. Geils Band.  At that time, they were one of the hardest working bands in rock, eventually earning their way to opening for the Rolling Stones a time or two during their Tattoo You tour in the early eighties.

In 1979, the J. Geils Band were touring Europe in support of the Sanctuary album and its hit single “One Last Kiss.” Along the way, performed in  Essen, Germany, on the famed television series, Rockpalast. Filmed on April 21 at the Grugahalle, the aptly-named, “House Party Live In Germany,” features The J. Geils Band delivering their brand of raw, raucous, R&B-soaked rock n’ roll in a solid 14-song set. The first half of the concert focuses on material from Sanctuary, while the second half blasts through earlier breakthrough hits, like “Looking For A Love,” “Give It To Me,” and “Ain’t Nothing But A House Party.”

The performances are raw and straight forward rock and roll. One is taken back to a time when the genre – and the business – would soon see paradigm shifts in its business model that is still in a state of flux today. This DVD shows the band struttin’ its stuff and full of rock star attitude that was the coolest of cool.

In the 70s, The J. Geils Band developed a reputation for their faithful devotion to down-n-dirty bar blues (while most of their contemporaries drew more heavily from British blues-rock and psychedelia). As time progressed, their sound expanded into new directions and acquired more pop influences, leading them to score massive crossover appeal and commercial success with their 1981 album Freeze Frame and its smash hit “Centerfold.” House Party Live In Germany catches the band just before their monster hit album, Freeze Frame, and the song that caught everybody’s attention, “Centerfold.”

J. Geils Band fans – as well as rock and roll fans – will definitely want this CD/DVD as part of their personal libraries.