While having nearly no success in their UK homeland, Foghat had a string of mild successes in the States until the release of the R&B boogie groove laden Fool For The City, supported by the blistering single “Slow Ride,” inspired by a John Lee Hooker riff, that in 1975 splintered the airwaves, and was often taken off jukeboxes, as the song was in nearly constant rotation.Laced with a gritty distillation of good-time good-humored guitar riffs and musical attitudes that went down easy at the end of that summer, along with a string of tongue in cheek album cover images and titles, Foghat seemed to be just what the world needed as America tried to put Watergate and the Vietnam War behind them as we stepped into the Bicentennial, balanced on the edge of the great unknown. Forghat are not a thinking man’s band, there’s nothing masterful on this or any of Foghat’s albums, other than the ability to tap into the essence of easy slider songs that were nearly impossible to ignore, though looking back, this was another band who were destined to weave a career around a single track that was the highlight of every show. Yes, this album was all about the song “Slow Ride,” a song that caused 8-track player volumes to be turned up as muscle cars revved their engines at stoplights, with the windows rolled down. That being said, “Fool For The City,” was equally well received, was a steaming delight to hear the album’s final song “Take It Or Leave It,” a number that signaled the coming of age for the acoustic based ballads, even managing to work a synthesizer in to the dynamically layered arrangement, which also secured them coveted evening and late night radio slots as stoners across the country were winding down, and were in need of something a bit more mellow, yet tastefully intoxicating.*** The Fun Facts: The established explanation for the group’s name is that band member 'Lonesome Dave' Everett came up with the word foghat himself when as a young boy he played a game of Scrabble with his younger brother. Michael Little goes, insisting that the band’s name was a bit more engaging: “I was the geezer wot gave Foghat their name. We were all totally pissed in Rod “The Bottle” Price’s bedsit in manky Manchester when ‘Lonesome Dave’ Everett rolled a J [joint] the size of John Holmes’ [a porn star] while John Thomas goes and sets it ablaze. It took some real hyperventilation level huffing and puffing to get that monster going, and by this time Dave’s head was wreathed in a glorious crown of cannabis smoke, I cried out, Lonesome Dave’s sporting a Foghat! And Bob’s your uncle, that’s exactly how it didn’t happen.”As to the album cover, the story goes: “It was a Sunday morning and I hadn’t slept. Back in the ‘70s, we didn’t sleep that much,” explained Earl in a 2014 interview with the Aquarian. “It was Nick Jameson’s idea. He had just joined us playing bass. He’d been our longtime producer before that. It was his idea since I have this penchant for fishing.” That spur of the moment joke, Earl added, could have backfired in a big way. “Anyway, we lift up the manhole cover and I’m sitting on a box. Almost immediately a couple of New York’s finest come by in their patrol car. They’re looking at us and they wind the window down. We’re like, ‘Oh shit.’ They yell out, ‘Hey! You got a fishing license?’ and then start laughing. So they come over and say, ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ The cops took some pictures with them handcuffing me. I love New York’s finest.”Photo Shoot: The album cover shows drummer Roger Earl sitting in the middle of East 11th Street in New York City fishing in a manhole. The location was near Foghat’s American office.Review by Jenell Kesler