Skip to main content

British blues of the 60s y 70s

 


This has to be one of my favorite programs. The British blues scene gave us a healthy dose of reverential and, admittedly, imitative music that awakened a youthful audience suffering from pop fatigue on both sides of the ocean. Of course, the blues, as interpreted by young white musicians who couldn’t have been much further from the Mississippi Delta or the South side of Chicago, can be considered as cultural appropriation. At the same time, those involved in the scene have reminisced that playing the blues was largely a visceral reaction to a compelling combination of rhythm, lyrics and energy that was distinct from the British music scene up to that point. I don’t believe anyone at the time felt guilty playing the songs of their Southern US heroes. Does it make a difference that a number of these groups went on to earn far more money than the originators ever dreamed of? Probably, though many of the greats – Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson and others – profited by their music’s new-found popularity and were booked to perform on the Continent and back home (where their music had been largely forgotten), leading to a resurgence of interest and second-chance career opportunities. JH

Most of the groups in this playlist will be somewhat or very familiar to older music fans who lived through the era: The Animals, Yardbirds, Rolling Stones, The Who, Cream, Them, Spencer Davis, etc., though I looked mostly for tunes less well known than their radio hits. Starting out with Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac seemed a no-brainer, as almost none of those that follow could offer up a truer, more gut-bucket bluesy sound than that fortuitous gathering of talent.  [continued Down there below]

Lista de ejecución

Al compás del mundo - programa #140,
First broadcast 8-8-24, British blues of the 60s y 70s

 

01 Fleetwood Mac - My Heart Beats Like a Hammer

02 Manfred Mann – I’m Your Kingpin

03 Alexis Korner - Rain Is Such a Lonesome Sound

04 The Who - I'm the Face

05 Cream - Cat's Squirrel

06 Christian´s Crusaders (with Jimmy Page) - Honey Hush

07 Jeff Beck Group - You Shook Me

08 Yardbirds - I Ain't Got You

09 Them - Turn on Your Lovelight

10 The Graham Bond Organisation - Early in the Morning

11 The Animals - I'm Mad Again

12 Downliners Sect – Bloodhound

13 Roy Young - I'm a Loner

14 Rolling Stones - Doncha Bother Me

15 Ten Years After - I Want to Know

16 The Pretty Things - Don't Bring Me Down

17 Spencer Davis Group - On the Green Light

18 Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation - Tuesday's Blues

19 Climax Blues Band – Looking for My Baby

20 Taste - Dual Carriageway Pain

21 John Mayall - Double Crossing Time

 




continued Down here below...

There are also some genuine obscurities from unfamiliar (to me) groups like Christian’s Crusaders, Downliners Sect, and Taste. Roy Young sounds accomplished as he helps bridge the evolution of strict blues to the next phase of heavy rock – but, curiously, I’ve never heard of the guy. Alexis Korner’s fundamental role as one of the earliest patrons and promoters of American blues and folk music need be recognized, though his foresight and practice never led to much recognition outside of Great Britain. Some side notes: I’ve read that Jeff Beck’s friendship with Jimmy Page ended after Led Zeppelin’s purported “theft” of “You Shook Me”, recorded one year after Beck’s version. The similarities are obvious. The Graham Bond Organization’s “Early in the Morning” sounds, to these ears, to have been inspired by a Southern chain gang song, with the melody at one point plucked out on an apparently homemade cigar box guitar. “Dual Carriageway Pain” suggests the anxiety I can imagine navigating English highways from the wrong side of the road.

 



And who best to cap off an hour’s worth of rollicking blues-inspired fun? The recently departed John Mayall was my obvious choice. Dubbed the “godfather” of British blues, Mayall spent some 70 years of his life professing the music he held so dear. It was such an intrinsic part of his professional life that a family member in eulogy said “Keep on playing the blues somewhere, John. We love you,”. RIP 

 

 

 

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Al compas del mundo, programa #92 - Japan

The Japanese historically have been a most creative people, excelling in aesthetic conventions like architecture, painting, culinary arts, theatre, music, and more. A craftsman’s care and an artist’s flair have come to define everyday household objects such as articles of clothing and kitchen ware, designed with a sensibility that imbues them with import and elevated status. After WWII in the United States however, an item inscribed “made in Japan” usually indicated a tchotchke of mediocre quality. A perfect example is the large number of Northwest Coast Native American-style bone totem poles made for the tourist shops in the Northwest. There is a distinctive difference in these “artifacts” from the real, home-made variety that illustrates someone from another culture tackling aesthetics they don’t fully comprehend. And that leads us to some of this week’s musical choices. Imitating Western pop, rock and jazz, Japanese artists have recorded many forgettable efforts – not unlike those o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nuyorican boogaloo cha-cha-cha

 I’m labelling this week’s playlist as “Nuyorican” music, the lion’s share of the players from Puerto Rico or of Puerto Rican ancestry.  Two notable exceptions are Joe Bataan, a Filipino-African American, and Mongo Santamaria born in Cuba. What they all have in common, however, was centered around the music scene of New York City where African American and Latino musicians forged a common ground in creating “boogaloo” dance music, mixing elements of R&B, Soul, and Latin dance rhythms. The boogaloo genre was fairly short-lived, enjoying popularity during the 1960’s before giving way to salsa, in what was largely an East Coast and Caribbean impulse. “Watermelon Man” and ”El Watusi” were early and major boogaloo hits, but truly, most of the titles included in the program were popular recordings in their day, whether cha-cha-chas like Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va”, or GFyEN’s guajira. I’ve gathered them here for an hour’s worth of revelation for those too young to have heard thi...
Post a Comment
Read more