HOT WAX: The J. Geils Band, BLOW YOUR FACE OUT

The year was 1976, and the J. Geils Band needed a boost. The hard-working Boston band was renowned for burning up concert stages across the country, but the guys were having trouble making chart records. Scoring a #12 hit with "Must of Got Lost" in 1974, things cooled down considerably with the release of 1975 full-length, Hotline. So J. Geils Band went back to what they were known for: live music.

Blow Your Face Out, the second live album by the J. Geils Band, was released on April 22, 1976. The double-record set was recorded at the band's hometown Boston Gardens, as well as Cobo Arena in the group's adopted second home of Detroit. The Motor City is where the J. Geils Band had recorded their very first live LP, Full House (the rare single-album live record), back in 1972.

While the album made a decent chart run, peaking at #40 over the last week of June 1976, Blow Your Face Out quickly became a massive FM radio favorite. The standout cut was "Musta Got Lost," a rowdy live version of "Most of Got Lost" that featured a legendary intro stage rap from singer Peter Wolf. The live version of "Detroit Breakdown" was an instant favorite on Motor City radio, where it's still a classic rock staple.

Wolf would sit down with Crawdaddy for an interview in 1976 to promote Blow Your Face Out. He shouts out blues legends, laments racial tensions in America, and life in general: "We're just trying to get by in this crazy, mixed up world," he said. "We're just trying to say things from what we see on the streets we happen to be boppin' down. That's what we deal with: just walking down the street, trying to get to the other side."