Streetwalkers

The post-<a href="spotify:artist:0FtsBt4gg67x9q0CS5FhB6">Family</a> band formed by <a href="spotify:artist:0FtsBt4gg67x9q0CS5FhB6">Family</a> masterminds <a href="spotify:artist:1c4UzgxPBBWnhdK6qfYmWN">Roger Chapman</a> and Charlie Whitney. Where their former band balanced art-rock and blues-rock, the Streetwalkers were a throwback, a blues-rock band that put Chapman's extraordinary voice front and center. Unlike <a href="spotify:artist:0FtsBt4gg67x9q0CS5FhB6">Family</a>, however, the Streetwalkers, who were a good but not great band, sounded too calculated, as if they wanted to cash in on some of the pre-punk hard rock notoriety that bands like <a href="spotify:artist:5AEG63ajney2BoDXi0Vb84">Bad Company</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6biWAmrHyiMkX49LkycGqQ">Thin Lizzy</a> were getting. Where they remained consistent with their former aggregation was that the Streetwalkers, though popular in England, were virtually ignored in America. A solid, at times excellent live band, the Streetwalkers split up in the early '80s after the release of a (surprisingly) desultory live LP that had contractual obligation written all over it. As blues-based rock bands go, the Streetwalkers had their moments and did release one certifiably terrific record (Red Card), but unlike <a href="spotify:artist:0FtsBt4gg67x9q0CS5FhB6">Family</a>, their material was too inconsistent; Whitney's guitar playing started to sound too much like <a href="spotify:artist:0AD4odMWVQ2wUSlgxOB5Rl">Jeff Beck</a>, and Chapman's lyrics were egregiously sexist, the kind of dross you'd imagine from a bald, overweight, middle-aged man who thinks that being in a rock band means he's still big with (much younger) chicks. ~ John Dougan, Rovi