1960s Blues Room 2(1)

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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 actlike Steampacket that Rod formed in '66. Peter Bardens hadplayed keyboards with Van Morrison in Them, and already hadthe hub of the group on the road, known as Peter Barden'sLooners, which consisted of Dave Ambrose on drums and anearly pairing of Peter Green on guitar and Mick Fleetwood ondrums. Besides Bardens on keyboards and vocals Rod and BerylMarsden were the two upfront vocalists. Beryl had already had asuccessful career in the Merseybeat era of her Liverpuddlianhome town, but never pushed for commercial success like sayfellow blues belter Lulu, and was always more of a cult figure.The band only lasted a year. A single 'I Hear the World TurnAround' was a fine one well sung but had violins added which didit no favours, as management failed to see where the fan basewas. It can still be found on the double compilation 'Rod Stewart1964-69.' Peter Green was the first to leave when John Mayallasked him to replace Eric Clapton in the Bluesbreakers as Ericjoined Cream. The band split in '67. Beryl joined the She Trinity,Phil Sawyer joined the Spencer Davis Group, Dave Ambrosejoined The Brian Auger team and Peter Bardens later formed theprog rock band Camel.
The Small Faces.
Another band that featured the sound of the Hammond organ asan integral part of their sound, but without brass horns like manyFlamingo Club style jazzy r&b bands, were the Small Faces: noton their first single hit 'Watcha Gonna Do About It', whichfeatured a few simple organ riffs from Jimmy Winston, but fromthen onwards when Ian Maclagan, from the Muleskinners, and theBoz People replaced him. The group began in Ilford, then inEssex, before the G.L.C. was created. Singer Steve Marriot, withhis belting soulful voice had been a child star in the West Endmusical, 'Oliver', and also played guitar in the band. He metRonnie Lane who was to be his co-writer for a lot of songs whilehe was working in a record store in Manor Park. Ronnie was alsoto play bass and sing. Kenney Jones was the drummer. The bandhad not worked their way through the ranks of Blues Inc, or thelike but listened to what had been going on and emerged as afresh talent, with eyes on commercial success, in the Mod eratoo. A 'face' was a name for a character on that scene, and asthey were all of short stature the name of the band needed littleinvention.
The commercial success hit an unforeseen stumbling block whenthe group were spotted by impresario Don Arden who signedthem and had the first single released within four weeks of theirformation. All of which they readily agreed to, before finding outabout his exploitative style of management. The contract keptthem on a low weekly wage, but Arden did open accounts forthem in trendy Carnaby Street boutiques, so the boys took loadsof clothes and sold them on. Later legal battles over recordroyalties carried on until nearly two band members had died by1996. On the plus side Arden also set them on a trail of top tenhits. Their second single. 'I Got Mine', by Marriott and Lane didnot fare as well as their first so Arden employed professionalwriters, who came up with 'Sha La La La La La La La Lea', andoddly 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 andself-penned songs. The next single 'Hey Girl' reached no.10 in thecharts, 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 Oldhamhelped to free the group from the Arden contract and signed thento his Immediate record label with a less punishing round of gigs.Arden released three more singles but the band did not promotethem. 'Here Comes the Nice' was their first single for Immediate,the 'Itchycoo Park' reached no 2. It was a track from thecelebrated psychedelic 'Ogden's Nut Gone Flake' no.1 album. Thefollowing single 'The Universal' was virtually a solo effort byMarriot that failed to chart and he soon left the band to join PeterFrampton in the group Humble Pie. Soon, after leaving the JeffBeck Band, Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood joined the remainingSmall Faces causing the name change to just Faces, owing totheir height. Ronnie Lane soon formed Slim Chance and took tothe road with a financially disasterous show in a fairgroundmarquee. There have been a partial Small Faces reunion from '76-'78, with Marriott, and in 2009 but Marriott, '91, Lane, '97, andMcLagan 2014 have died along the way. Kenney Jones has kept asuccessful 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 fromAlexis Korner's Blues Incorporated retained a Hammond organand brass section that linked to jazz backgound or r&b in thestyle of Ray Charles, Jimmy Witherspoon, Otis Redding, JamesBrown, Wilson Pickett, and Tamla Motown artists from the States.But Alexis Korner also spawned the Rolling Stones who led thedevelopment of guitar and harmonica groups of delta andChicago style electric blues. It is to that side of the fork at thecrossroads that we now need to turn.
The Rolling Stones.
The Stones story is so well known that we don't need to dwell toolong on them. Their Name came from the title of a Muddy Waterssong. Their early influences came from imported Americanrecords and the early Ealing Jazz Club sessions of Alexis Kornerand Blues Inc. Mick Jagger, Keith Richard and Brian Jones alllearnt from and jammed with its members, which included CharlieWatts. Jagger learned harmonica from Cyril Davies. Dick [notMick] Taylor was an early member of the Stones before goingback to college and then joining the Pretty Things. Ian Stuart wasa founder member but played off stage and acted as roadmanager. 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 becametheir first manager and got them a Sunday residence at theCrawdaddy Club in Richmond in '63. Andrew Loog Oldham tookover took over later as manager that year. He had been a publicistfor the Beatles beforehand. Their first record label was Decca andthey began the trend of taking Black music back to America butto a white audience, notably getting Howlin Wolf on the EdSullivan show at their request. His song 'Little Red Rooster' wastheir fifth single and reached no.1 in the charts despite disbeliefin 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 diedin a swimming pool a month later. Mick Taylor took over wheninvited to join from John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and remaineduntil '74 when Ronnie Wood replaced him. Ian Stewart died in '85.Taylor had his own blues band from time to time. Other back-upmembers have included Nicky Hopkins on piano from '67 – '82,Ian McLagan from the Faces' '78-81 on other keyboards, as wasBilly Preston in the mid '80s, Chuck Levell from'82 and BobbyKeys 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 wentbriefly 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 discointerlude with 'Some Girls','78, and 'Tattoo You'in'81, before a 2year hiatus with Mick and Keith doing solo projects. All theiralbums and singles are too long to list but they tended to belinked to world tours after that time: Steel Wheels,'89, VoodooLounge, '85, Bridges to Babylon, '98, Licks, '03, Bigger Bang,2005, Their retro roots studio album; 'Blue and Lonesome' wasreleased in 2016.
The Pretty Things.
Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys was a band that included MickJagger, Keith Richard and Dick Taylor. Dick and Keith had been atSidcup Art College together. The three of them joined BrianJones to form the Rollin Stones [original spelling] in '62. Taylorplayed the bass as at that time there were too many leads. Notwanting to risk an uncertain musical career Dick decided to carryon his education at Central School of Art and Design rather thango professional. Phil May who had also been at Sidcup ArtCollege suggested a less risky semi-pro band, so Dick took uplead, Phil sang and played harmonica and they were joined byJohn Stax on bass, Brian Pendleton on rhythm guitar initiallyPete Kitley on drums, who was eventually replaced by Viv Price,a Keith Moon style wildman of rock. Bryan Morrison who hadalso been at college with them and subsequently built the BrianMorrison Agency, which also handled an early Pink Floyd,managed them, and got them a record contract with the Fontanalabel in '64.
The Pretties were very purist blues at first with their first selftitled 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 firstthree singles all charted in '64 and '65 : 'Rosalyn', 'Don't Bring MeDown', and 'Honey I Need'. David Bowie covered the first two ofthese on his tribute album, 'Pin-Ups'. The group were popular inEurope, Australia and New Zealand, where they exhibited fairlyanarchic behaviour, especially Viv Prince, who caused visa andpermit refusal threats in the latter. He was eventually asked toleave and was replaced by Skip Allen in '65. In '66 they did acover of a Kinks song and charted again.. An album called'Progress had brass instruments added and moved towards soulmusic. But the following 'Emotions' album had brass and stringswhich proved to be a step too far for fans. It was their last onFontana. A change to Colombia as psychedelia dawned sawfurther changes to their sound on 'Reflecting Grey' in '67 wasbetter received, and was followed by a single, 'Taking 'Bout theGoodtimes'/'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 gloomtheme did not appeal to all though. Skip Allen left the drum stoolto be replaced by Twink from the Colchester Band the Fairies, InCrowd and Tomorrow. Victor Unitt replaced Dick Taylor in'69 andTwink formed the Pink Fairies in the same year, as SkipAllenreturned for the next psychedelic album, before the groupdisbanded in '71. Other albums for porn and horror movies weredone under an alias, the Electric Banana..
 
By '74 the band had reformed and signed to Led Zeppelin'smanager Peter Grant and their record label Swan Song to recordthe album 'Silk Torpedo' and then 'Savage Eye' before disbandingagain. From '78 to '81 the '67 line-up reformed but werecompeting with 'new wave' styles of music and fashion, so theytoured 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 withYardbird Jim Mc Carthy on drums and went to Chicago andteamed up with Richard Hite from Canned Heat on bass andStudebaker John on rhythm and slide guitars and harp to playwith a host of Chicago bluesmen, black and white for the'Chicago Blues Tapes'. 'Rage Before Beauty' was a studio albumof 2000, then live recordings with Frank Holland on guitar GeorgeWoosey bass and Jack Greenwood drums, then a compilation,'Come See Me' in 2004, 'Sweet Pretty Things' in 2015, a tribute byyounger musicians called 'Sorrow's Children' in 2012.
Brian Pendleton died in 2007 and Phil and Dick announced thattheir 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 vocalsand 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 BluesQuartet, but were joined by Dreja, McCarthy, and Top Topham onlead guitar, for their first gig at Kingston School of Art in '63,backing Cyril Davies Allstars. At first they called themselves theBluesounds and then changed it to Yardbirds after the Americanhobos who hung around freight yards waiting to jump a free ride.They followed the Rolling Stones to become house band at theCrawdaddy Club in Richmond. They chose to feature songs fromMuddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson [II], Howlin Wolf, ElmoreJames and other mostly Chicago blues singers, even thoughRelf's voice, if not his harp playing, sounded very white bycomparison. Topham left the band and was replaced by EricClapton. Giorgio Gomelsky, who managed the Stones also tookthe Yardbirds into his fold. He got them a tour backing SonnyBoy Williamson at the end of '63 to early '64 which produced analbum, to be followed by 'Five Live Yardbirds' on EMI Records.
They did well with singles too 'I Wish You Would', 'Good MorningLittle Schoolgirl' featured Clapton, but once the band venturedinto early prog rock with 'For Your Love', with Brian Auger onharpsichord and experimental guitar sounds Eric, then a bluespurist decided to join John Mayall's Bluesbreakers instead. Herecommended Jimmy Page as a replacement, but Jimmy had asafe position as a studio session musician and declined at first,but recommended Jeff Beck instead. Jeff was only too glad tojoin an experimental band: Indian raga sounds, fuzz boxes,feedback and distortion all joined other innovations like aGregorian chant on 'Still I'm Sad' the 'b' side of the single 'EvilHearted You'. They embarked on a U.S. Tour in '65, with newtracks like 'Mister You're a Better Man Than Me' and 'Train Kept aRollin' was mixed into the middle of U.K. material in U.S releases.They did three more tours before the end of '66. 'Shapes ofThings' and 'Over Under Sideways Down' in '66 were later hailedas the pre-cursors of psychedelia. The album 'Yardbirds' markedthe 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 thatproduced 'Becks Bolero' as John Paul Jones joined as bassistbefore joining Page in Led Zeppelin. Only compilations of tracksfrom that era were issued later. A couple of their songs appearedin the trendy film about a fashion photographer, 'Blow Up' at thattime.
Beck left at the end of '66 during their last U.S. tour and formedthe Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood and AynsleyDunbar in a group that preceded the sound that Led Zeppelinwould create. Page stayed as the only lead until '68 when thegroup disbanded and he reformed the New Yardbirds with RobertPlant as vocalist, his second choice after Terry Reid who was tiedto another contract, but who recommended Plant and his mateJohn Bonham on drums, while John Paul Jones played bass andkeyboards. When he told Keith Moon his idea, Keith said thatshould go down like a lead balloon.....or Zeppelin as it turned out.Keith Relf, Chris Dreja and Relf's sister formed the bandRenaissance playing more folky mediaeval music, but Keith waselectrocuted by a microphone while rehearsing. Zeppelin refusedto be pigeon-holed musically but it was clear that all membershad their roots in the blues.
In the '90s Dreja and McCarty reformed the Yardbirds, with a newsinger, John Idan, who looked like Keith Relf, sounded like himas he sang the old songs, and played bass. Gippy Mayo took onthe task of walking in the shoes of former guitarists and also dida good job before joining Dr. Feelgood and then the MarquesBrothers 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 ahost of younger musicians playing as a tribute. Jeff Beck haseven been known to guest again with the band
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
John Mayall was born in 1933, so was old enough to beconscripted into the Korean War. Back in Manchester he studiedArt and became a graphic designer for a while playing with semi-pro bands while living in a tree house in his family's garden. In1963 he decided to make the move to London and make a full-onattempt at a musical career. With Bernie Watson on guitar, JohnMcVie on bass, Martin Hart on drums and John on keyboards andharmonica, the first single came out in '64: 'Crawling up aHill'/'Mr. James', the latter a tribute to Elmore James. After thesingle Roger Dean replaced Watson and Hughie Flint took overthe drum stool from Hart, for the Decca album, 'John Mayall PlaysJohn Mayall' and then a single, 'Crocodile Walk/'Blues City

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Shakedown'. When Roger Dean left he was replaced by EricClapton, from the Yardbirds.
The next single, 'I'm Your Witchdoctor'/'Telephone Blues' in '65,with Clapton, was on the Immediate label and produced byJimmy Page. It was the first time the Bluesbreakers nameappeared 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 Aceof Clubs subsidiary. The groundbreaking album on Decca,sometimes called 'the Beano album' as Clapton is reading thecomic on the cover photo, was simply called Bluesbreakers, andwhere Clapton used amp distortion to emulate the music of BigCity electric blues greats like Buddy Guy, B.B. King and FreddieKing as well as his Mississipi Delta hero Robert Johnson. Amonth after that album Mayall and Clapton released a single onthe Purdah label, 'Lonely Years'/'Bernard Jenkins'. Clapton alsorecorded with Steve Winwood from the Spencer Davis group andan ad hoc, and largely anonymous for contractual reasons, groupcalling themselves the Powerhouse, with a few tracks thatappeared on an Electra, multi artist album called 'What's Shakin'.Before there was another Mayall album Ginger Baker had talkedhim and Jack Bruce to form Cream, which started out as a hardcore blues band but soon had jazzers Baker and Bruce usingClapton as front man for lengthy improvisations mixed withshorter, almost pop songs, part written by poet Pete Brown, inthe psychedelic era.
Mayall replaced Clapton with Peter Green for the next album'Hard Road', which had a Mayall painting of the group on thecover. Green left before the next album to form Fleetwood Macwith Mick Fleetwood on Drums, John McVie on bass and JeremySpencer on Slide guitar. Future Rolling Stone, Mick Taylor,replaced Green with Mayall's band for the 'Crusade' album, thenTony Reeves replaced McVie for the ' Bare Wires' album. Taylorwas also on the album 'Blues from Laural Canyon' in '68, and thedouble 'Diary of a Band'. Laural Canyon is in California and thatalbum marked Mayall's emigration to the States. Mick Taylorjoined the Stones in place of Brian Jones, and the 'Blusbrakerssuffix for Mayall's bands disappeared until a 1982 revival.
With numerous line-up changes and guests joining for variousprojects Mayall has continued to record over 50 albums . Areunion for his birthday in 2002 a reunion in Liverpool includedClapton, Mick Taylor and Chris Barber. He had continued to touruntil he said he was retiring, aged 75, in 2008. Over the years hisbands have featured 16 guitarists, 9 drummers, 9 bassists, 14brass players, 1 other pianist, 1violinist, and 1 other harmonicaplayer. Anyone who has played with any of his bands has found ita good way to gain their own musical reputatio.
Cream/Blind Faith.
We have already looked at Eric Clapton's career in the Yardbirdsand John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, and Ginger Baker and JackBruce's history in Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated and withGraham Bond: a C.V. that allowed them to use the name Creamfor the group where they played together. This trio of top rankmusicians came together in 1966 but only lasted until'68, duringwhich time they built a huge international following and sold over15 million records.
The idea for the group came from a conversation between Gingerand Eric in which Eric also suggested that Jack Bruce would be agood choice for bass and vocalist. Ginger was not so sure, notso much on musical grounds but as he and Jack had a history ofdisagreements which had contributed to the breakup of the BondOrganisation, but he finally agreed, and Jack was approachedabout the idea. Eric and Jack had worked together inPowerhouse, and briefly in Bluesbreakers so Eric new of hisskills, which included fine harmonica playing as well. The bandfirst came to the notice of the public with their second gig atWindsor Jazz and Blues Festival in '66 playing mostly bluesstandards but in their own improvisational way, before originalsongwriting entered their repertoire as a response to psychedeliain '67. Although Jimi Hendrix was American, Chas Chandler, theone time Animals bassist, had brought him to England, where histalent was first fully spotted. Not only was he a big influence onEric but they became great pals and often jammed together.Where many groups like Cream followed the outward trappingsof psychedelic fashion there was little doubt that Jimi's songsand guitar style came from the spacey realms of L.S.D. Trips.
Cream's first album, 'Fresh Cream' in '66 reflected mainly theirblues influences but with the odd Bruce song and a Baker drumsolo. There first single, 'Wrapping Paper' by Bruce and poet PeteBrown, not on the album, was a calmer mellow balled and

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actually entered the Top Twenty singles chart. The album trackswere around five minutes, but stretched out to greater length inlive performances.
'67 was the year that psychedelia emerged from the culturalunderground, and saw more of Jack Bruce's songwriting withPete Brown appearing when their second album, 'Disraeli Gears'appeared,with songs like 'Strange Brew and 'Sunshine of YourLove', even one by Martin Sharp, illustrator of Undergroundmagazine 'Oz', contributing with 'Tales of Brave Ulysses' as wellas with the design of the dayglo album sleeve. With Eric alreadyknown in the U.S. because of the Yardbirds the album reachedthe top five on both sides of the Atlantic. Their blues roots werestill in evidence.
Although they were predominantly an albums group, their recordcompany, Reaction, did release successful hit singles: after 'IFeel Free' that reached no.11, 'Sunshine of Your Love' reachedno.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 actof long improvisations mixed with the shorter songs thatattracted the most attention. In 1968 the bands next album,'Wheels of Fire', was a double and one record was devoted to liverecordings. 'White Room' and 'Politician' were among theBruce/Brown songs on the other album. By August '67 the grouphad been headlining gigs at the Fillmore West in San Franciscoand elsewhere in the States, but soon the relentless touring, highvolume performances, and Bruce-Baker antagonism were leadingto 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 sixsongs. Again three were long and live. One of the studio tracks,'Badge' was co-written by Eric's mate George Harrison under apseudonym. The Farewell Tour had nineteen U.S. dates andfinished 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 morewith Steve Winwood from the Spencer Davis group who he hadworked with on the 'What's Shakin?', Electra Records collectionwhere they were part of an ensemble they called the Powerhouse,and after Cream it seemed a good time to try. Ginger Bakerturned up at Eric's house and talked himself on board, but hishard drug habit probably had a lot to do with their short career.Rick Gretch, from Family, was on bass, while Steve Winwood wason Hammond organ and vocals. Another problem was that therewas no real songwriter among them. After that Eric's career wasfairly solo, although after a stint with Southern U.S. acousticbluesers Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett and Traffic's Dave Mason,he did put together the first of his backing bands that he calledDerek and the Dominoes which at times included AllmanBrothers 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 playingany of his Cream songs for many years.
Ginger Baker formed the Ginger Baker Airforce with Winwoodand Gretch from Blind Faith and his old boss Graham Bond onkeyboards, as well as Denny Laine from the Moody Blues, beforeDenny joined Paul McCartney in Wings. Later bands included theBaker-Gurvitz Army and time playing with Hawkwind, whoclaimed that they got him off heroin with two bottles of whiskyper day!
Spencer Davis Group.
It 1963 when Spencer put this group together in Birmingham,with himself on guitar, PeteYork on drums, Muff Winwood onbass and child prodigy brother Steve Winwood, still of schoolage, on organ and vocals. He called them the Rhythm and BluesQuartette. By '64 they had a recording contract with Fontanarecords, after being spotted by Chris Blackwell, producer for thethen small label of Island Records. At that point they changedtheir name. Steve's soulful deep gravelly voice was ideal fordelivering songs by black performers. Their first recording was acover of John Lee Hooker's 'Dimples', Followed by an E.P with'Its Gonna Work Out Fine', 'Midnight Special', 'Every Little BitHurts' and 'I Can't Stand It' , which had also been a single, and allwent on their 'First Album' in '65. Their '65 single, ' Keep onRunning' went to no.1 in the charts. The follow up ''SomebodyHelp 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 variouspsychedelic stimuli and was replaced by Eddie Hardin as singer,and Phil Sawyer on organ and they released the single , 'TimeSeller'/'Don't Want You No More'. Muff left at the same to work forIsland Records. Music from both bands featured in the film 'HereWe Go Around the Mulberry Bush'. 'Mr. Second Class' was thesecond Spencer Davis single without Steve in '67, along with thealbum 'With Their New Faces On'. Then Ray Fenwick replacedSawyer. 'After Tea' was also a minor hit, but the band had becomemore pop than blues by then, and after one more singledisbanded. York and Hardin formed a duo.
The band had never been the same after Steve left. The singleshe had sung on have been covered by many artists worldwide.Traffics career began with the album 'Dear Mr Fantasy' as he andthe band escaped to a rural creative idyll in a Berkshire countrycottage. Spencer Davis himself revived versions of the group inlater years.
Traffic
Consisted of Winwood, on keyboards and vocals, Jim Capaldi ondrums, Chris Wood on on wind instruments like flute, and DaveMason on guitar and vocals for a short time. Steve experimentedwith a mellotron and harpsichord, and Mason with a sitar. Thefirst single was 'Paper Sun', followed 'Hole in My Shoe' afterwhich Mason left, having sung and written it, but the rest of theband were not keen on it. A joke cover version of it was releasedby Nigel Planner in the '80s. 'Here We Go Round the MulberryBush' was also released as a single, more for the recordcompany than a an example of the band's real musical direction.Other albums were 'Traffic' in '68, 'Last Exit' in '69 and 'JohnBarleycorn Must Die' in '70. During '68 Steve often played withJimi Hendrix, and was on the 'Electric Ladyland' double albumanonymously . <p>
The band formerly disbanded in '69, Steve joined Blind Faith andthen Ginger Baker's Air Force. There have been partial re-unionsbut Chris Wood died in '83, so only Winwood and Capaldi madethe last, but then Jim died in 2005. In 2007 Paul Weller and PeteTownsend helped create a tribute version of 'Mr. Fantasy' at theRoundhouse.
Fleetwood Mac.
The band members' romantic interactions have almost led tomore interest than their music. The attention in often repeatedmedia coverage tends to focus more on the post-blues banddays, but there is also an interesting tale to tell about their earlierevolution. A good place to start that tale is with a group calledthe Cheynes. That band was formed in 1963 by Peter Bardenswho had been Van Morrisons keyboard in Them, and after a yearMick Fleetwood joined them on drums. They managed to recordthree singles: 'Respectable'/'Its Gonna Happen to You', in '63;'Going to the River'/'Cheyne-Re-La in '64; and 'Down andOut'/'Stop Running Around' in '65. Rolling Stone Bill Wyman co-wrote the last of these and, with Glyn Johns, co-produced it aswell as playing bass on it. They had a strong reputation for livegigs. Mick Fleetwood met John McVie in '64 when he was in JohnMayalls Bluesbreakers.
In '66 Bardens formed Peter B's Looners with Fleetwood on ondrums, with Peter Green as lead guitar, Phil Sawyer, also from theCheynes and a later member of Spencer Davis Group, as secondguitar. Barden's Looners were later incorporated into ShotgunExpress with Rod Stewart and Beryl Marsden. After Eric Claptonleft John Mayall, Peter Green joined the Bluesbreakers and MickFleetwood and John McVie were the rhythm section. Fleetwoodhad joined when Aynsley Dunbar had joined Jeff Beck's Band,with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. So at that time threequarters 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, andafter some persuasion John Mc Vie gave up his steady job withMayall, although the original bassist was Bill Brunning, andJeremy Spencer played slide guitar. Their first gig was at the '67Windsor Jazz and Blues Festival. McVie joined a week later. Theirfirst album. 'Fleetwood Mac', popularly known as 'The Dog andDustbin' album, due the album sleeve image, on Blue HorizonRecords in '68 reached no.4 in the album charts. The singles'Black Magic Woman' and 'I Need Your Love So Bad' soonfollowed, and an 18 year old Danny Kirwin was added as anotherguitarist, dueting with Peter on the single 'Albatross' whichbecame a no.1 hit. Two albums of compilations, 'English Rose'and 'Pious Bird of Good Omen' came next. In '69 in at ChessStudios in Memphis they recorded with blues legends BuddyGuy, Otis Spann and Willie Dixon. As they moved away frompurely blues music in the psychedelic era they changed recordlabels to Immediate and released 'Man of the World', which wasalso a top ten hit, followed by a more rocky number, as JeremySpencer added '50s revival songs to performances: oddly titled'Somebody's Going to Get His Head Kicked In' in the era of 'loveand peace man', before swapping to Warner Brothers Repriserecord label with who they released the album 'Then Play On',including the single 'Oh Well' on the English pressing. Othersongs 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, but1970 was not a good year for Green, or Kirwin: at a hippiecommune in Munich they both took a large dose of some badL.S.D., possibly mixed with strichnine which was going around atthe time, which brought on latent symptoms of schitzophrenia.The commune leader Ushi Ubermaier who gave it to them washoping to get them on board for a European Woodstock styleevent. Instead Green's last single with the band was 'GreenManalishi' that year. Electro-convulsive therapy at the hands ofun-comprehending clinicians made matters worse and Greenretired from music for a couple of decades, while Kirwin becamealcoholic and eventually institutionalised.
An album without them however was also released later in theyear, but with Christine Perfect who came from fellow blues bandChicken Shack on piano and the lady who married John McVie togo by the name she was later better known by in the band, asChristine McVie.. In February '71 Jeremy Spencer spontaneouslyleft the band at a U.S. airport to join a religious group called TheChildren of God. Also that year Bob Welch took over as lead asFleetwood had to fire Kirwin because of his alchoholism.Alchohol didn't get McVie fired but it did later cost him hismarriage to Christine a few years later. Bizarrely their was aninterval when a fake Fleetwood Mac was doing gigs around theStates as nobody knew what they looked like with so manypersonnel changes. Welch decided to leave the band. Afterhearing the album 'Buckingham Nicks' Mick Fleetwood had theinventive idea of asking Lindsey Buckingham to fill the the voidin the band with a different electric acoustic sound in '73. Thatwould change the sound quite a lot but Lindsey would only agreeif his partner Stevie Nicks was part of the deal too, so theresulting, generally mellow West Coast sound that resultedwould mark a real change to the band's sound, and a verysuccessful one, if not a change to the personnel changes soapopera.
In 1996 Peter Green's friends in Southend, led by Nigel Watsonmanaged to get him back on stage for a short while, as the PeterGreen Splinter Group after many years of punishing mentalhealth treatment. The old hits were played by Nigel. If Peter tooka solo he would go of on his own tangent, but could still play amean harmonica and an album of blues songs was released,before he lapsed back into a quiet life of retirement.
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