Rhino Factoids: The J. Geils Band Blow Out Some Faces in Detroit

40 years ago today, The J. Geils Band performed the second of the two shows that would soon become immortalized on their second live album, 1976's Blow Your Face Out.

There's often a price to be paid for being one of the best damned bar bands in the world, and it's that it can be frustratingly difficult to capture your live sound in a studio environment. Such was often the case with The J. Geils Band, who earned their first gold record with - you guessed it - a live album: 1972's *Live* Full House, which proved to be their highest-charting album up to that point, hitting #54 when its predecessor, 1971's The Morning After, had stalled at #64. Although their next studio album, 1973's Bloodshot, found the band in the top-10 for the first time in their career, they were back down at #51 for Ladies Invited, which came out later the same year, and after a few more ups and downs with album released, J. Geils and the boys apparently decided to venture back into the live-album realm.

As noted, there are performances from two shows on Blow Your Face Out, the first of which was on November 15, 1975 at the Boston Garden, which was certainly an appropriate venue for a band that called Boston home. A few days later, they performed in Detroit, Michigan, a city which served them well for live albums, as Full House was recorded there, as was their next live album, 1982's Showtime!

Unfortunately, Blow Your Face Out didn't do much to help The J. Geils Band's chart fortunes: it stalled out at #40, and its one hit single - a cover of “Where Did Our Love Go” - didn't even hit the top-40, ceasing its rise at #68. There's one silver lining, however: it's still a great live album, chart success be damned.