Bloodshot by J. Geils Band

Bloodshot, the J. Geils Band's third studio album, hit the racks on Atlantic on April 12, 1973, and it was the breakthrough for these Worcester, Massachusetts R&B fanatics, climbing into the top 10 of the album chart, a height they wouldn't top until Freeze Frame in 1981. Bill Szymczyk produced it and had the sense to leave the sweat on: Peter Wolf jiving at the mic, J. Geils's guitar biting, Magic Dick's harmonica wailing, Seth Justman pounding the keys, and Danny Klein on bass and Stephen Bladd on drums keeping the whole jukebox rocking.

Wolf and Justman wrote most of the band's own material, and "Give It to Me" is the grinder here; the single cut got a completely different ending from the album take and climbed to 30 on the Hot 100. Even the packaging had swagger: original US copies were pressed on red vinyl, with matching red, vintage-style Atlantic labels.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.