"...This Worried Feeling..."
Bakerloo made only one album
on EMI's Underground label imprint Harvest Records and were in many ways a
doomed nag before they even got out of the slots.
Headhunted by Jon Hiseman
for his Jazz-Rock outfit Colosseum – Bakerloo's stunning guitarist, keyboardist
and singing main-man Dave 'Clem' Clempson left in September 1969 to join
Colosseum just two months before the self-titled Bakerloo album was launched,
effectively kyboshing the three-piece just when Kentucky Derby fame beckoned.
They all went on to bigger
and better things shortly afterward (listed below) – but for many fans left
with one vinyl slice of what might have been - this raw Hard Rock Hard Blues
Prog Tinted beast was a nice tip to leave on the EMI canteen table. Which
brings us to this digital reissue – a brill-sounding brute of a CD foaming at
the gills with top audio and bonuses…
UK released 6 October 2014 -
"Bakerloo" by BAKERLOO on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2468 (Barcode
5013929456846) is an 'Expanded Edition' CD Reissue and Remaster with Five Bonus
Tracks that plays out as follows (71:00 minutes):
1. Big Bear Ffolly [Side 1]
2. Bring it On Home
3. Drivin' Bachwards
4. Last Blues
5. Gang Bang
6. This Worried Feeling
[Side 2]
7. Son Of Moonshine
Tracks 1 to 7 are their
debut and only album "Bakerloo" – released November 1969 in the UK on
Harvest Records SHVL 762 (no US equivalent). Produced by GUS DUDGEON – it
didn’t chart.
BONUS TRACKS:
8. Once Upon A Time
(Alternate Take)
9. This Worried Feeling
(Alternate Take)
10. Georgia
11. Train
12. Son Of Moonshine Part
One (Alternate Take)
There's a picture CD
(Poole's striking graphically designed album artwork), a 12-page booklet
featuring new liner notes from noted writer MALCOLM DOME that include
enlightening reminiscences from Bassist Terry Poole on their formation, touring
and the making of their lone album. And there is even a repro of that famous
Marquee Club poster (90 Wardour Street, Soho, London W1) where Bakerloo were in
the right place at the right time – because on Tuesday the 10th of December
1968 they were the support slot to a newly formed supergroup called LED
ZEPPELIN - billed as [Nee The Yardbirds] should punters get confused (they
might have gotten their eardrums hurt with both acts, but they weren't going to
get confused). That night our trio was known by their full moniker BAKERLOO
BLUES LINE, but of course shortened their name thereafter (apparently it wasn't
sold out and Poole had known Plant and Bonham from their Band Of Joy days).
There are also rare promotional and live shots of the three-piece and the usual
reissue credits. The Remaster from Analogue Tapes is care of ROB KEYLOCH – done
at Church Walk Studios and manner of heaviness abounds. This sucker is punchy
and full of teeth.…
The hard-rocking 3-piece
BAKERLOO featured Dave 'Clem' Clempson on Guitar, Harmonica and All Keyboards.
Clempson went onto Colosseum heavily featuring on their classic June 1971
"Colosseum Live" double where he met ace keyboardist Dave Greenslade
and would later be a part of Greenslade from 1973 on Warner Brothers. He also
did stints in Humble Pie, Champion, Snafu and more. Terry Poole played Bass and
sang vocals on "Last Blues" and "Son Of Moonshine" – he
went on to session for Graham Bond with Magick, Colin Blunstone, Paul Brett and
many more - while Keith Baker the drummer would go on to be with Uriah Heep.
The original drummer John Hinch went to play with Judas Priest (its Keith Baker
who plays on the album) and of course Gus Dudgeon would gain fame as being the
defacto Producer for every Elton John album on DJM Records right up to
"Blue Moves" in October 1976. The only guest on the Bakerloo LP was
Jerry Salisbury who plays Trumpet on the short "Drivin' Bachwards" on
Side 1 which at 2:08 minutes is a teeny-weeny revamp of a Bach song.
Despite fairly favourable
press reviews towards the tail-end of 1969, for most punters, their first taste
of Bakerloo probably came from a cheaply priced sampler album released in June
1970 - in this case Harvest's double "Picnic: A Breath Of Fresh Air"
on Harvest SHSS 1/2. The opening instrumental on Side 1 of "Bakerloo"
called "Big Bear Ffolly" (deliberate spelling with two f's) was
featured on it - and it's easy to hear why. "Big Bear..." and its
manic speed guitar is exactly the kind of Rock indulgence Page might have
engaged in during a "Dazed And Confused" solo. Immediately that's
followed by a cool as school cover of Sonny Boy Williamson's 1966 Chess Records
classic "Bring It On Home" where the guitar/harmonica shuffling blues
and slightly distorted vocal sounds (shall we say) uncannily like Zep's version
on Side 2 of October 1969's "Zeppelin II". Still a winner though.
Cute as it may have been with that Harpsichord in 1969, the largely dismissible
JS Bach derivative "Drivin' Bachwards" is supposed to have inspired
Tull with "Bouree" over on "Stand Up", but who knows.
Far better is the seven
minutes of "Last Blues" - a slow brooding doomy guitar monster where
lyrically Clempson sounds like he needs to get out more and enjoy local ale
while he's doing it. Side 1 ends with the unfortunately titled "Gang
Bang", six-minutes of proper whig-out guitaring - Baker's drums crashing
over that Bass. Side 2's "This Worried Feeling" feels like 1969
Fleetwood Mac where Peter Green gets all moody with his misery guts Blues Guitar
aided and abetted by a hurt-mama-hurt echoed vocal. It's properly great stuff
as it crashes into that English Rock Band does the Blues thing. That's followed
by the huge "Son Of Moonshine" - where elements of Prog are mixed
towards the end with wild grungy guitar - fifteen minutes of riffage that
doesn't care - Clempson's playing feeling like Gary Moore unleashed – stood
grinning as he taps on the shoulder of Stoner Rock (hello boys). You can so
hear why original copies of this album command such money…
The Bonuses offer us five
including a cover version of Hoagie Carmichael's "Georgia" and a more
piano orientated alternate take of "This Worried Feeling" - Clempson
sounding like an upset Stan Webb in Chicken Shack concerned that his baby's
fidelity might not be entirely intact (a fantastic Blues-Rock find).
"Train" is a fascinating three minute slide guitar shuffle - and
again this instrumental imbibed with the feeling that you're listening to
Jeremy Spencer in Fleetwood Mac discovering Elmore James and Lightning Hopkins
at the same time. But even that cool snippet is trumped by the fantastic 8:46
minutes of "Son Of Moonshine Part One" - a heads down Heavy Rock
boogie that would impress Mountain fans.
A cracking reissue then of
an unfairly forgotten debut bolstered up with Bonus Tracks actually worthy of
the name. Want it down and dirty, then Bakerloo and its Blues Line is the train
station you need to stop at..
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