Tag: Bad Company

Bad Company – Movin On

Sometimes…I need some arena rock; this is one of those times. If you were a long-haired kid in 1974, flipping through the FM dial in a Chevelle or Mustang with the windows down, odds are this song was the reason for a speeding ticket. This is a straight-ahead blues-rocker that sounds like it was born on a plane, train, and an automobile. The story of many rockers in the 1970s. 

Bad Company cut their self-titled debut album at Headley Grange in November 1973, using Ronnie Lane’s Mobile Studio. If that sounds familiar, it’s because Led Zeppelin recorded many of their early seventies albums in the same manor house. There was something about that place that produced a sound that you just can’t manufacture in a sterile studio. Mick Ralphs wrote this song and brought it over from his days in his former band, Mott the Hoople. It was the perfect fit for Paul Rodger’s voice.

Led Zeppelin’s new record label Swan Song got off to a smashing start. Bad Company was the first album released on the new label, followed by Physical Graffiti a few months later. Bad Company was their most commercially successful signing with the label, which included Dave Edmunds, Maggie Bell, The Pretty Things, Detective, and others.  The label folded soon after John Bonham’s passing. Swan Song exists now just for reissues.

The 1974 album was a smash; it peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, #3 in the UK, and #27 in New Zealand. This single peaked at #19 on the Billboard 100 and #30 in Canada.

Movin’ On
I get up in the morning and it’s just another day
Pack up my belongings, I’ve got to get away
Jump into a taxi and the time is gettin’ tight
I got to keep on movin’ I got a show tonight

And I’m movin’ on, movin’ on from town to town
Movin’ on, baby, never seem to touch the ground

I check in to the ticket desk I have an hour to go
Headin’ for the boarding gate I’m feelin’ pretty low
Fifteen minutes later I’m sittin’ on my plane
Fastening my safety belt I’m takin’ off again

And I’m movin’ on, movin’ on from town to town
Moving on, baby, yeah I’m never touching the ground

Movin’ on, movin’ on from town to town
Movin’ on, I can’t seem to stop now

Movin’
Movin’ on

I got to move on, move on from town to town
I got to move on
And I never seem to slow me down

I’m movin’ on, movin’ on from town to town

I never seem to slow down

Everyday of my life I’m moving on

Bad Company – Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy

In 1979 this song was out I was at our town’s Dime Store…remember Dime Stores? They had a .50-cent single bin. I looked around and I saw a Rock And Roll Fantasy single just picked it up and bought it…not paying attention to the band.

I played the single at home and it was The Kinks Rock and Roll Fantasy… a totally different song but it soon became one of my favorites by the Kinks…so I won in that deal. This Bad Company song has been worn out by radio but I still will listen when it comes on.

Paul Rodgers has one of the best voices in rock and blues. So good in fact that one band came looking for him when their singer passed away. The Doors searched for Rodgers after Jim Morrison had died but Rodgers was living off the grid in England and they couldn’t find him. He didn’t know about it until years later when Doors guitarist Robby Krieger told him. The Doors were all Free fans.

The song was written by Paul Rodgers about rock and roll escapism. The band was all burned out from their 1977 tour and they took a two-year break until 1979 when they released the Desolation Angels album. It became one of their most successful albums along with their last top 10 album.

This song was quite successful as was the album Desolation Angels. The album peaked at #3 on the Billboard Album Charts, #6 in Canada, #10 in the UK, and #32 in New Zealand in 1979.

The song peaked at #13 on the Billboard 100 and #16 in Canada.

They were on Led Zeppelin’s record label…Swan Song. It would be the last huge year on the label when Led Zeppelin released In Through The Out Door along with this Bad Company album. John Bonham would pass the following year and the label died in 1983. Bad Company was far and away the most successful band on the label not including Zeppelin.

When clearing out the offices in 1983…unheard demos by Iron Maiden and Heart were found.

Paul Rodgers: “I discovered quite recently that I was lined up to join The Doors, which blew my mind. Robby Krieger told me that the Doors were all fans of Free, and after Jim Morrison’s death, they came to England looking for me. The thing is, at that time, I had buried myself in the country, working on things, and they couldn’t get a hold of me. My jaw actually dropped like in a cartoon when Robby told me this.”

Paul Rodgers: “I don’t think you should ever bring politics and stuff that surrounds you every day – all that depressing stuff – into music, people want to go and see groups to get away from all that. I know I do. The lights, the atmosphere… they can forget everything else.”

Rock ‘n’ Roll Fanstasy

Here comes the jesters, one, two three
It’s all part of my fantasy
I love the music and I love to see the crowd
Dancin’ In the aisles and singin’ out loud

Here comes the dancers one bye one
Your mama’s callin’ but you’re havin’ fun
You find you’re dancin’ on a number nine cloud
Put your hands together now and sing It out loud

Its all part of my rock ‘n roll fantasy
Its all part of my rock ‘n roll dream
Its all part of my rock ‘n roll fantasy
Its all part of my rock ‘n roll dream

Put up the spotlights one and all
And let the feelin’ get down to your soul
The music’s so loud you can hear the sound
Reachin’ for the sky and churn In up the ground

Its all part of my rock ‘n roll fantasy
Its all part of my rock ‘n roll dream
Its all part of my rock ‘n roll fantasy
Its all part of my rock ‘n roll dream

Bad Company – Can’t Get Enough

This song is worn out but I still get excited when I hear that intro! You also have one of the top vocalists in his generation…Paul Rodgers. I’ve always loved the feel of this song. The lyrics won’t challenge Dylan at any point but the feel makes up for it.

The band combined singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke from the band Free, guitarist Mick Ralphs from the band Mott the Hoople, and bassist Boz Burrell from King Crimson.

This song was their debut single off of their debut self-titled album. The song peaked at #5 on the Billboard 100, #3 in Canada, and #15 in the UK. The album Bad Company peaked at #1 on the Billboard 100, #1 in Canada, #3 in the UK, and #27 in New Zealand in 1974.

I will never understand why Mott The Hoople turned this song down. It was written by Mick Ralphs when he was still with Mott the Hoople, but the band rejected it. When Ralphs joined Bad Company, they didn’t mind it one bit. Ralphs also brought “Movin’ On” with him, which became the group’s next single, as well as “Ready For Love,” which he originally recorded with Mott The Hoople, but redid the song with Bad Company.

Bad Company had just formed and they were signed by Peter Grant (Zeppelin’s manager) to Led Zeppelin’s new Swan Song record label. This was by far the label’s best signing of outside artists…the most successful anyway. Grant traveled with Bad Company and gave them a lot of attention during this period. After a couple of years, no artist at Swan Song would get much attention.

They recorded the album with Ronnie Lane’s mobile studio at Headley Grange. That is where Zeppelin recorded a few of their albums.

Simon Kirke: “We were scattered all over this country house. Bad Company were doing their first album and I believe it was one of the first songs that we did. I was in the basement, Boz [Burrell] the bass player was in the boiler room, Mick Ralphs and Paul Rodgers were up in the main living room where the guitar amps were. So, in order to get their attention, because we couldn’t see each other, I did the count: ‘1, 2… 1, 2, 3…’ and then I did this ‘guh-brah’ to get everyone’s attention. And that’s how we kicked it off. It was born out of necessity.”

Can’t Get Enough

Well I take whatever I want
And baby I want you
You give me something I need
Now tell me I got something for you
Come on come on come on and do it
Come on and do what you do

I can’t get enough of your love
I can’t get enough of your love
I can’t get enough of your love

Well it’s late and I want love
Love that’s gonna break me in two
Don’t hang me up in your doorway
Don’t hang me up like you do
Come on come on come on and do it
Come on and do what you do

I can’t get enough of your love
I can’t get enough of your love
I can’t get enough of your love