The 1960s Blues Boom — continuation
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Library continuation source record: The 1960s Blues Boom by John Power. Preserved from the supplied Library material. This page presents the source as supplied; it does not turn source prose, recollections, captions or catalogue entries into newly verified event claims.
Original Library source: 1960s Blues Room 2(1).pdf
Original Library source: 1960s Blues Boom 3(1).pdf
Original Library source: 1960s Blues Boom 4(1).pdf
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1960s Blues Room 2
The 1960s Blues Boom By John Power (page 2)
Shotgun Express.
As noted above, Shotgun Express were a similar revue style act
like Steampacket that Rod formed in '66. Peter Bardens had
played keyboards with Van Morrison in Them, and already had
the hub of the group on the road, known as Peter Barden's
Looners, which consisted of Dave Ambrose on drums and an
early pairing of Peter Green on guitar and Mick Fleetwood on
drums. Besides Bardens on keyboards and vocals Rod and Beryl
Marsden were the two upfront vocalists. Beryl had already had a
successful career in the Merseybeat era of her Liverpuddlian
home town, but never pushed for commercial success like say
fellow blues belter Lulu, and was always more of a cult figure.
The band only lasted a year. A single 'I Hear the World Turn
Around' was a fine one well sung but had violins added which did
it no favours, as management failed to see where the fan base
was. It can still be found on the double compilation 'Rod Stewart
1964-69.' Peter Green was the first to leave when John Mayall
asked him to replace Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers as Eric
joined Cream. The band split in '67. Beryl joined the She Trinity,
Phil Sawyer joined the Spencer Davis Group, Dave Ambrose
joined The Brian Auger team and Peter Bardens later formed the
prog rock band Camel.
The Small Faces.
Another band that featured the sound of the Hammond organ as
an integral part of their sound, but without brass horns like many
Flamingo Club style jazzy r&b bands, were the Small Faces: not
on their first single hit 'Watcha Gonna Do About It', which
featured a few simple organ riffs from Jimmy Winston, but from
then onwards when Ian Maclagan, from the Muleskinners, and the
Boz People replaced him. The group began in Ilford, then in
Essex, before the G.L.C. was created. Singer Steve Marriot, with
his belting soulful voice had been a child star in the West End
musical, 'Oliver', and also played guitar in the band. He met
Ronnie Lane who was to be his co-writer for a lot of songs while
he was working in a record store in Manor Park. Ronnie was also
to play bass and sing. Kenney Jones was the drummer. The band
had not worked their way through the ranks of Blues Inc, or the
like but listened to what had been going on and emerged as a
fresh talent, with eyes on commercial success, in the Mod era
too. A 'face' was a name for a character on that scene, and as
they were all of short stature the name of the band needed little
invention.
The commercial success hit an unforeseen stumbling block when
the group were spotted by impresario Don Arden who signed
them and had the first single released within four weeks of their
formation. All of which they readily agreed to, before finding out
about his exploitative style of management. The contract kept
them on a low weekly wage, but Arden did open accounts for
them in trendy Carnaby Street boutiques, so the boys took loads
of clothes and sold them on. Later legal battles over record
royalties carried on until nearly two band members had died by
1996. On the plus side Arden also set them on a trail of top ten
hits. Their second single. 'I Got Mine', by Marriott and Lane did
not fare as well as their first so Arden employed professional
writers, who came up with 'Sha La La La La La La La Lea', and
oddly this profound lyric took them to no.3 in the charts. The first
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'Small Faces' titled album was a mix of commercial writing and
self-penned songs. The next single 'Hey Girl' reached no.10 in the
charts, followed by a belting 'All or Nothing' that reached no.1,
knocking the Beatles off of the top slot.
At this point the Rolling Stones manager, Andrew Loog Oldham
helped to free the group from the Arden contract and signed then
to his Immediate record label with a less punishing round of gigs.
Arden released three more singles but the band did not promote
them. 'Here Comes the Nice' was their first single for Immediate,
the 'Itchycoo Park' reached no 2. It was a track from the
celebrated psychedelic 'Ogden's Nut Gone Flake' no.1 album. The
following single 'The Universal' was virtually a solo effort by
Marriot that failed to chart and he soon left the band to join Peter
Frampton in the group Humble Pie. Soon, after leaving the Jeff
Beck Band, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joined the remaining
Small Faces causing the name change to just Faces, owing to
their height. Ronnie Lane soon formed Slim Chance and took to
the road with a financially disasterous show in a fairground
marquee. There have been a partial Small Faces reunion from '76-
'78, with Marriott, and in 2009 but Marriott, '91, Lane, '97, and
McLagan 2014 have died along the way. Kenney Jones has kept a
successful Jones Gang alive in the U.S. In 2017 a musical tribute
'All or Nothing toured the country's suburban theatres.
GUITAR CENTRED GROUPS.
Most of the bands we have noted previously, decendending from
Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated retained a Hammond organ
and brass section that linked to jazz backgound or r&b in the
style of Ray Charles, Jimmy Witherspoon, Otis Redding, James
Brown, Wilson Pickett, and Tamla Motown artists from the States.
But Alexis Korner also spawned the Rolling Stones who led the
development of guitar and harmonica groups of delta and
Chicago style electric blues. It is to that side of the fork at the
crossroads that we now need to turn.
The Rolling Stones.
The Stones story is so well known that we don't need to dwell too
long on them. Their Name came from the title of a Muddy Waters
song. Their early influences came from imported American
records and the early Ealing Jazz Club sessions of Alexis Korner
and Blues Inc. Mick Jagger, Keith Richard and Brian Jones all
learnt from and jammed with its members, which included Charlie
Watts. Jagger learned harmonica from Cyril Davies. Dick [not
Mick] Taylor was an early member of the Stones before going
back to college and then joining the Pretty Things. Ian Stuart was
a founder member but played off stage and acted as road
manager. Bill Wyman joined in '62.
Jones, Jagger, Stewart and Taylor played a gig at the Marquee in
'62, Wyman joined later in the year. Giorgio Gomelsky became
their first manager and got them a Sunday residence at the
Crawdaddy Club in Richmond in '63. Andrew Loog Oldham took
over took over later as manager that year. He had been a publicist
for the Beatles beforehand. Their first record label was Decca and
they began the trend of taking Black music back to America but
to a white audience, notably getting Howlin Wolf on the Ed
Sullivan show at their request. His song 'Little Red Rooster' was
their fifth single and reached no.1 in the charts despite disbelief
in its chances from Decca.
Brian Jones was the original band leader but became so un-
reliable due to his drug misuse he has to be fired in '69 and died
in a swimming pool a month later. Mick Taylor took over when
invited to join from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and remained
until '74 when Ronnie Wood replaced him. Ian Stewart died in '85.
Taylor had his own blues band from time to time. Other back-up
members have included Nicky Hopkins on piano from '67 – '82,
Ian McLagan from the Faces' '78-81 on other keyboards, as was
Billy Preston in the mid '80s, Chuck Levell from'82 and Bobby
Keys on sax intermittently.'
Early blues and rock fusions influences included such songs as
'Not Fade Away', a Buddy Holly song given a Bo Diddley rhythm,
were soon replaced by numbers penned by Jagger and Richard,
a.k.a Nanker and Pheldge, the Glimmer Twins. The band went
briefly psychedelic after the Beatles Sergeant Pepper album with
'Satanic Majesties Request' but returned to their blues roots for
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'Beggar's Banquet' in '68, 'Let it Bleed', '69, 'Sticky Fingers', '71,
[tax-] 'Exile on Main Street''72, a country and Western and disco
interlude with 'Some Girls','78, and 'Tattoo You'in'81, before a 2
year hiatus with Mick and Keith doing solo projects. All their
albums and singles are too long to list but they tended to be
linked to world tours after that time: Steel Wheels,'89, Voodoo
Lounge, '85, Bridges to Babylon, '98, Licks, '03, Bigger Bang,
2005, Their retro roots studio album; 'Blue and Lonesome' was
released in 2016.
The Pretty Things.
Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys was a band that included Mick
Jagger, Keith Richard and Dick Taylor. Dick and Keith had been at
Sidcup Art College together. The three of them joined Brian
Jones to form the Rollin Stones [original spelling] in '62. Taylor
played the bass as at that time there were too many leads. Not
wanting to risk an uncertain musical career Dick decided to carry
on his education at Central School of Art and Design rather than
go professional. Phil May who had also been at Sidcup Art
College suggested a less risky semi-pro band, so Dick took up
lead, Phil sang and played harmonica and they were joined by
John Stax on bass, Brian Pendleton on rhythm guitar initially
Pete Kitley on drums, who was eventually replaced by Viv Price,
a Keith Moon style wildman of rock. Bryan Morrison who had
also been at college with them and subsequently built the Brian
Morrison Agency, which also handled an early Pink Floyd,
managed them, and got them a record contract with the Fontana
label in '64.
The Pretties were very purist blues at first with their first self
titled album of '65 favouring especially Bo Diddley, who's song
'You Pretty Thing' gave then their name, and Jimmy read,
athough a couple of their own songs were in evidence. Their first
three singles all charted in '64 and '65 : 'Rosalyn', 'Don't Bring Me
Down', and 'Honey I Need'. David Bowie covered the first two of
these on his tribute album, 'Pin-Ups'. The group were popular in
Europe, Australia and New Zealand, where they exhibited fairly
anarchic behaviour, especially Viv Prince, who caused visa and
permit refusal threats in the latter. He was eventually asked to
leave and was replaced by Skip Allen in '65. In '66 they did a
cover of a Kinks song and charted again.. An album called
'Progress had brass instruments added and moved towards soul
music. But the following 'Emotions' album had brass and strings
which proved to be a step too far for fans. It was their last on
Fontana. A change to Colombia as psychedelia dawned saw
further changes to their sound on 'Reflecting Grey' in '67 was
better received, and was followed by a single, 'Taking 'Bout the
Goodtimes'/'Walking Through My Dreams'.
The band are credited with the first rock opera: 'S.F. Sorrow' in
'68 before the Who's ' Tommy'. The post World War II gloom
theme did not appeal to all though. Skip Allen left the drum stool
to be replaced by Twink from the Colchester Band the Fairies, In
Crowd and Tomorrow. Victor Unitt replaced Dick Taylor in'69 and
Twink formed the Pink Fairies in the same year, as SkipAllen
returned for the next psychedelic album, before the group
disbanded in '71. Other albums for porn and horror movies were
done under an alias, the Electric Banana..
By '74 the band had reformed and signed to Led Zeppelin's
manager Peter Grant and their record label Swan Song to record
the album 'Silk Torpedo' and then 'Savage Eye' before disbanding
again. From '78 to '81 the '67 line-up reformed but were
competing with 'new wave' styles of music and fashion, so they
toured in Europe up to '94 and did a live album of live 'classics' in
'87, 'Out of the Island'. In '91 Phil May and Dick Taylor joined with
Yardbird Jim Mc Carthy on drums and went to Chicago and
teamed up with Richard Hite from Canned Heat on bass and
Studebaker John on rhythm and slide guitars and harp to play
with a host of Chicago bluesmen, black and white for the
'Chicago Blues Tapes'. 'Rage Before Beauty' was a studio album
of 2000, then live recordings with Frank Holland on guitar George
Woosey bass and Jack Greenwood drums, then a compilation,
'Come See Me' in 2004, 'Sweet Pretty Things' in 2015, a tribute by
younger musicians called 'Sorrow's Children' in 2012.
Brian Pendleton died in 2007 and Phil and Dick announced that
their 2018 tour would be their last, owing to Phil's emphasema,
but that they would be doing acoustic London gigs as a duo.
The Yardbirds.
The Yardbirds originally formed in 1963 with Keith Relf on vocals
and harmonica, Jim McCarthy on guitar, and sometimes bass, but
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originally Paul Samwell-Smith as bassist and record producer.
Relf and Samwell-Smith had been in the Metropolitan Blues
Quartet, but were joined by Dreja, McCarthy, and Top Topham on
lead guitar, for their first gig at Kingston School of Art in '63,
backing Cyril Davies Allstars. At first they called themselves the
Bluesounds and then changed it to Yardbirds after the American
hobos who hung around freight yards waiting to jump a free ride.
They followed the Rolling Stones to become house band at the
Crawdaddy Club in Richmond. They chose to feature songs from
Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson [II], Howlin Wolf, Elmore
James and other mostly Chicago blues singers, even though
Relf's voice, if not his harp playing, sounded very white by
comparison. Topham left the band and was replaced by Eric
Clapton. Giorgio Gomelsky, who managed the Stones also took
the Yardbirds into his fold. He got them a tour backing Sonny
Boy Williamson at the end of '63 to early '64 which produced an
album, to be followed by 'Five Live Yardbirds' on EMI Records.
They did well with singles too 'I Wish You Would', 'Good Morning
Little Schoolgirl' featured Clapton, but once the band ventured
into early prog rock with 'For Your Love', with Brian Auger on
harpsichord and experimental guitar sounds Eric, then a blues
purist decided to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers instead. He
recommended Jimmy Page as a replacement, but Jimmy had a
safe position as a studio session musician and declined at first,
but recommended Jeff Beck instead. Jeff was only too glad to
join an experimental band: Indian raga sounds, fuzz boxes,
feedback and distortion all joined other innovations like a
Gregorian chant on 'Still I'm Sad' the 'b' side of the single 'Evil
Hearted You'. They embarked on a U.S. Tour in '65, with new
tracks like 'Mister You're a Better Man Than Me' and 'Train Kept a
Rollin' was mixed into the middle of U.K. material in U.S releases.
They did three more tours before the end of '66. 'Shapes of
Things' and 'Over Under Sideways Down' in '66 were later hailed
as the pre-cursors of psychedelia. The album 'Yardbirds' marked
the end of their association with Giorgio Gomelsky as manager.
In June of '66 Jimmy Page did join the group, not to replace Beck,
but on bass and then to create a two lead guitar line-up that
produced 'Becks Bolero' as John Paul Jones joined as bassist
before joining Page in Led Zeppelin. Only compilations of tracks
from that era were issued later. A couple of their songs appeared
in the trendy film about a fashion photographer, 'Blow Up' at that
time.
Beck left at the end of '66 during their last U.S. tour and formed
the Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and Aynsley
Dunbar in a group that preceded the sound that Led Zeppelin
would create. Page stayed as the only lead until '68 when the
group disbanded and he reformed the New Yardbirds with Robert
Plant as vocalist, his second choice after Terry Reid who was tied
to another contract, but who recommended Plant and his mate
John Bonham on drums, while John Paul Jones played bass and
keyboards. When he told Keith Moon his idea, Keith said that
should go down like a lead balloon.....or Zeppelin as it turned out.
Keith Relf, Chris Dreja and Relf's sister formed the band
Renaissance playing more folky mediaeval music, but Keith was
electrocuted by a microphone while rehearsing. Zeppelin refused
to be pigeon-holed musically but it was clear that all members
had their roots in the blues.
In the '90s Dreja and McCarty reformed the Yardbirds, with a new
singer, John Idan, who looked like Keith Relf, sounded like him
as he sang the old songs, and played bass. Gippy Mayo took on
the task of walking in the shoes of former guitarists and also did
a good job before joining Dr. Feelgood and then the Marques
Brothers with Jeremiah Marques, before dying of cancer in 2014.
Many line-up changes continued and there was an album
'Birdland' in 2003 of old reworked and some new songs with a
host of younger musicians playing as a tribute. Jeff Beck has
even been known to guest again with the band
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
John Mayall was born in 1933, so was old enough to be
conscripted into the Korean War. Back in Manchester he studied
Art and became a graphic designer for a while playing with semi-
pro bands while living in a tree house in his family's garden. In
1963 he decided to make the move to London and make a full-on
attempt at a musical career. With Bernie Watson on guitar, John
McVie on bass, Martin Hart on drums and John on keyboards and
harmonica, the first single came out in '64: 'Crawling up a
Hill'/'Mr. James', the latter a tribute to Elmore James. After the
single Roger Dean replaced Watson and Hughie Flint took over
the drum stool from Hart, for the Decca album, 'John Mayall Plays
John Mayall' and then a single, 'Crocodile Walk/'Blues City
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Shakedown'. When Roger Dean left he was replaced by Eric
Clapton, from the Yardbirds.
The next single, 'I'm Your Witchdoctor'/'Telephone Blues' in '65,
with Clapton, was on the Immediate label and produced by
Jimmy Page. It was the first time the Bluesbreakers name
appeared on a record. Other albums were still released on Decca,
or its subsidiary labels, like 'Blues Alone' where Mayall sang,
played all instruments and designed the album sleeve for the Ace
of Clubs subsidiary. The groundbreaking album on Decca,
sometimes called 'the Beano album' as Clapton is reading the
comic on the cover photo, was simply called Bluesbreakers, and
where Clapton used amp distortion to emulate the music of Big
City electric blues greats like Buddy Guy, B.B. King and Freddie
King as well as his Mississipi Delta hero Robert Johnson. A
month after that album Mayall and Clapton released a single on
the Purdah label, 'Lonely Years'/'Bernard Jenkins'. Clapton also
recorded with Steve Winwood from the Spencer Davis group and
an ad hoc, and largely anonymous for contractual reasons, group
calling themselves the Powerhouse, with a few tracks that
appeared on an Electra, multi artist album called 'What's Shakin'.
Before there was another Mayall album Ginger Baker had talked
him and Jack Bruce to form Cream, which started out as a hard
core blues band but soon had jazzers Baker and Bruce using
Clapton as front man for lengthy improvisations mixed with
shorter, almost pop songs, part written by poet Pete Brown, in
the psychedelic era.
Mayall replaced Clapton with Peter Green for the next album
'Hard Road', which had a Mayall painting of the group on the
cover. Green left before the next album to form Fleetwood Mac
with Mick Fleetwood on Drums, John McVie on bass and Jeremy
Spencer on Slide guitar. Future Rolling Stone, Mick Taylor,
replaced Green with Mayall's band for the 'Crusade' album, then
Tony Reeves replaced McVie for the ' Bare Wires' album. Taylor
was also on the album 'Blues from Laural Canyon' in '68, and the
double 'Diary of a Band'. Laural Canyon is in California and that
album marked Mayall's emigration to the States. Mick Taylor
joined the Stones in place of Brian Jones, and the 'Blusbrakers
suffix for Mayall's bands disappeared until a 1982 revival.
With numerous line-up changes and guests joining for various
projects Mayall has continued to record over 50 albums . A
reunion for his birthday in 2002 a reunion in Liverpool included
Clapton, Mick Taylor and Chris Barber. He had continued to tour
until he said he was retiring, aged 75, in 2008. Over the years his
bands have featured 16 guitarists, 9 drummers, 9 bassists, 14
brass players, 1 other pianist, 1violinist, and 1 other harmonica
player. Anyone who has played with any of his bands has found it
a good way to gain their own musical reputatio.
Cream/Blind Faith.
We have already looked at Eric Clapton's career in the Yardbirds
and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and Ginger Baker and Jack
Bruce's history in Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated and with
Graham Bond: a C.V. that allowed them to use the name Cream
for the group where they played together. This trio of top rank
musicians came together in 1966 but only lasted until'68, during
which time they built a huge international following and sold over
15 million records.
The idea for the group came from a conversation between Ginger
and Eric in which Eric also suggested that Jack Bruce would be a
good choice for bass and vocalist. Ginger was not so sure, not
so much on musical grounds but as he and Jack had a history of
disagreements which had contributed to the breakup of the Bond
Organisation, but he finally agreed, and Jack was approached
about the idea. Eric and Jack had worked together in
Powerhouse, and briefly in Bluesbreakers so Eric new of his
skills, which included fine harmonica playing as well. The band
first came to the notice of the public with their second gig at
Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival in '66 playing mostly blues
standards but in their own improvisational way, before original
songwriting entered their repertoire as a response to psychedelia
in '67. Although Jimi Hendrix was American, Chas Chandler, the
one time Animals bassist, had brought him to England, where his
talent was first fully spotted. Not only was he a big influence on
Eric but they became great pals and often jammed together.
Where many groups like Cream followed the outward trappings
of psychedelic fashion there was little doubt that Jimi's songs
and guitar style came from the spacey realms of L.S.D. Trips.
Cream's first album, 'Fresh Cream' in '66 reflected mainly their
blues influences but with the odd Bruce song and a Baker drum
solo. There first single, 'Wrapping Paper' by Bruce and poet Pete
Brown, not on the album, was a calmer mellow balled and
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actually entered the Top Twenty singles chart. The album tracks
were around five minutes, but stretched out to greater length in
live performances.
'67 was the year that psychedelia emerged from the cultural
underground, and saw more of Jack Bruce's songwriting with
Pete Brown appearing when their second album, 'Disraeli Gears'
appeared,with songs like 'Strange Brew and 'Sunshine of Your
Love', even one by Martin Sharp, illustrator of Underground
magazine 'Oz', contributing with 'Tales of Brave Ulysses' as well
as with the design of the dayglo album sleeve. With Eric already
known in the U.S. because of the Yardbirds the album reached
the top five on both sides of the Atlantic. Their blues roots were
still in evidence.
Although they were predominantly an albums group, their record
company, Reaction, did release successful hit singles: after 'I
Feel Free' that reached no.11, 'Sunshine of Your Love' reached
no.5 in the U.S. Charts, 'White Room' no.6, U.S, 'Crossroads'
no.28, U.S., and 'Badge', U.K. no.18. It was however their live act
of long improvisations mixed with the shorter songs that
attracted the most attention. In 1968 the bands next album,
'Wheels of Fire', was a double and one record was devoted to live
recordings. 'White Room' and 'Politician' were among the
Bruce/Brown songs on the other album. By August '67 the group
had been headlining gigs at the Fillmore West in San Francisco
and elsewhere in the States, but soon the relentless touring, high
volume performances, and Bruce-Baker antagonism were leading
to the group's demise. The farewell tour began in California in
'68, although they had effectively broken up six months earlier.
The album, 'Goodbye' recorded in Los Angeles in '68 had six
songs. Again three were long and live. One of the studio tracks,
'Badge' was co-written by Eric's mate George Harrison under a
pseudonym. The Farewell Tour had nineteen U.S. dates and
finished with two at London's Royal Albert Hall.
Blind Faith and other projects.
If Cream had a short career then Blind Faith was even shorter:
effectively less than a year. Eric had long wanted to play more
with Steve Winwood from the Spencer Davis group who he had
worked with on the 'What's Shakin?', Electra Records collection
where they were part of an ensemble they called the Powerhouse,
and after Cream it seemed a good time to try. Ginger Baker
turned up at Eric's house and talked himself on board, but his
hard drug habit probably had a lot to do with their short career.
Rick Gretch, from Family, was on bass, while Steve Winwood was
on Hammond organ and vocals. Another problem was that there
was no real songwriter among them. After that Eric's career was
fairly solo, although after a stint with Southern U.S. acoustic
bluesers Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett and Traffic's Dave Mason,
he did put together the first of his backing bands that he called
Derek and the Dominoes which at times included Allman
Brothers guitarist Duane Allman on songs such as 'Layla.'
Jack Bruce also went solo with a group of jazzers for backing.
The album 'Songs for a Tailor' came out in'69. He avoided playing
any of his Cream songs for many years.
Ginger Baker formed the Ginger Baker Airforce with Winwood
and Gretch from Blind Faith and his old boss Graham Bond on
keyboards, as well as Denny Laine from the Moody Blues, before
Denny joined Paul McCartney in Wings. Later bands included the
Baker-Gurvitz Army and time playing with Hawkwind, who
claimed that they got him off heroin with two bottles of whisky
per day!
Spencer Davis Group.
It 1963 when Spencer put this group together in Birmingham,
with himself on guitar, PeteYork on drums, Muff Winwood on
bass and child prodigy brother Steve Winwood, still of school
age, on organ and vocals. He called them the Rhythm and Blues
Quartette. By '64 they had a recording contract with Fontana
records, after being spotted by Chris Blackwell, producer for the
then small label of Island Records. At that point they changed
their name. Steve's soulful deep gravelly voice was ideal for
delivering songs by black performers. Their first recording was a
cover of John Lee Hooker's 'Dimples', Followed by an E.P with
'Its Gonna Work Out Fine', 'Midnight Special', 'Every Little Bit
Hurts' and 'I Can't Stand It' , which had also been a single, and all
went on their 'First Album' in '65. Their '65 single, ' Keep on
Running' went to no.1 in the charts. The follow up ''Somebody
Help Me' did well in the U.K but was not promoted in the States.
Two more albums, 'The Second Album' and 'Autumn '66'
followed, then in '67 singles 'Gimme Some Lovin' and 'I'm a Man'
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were both million sellers and sold on both sides of the Atlantic,
on the United Artists label.
In '67 Steve Winwood left to form Traffic, in response to various
psychedelic stimuli and was replaced by Eddie Hardin as singer,
and Phil Sawyer on organ and they released the single , 'Time
Seller'/'Don't Want You No More'. Muff left at the same to work for
Island Records. Music from both bands featured in the film 'Here
We Go Around the Mulberry Bush'. 'Mr. Second Class' was the
second Spencer Davis single without Steve in '67, along with the
album 'With Their New Faces On'. Then Ray Fenwick replaced
Sawyer. 'After Tea' was also a minor hit, but the band had become
more pop than blues by then, and after one more single
disbanded. York and Hardin formed a duo.
The band had never been the same after Steve left. The singles
he had sung on have been covered by many artists worldwide.
Traffics career began with the album 'Dear Mr Fantasy' as he and
the band escaped to a rural creative idyll in a Berkshire country
cottage. Spencer Davis himself revived versions of the group in
later years.
Traffic
Consisted of Winwood, on keyboards and vocals, Jim Capaldi on
drums, Chris Wood on on wind instruments like flute, and Dave
Mason on guitar and vocals for a short time. Steve experimented
with a mellotron and harpsichord, and Mason with a sitar. The
first single was 'Paper Sun', followed 'Hole in My Shoe' after
which Mason left, having sung and written it, but the rest of the
band were not keen on it. A joke cover version of it was released
by Nigel Planner in the '80s. 'Here We Go Round the Mulberry
Bush' was also released as a single, more for the record
company than a an example of the band's real musical direction.
Other albums were 'Traffic' in '68, 'Last Exit' in '69 and 'John
Barleycorn Must Die' in '70. During '68 Steve often played with
Jimi Hendrix, and was on the 'Electric Ladyland' double album
anonymously . <p>
The band formerly disbanded in '69, Steve joined Blind Faith and
then Ginger Baker's Air Force. There have been partial re-unions
but Chris Wood died in '83, so only Winwood and Capaldi made
the last, but then Jim died in 2005. In 2007 Paul Weller and Pete
Townsend helped create a tribute version of 'Mr. Fantasy' at the
Roundhouse.
Fleetwood Mac.
The band members' romantic interactions have almost led to
more interest than their music. The attention in often repeated
media coverage tends to focus more on the post-blues band
days, but there is also an interesting tale to tell about their earlier
evolution. A good place to start that tale is with a group called
the Cheynes. That band was formed in 1963 by Peter Bardens
who had been Van Morrisons keyboard in Them, and after a year
Mick Fleetwood joined them on drums. They managed to record
three singles: 'Respectable'/'Its Gonna Happen to You', in '63;
'Going to the River'/'Cheyne-Re-La in '64; and 'Down and
Out'/'Stop Running Around' in '65. Rolling Stone Bill Wyman co-
wrote the last of these and, with Glyn Johns, co-produced it as
well as playing bass on it. They had a strong reputation for live
gigs. Mick Fleetwood met John McVie in '64 when he was in John
Mayalls Bluesbreakers.
In '66 Bardens formed Peter B's Looners with Fleetwood on on
drums, with Peter Green as lead guitar, Phil Sawyer, also from the
Cheynes and a later member of Spencer Davis Group, as second
guitar. Barden's Looners were later incorporated into Shotgun
Express with Rod Stewart and Beryl Marsden. After Eric Clapton
left John Mayall, Peter Green joined the Bluesbreakers and Mick
Fleetwood and John McVie were the rhythm section. Fleetwood
had joined when Aynsley Dunbar had joined Jeff Beck's Band,
with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. So at that time three
quarters of the future Fleetwood Mac were in the Bluesbreakers.
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Green left to start the group in'67. Fleetwood at first followed, and
after some persuasion John Mc Vie gave up his steady job with
Mayall, although the original bassist was Bill Brunning, and
Jeremy Spencer played slide guitar. Their first gig was at the '67
Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival. McVie joined a week later. Their
first album. 'Fleetwood Mac', popularly known as 'The Dog and
Dustbin' album, due the album sleeve image, on Blue Horizon
Records in '68 reached no.4 in the album charts. The singles
'Black Magic Woman' and 'I Need Your Love So Bad' soon
followed, and an 18 year old Danny Kirwin was added as another
guitarist, dueting with Peter on the single 'Albatross' which
became a no.1 hit. Two albums of compilations, 'English Rose'
and 'Pious Bird of Good Omen' came next. In '69 in at Chess
Studios in Memphis they recorded with blues legends Buddy
Guy, Otis Spann and Willie Dixon. As they moved away from
purely blues music in the psychedelic era they changed record
labels to Immediate and released 'Man of the World', which was
also a top ten hit, followed by a more rocky number, as Jeremy
Spencer added '50s revival songs to performances: oddly titled
'Somebody's Going to Get His Head Kicked In' in the era of 'love
and peace man', before swapping to Warner Brothers Reprise
record label with who they released the album 'Then Play On',
including the single 'Oh Well' on the English pressing. Other
songs on the album were by Green and Kirwin, while Spencer's
'50s rock numbers were on a solo album.
In '69 and '70 they supported TenYears After in New York, but
1970 was not a good year for Green, or Kirwin: at a hippie
commune in Munich they both took a large dose of some bad
L.S.D., possibly mixed with strichnine which was going around at
the time, which brought on latent symptoms of schitzophrenia.
The commune leader Ushi Ubermaier who gave it to them was
hoping to get them on board for a European Woodstock style
event. Instead Green's last single with the band was 'Green
Manalishi' that year. Electro-convulsive therapy at the hands of
un-comprehending clinicians made matters worse and Green
retired from music for a couple of decades, while Kirwin became
alcoholic and eventually institutionalised.
An album without them however was also released later in the
year, but with Christine Perfect who came from fellow blues band
Chicken Shack on piano and the lady who married John McVie to
go by the name she was later better known by in the band, as
Christine McVie.. In February '71 Jeremy Spencer spontaneously
left the band at a U.S. airport to join a religious group called The
Children of God. Also that year Bob Welch took over as lead as
Fleetwood had to fire Kirwin because of his alchoholism.
Alchohol didn't get McVie fired but it did later cost him his
marriage to Christine a few years later. Bizarrely their was an
interval when a fake Fleetwood Mac was doing gigs around the
States as nobody knew what they looked like with so many
personnel changes. Welch decided to leave the band. After
hearing the album 'Buckingham Nicks' Mick Fleetwood had the
inventive idea of asking Lindsey Buckingham to fill the the void
in the band with a different electric acoustic sound in '73. That
would change the sound quite a lot but Lindsey would only agree
if his partner Stevie Nicks was part of the deal too, so the
resulting, generally mellow West Coast sound that resulted
would mark a real change to the band's sound, and a very
successful one, if not a change to the personnel changes soap
opera.
In 1996 Peter Green's friends in Southend, led by Nigel Watson
managed to get him back on stage for a short while, as the Peter
Green Splinter Group after many years of punishing mental
health treatment. The old hits were played by Nigel. If Peter took
a solo he would go of on his own tangent, but could still play a
mean harmonica and an album of blues songs was released,
before he lapsed back into a quiet life of retirement.
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The 1960s Blues Boom By John Power (page 3)
Chicken Shack.
David Yeats and Andy Sylvester started this band in Stourbridge,
as the Sounds of Blue in '64. Stan Webb was leaving The Shades
Five and was asked to join them, so he did. They emerged as
Chicken Shack in '65, taking their name from jazz organist Jimmy
Smith' 'Back at the Chicken Shack', itself taken from blues
jargon. Without Yeats they got residency at Hamburg's Star Club,
where many Merseybeat bands had polished their trade Stan was
the guitarist and Sylvester on bass. At first they filled the drum
stool with Alan Morley, from '65-'68, followed by Al Sykes in '68,
and then Hughie Flint a former Bluesbreaker, also in that year,
then Dave Bidwell from '68-71.
Their first major U.K.gig was the '67 National Jazz and Blues
Festival in Windsor and Mike Vernon signed them to his Blue
Horizon label as a result. The resulting album, '40 Blue Fingers,
Freshly Packed and Ready to Serve' was released in'68, the same
year that Christine Perfect, later McVie, after her marriage to
John, joined on keyboards and vocals. It reached no 14 in the
album charts and Christine was voted best female vocalist for
two successive years by Melody Maker readers. 'I Would Rather
Go Blind' and 'Tears in the Wind' were minor singles hits. In '69
Christine left when she married John McVie. Paul Raymond
replaced her briefly but Bidwell and Silvester left to join the
Savoy Brown Blues Band in '71 after the band were dropped by
the Blue Horizon label. Stan Webb kept the name and recruited
John Glascock on bass and Paul Hancox on drums to keep the
band going until '74, when he joined Savoy Brown too, for the
album 'Boogie Brothers'. In '77 he reformed Chicken Shack often
changing line-ups included Paul Butler, Miller Anderson, and
drummers Rick Lee from Ten Years After, followed by Keef
Hartley, a former Bluesbreaker and founder of his own band for a
while.
At the time of writing the band has had 41 members which
include Dave Winthrop, an Essex boy, on sax, on and off from'76-
2012. Stan Webb has been the only consistent lead guitar, but
various line-ups have released 26 albums and four singles.... and
counting!
Savoy Brown Blues Band.
Formed in Battersea in '65 by guitarist Kim Simmonds and harp
blower John O'Leary. Again they have featured constant line-up
changes. Bryce Portius was the original keyboardist, Ray
Chappell was on bass and Leo Manning the drummer. Martin
Stone and Bob Hall soon joined on guitars but John O'Leary then
left, while the remainder recorded their debut album in '67. Up to
2009 their had been 62 members and there have been many guest
members. They have had records released on Decca, Deram,
Parrot and Black Pig labels. Kim Simmonds is the only original
member left in the band, but other founder, O'Leary, is still active
in other bands.
Their name became shortened to just Savoy Brown as the blues
boom melted away and their success has mainly been in the
States, by continuous touring rather than with any high-flying
record sales. Their highest placed, and only U.S., single reached
68 on the Billboard chart, but in 2015 the album 'Devil to Play
reached no.4 in the U.S album charts. By 2017 they had released
39 albums.
The Bo Street Runners
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Originally called the Roadrunners, after a Bo Diddley song, this
outfit had to change their name when they realised that a
Merseybeat band already had claimed the name, so in'63 the Bo
Street Runners emerged, consisting of Gary Thomas, lead guitar,
Bob O'Brien on keyboards, Dave Cameron on bass, Nigel
Hutchinson on drums, and John Dominic on vocals. The Bo
Diddley influence was still highly in evidence.
At first they were a local act around Harrow, but in '64 entered the
Ready Steady Go T.V. Programme's Ready Steady Win
competition, staged over several weeks as part of the trendy Mod
programme. They won the first place with a song called 'I'm a
Bow Street Runner'. The resulting single with 'Tell Me' as the 'b'
side sold over 20,000 copies in the U.K. 99 copies of an E.P. sold
at gigs and they got to support the Rolling Stones. Keeping up
the success did not prove so easy, but they moved to Colombia
in '65 after being dropped by Decca. Thomas, Dominic and and
Cameron remained in the band and were joined by Foy Fry on
keyboards and Glyn Thomas on drums for a second single 'Tell
Me What Your Gonna Do', a James Brown song, which made no
impact so Fry and Thomas left to be replaced by Tim Hinkley on
keyboards and Mick Fleetwood on drums.
A move to a more jazzy sound provided the next single, 'Baby,
Never Say Goodbye' which managed to chart on a Pirate Radio
top 40, but Fleetwood and Dominic left, to be replaced by Mike
Patto on vocals to cover the Beatles 'Drive My Car' before they
disbanded in '66.
A compilation C.D., was released in 2004: 'The Complete
Recordings '64-'66' by Cherry Red Records.
The Birds
The band member that makes this group significant is Ronnie
Wood, whose later work with The Jeff Beck Group, the Faces,
and Rolling Stones we have already mentioned, as we did the
Artwoods, formed by Ronnie's elder brother Art.
The band consisted of Ali Mac Kenzie on vocals and harmonica,
Tony Munroe, guitar and vocals, Ronnie on Guitar and vocals,
Kim Gardner on bass and vocals, Bob Langham, and later Pete
McDaniels on drums. They originally came together in 1964. They
always seemed to have a bit of a problem with a name for the
band, first calling themselves the Thunderbirds, until they wound
up backing Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds and realised
they'd have to change it. So they just shortened it to the Birds, as
a joke about having long hair. Later in '65 that also proved to be a
problem, or maybe a good publicity stunt, when the Byrds, the
folkrock/psychedelic band arrived from the States to promote
their hit cover version of Bob Dylan's 'Mr. Tambourine Man'. They
were served with legal papers by the Birds management, which
were just ignored and they returned to the States after their tour.
But their chart entries did tend to put the Birds somewhat in the
shadows.
The band were also in the Ready Steady Go battle of the bands
and impressed Decca Records enough to give them a contract.
The first two singles were 'You Don't Love Me' and 'Leaving Here',
after a third they moved to Robert Stigwood's label, Reaction for,
'That's All I Need For You'. They were highly regarded by
audiences as a live act but as their early promise didn't seem to
be fulfilled, despite sharing bills with the Who, so they split in '67
as things went psychedelic. Ronnie and Kim Gardner both joined
Creation. Since 2010 Ali MacKenzie has gone on the road again
using the name of the Birds.
'The Collectors Guide to Rare British Birds' C.D. on the Deram
label gathered all their recorded material together in 1999
Creation.
In addition to Ronnie and Kim most of the rest of this band had
been in the Mark Four from Hertfordshire: Kenny Picknett on
vocals, Eddie Phillips on guitars, Mike Thompson on rhythm
guitar. They had two records released on Mercury Records: 'Rock
Around the Clock' and 'Try it Baby' in '64. The original bassist
went to replace Pete Quaife in the Kinks so was in turn replaced
by Tony Cooke. Mike Thompson left too but was not replaced.
The group did two more non-charting singles '65 and '66 when
they changed management to Tony Stratton-Smith, who replaced
Cooke with Bob Garner from the Tony Sheridan Band, while
Picknett came up with the name Creation for the band.
The band's style of playing went beyond the blues to an Art
School, Pop Art inspired image similar to the early Who. Their
first single as Creation went to no. 49 in the charts before a
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couple of more line-up changes occurred. The next single in '66
reflected the Art School image with 'Painter Man', later covered
by Boney M. Picknett took to playing guitar with a violin bow,
before Jimmy Page [I can testify to having seen that], and spray
can painted canvasses on stage amidst other Action Painting
techniques.,p> Several singles followed, some successful in the
States and in Europe, where they toured. More personnel
changes occurred in '67, when Kim Gardner took over bass, while
Bob Garner took over vocals as Picknett left, only to return the
following year when the band reformed after a short haitus when
Eddie Phillips left. When they reformed in '68 Ronnie Wood was
part of the group until they disbanded.
The value of the band to musical evolution has been recognised
by younger musicians and reunions have been staged between
1980 and 2016 despite Kenny Picknett dying in '97. A form of the
group with Eddie Phillips continues to tour.
There have been 13 singles,3 albums, 15 compilations and live
albums.
The Paramounts (Cricketers flyer copyright Maurice Hyde)
The musicians that made up Paramounts will be best known to
the public as Procul Harum. But during the blues boom they were
a successful r&b group from Southend. Their first incarnation
was as the Raiders in the '50s, working the youth centres circuit
doing rock covers. The name change to the Paramounts came in
'61. Keyboardist, Gary Broker and guitarist Robin Trower were
the two consistent members of the line-up. Chris Copping came
and went and returned as organist when Diz Derrick took over on
bass in'63.
They played on the same bill as the Rolling Stones at a gig in
Deal, in Kent, and the Stones announced on ITV's Thank Your
Lucky Stars that they thought that they were ''The finest r&b
band in England', and used them as opening act at many gigs.
EMI Records signed them up in '63, and released 'Poison Ivy'/'I
Feel Good All Over' which reached no.35 in the charts. That was
followed by 'Little Bitty Pretty One'/'A Certain Girl' and four more
singles. But by then many of songs they had featured in their act
had become stock in trade for many other groups and they got
lost in the boom, and wound up as the backing group for Sandie
Shaw. Robin Trower left to form a group called the Jam [before
Paul Weller used the name]. Gary Brooker decided it was time to
start writing original material and teamed up with Keith Reid to
do this until they decided that it was time to form a band to
perform their material. That group in 1967 became Procul Harum
and all the members of the Paramounts came and went amongst
its ranks. The original line-up under that name was Gary Brooker,
vocals and piano, Matthew Fisher on organ, Dave Knights on
bass, Roy Royer on guitar and Bobby Harrison on drums. That
grouping only did four or five gigs and put out one single, but
that one single was of course the worldwide best seller 'Whiter
Shade of Pale' in '67. Later that year Harrison and Royer were
replaced by B.J.Wilson and the return of Robin Trower to create
the line-up for three albums. By that time they were a
psychedelic/prog rock band and faired best in the U.S.
There have been many line-up changes, re-unions and albums
over the years as Procul rather than Paramounts. Gary Brooker
joined the all star line-up of Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, and
amongst many other ventures has done solo projects with a
choir and orchestral backing
The Fairies.
This group from Colchester took their name in response to
longhairs being referred to a fairies by some other sections of the
public. They has begun as Dane Stevens and the Deepbeats
playing gigs around Essex. 'Dane's ' real name was Dougie Ord.
Fred Gandy and John Acutt were on guitars, Wimp Weaver on
bass and John 'Twink' Alder on drums. After the name change
they brought out two singles: 'Any Time at All'/ 'Don't Think Twice
It's Alright', by the then little known Bob Dylan, often regarded as
the 'a' side in 1964, and 'Get Yourself Home'/'Don't Mind' in '65.
The second single had Nick Wymer, formally of Nick's Nomads,
as vocalist, as by that time Doug Ord had been given a jail
sentence for manslaughter after a car accident. He worked as a
scenery painter for a theatre in Colchester after his release.
The band member who made the biggest impact on the music
scene was drummer 'Twink' Alder. The groups management were
also involved with the Pretty Things and by 1968 he played on the
First rock opera 'S.F. Sorrow' by the Pretties. Between then and
the Fairies he had been a member of the In Crowd and then
Tomorrow, one of the original psychedelic bands to emerge from
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the U.F.O.club in '66-'67, with singer Keith West who's 'Excerpt
From a Teenage Opera' made it into the Top 10, although the
opera never manifested, and the group broke up as a result, as
the hit had diverted the group's Underground image, better
represented by the single 'My White Bicycle' about the free bikes
left around Amsterdam by the Dutch Provo activists. The group
had also played at the launch of alternative newspaper
'International Times'in '67, and at the newspaper's Free Speech
Benefit at Alexander Palace in that year, The 14 Hour
Technicolour Dream. In '69 they played at London's Olympia
arena for 'Christmas on Earth with Jimi Hendrix headlining.
Guitarist Steve Howe went on to play for 'Yes' and 'Asia', and
Twink remained firmly in the Underground in Pink Fairies and
gigging around with bands like the Deviants and Hawkwind as
well as the Pretty Things, before moving to Morocco, marrying a
Muslim girl, becoming a father, and converting to that faith while
broadening his drumming skills.
The Action
The Action reached the peak of their popularity in the Mod era, and
had quite a cult following as they sang harmony and used string
instruments without a brass section to cover mostly Tamla Motown
classics. At first they had been known as the Boys when they formed
in North London's Kentish Town in 1963, with Reg King on vocals,
Alan King on rhythm guitar and vocals, Mike Evans on bass, and
Roger Powell on drums.
They played mainly in bars and in Germany at first and then backed
Sandra Barry calling themselves the Boyfriends on the single 'Really
Gonna Shake' in '64, then Pete Watson joined on guitar and the name
change to the Action came about, with a cover of the Wilson Pickett
song, 'Land of a Thousand Dances' /'In My Lonely Room' as the result.
It was on Parlaphone arranged by George Martin. Pete Watson left in
'66 after disagreements with manager Rikki Farr, and Parlaphone
dropped them in '67, the year that psychedelia transformed the mode
of music. The new line-up changed to include Ian Whiteman on
keyboards, and Martin Stone, from Savoy Brown Blues Band, on
guitar, and the sound became folk rock psychedelia. By '69 they were
known as Mighty Baby, and signed to Head Records.
Alan King formed Ace in '75 and they scored a U.S. hit with 'How
Long'.
In 1980 there was a compilation C.D and in '90 Paul Weller wrote the
sleeve notes for a previously unreleased album, 'Rolled Gold'.
In 1998 the original line-up reformed, played the Isle of Wight Festival
and gigged around for six years.
Garry Farr and the T-Bones
Gary and his brother Rikki were sons of Welsh heavyweight
boxer, Tommy Farr. Gary was born in 1944 and died in '94. He
began as a folk blues singer, before putting the backing band
together. They took over the Yardbirds slot at the Marquee and
also played at the Crawdaddy Club. In '65 they issued the E.P.
'Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem T-Bones' on Colombia,
produced by Giorgio Gomesky. There were a couple of other
singles and a U.S. appearance on Shindig. Keith Emerson, later
of the Nice and Emerson, Lake and Palmer joined the band on
keyboards briefly. After '68 Gary went solo. Brother Rikki was in
music management and was site manager and compere for the
Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.
The Clique
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Were formed in'63 in Harrow by John Rowe, lead guitar, Peter
Westgarth, vocals. Adrian Stanbach, bass John Kitchen, rhythm
guitar, and Trevor Roberts on drums. Brian Morris replaced
Roberts in'64.
They had two singles released in'65: 'She Ain't No Good' on Pye,
and a twelve inch single 'We Didn't Kiss, Didn't Love But Now We
Do Do', also on Pye. In 2011 there was the'64 Rave-Up' E.P. [Acid
Jazz] and in '95 the C.D, 'The Complete Recordings 1964 to '65 on
Dig the Fuzz Records.
The Climax Chicago Blues Band
Quite a late starter to be part of the blues boom, if old in years,
the Climax Chicago Blues Band, was formed in Stafford in 1969
by Colin Cooper on harmonica and vocals, Peter Haycock on
guitar and vocals, Derek Holt on guitar, Richard Jones on bass
and keyboards, George Newsome on drums and Arthur Wood on
alternative Keyboards. After 1972 they shortened the name to just
the Climax Blues Band.
In in '70 they had changed to Harvest records, and became more
rocky. Over the years there have been 18 albums, two U.S. single
hits, 'Get it Right' in'77 and 'I Love You' that made no. 12 on the
Billboard charts.
Jones left in '69 so Holt took over bass. Newsome left in in '71
and was replaced by John Cuffley.
There have been 16 line-ups altogether so far, and they are still
going, but three of the original members are dead: Cooper in'08,
aged 69, Wood in '05 aged 76 and Haycock in '13 aged 62.
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1960s Blues Boom (page 4)
The 1960s Blues Boom By John Power
Free.
Another group of late starters, Free were formed in '68, but
enjoyed a good pedigree, as old blues stalwart, Alexis Korner,
gave them their name, at a time when they were all still
teenagers: singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke were
18, lead guitarist, Paul Kossoff was 17, and bassist, Andy Frazer
only 15. Within eight months they had recorded their first album,
'Tons of Sobs' on Island Records, in1969 and were on their way
to a successful career. The fact that this was two years after the
beginning of psychedelia is testimony to the quality of their
music, which put them above fashion fads. Kossoff and Kirke
had already played in Black Cat Bones, an earlier blues outfit,
and Rodgers had sung with Brown Sugar, but when Kossoff saw
them he asked Rodgers if he would like to team up with him and
Kirke. Alexis Korner recommended Andy Frazer as bass player.
He had already played with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers at his
tender age.
Their second album was simply called 'Free', but it was their third
album 'Fire and Water' that contained the track 'All Right Now',
which when released as a single reached no.2 in the U.K. singles
charts and no.4 in the U.S. Billboard charts. The album itself then
reached no.2 in the album charts, and 17 in the Billboard charts,
as well as selling extremely well worldwide. However the fourth
album, 'Highway' only reached no.41 in the U.K and 190 on
Billboard.
In '71 the hard drug problems of Paul Kossoff caused the band to
split, but a live album, 'Free Live' was released to fill the gap until
they reformed and tried to come to terms with Kossoff's
unreliability, and recorded 'Free at Last' in '72. With Kossoff still
often unable to play at or even turn up for gigs Frazer left later
that year and was replaced by Tetsu Yamauchi, who had been in
the Faces after Ronnie Lane left, and keyboardist John Bendrick
also helped finish 'Free at Last'. Wendle Richardson from Osibisa
replaced Kossoff on tour to promote the album in the U.S. in '73
before the group finally disbanded. Rodgers and Kirke went on to
form the highly successful Bad Company with Led Zeppelin 's
manager and their record label for several albums. Frazer formed
Sharks, and even Kossoff managed to function with Back Street
in '73 before he died in '76, aged only 25. Andy Frazer died in
2015.
Rodgers and Kirke toured again as Bad Company from 2012 to
2016, and in 2017 Rodgers did a Free Spirit tour to celebrate the
music of Free.
The Groundhogs
Formed in '63 in London, the Groundhogs deserve a longevity
award, being still active in 2017, but that's having had 29
members during those years, with inevitable breakups and re-
forms, and have made 13 albums. They were at their height in the
'70s, and backed the Stones on tour. Tony McPhee, the guitarist
and singer has been the only constant member of all the line-ups.
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Pop Success; Celtic and Northern Blues/Soul.
We have seen that many of those that rode in on the Blues Boom
often achieved fair degrees of success commercially, although it
became an era when the young record buying public could afford
albums instead of scraping together pocket money for singles,
and so it was a time when singles became less important. Yet
there were several artists who achieved considerable commercial
success and do need a mention for their musical contribution:
Manfred Mann.
Probably got their best form of promotion when their single
5.4.3.2.1 was chosen as the opening theme for trendy Mod music
programme Ready Steady Go, that started the weekend on a
Friday evening in the early sixties. There was certainly a blues
element to their sound, and singer Paul Jones had learned
harmonica in the same clubs and groups as Stones and
Yardbirds. He maintained his enthusiasm for the blues after his
pop success with a B.B.C. Radio 4 programme, up to 2018. And
at least one of the other group members played afterwards in
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, while Manfred went Prog with his
Earth Band.
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The Who.
Also benefitted from Mod fashion and are thought of as the
ultimate Mod icons with their 'Swinging London' Union Jack and
bullseye Pop Art motifs, despite earlier Mod favourites like
Georgie Fame. In retrospect they referred to their early music as
the High Numbers as Maximum R&B, even though there were
elements of Surf music back then, long before rock operas
diverted Pete Townsend's energies.
The kinks
first two singles when Dave Davies fronted the band, and early
album tracks certainly fitted into hard thrusting r&b, but once
brother Ray Davies took over writing about Village Greens and
Waterloo Sunsets their whole sound became watered down.
Up in Newcastle we have already mentioned the Animals: the
original five members famed for their soulful delivery of Ray
Charles and other classic r&b numbers. And although Eric
Burden went psychedelic in '67 and morphed his route into an
American New Animals various line ups have kept the original
sound going to 2018 [so far, as I write] with an array of talented
musicians and even the original drummer still with them.
Joe Cocker and the Grease Band did the same for Northern Soul
in Sheffield, providing useful musicians to feed into other bands,
as well as Joe's gravelly ballads.
Its Manchester we have to thank for Victor Brox, as well as John
Mayall. Victor's main band was The Victor Brox Blues Train,
which he kept going alongside various projects including singing
for Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation and working with a host of other
top line musicians.
In Ireland a sax player in a '50's style showband was the first
inkling of how much the Celtic Bardic tradition would add to the
spread of rhythm and blues when Van Morrison formed Them.
Van's success is so overwhelming worldwide, with him having
had most of his old blues and soul heroes guest with his band
over the years that little needs to be said. Taste gave us Rory
Gallager too, a fine blues guitarist. Eire Apparent, another fine
band. Later Thin Lizzy, steeped in the blues, moved into
psychedelia in their own and often cross-cultural way like
Horslips, in a country still broad of its own folk traditions.
In Scotland too, much talent emerged from the era. Not least of
all Lulu and the Luvvers, before the wee soul shouter took to
family entertainment, but also the Frankie Miller Band, Nazareth,
the Alex Harvey Soul Band and Stone the Crows, a name given to
the group by Led Zeppelin's manager, Peter Grant, when he heard
Maggie Bell belt out her songs. Successful groups less easy to
pigeon hole that certainly had blues roots, like Ten Years After,
with Alvin Lee's high speed jazz crossover innovations being a
good case in point. But also the Moody Blues at the time of their
first album with Denny Lane on vocals were steeped in blues,
before the Justin Hayward line -up transformed into a spacey
kind of psychedelic prog rock were another. And many more who
moved on into psychedelic influence we know. Even Pink Floyd
began as a blues band!
At the other end of the scale, in a study which can barely hope to
be exhaustive, many other regional and lesser known 'also rans'
deserve a mention, Like Davy Jones and the King Bees, when
Davy Jones was to become David Bowie, but also played sax in
this blues band. Fellow glam rocker Marc Bolan had his roots too
in a Mod band called John's Children. Blues by 5, Cops and
Robbers, the Fays, the Chasers, the Eyes, the Exotics, the
Emeralds, the Plebs, the Redcaps, Pauls Disciples, The Hipster
Image, The Beazers, the Eyes of Blue, Nix Nomads, the Mark
Leeman Five, Black Cat Bones, and Downliners Sect were all of
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the era, although the Sect could not be wholly described as blues
based. All of these and many more I'm sure deserve a mention.
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