Following last year's releases of Houserocker: A Joe Grushecky Anthology and the singer-songwriter's newest album, Can't Outrun a Memory, Omnivore Recordings is returning to the Grushecky discography on March 28 with the worldwide CD premiere of The Iron City Houserockers' 1981 album, Blood on the Bricks.  The band's third album, it's been newly remastered and expanded with 11 previously unreleased bonus tracks.  The expanded edition will also be available digitally.

Blood on the Bricks teamed Joe Grushecky and his dynamite band-Eddie Britt on lead guitar and vocals, Art Nardini on bass, Gil Snyder on keyboards and vocals, Ned Rankin on drums, and Marc Reisman on harmonica-with one of R&B's most renowned musicians, Stax legend Steve Cropper.  The result was one of the most hard-hitting records in the heartland rock genre. Deeply soulful and musically muscular, Blood fused anthemic melodies with gritty lyrics inspired by both daily life in Pittsburgh and the world at large.  Rehearsed in Pittsburgh and recorded in Los Angeles, Blood featured saxophonist Jim Horn - a veteran of records from The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds to The Rolling Stones' Goats Head Soup - as well as Cropper himself on guitar.

The original album was greeted with acclaim from publications including Billboard ("the album's epic [title track] points to Grushecky's rise from a promising artist to a great one") and Record World ("[a] very personal combination of blast-furnace rock and tender moments").  Cash Box praised the lead single "Friday Night," which became a Pick Hit of the Week on Solid Gold: "[The band] manage[s] to make the workingman's escape, an oft-used theme, sound urgent again."

The original album, as freshly remastered by Michael Graves to bring out new detail in the band's power-packed performances, is featured on CD 1 of the upcoming expanded edition where it's joined by the Cherokee Studios outtake "Let the Boy Rock."  The second disc premieres four highlights from the band's November 1981 gig at Cambridge, Massachusetts' long-gone Inn-Square Men's Bar as well as six demos, both of songs that made the album and those that didn't.  One of those cut songs, "Angels," would appear in different form on the band's next album for MCA, Cracking Under Pressure.

The expanded Blood on the Bricks has been released with the full cooperation of Joe and Johnny Grushecky, and includes new liner notes by TSD's Joe Marchese based on an extensive new interview with Joe Grushecky.  Look for this 2-CD or digital edition on March 28 from Omnivore Recordings.  You'll find the track listing and pre-order links below.  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

The Iron City Houserockers, Blood on the Bricks (MCA 5252, 1981 - reissued Omnivore OVCD-575, 2025) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Omnivore)

CD 1

1. Friday Night
2. Saints And Sinners
3. This Time The Night (Won't Save Us)
4. Be My Friend
5. No Easy Way Out
6. No More Loneliness
7. Watch Out
8. Blood On The Bricks
9. A Fool's Advice
10. Let The Boy Rock (Outtake)

CD 2

Live at Inn-Square Men's Bar - Cambridge, MA

1. Watch Out
2. Saints And Sinners
3. Be My Friend
4. Blood On The Bricks

Demo Recordings

5. Angels
6. This Time The Night (Won't Save Us)
7. You Must Be The One
8. A Fool's Advice
9. Jukebox Nights
10. No Easy Way Out