Producer: Seth Justman
Track listing: Freeze-Frame / Rage in the Cage / Centerfold / Do You Remember When / Insane, Insane Again / Flamethrower / River Blindness / Angel in Blue / Piss on the Wall
February 6, 1982
4 weeks
No one could say that the J. Geils Band hadn’t worked hard to reach the apex of the Billboard album chart — the Boston-based band had been together for 13 years and released 12 albums without a lineup change before finally making it to the top. “We put in years of hard work,” says vocalist Peter Wolf. “It was exciting because we spent so many years where people would say, ‘J. Who? It was great to finally have people recognize the band.”
The J. Geils Blues Band, named for guitarist J. (Jerome) Geils, was formed in 1967 as an acoustic trio featuring bassist Danny Klein and harmonica player Magic Dick Salwitz. Future frontmon Wolf relocated to Boston to attend art school, where he roomed with future film director David Lynch, but his love for music led him to a gig as a disc jockey on radio station WBCN. But spinning records was not enough. Wolf soon joined the HalluciÂnations, a rock ‘n’ soul band that included drummer Stephen Jo Bladd.
When Wolf caught the J. Geils Blues Band in action, he and Bladd left the Hallucinations to join forces with Geils and company. A year later, keyboardist Seth Justman signed on.
Before signing with Atlantic Records in 1969, the band opted to drop “Blues” from its name, but the influence remained firmly implanted in its music. With constant touring, the band’s rabid following soon expanded beyond the New England area and to the rest of the country. Their third album, 1972’s Full House, stalled at number 54 but went gold. Bloodshot, released in 1973, climbed to number 10 and likewise moved over 500,000 units.
Although the band’s subsequent mid-’70s efforts failed to equal their early commercial success, the J. Geils Band remained undaunted and continued to record albums and tour at a relentless pace. A move from Atlantic to the fledging EMI-America label seemed to stoke the band’s creative juices: With Sanctuary, released in 1978, the band struck gold again, and the follow-up, 1980’s Love Stinks, climbed to number 18. The stage was now set for the release of Freeze-Frame.
Freeze-Frame, like the two J. Geils Band albums before it, was recorded near the group’s home base of Boston at Long View Farm. And despite modern-day additions such as synthesizers, the J. Geils Band continued to mine the R&B tradition. “Flamethrower,” which featured soul belters Luther Vandross and Cissy Houston on backing vocals, picked up airplay on R&B stations. The album’s big hits, however, were the title track and “Centerfold.” The latter topped the Hot 100 for six weeks, thanks in part to a sexy video that garnered heavy airplay on MTV, which at the time was just beginning to become a powerful force.
As Wolf sees it, time was on the band’s side. “‘Love Stinks’ was greeted with a great amount of resistance at top 40 radio,” he recalls. “People thought it was too hard or too rock, but by the time Freeze-Frame came out, disco was waning and people were getting into more traditional and more primal rock.”
THE TOP FIVE
Week of February 6, 1982
1. Freeze-Frame, The J. Geils Band
2. Escape, Journey
3. 4, Foreigner
4. Hooked on Classics, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
5. Tattoo You, The Rolling Stones