Terry Slesser, who fronted two albums with Back Street Crawler, the band set up by guitarist Paul Kossoff after his departure from Free in 1975 – and another pair with Crawler, following Kossoff's death in 1976 – is about to release his first solo album.
Forever Blue, recorded with the Back Street Crawler Band, is available as a limited edition CD from tomorrow (September 13), with a digital release scheduled for November 15 via Momojo Records. A vinyl release is also planned for later in the year.
"It's my swan song life story of an album that features my original band members from Back Street Crawler and Crawler," says Slesser.
The album was recorded in Los Angeles with Back Street Crawler bassist Terry Wilson, and co-written with Mark Taylor, who's played with The Alarm, Elton John, Simple Minds, Echo & The Bunnymen and more. Among the musicians contributing to Forever Blue are drummer Tony Braunagel (Eric Burdon, Taj Mahal, Bonnie Raitt), and guitarists Geoff Whitehorn (Crawler, Procol Harum), John Buckton and Snuffy Walden (Stray Dog).
Walden played on three tracks on Free's final album Heartbreaker, and performed as a session musician on Back Street Crawler's second album 2nd Street. He would go on to become a successful Hollywood composer, scoring a number of successful TV series including The West Wing, The Wonder Years and Roseanne. Buckton is a member of Paul Kossoff... The Band Plays On, Slesser's touring tribute to Paul Kossoff.
"In a way, this album has metaphorically been 50 years in the making," says Slesser. "I wrote two of the songs some time ago with Angelic Upstarts guitar/writer Mond Cowie and the rest came over the last three years gradually, as Mark Taylor and I just kept on going through the lock-in period. And when my Back Street Crawler friends agreed to finish off what we'd started, I was beyond thrilled.
"It was Paul Kossoff who brought us together, and in a way it's fitting that we make this final swan song of an album with John Buckton on guitar. It has, in a subliminal way, got Koss running through a lot of the tracks, especially the lyrics, which almost always seem to have Koss in mind... the band does play on!"
The title track on the album, Forever Blue, is already available, as well as a demo version of Rome In A Day.
After Crawler broke up in 1979, Slesser auditioned for AC/DC and Iron Maiden, contributed backing vocals to Def Leppard's Pyromania, and joined Charlie, whose 1983 single It's Inevitable hit the US Top 40. He was also the singer Freeway, a Free tribute band, and currently fronts Geordie, the band Brian Johnson left to join AC/DC.
The CD version of Forever Blue is available from Terry Slesser.
Terry Slesser: Forever Blue tracklist
Love Is blind
Day By Day
Checkmate
Savage Amusement
Sleepwalking
Shine-on
Sunset Bar
I know You Meant It
Rodeo
Rome In A Day
Forever Blue
Thrill Of It all
