PITTSBURGH — After recording second album “Have a Good Time (But Get Out Alive)” in New York City with Mick Ronson, Ian Hunter and Steve Van Zandt, the Iron City Houserockers turned to a Stax legend for its follow-up to the 1980 record.

The Houserockers recorded “Blood on the Bricks” with Steve Cropper, the Booker T. & the M.G.'s guitarist famed for his work Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett and Sam & Dave and, of course, as a member of the Blues Brothers.

The album was released in 1981 on MCA with the single “Friday Night,” which the Houserockers uncharacteristically performed on the disco-heavy syndicated show “Solid Gold.” The song also won a poll on “American Bandstand.”

“Blood on the Bricks,” which arrived in the vinyl era, will appear on CD for the first time on March 21 via Omnivore Recordings, which last year released “Houserocker: A Joe Grushecky Anthology” and the new Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers album “Can’t Outrun a Memory.”

“Blood on the Bricks” will be a two-disc set with the original nine tracks newly remastered and 11 previously unissued bonus tracks, demos and four live tracks captured in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“I think ‘Blood On The Bricks’ is our most professionally, competently, excellently played record,” Grushecky says in the liner notes. “The band was on fire. Everybody stepped up their game because we were playing with Steve (Cropper). This record has never been given its proper due and was never even released on CD. I’m very excited to hear it now, the way it should be heard.”

“Blood on the Bricks” was the last Houserockers album to include the fiery harmonica work of Marc Reisman. The band split after one more record, 1983’s “Cracking Under Pressure,” which felt like an afterthought. Incidentally, Canadian rocker Aldo Nova borrowed the title “Blood on the Bricks” for his own album in 1991.

The new Houserockers album, “Can’t Outrun A Memory,” featured “This Is Who We Are,” which ranked at No. 8 on The Coolest Song in the World 2024 on Little Steven Van Zandt’s Underground Garage. Last month, Grushecky and the current Houserockers reunited with their friend Bruce Springsteen (who would later produce Grushecky) at the annual Light of Day concerts in New Jersey.

‘Blood on the Bricks’ track list

Disc 1:

“Friday Night”

“Saints and Sinners”

“This Time the Night (Won’t Save Us)”

“Be My Friend”

“No Easy Way Out”

“No More Loneliness”

“Watch Out”

“Blood on the Bricks”

“A Fool’s Advice”

“Let the Boy Rock” [Bonus Track]

Disc 2:

“Watch Out” (Live at Live Inn Square Men’s Club)

“Saints and Sinners” (Live at Live Inn Square Men’s Club)

“Be My Friend” (Live at Live Inn Square Men’s Club)

“Blood on the Bricks” (Live at Live Inn Square Men’s Club)

“Angels” (Demo)

“This Time the Night” (Won’t Save Us) (Demo)

“You Must Be the One” (Demo)

“A Fool’s Advice” (Demo)

“Jukebox Nights” (Demo)

“No Easy Way Out” (Demo)

Track 10 on Disc 1, and All of Disc 2 Previously Unissued

________

©2025 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.