The Cavalier daily :: Tuesday, December 5, 1972 :: University of Virginia Library

Full House doesn't quit. It
has to be one of the best live
albums recorded in a long time.
The J. Geils Band is known to
put on frenzied, energy-charged
performances without
sacrificing any musical quality.
It is obvious when listening to
this album.

Side one starts out with
"First I Look at the Purse", an
old rocker written by Robert
Rogers and Smokey Robinson.
Hardly stopping to take a
breath, lead singer Peter Wolf
jumps into an old Otis Rush
number called "Homework."
The band quickly follows this
up with another rocker called
"Pack Fair and Square."

In the semi-solo number
that follows, "Wammer
Jammer," Magic Dick shows
why he is perhaps the best
harmonica player in rock. The
first side is finished up with the
only original song on the
album "Hard Drivin' Man",
written by J. Geils and Peter
Wolf. This cut is carried off by
the excellent work on the
organ by Seth Justman, who
was formerly an understudy of

Magic Dick:

"Perhaps The Best Harmonica Player in Rock"

Jerry Lee Louis.

The second side of the
album slows down the pace,
opening up with a slow, bluesy
song written by John Lee
Hooker called "Serves You
Right to Suffer." Peter Wolf's
vocals and J. Geils' guitar
playing does great justice to
this old Hooker song. This cut
is evidence of the great
influence that Hooker and
other Chicago bluesmen like
Muddy Waters and Little
Walter have had on the band.
The group picks up the tempo
again with "Cruisin' for a
Love" and finishes off the side
with "Lookin' for a Love"–a
Top 40 hit that was released by
the band as a single a little over
a year ago.

The only drawback with
this album is that all the cuts
on Full House were previously
recorded of the first two J.
Geils albums. But this
drawback is well compensated
for by the fact that Full House
is recorded live, maybe the
album's strongest point.

Anyone who thinks that the
Rolling Stones are a raucous
waste of time probably won't
like Full House. But if you like
high caliber rock and blues that
won't let you sit down, you
will probably find the new J.
Geils Band album to be a
worthwhile investment.