SPENCER DAVIS GROUP ( LP ) UK

DAVIS, SPENCER -GROUP- - AT THE BBC 1965

17 tracks, taken from the Spencer David Group's 1965 BBC sessions!

TRACKLIST

SIDE 1:
1. Midnight Train
2. It's Gonna Work Out Fine
3. Dimples
4. It Hurts Me So
5. Midnight Train
6. My Babe
7. Watch Your Step
8. It Hurts Me So
9. I Cant Stand It
SIDE 2:
1. Strong Love
2. My Babe
3. Dust My Blues
4. This Hammer
5. Strong Love
6. She Put The Hurt On Me
7. Keep On Running
8. Goodbye Stevie

All tracks recorded for BBC Radio

Side One

Tracks 1-3 broadcast in January 1965

Tracks 4-6 broadcast in February 1965

Tracks 7-9 broadcast in March 1965

Side Two,

Tracks 1-3 broadcast in June 1965

Tracks 4-5 broadcast in August 1965

Tracks 6-8 broadcast in January 1966

Personnel

Steve Winwood – Keyboards, guitar, vocals

Spencer Davis – Guitar, harmonica, vocals

Muff Winwood – Bass, vocals

Pete York – Drums

The four members of the Spencer Davis Group had all been active on the Birmingham jazz scene before forming the Rhythm & Blues Quartet in April 1963. They turned professional at the Golden Eagle pub in August 1964, the same month that Fontana released their debut single.

Although the group was named after founder Spencer Davis the key talent in the group was teenager Stevie Winwood. He was already a powerful vocalist, proficient on guitar and keyboards and a rapidly developing songwriter. Despite this the band's first four singles fell short of the top 40 and it was not until their cover of Jackie Edwards' Keep On Running that the band had a hit. Released in November 1965 it went to number one in the UK singles chart. After this Somebody Help Me, Gimme Some Loving and I'm A Man were all hits. Stevie quit the band in early 1967 feeling hemmed in by the pressures of chart success. Muff Winwood also left the band at this time to become a successful record producer. A second version of the Spencer Davis Band was active until 1974 but never reached the commercial or artistic heights of its predecessor.

Rolling piano and an uptempo shuffle beat runs through Midnight Train. It's Gonna Work Out Fine was an Ike & Tina Turner original: Winwood's soulful vocal belies his sixteen years. The band's first single Dimples was written by John Lee Hooker but is distinguished from generic 1964 blues-boom fare by a sprightly arrangement and Spencer's supportive harmonica. The fabulous It Hurts Me So is an early Stevie Winwood composition, with fine Tamla Motown-style harmonies. My Babe features unison vocals from Spencer and Muff, counterpointed by Stevie on the bridge: the song was written by Righteous Brothers Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley. Bobby Parker's Watch Your Step was a blues-boom staple with a distinctive stop-start riff borrowed by the Yardbirds, the Beatles and many others. I Can't Stand It was the second Fontana single. First recorded by The Soul Sisters, Stevie sings it well but the hook was not strong enough to deliver a hit.

Northern Soul favourite Strong Love was another unsuccessful Fontana single, originally recorded by The Malibus and features scat singing atop a swinging beat. Elmore James' Dust My Blues gave Steviea chance to shine on lead guitar whilst Spencer took lead vocals, as he did on This Hammer, a folk-blues which showed the versatility of the band. You Put The Hurt On Me was the lead track of an EP released by Fontana in November 1965. Initially the song was recorded by Prince La La as She Put The Hurt On Me, subsequently Otis Redding would be given the songwriting credit.

Then at last a hit single! Jackie Edwards had recorded the original version of Keep On Running on his 1965 LP Come On Home, released on Island Records. The head of Island was Chris Blackwell, also the Spencer Davis Group's producer. Their version toughened up the rhythmic drive of Edwards' original.  The guitar intro went through the same fuzz pedal as Keith Richards had used for Satisfaction.  "Heh heh heh" backing vocals were added to support Winwood's gutsy lead vocal.  The result was a huge international hit which brought Stevie into the spotlight. How do you follow that? By writing your own exit note in Goodbye Stevie, one of the final tracks Winwood recorded with the group and an appropriate place to end our selection of fine Spencer Davis Group recordings.

Writing in Bam Balam magazine in 1980 Brian Hogg crowned The Spencer Davis Group "Birmingham's finest (except The Move). They were marvellous, playing a rolling bassy R&B. But the real power and excitement left with Stevie Winwood". After leaving the Spencer Davis Group, Stevie Winwood would form and re-form Traffic as well as being part of short-lived 'supergroup' Blind Faith before going solo. All stages of his career have been artistically and commercially successful: amongst musicians he remains a well-respected and popular figure. But for sheer musical excitement, that fuzz-drenched intro to Keep On Running takes some beating...