“A few moments into side one of At High Voltage, Stephen Dale Petit’s spit hits and sizzles on the microphone shield and it’s like a bomb just went off. This is hands-down just about the greatest live record you’ll ever hear. The band – ex-Rolling Stone and current Pretty Thing Dick Taylor, drummer and fellow Pretty Thing Jack Greenwood and harpist Laurent Mouflier – couldn’t be a more perfect foil for the ever on-form Petit. The fact that Taylor hadn’t picked up a bass since leaving the Stones back in the early 60s is incredible. You’ll seldom hear anyone weave baselines around his fellow musicians or burst into improvisation like Dick does here.
The show was recorded at the High Voltage Festival in 2010 by Mark St John using late Small Faces and later Faces Ronnie Lane’s old mobile studio. It was in this classic old caravan that we heard the tapes of At High Voltage for the first time. We were blown away, literally and figuratively, by the performance we heard – and the sheer volume that these guys like playback at!
It did make us wonder; are we being influenced by our surroundings? Are we just caught up in the moment? Will we feeel the same about this record when we hear it at home?
The fact that At High Voltage is only being released on vinyl makes it easier to replicate that feeling in Mark St John’s legendary studio. You get that same blast of vocal, guitar and harmonica, as as Dick and Jack’s stunning bottom end. The album features run-throughs of the Eddie Cochran classic: Summertime Blues and Johnny Kidd & The Pirate’s evergreen Shakin’ All Over. Both songs were famously blasted through by The Who over the years and we have to say, even they didn’t quite reach the intensity of Petit and friends. Yeah, we know. Fighting words. You’ll just have to judge that for yourself. But covers be damned anyhow. The best song on this album is opener 3 Gunslingers, Petit’s vocal is simply electrifying on this track. It alone is worth the price of the album.
The set-list is completed with Little Walter’s Juke, Freddie King’s Side Tracked and two more great Petit originals, It’s All Good and People Talk. All are delivered with equal intensity. And all too soon, the record’s done and you’re placing the needle at the beginning again.
At High Voltage is Live At Leeds, Dr. Feelgood, 66 Blues Breakers and visceral garage blues in one direct hit. The fact that this album is only available on vinyl shows that Stephen Dale Petit, Mark St John and the guys that captured this incredible show on tape know exactly what they’ve got. It’s too good for digital. If you don’t have a record player, buy one – 10/10.”
Recorded By Paul Madden on the Ronnie Lane Mobile Unit at High Voltage Festival, London 2010
Assisted By Bobby Whelam
Mixed By Dennis Weinreich at The Smokehouse
Assisted by Jonathon McMillan
Lovingly mastered for LMS in glorious, living analogue by our unsung genius – Gwyn Mathias
Executive Producers: Mark St John and Paul Madden
This album was recorded to tape and is an analogue recording.
Play it loud for optimum sound reproduction and greater listening pleasure.
Early evenin’
On a hill
On a hill
In a car
Rocky had shotgun
In the back God and a Rock ’n’ Roll star
I was drivin’
I was drivin’
But my mind was
You know my mind was
Somewhere else
Well the rules of the road
Make you pay more for cheatin’ yourself
Well, well, well
Helicopter
Helicopter
Get inside my
Get inside my
Bird’s eye view
Sometimes it takes a lot of sky to see
Exactly what’s in front of you
The way I’m riding
The way I’m riding
You know I need my
Yes I need my
Mojo hand
Gotta have some Gris-Gris
‘Cause I’m doin’ everything that one man can
Three gunslingers
Three gunslingers
Talkin’ through the
Talkin’ through
The London night
Well the gutter blues will get you
Doesn’t matter if it’s wrong or if it’s right
Early evenin’
Early evenin’
On a hill
On a hill
In a car
Rocky had shotgun
In the back God and a Rock ’n’ Roll star
Copyright © 2010 Serious Delta Papa Music
Appears on "At High Voltage" (Live Version) © 333 Records Ltd
Also on "The Crave" © 333 Records Ltd
Reachin’ out for you
Come and make my body shake with your sugar spoon
It’s all good.
The hourglass is running, it’s a race against the clock
Mug me off, the penny drops, I’m off like a shot
It’s all good
It’s all good!
Oversexed in overdrive
I can’t be satisfied
Slavin’ just for readies ain’t it great to be alive
It’s all good
It’s all good
It’s all good…
Copyright © 2010 Serious Delta Papa Music
Appears on "At High Voltage" (Live Version) © 333 Records Ltd
Also on "The Crave" and "The BBC Sessions" (Live Version) © 333 Records Ltd
They say come, you gotta turn it down
The police say - you’re too loud
What do you guys think? How’s that sound?
People talk
People talk, yes they do
People talk, people talk
Talk my damn life away
I got a chile, she say what
Do you want take, ’n having anything, but
I said well, you got it’s yours
There’s one thing I gotta know
People talk
People talk, yes they do
People talk, people talk
Talk my damn life away
Let them talk…
You got a show
You got a time
I wonder baby, god if you can be mine
She said yes, I said well
Baby, come on, go to hell!
People talk,
People talk, yes they do
People talk, people talk
Talk my damn life away
People talk
People talk
People talk
People talk
People talk, people talk
Talk my damn life away
Copyright © 2015 Serious Delta Papa Music
Appears on "At High Voltage" © 333 Records Ltd