Geordie

Geordie's second album was very aptly titled. A clutch of U.K. hit singles had established them not as a power in the land, but at least as a reliable chart machine, in what lazy journalists insisted was a raucously sub-Slade kind of way. Of course they were worth so much more than that, and they knew it. But the titular plea went to anybody out there who wasn't so certain, and a powerhouse LP did the rest of the work. The highlight here is a slow-burning take on "House of the Rising Sun" (popularized in the U.K., of course, by fellow Geordies the Animals in 1964). But the opening "Goin' Down" (a band original, not the oft-cranked out Don Nix blues shouter), "Mercenary Man," and the raw finale of "Little Boy" and "Look at Me" state Geordie's blues-rock claims as loudly as you like, and the result was one of 1974's most cruelly overlooked albums. The absence of any singles on the album played its own part in that; although the band released new 45s on either side of the release, both would be held over until Geordie's next album, 1976's Save the World. Bonus tracks on the 7Ts label's 2008 reissue of Don't Be Fooled by the Name, then, are taken from vocalist Brian Johnson's first solo single (also from 1976), "I Can't Forget You Now" and "I Can't Give You Up." Thankfully, they blend perfectly with all that has gone before. ~ Dave Thompson, All Music Guide