Crawler - Selftitled (1977) + Snake, Rattle & Roll (1978)

(U.S 1976-1979)
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Crawler was a band created from the ashes of "Back Street Crawler", following the death of guitarist, Paul Kossoff. Atlantic Records suggested the band continue with another well-known guitarist, ex-Rolling Stone Mick Taylor or they'd be dropped. Despite being broke, they declined, instead recruiting Geoff Whitehorn, previously with the band "If".
The band abbreviated their name to Crawler, and the eponymous first album, 'Crawler,' was released in 1977 on Epic. Despite being well-written, superbly recorded, and receiving good reviews, it struggled in the year of disco, punk rock and new wave. Nevertheless, it did well in the USA, thanks to airplay of the track "Stone Cold Sober", on FM radio stations. The band concentrated on the American market. Working with producer Gary Lyons, they released a second album, 'Snake, Rattle & Roll'. A great album of classy bluesy melodic rock with good vocals and nice guitar work.
The band toured the UK with Boxer and Moon in a successful three-band package tour. Their distinctive live sound was dominated by Whitehorn's guitar and Rabbit's swirling keyboards.
An exhaustive series of live performances found Crawler as support band for Robin Trower, Cheap Trick, and Foreigner and a 54-date tour across the USA as support band for Kansas. At the end of a USA tour in December 1978, keyboard player John 'Rabbit' Bundrick left to work with The Who. The band folded soon after.
In recent years, a number of live albums, including Snakebite (2001) and Pastime Dreamer (2003), recorded during tours in 1977 and 1978, have been released from John Bundrick's private collection of recordings [extract from wikipedia]
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I bought their first album purely based on its 'eye grabbing cover' and hearing "Pastime Dreamer" blasting out of my local Import Record store's speakers, while thumbing through the C section. A few tracks later, "Stone Cold Sober" came thrashing out and hit me right between the eyes. Needless to say, I didn't get to the D section - I'd already made my choice in 'record' time.
Although I was familiar with Paul Kossoff's band 'Back Street Crawler', I didn't really make the connection between the two bands until many years later - sad hey!
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The rips provided here were taken from CD at 320kps and include full album artwork. (My vinyl copies have seen better days, so no vinyl rip this time)
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Track Listing (Crawler)
01. Without You Baby - 3:29
02. You Got Money - 3:30
03. Sold On Down The Line - 3:47
04. One Too Many Lovers - 4:03
05. You Are My Saviour - 4:49
06. Pastime Dreamer - 4:33
07. Never Loved A Woman - 4:14
08. You And Me - 4:07
09. Stone Cold Sober - 5:38
[Bonus Track]
10. Stone Cold Sober (Single version) - 2:55
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Track Listing (Snake, Rattle & Roll)
01. Sail On – 3:59
02. Disc Heroes – 3:20
03. How Will You Break My Heart – 3:43
04. Muddy Water – 4:07
05. First Class Operator – 3:30
06. Where Is The Money – 4:24
07. Hold On – 1:43
08. Midnight Blues – 4:18
09. Liar – 3:40
10. One Way Street – 4:45
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Band Members:
Terry Slesser (Vocals)
Geoff Whitehorn (Guitar)
Tony Braunagel (Drums, Vocals)
John "Rabbit" Bundrick (Keyboards)
Terry Wilson (Bass) .
[additional support artists]
Ted Bunting (Saxophone)
Chris Wood (Flute)
Tony Carr (Percussion)
Stevie Lange (Backing Vocals)
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Crawler Link (80Mb) REPOST
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Snake Rattle & Roll Link (71Mb) REPOST
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