Cincinnati radio station WEBN’s Labor Day fireworks are always considered THE “end of summer” party in the Tri-State area and the bash may very well have been the first place I’d ever heard this absolutely turbocharged cover from the great Pat Travers.  This scorching live version of the Little Walter original comes from the classic Live! Go For What You Know and is arguably the song for which Travers is most known.  The album, released in the late 70s, featured singer/guitarist Travers, fellow guitarist Pat Thrall, drum maestro Tommy Aldridge, and bassist Mars Cowling funk rockin’ through a blazing set of seven strong originals but it’s the party rock vibe and riotously fun, audience call and response singalong chorus that was the hit on album rock stations of the day.

Nah, hold on a sec…  it’s not just the party rock vibe and audience participation that makes this song a winner-  just listen to the DRIVE and ENERGY!  That roar from the crowd followed by the rattling Tommy Aldridge intro is like a jolt to the heart, a raucous bit o’ fire that flames on with raging intensity as Travers and Thrall riff it out and Cowling gets all funktastic with some popping grooves.  While Travers primes the crowd for participation, the band glides along with the groove until escalating the tension during the slammin’ stop/start section of the verse, crashing power chords after each line of verse then goosing the tempo again before the classic “Boom Boom! Out go the lights!” of the chorus.  Just some killer push and pull tension during the verse, hitting it hard in spots and greasy in others.

Not only are we looking at some fab band interplay here but Travers and Thrall are absolute monsters.  The riffs are alive and the groove is hot, the guitar tones are a mix of dirty one moment and slinky at others, and the solos are overdriven goodness that were unlike anything at the time short of some dude named Eddie Van Halen.  Travers/Thrall were more molten hot overdrive in their funk rock than, say the quicksilver greasiness of Aerosmith; maybe more akin to the mean town blues of Johnny Winter and Rick Derringer (definitely similar to Winter’s rock holler vocal) or the rawness of Ted Nugent.  So for your next party that needs a swift kick in the pants, toss this one on to intensify the fun!