GEORGE THOROGOOD & THE DESTROYERS
''WHO DO YOU LOVE?''
MAR 4, 2003
APR 22, 1979
ROUNDER
COMPILATION
1/Can't Stop Lovin'/James/3:07
2/Move It on Over/Williams/4:20
3/I'll Change My Style/Parker, Parker, Parker, Parker, Villa/4:03
4/Madison Blues/James/4:30
5/Bottom of the Sea/Morganfield/3:32
6/Baby Please Set a Date/James/4:47
7/Who Do You Love?/McDaniel/4:21
8/House of Blue Lights/Raye, Slack/3:05
9/The Sky Is Crying/James, Robinson/5:16
10/One Bourbon, One Scotch, OneBeer/Hooker, Toombs/8:28
11/Ride on Josephine/Diddley, McDaniel/4:23
12/New Hawaiian Boogie/James/4:45
13/I'm Wanted/Dixon/4:08
14/I'm Just Your Good Thing/Moore/3:34
15/Night Time/Feldman, Goldstein, Gottehrer/3:09
16/Who Do You Love? (Live Version)/Diddley, McDaniel/5:08
Billy Blough/Bass
Hank Carter/Saxophone
Uncle Meat Pennington/Maracas, Tambourine
Jeff Simon/Drums
Ronald Smith/Guitar
George Thorogood/Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Producer, Vocals
REVIEW
by Tim Sendra
Who Do You Love? rounds up a selection of songs from the blues rocker's first three albums. Recorded for Rounder, 1977's George Thorogood & the Destroyers, 1978's Move It on Over, and 1980's More George Thorogood & the Destroyers were hard-driving blues-rock records fueled by Thorogood's nasty slide playing and barstool blues vocals. This compilation includes tracks that were FM rock radio staples, like his growling cover of Hank Williams' "Move It on Over," his boozy version of John Lee Hooker's "One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer," and the group's pounding cover of Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?" The rest of the tracks are among Thorogood's best and the whole disc stands as a testament to the hard-working blues-rock Thorogood has always championed. Also included on the disc is a previously unreleased live version of "Who Do You Love?" This is a very strong collection with well-chosen tracks showing Thorogood at his peak. It should be firmly ensconced on the beer-soaked jukeboxes of neighborhood dives all across the U.S.A.
BIOGRAPHY
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
A blues-rock guitarist who draws his inspiration from Elmore James, Hound Dog Taylor, and Chuck Berry, George Thorogood never earned much respect from blues purists, but he became a popular favorite in the early '80s through repeated exposure on FM radio and the arena rock circuit. Thorogood's music was always loud, simple, and direct -- his riffs and licks were taken straight out of '50s Chicago blues and rock & roll -- but his formulaic approach helped him gain a rather large audience in the '80s, when his albums regularly went gold.
Originally, Thorogood was a minor-league baseball player but decided to become a musician in 1970 after seeing John Paul Hammond in concert. Three years later, he assembled the Destroyers in his home state of Delaware; in addition to Thorogood, the band featured bassist Michael Lenn, second guitarist Ron Smith, and drummer Jeff Simon. Shortly after the Destroyers were formed, he moved them to Boston, where they became regulars on the blues club circuit. In 1974, they cut a batch of demos that were later released in 1979 as the Better Than the Rest album.
Within a year of recording the demos, the Destroyers were discovered by John Forward, who helped them secure a contract with Rounder Records. Before they made their first album, Lenn was replaced by Billy Blough. Thorogood & the Destroyers' eponymous debut was released in early 1977. The group's second album, Move It on Over, was released in 1978. The title track, a cover of Hank Williams' classic, was pulled as a single and it received heavy FM airplay, helping the album enter the American Top 40 and go gold. Its success led to MCA's release of Better Than the Rest, which the band disdained. In 1980, Ron Smith left the band and the group added a saxophonist, Hank Carter, and released its third album, More George Thorogood and the Destroyers.
Following the release of More George Thorogood, the guitarist signed with EMI Records, releasing his major-label debut, Bad to the Bone, in 1982. The title track of the album became his first major crossover hit, thanks to MTV's saturation airplay of the song's video. The album went gold and spent nearly a full year on the charts. Thorogood's next three albums after Bad to the Bone all went gold. Between Bad to the Bone and Thorogood's next album, 1985's Maverick, the Destroyers added a second guitarist, Steve Chrismar.
By the beginning of the '90s, Thorogood's audience began to decrease. None of the albums he released went gold, even though the title track from 1993's Haircut was a number two album rock hit. Despite his declining record sales, Thorogood continued to tour blues and rock clubs and he usually drew large crowds; subsequent efforts included 1997's Rockin' My Life Away, 1999's Half a Boy/Half a Man, Live in '99, 2003's Ride 'Til I Die, and 2006's The Hard Stuff. Thorogood returned to EMI/Capitol in 2009, releasing the bar band covers album The Dirty Dozen. Two years later, he continued the covers journey with 2120 South Michigan Ave., a tribute to Chess Records.
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