Hammer Song Action Strasse The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

Hammer Song Album: Framed (1972)
Action Strasse Album: Tomorrow Belongs to Me (1975)
by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band were a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 1972. Fronted by Alex Harvey accompanied by Zal Cleminson on guitar, bassist Chris Glen, keyboard player Hugh McKenna and drummer Ted McKenna (28 November 1949 – 18 December 2019), their music was a blend of blues rock and hard rock, with cabaret elements. Their stage performances incorporated theatrical elements. The band were popular in continental Europe, and influential in Australia, most notably on AC/DC (particularly their singer Bon Scott) and on the young Nick Cave and his first band The Boys Next Door.

In August 1972, Alex Harvey formed the Sensational Alex Harvey Band (often shortened to SAHB, and pronounced "saab") with Zal Cleminson (guitar), Chris Glen (bass), and cousins Hugh (keyboards) and Ted McKenna (drums), all members of the progressive rock act Tear Gas except Hugh.

Framed is the 1972 debut album Recorded at Morgan Studios in London and released in December. "Hammer Song" and "Midnight Moses" are two Harvey originals that first appeared on his solo LP Roman Wall Blues in 1969.

In their early school days, under various group names, the Australian post-punk band The Birthday Party used to cover many of the songs from Framed in their live sets, as vocalist Nick Cave was a huge fan of the band. Cave later recorded a version of "The Hammer Song" on the album Kicking Against the Pricks.

They adopted distinctive stage costumes: Harvey wore vaudeville-like clothes and his trademark hooped shirt, while Cleminson assumed the identity of a "mime" in full make-up and green-yellow jumpsuit and Glen wore a dark blue jumpsuit reminiscent of a superhero costume incorporating a lighter blue codpiece. SAHB produced a succession of highly regarded albums and tours throughout the 1970s. The band did not enjoy large-scale success in the United States as it had in the UK, though they did acquire a cult following in certain US cities, notably Cleveland, where the group first played at the Agora Ballroom in December 1974. Thanks to airplay from Cleveland radio station WMMS, songs like "Next" and "The Faith Healer" became popular.

In January 1974, the band went into Advision Studios in London with the American producer Shel Talmy to record a third album. By April, the sessions were finished and the album was mixed. However, the band and management had some reservations about the overall sound and decided to scrap the entire album. Talmy returned to Los Angeles with his tapes. Most of the song titles appeared on the official album The Impossible Dream later that year with a different producer, though the songs were dramatically changed.[clarification needed] The original recordings formed an album called Hot City, released in 2009 by Major League Productions.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band had top 40 hits in Britain with the single "Delilah", a cover version of the Tom Jones hit from their Live album that reached number seven in 1975, and with "The Boston Tea Party" in June 1976. The song "Anthem" was a top 30 hit in Australia in 1975.

Tomorrow Belongs to Me is the fourth studio album released in 1975 on Vertigo Records with Actrion Strasse being the opening track. The cover, by Dave Field, which Munro describes as a parody of Roger Dean's art for groups such as Yes, depicts degradation of the environment by earthmoving equipment as referenced in the song "The Tale of the Giant Stoneater". In Field's image, a dinosaur is in conflict with an autonomous piece of earthmoving equipment while another dinosaur (possibly the "brontosaurus" who "lies wrong way up" in the song) is seen dead in the background. Munro relates that the song was a response by Harvey to witnessing "a bulldozer paving the way for a new motorway through previously unspoilt land" while on holiday in the West of Scotland. The words to this song - with an alternative title, 'And Another Tree Dies of Shame' - appear on the back cover on what appears to be Harvey's original lyric sheet, as well as being typeset within the gatefold with the remainder of the album's lyrics. Curiously while both versions of these lyrics subtly differ, they are similar in ascribing parts of the song to 'girl', 'man' and 'commentator' (and 'all together'), however Harvey is the only vocalist on the actual track. This song's contrast between ancient lives and the contemporary events eliminating their trace can be seen as comparable to the album's title track, which also brings together a celebration of an ancient natural environment and a 'tomorrow' which will replace it. The title track, while not directly evoking parallels to Nazism, would be associated by most who heard it with its sinister presentation in Cabaret (1972 film).

Harvey left the group late in 1975; the other members continued with the name "SAHB (without Alex)". They recorded a new album, Fourplay, in February 1977. The album steered towards a solid pop-rock with some slight prog influences. Harvey re-joined the group in mid-1977, while Hugh McKenna left. In 1978, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band recorded Rock Drill, with Tommy Eyre replacing Hugh McKenna, and disbanded shortly afterwards. Harvey died of heart failure on 4 February 1982 in Belgium.

In 2018, Nick Cave told Primal Scream's Bobby Gillespie, "My first band was basically an Alex Harvey cover band. We did "Framed", "Isobel Goudie", "Faith Healer", "Gang Bang", "Next", "Midnight Moses", everything. I wore jeans and a tight cropped t-shirt and our guitarist wore clown make-up like Zal... Our first gig was a Battle of the Bands thing in a country town and we played "Framed" and came second. It's been downhill ever since."

Earlier, while the Sensational Alex Harvey Band was still active, Bob Seger included "Gang Bang" in his set, as documented on his July 8, 1974 show at Ebbets Field in Denver. Seger jokingly introduces it as a love song "ballad."

Robert Smith of the Cure said, "People talk about Iggy Pop as the original punk, but certainly in Britain the forerunner of the punk movement was Alex Harvey. His whole stage show with the graffiti-covered brick walls – it was like very aggressive Glaswegian street theatre."

Alex Harvey – lead vocals
Zal Cleminson – lead guitar
Hugh McKenna – electric piano
Chris Glen – bass guitar
Eddie McKenna – drums

Hammer Song
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

"Oh please, don't sell me out",
said the man with the hammer,
hammering the anvil
"I've been walking on the road of rocks
and I keep on hammering,
Keep on hammering,
keep on hammering
hammering the anvil."

"Don't let the sun go down,"
said the man with the fire,
firing the furnace
"I've been buried in the snow
and I keep on firing,
keep on firing,
firing the furnace."

"Don't talk to me",
said the man with the chisel,
chiseling the surface
"I've been sleeping far too long,
and I keep on chiseling,
keep on chiseling,
keep on chiseling
chiseling the surface."

"I don't know what you mean",
said the man with the shovel,
shoveling the ashes,
"I've been diggin in the frozen ground,
and I keep on shoveling,
keep on shoveling,
keep on shoveling,
shoveling the ashes

Chiseling the surface,
Firing the furnace,
Hammering the anvil
Hammering the anvil.

"Oh please, don't sell me out",
said the man with the hammer,
hammering the anvil
"I've been walking on the road of rocks,
and I keep on hammering,
keep on hammering,
keep on hammering,
hammering the anvil."

Shoveling the ashes
Chiseling the surface
Firing the furnace
Hammering the anvil.
Keep it on, keep it on, keep it on!
Hammering the anvil.
Written by: Alex Harvey

Action Strasse
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

I wanna take a walk, I wanna take a walk
I wanna take a walk along Action Strasse
(repeat)

Her eyes....telling lies...paradise
She said....words to me....tenderly

The man inside he was selling me a bride
Wake up in the morning on Action Strasse
A one eyed cat who was very fond of that
Cruising up the middle of Action Strasse
Everybody make for the peppermint shake
Everybody gonna have a good time

Her eyes....telling lies...paradise
She said....words to me....tenderly

I still remember cause I can't forget
The painted lady she got me yet
She look so neat and sound so sweet
When the light shines bright on midnite street
And everybody make for the peppermint shake
Wanna take a walk along Action Strasse

I wanna take a walk, I wanna take a walk
I wanna take a walk along Action Strasse
(repeat)