Cleopatra Entertainment’s Foghat Concert Re-Issue Will Appeal To Band’s Core Audience Base

Philip Sayback
April 5, 2024
News
Cleopatra Entertainment, Foghat, Rhino Records
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Veteran rock band Foghat has been quite busy as of late, releasing its lates album, Sonic Mojo late last year (independently through is own label, Foghat Records) and now touring in support of that enjoyable offering. Speaking of live, the band has partnered with independent film company, Cleopatra Entertainment, to release a new live recording, Slow Ride—Live in Concert. Released today on separate CD/DVD and Blu-ray platforms, it was released roughly three years after the band’s then most recent live recording, 8 Days on the Road, and will find the majority of its appeal among the band’s core audience. Those people who have been fans since the band’s inception so many decades ago. That is due in large part to its set list, which will be discussed shortly. The bonus content that accompanies the recording adds to that targeted appeal and will be discussed a little later. The general production rounds out the recording’s most important elements and will also be discussed later. Each item noted is important in its own way to the whole of the recording. All things considered Slow Ride – Live in Concert proves itself a presentation that the most devoted Foghat fans will enjoy.

Slow Ride—Live in Concert, the “new” live recording from Foghat, is an intriguing new offering from the veteran rock band. Being essentially a re-issue of Rhino Records’ 2005 DVD presentation, Millennium Tour, it is a presentation that will find the majority of its appeal among the band’s core audience base. That is due in large part to its featured set list. Spanning 10 songs performed at two separate venues in Houston, Texas in 1999 – The Plaza and The Hangar – the set list pulls largely from the band’s earliest years, reaching all the way back to the band’s self-titled 1972 debut album and up to its 1979 album, Boogie Motel. It also pulls two studio tracks from the band’s 1998 live recording, Road Cases. Not every one of the albums in that span is represented here, either. The band’s sophomore album, which was also self-titled, is not represented here, nor are its third album, Energized and its follow-up, Rock and Roll Outlaws (both of which were released in 1974). In other words, the set list featured here is far from being career-spanning. Considering that the two performances captured here were recorded in 1999 – just before the untimely death of the band’s original front man, Dave Peverett, who died in February 2000, it is surprising that the set list was not more extensive. This especially as the recording is being marketed as being something iconic since the peformances came only months prior to Prevett’s passing. Yes, Peverett and company (fellow founding members Tony Stevens (bass) and Roger Earl (drums) and then current guitarist Bryan Bassett) put on quite the engaging and enjoyable performance of that set list (even being so minimalist in its overall presentation), but it just would have been nice to have seen more of the band’s catalog represented here. Again, it is not a failure, but clearly being so limited in its reach, it will appeal to that noted core audience base.

The set list featured in this recording is just part of what makes it appealing to the noted audience base. The bonus content included with the recording adds to the appeal for that viewer group. The bonus content in question is the bonus interview content that is incorporated into the concert between performances. Held at the Hard Rock Café in Houston, Texas by Alan Ames (supposedly of Houston-based radio station KKRW Arrow Radio), the very brief interview segments reveal to audiences, information, such as how Foghat got its name, its link to The Rolling Stones and how that link led the band to create so much blues-based rock, and a few other interesting items. The interview segments, which were also part of Rhino Records’ 2005 Foghat recording, Millennium Tour are few and far between but do help to break up the concert and keep things interesting.

The “supposedly” used here in regard to whether Ames was employed by KKRW is used because there are no liner notes to accompany the recording and point out the full details of the interviews. To that end, one can only suppose Ames was a personality employed by the station at the time. There is nothing to specify this information internally or externally, so apologies are due for any possible inaccuracies in information here.

That lack of any bonus liner notes to help set the stage and provide proper background on the recording is the recording’s one glaring negative. It would have been nice to have at least something other than what is printed on the back of the recording’s box, which is minimal in itself, to say the least. The lack of any liner notes is not enough to doom the recording considering what little the interviews add to the whole, but it certainly would have been nice to have had more than the little that is printed on the recording’s box.

Knowing that the little information audiences get from the interviews and very limited information printed on the recording’s case just does make up for the lack of any liner notes, there is one more positive to note here. That positive is the recording’s production. As previously noted, this concert is a minimalist presentation. There is no pryo. There are no big aspects to the band’s presentation. It is just the band on stage, performing its biggest vintage hits. Those responsible for capturing the two performances and those responsible for the post-production (finalizing the video and sound editing) are to be applauded for their efforts to resurrect this footage. Of course, it likely was not too difficult considering that the performances (which were part of the band’s Millennium Tour”) were already released in 2005 via Rhino Records in its presentation of its DVD, Millennium Tour. That recording also presented the band’s September 1999 performance in Houston, TX. So, while it cannot be proven here, but odds are it would have been very easy for all involved to simply transfer that footage to this recording and call it “new.” Keeping that in mind, it leaves little doubt as to why the production is as positive as it is in this case. To that end, the production aligns with the recording’s featured set list and the bonus interview segments to make the whole an intriguing presentation that again, will appeal primarily to Foghat’s core audience base.

Cleopatra Entertainment’s brand-new Foghat live recording, Slow Ride—Live in Concert, is an intriguing offering from the company. While apparently little more than a re-issue of Rhino Records’ 2005 recording, Millennium Tour, it proves itself worth watching at least once among those core fans who do not already own the aforementioned Rhino Records presentation. That is because said presentation may or may not be available anymore. Add in that the recording here is presented separately on CD/DVD combo pack and Blu-ray, it is a step up from that previous release since that recording was available only on DVD. Slow Ride—Live in Concert is available now. More information on the recording is available along with all of the latest Foghat news at:

Website: http://www.foghat.net

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/foghat

Twitter: http://twitter.com/foghat

More information on this and other titles from Cleopatra Entertainment is available at:

Website: https://cleopatra-entertainment.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CleopatraEntertainmentEnt

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Cleopatra_Ent