"...Anybody's Boogie..."
Now here's something I'd
venture to say Climax Blues Band fans never thought they'd see – the early
five-album incarnation of their British Blues Boogie lumped together into one
place - mini clamshell box set, singular card repro sleeves, foldout
double-sided poster, rare bonuses - nice presentation and all of it at a very
reasonable price.
It's a huge haul too - the
first three albums credited in the UK to THE CLIMAX CHICAGO BLUES BAND (two on
Parlophone in 1969 and one on Harvest in 1970) and the last two as the
shortened CLIMAX CHICAGO on Harvest in 1971 and early 1973 (they are mostly
known as CLIMAX BLUES BAND in the States). But you also get 18 Bonuses across
the five discs from CD reissues/remasters first issued February and May 2013
(and those card repro sleeves are rarely seen artwork into the bargain). Let's
put a sock in it...
UK released 28 June 2019 -
"The Albums 1969-1972" by CLIMAX BLUES BAND on Esoteric Recordings
ECLEC 52679 (Barcode 5013929477902) is a 5CD Clamshell Mini Box Set of
Remasters for Five Albums plus Eighteen Bonus Tracks - they play out as
follows:
CD1 "The Climax Chicago
Blues Band" (68:39 minutes):
1. Mean Old World [Side 1]
2. Insurance
3. Going Down This Road
4. You've Been Drinking
5. Don't Start Me Talkin'
6. Wee Baby Blues
7. Twenty Past One [Side 2]
8. A Stranger In Your Town
9. How Many More Years
10. Looking For My Baby
11. And Lonely
12. The Entertainer
Tracks 1 to 12 are their
debut album "The Climax Chicago Blues Band" - released February 1969
in the UK on Parlophone PMC 7069 and Parlophone PCS 7069 in Stereo and December
1969 in the USA on Sire SES 97013 (Stereo Mix used). Produced by CHRIS THOMAS -
it didn't chart in either country.
BONUS TRACKS:
13. Checking On My Baby
14. Arthur's Boogie
15. Stormy Monday
16. Don't Start Me Talkin'
(Take One)
17. Anybody’s Boogie
18. You've Been Drinking
(Take One)
19. And Lonely (Take Five)
Tracks 13 to 19 first appeared
on the February 2013 CD reissue of "The Climax Chicago Blues Band" on
Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2373 (Barcode 5013929437340) and were Previously
Unreleased at the time
CD2 "The Climax Blues
Band Plays On" (60:53 minutes):
1. Flight [Side 1]
2. Hey Baby, Everything's
Gonna be Alright, Yeh Yeh Yeh
3. Cubano Chant
4. Little Girl
5. Mum's The Word [Side 2]
6. Twenty Past Two/Temptation
Rag
7. So Many Roads
8. City Ways
9. Crazy 'Bout My Baby
Tracks 1 to 9 are their
second studio album "The Climax Blues Band Plays On" - released
November 1969 in the UK on Parlophone PCS 7084 in Stereo and November 1970 in
the USA as "The Climax Chicago Blues Band Plays On" on Sire SES
97023. Produced by CHRIS THOMAS - it didn't chart in the UK but did peak at No.
197 in the USA.
BONUS TRACKS:
10. Like Uncle Charlie
11. Loving Machine (Tracks 10
and 11 are the non-album A&B-sides of an 3 October 1969 UK 7" single
on Parlophone R 5809)
12. Dance Of The Mountain
King's Daughter
13. Flight (First Mix)
Tracks 10 to 13 first
appeared on the February 2013 CD reissue of "The Climax Blues Band Plays
On" on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2374 (Barcode 5013929437449)
CD3 "A Lot Of
Bottle" (59:07 minutes):
1. Country Hat [Side 1]
2. Every Day
3. Reap What I've Sowed
4. Brief Case
5. Alright Blue?/Country Hat
(Reprise)
6. Seventh Son [Side 2]
7. Please Don't Help Me
8. Morning Noon And Night
9. Long Lovin' M
10. Louisiana Blues
11. Cut You Loose
Tracks 1 to 11 are their
third studio album "A Lot Of Bottle" - released December 1970 in the
UK on Harvest SHSP 4009 and May 1971 in the USA as "Climax Blues
Band" on Sire SI 4901 (with the same tracks). Produced by CHRIS THOMAS.
Their first three albums were credited to The Climax Chicago Blues Band in the
UK, the first two the same in the USA while album three was credited to Climax
Blues Band in the States.
BONUS TRACKS:
12. Flight (Live)
13. Seventh Son (Live)
14. Reap What I Have Sowed
(Live)
Tracks 12 to 13 recorded live
at The Blow Up Club, London, Autumn 1971 and first issued on the February 2013
reissue CD for "Climax Blues Band" on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2375
(Barcode 5013929437548). See NOTE below re missing Bonus Track.
CD4 "Tightly Knit"
(53:57 minutes):
1. Hey Mama [Side 1]
2. Shoot Her If She Runs
3. Towards The Sun
4. Come On In My Kitchen
5. Who Killed McSwiggin [Side
2]
6. Little Link
7. St. Michael's Blues
8. Bide My Time
9. That's All
Tracks 1 to 9 are their
fourth studio album "Tightly Knit" (the band credited as CLIMAX
CHICAGO) - released October 1971 in the UK on Harvest SHSP 4015 and February
1972 in the USA on Sire SI 5903 (the band credited as CLIMAX BLUES BAND).
Produced by CHRIS THOMAS
BONUS TRACKS:
10. Hey Mama (Live)
11. Shoot Her If She Runs
(Live)
12. Spoonful (Live)
Tracks 12 to 13 recorded live
at The Blow Up Club, London, Autumn 1971 and first issued on the May 2013
reissue CD for "Tightly Knit" on Esoteric Recordings ECLEC 2385
(Barcode 5013929438545)
CD5 "Rich Man"
(43:50 minutes):
1. Rich Man [Side 1]
2. Mole On The Dole
3. You Make Me Sick
4. Standing By A River
5. Shake Your Love [Side 2]
6. All The Time In The World
7. If You Wanna Know
8. Don't You Mind People
Grinning In Your Face
Tracks 1 to 8 are their fifth
studio album "Rich Man" - released January 1973 in the UK on Harvest
SHSP 4024 and February 1973 in the USA on Sire SAS 7404. Produced by RICHARD
GOTTEHRER. Didn’t chart UK, but peaked at No. 150 in the USA.
BONUS TRACK:
9. Mole On The Dole (Single
Version) - 10 November 1972 UK 7" single on Harvest HAR 5065. A-side.
Track 9 first appeared in May 2013 on the CD reissue of "Rich Man" on
Esoteric Records ECLEC 2386 (Barcode 5013929438644).
As you can see from the
track-list layouts above, all five discs are a grouping together of five
Remasters Esoteric did of the band's material in 2013 clumped together for this
June 2019 Box Set. There are two cuts missing worth a mention - when Esoteric
Recordings reissued "A Lot Of Bottle" on CD in February 2013 - that
Remaster had four bonus tracks and not just the three live on offer here. The
missing song is "Spoonful", a cover version of the Willie
Dixon-written Howlin' Wolf classic that turned up as the non-album B-side to
"Reap What I've Sowed", a Climax Blues Band 7" single on Harvest
HAR 5029 in the UK, released 13 November 1970. I suspect that someone simply
forgot to put this tune on here (bit of an oversight as there was enough
playing time), so if fans want that Blues cover version, they'll need to get
the "A Lot Of Bottle" CD reissue on ECLEC 2375 (Barcode
5013929437548). The B-side of the "Mole On The Dole" Single Version
is called "Like Uncle Charlie" - but I think it’s a different version
to the 1969 stand-alone single where the song first turned up and is not
included on this set.
The six-leaf double-sided
foldout poster has all the artwork for the five album covers, pictures of the
boys and track-by-track reissue credits – but no liner notes. The five single
card sleeves make for a lovely surprise because these are not British album
sleeves (the final two by Hipgnosis) that you see every day of the week. All
the CDs are picture discs (album artwork) and the Remasters are the BEN WISEMAN
versions – Esoteric have a top quality rep on Audio and its upheld here. The
clarity at times even exposes the slightly amateur feel to the first two albums
especially. But damn do they all sound good. To the music…
The self-titled debut album
opens with the very John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers-influenced "Mean Old
World" only to follow with the far better barrelhouse piano romp
"Insurance" (both sounding very cool). More band originals come in
the shape of "Going Down This Road" but the Sonny Boy Williamson cover
of "Don't Start Me Talkin'" cooks better. We go Acoustic Blues with
the excellent "Wee Baby Blues" - a Traditional about loving that
sweet thing that sure look good to me (fab audio and Harmonica from Colin
Cooper). Trying to keep the original-material count high, the band give us the
guitar-jaunty instrumental "Twenty Past One" and the slide electric
of "Looking For My Baby" - a bopper about a gal our hero loves the
most. The debut album delves into Howlin' Wolf's "How Many More
Years" while going Scott Joplin with a false-78-sounding version of
"The Entertainer" as it fades out. Far better however comes in the
Bonus Tracks on CD1 in the shape of Sonny Boy's "Checking On My Baby"
and keyboardist Arthur Wood giving us a rolling Fats Domino-like instrumental
in "Arthur's Boogie". We then get almost five and half minutes of
T-Bone Walker's shuffle Blues "Stormy Monday" running alongside the
more sober "And Lonely (Take Five)" - a down-in-the-dumps Blues let
down by a weak vocal.
"...Plays On" opens
as if its a different band - a more Jazz and Prog influenced John Mayall with
Dick Heckstall-Smith on Saxophone as Colin Cooper hits those Alto and Tenor
Saxophones on the instrumental "Flight". There's no doubt that is
Colosseum exciting. Back to Harmonica and Guitar territory with the chugging
"Hey Baby, Everything's Going To Be Alright..." - a very cool Boogie
lifted up by clear Bass from Derek Holt and steady rhythm sticks from George
Newsome. Possibly trying to cross Richie Havens with Jose Feliciano for the
just plain hammy "Cubano Chant" ends up confusing on all fronts.
Better is an instrumental cover of Graham Bond's "Little Girl" while
2001: A Space Odyssey looms over the organ intro to "Mum's The Word"
before it goes all space and weird and you wonder who replaced the Blues Bar
band with a light-show Pink Floyd. With that experimental noodle out of the
way, the band return to Elmore James rapid slashing of guitars with
"Twenty Past Two/Temptation Rag" - a Blues Boogie played at near
breakneck speed interrupting by barrelhouse piano. No less than pioneer label
man Marshall Chess penned "So Many Roads..." a fab 'gotta find my
baby' slow blues with great guitar fills from Pete Haycock. The album ends on a
really great rollick called "Crazy 'Bout My Baby" - the band cohesive
and kicking up a boogie storm. And again the extras are real bonuses - the
stand-alone 45 "Like Uncle Charlie" b/w "Loving Machine" is
a Rocking affair and the instrumental Jazz-Meets-Rock "Dance Of The
Mountain King's Daughter" comes on like Deram's East Of Eden or even
Ireland's Skid Row in their more Prog guitar moments - brilliant.
By the time we reach platter
number three "A Lot Of Bottle" – it's August 1970 in the studio and
the band has had two albums in the previous year that were well received
critically but barely registered with a rapidly changing listening audience
(the second hits the outer reaches of the Top 200 in the USA for one week).
White boys singing Blues (new and old) was already over by the end of 1969, so
there is a very real feeling of the group trying to grab hold of a mixed
identity with LP No.3 - and in my book succeeding.
You still get Blues in all
its varying forms on "A Lot Of Bottle" - but you also get the
Fleetwood Mac 'Then Play On'-sounding shuffle of "Every Day" and the
rough-rocking A&M Humble Pie period feel to "Reap What I've
Sowed" – a kick-ass grungy 45 of slide Rock that no one noticed. That's
contrasted with the Bonnie Raitt rattling acoustic guitars of "Country
Hat" – an instrumental that strips away all of the band only to leave
Peter Haycock impressing on those bottleneck strokes. As if to change tack yet
again – we then get "Brief Case" – a wickedly good Rock-Jazz riffer
that feels like Colosseum cooking with Canned Heat. Another too-cool-for-school
Harmonica-driven Dirty Blues Band-sounding instrumental comes in the shape of
the magnificent "Alright Blue?" which features a clever Reprise of
the slide in "Country Hat" that opened the LP - only this time on
electric guitar – Haycock sounding like Mickey Moody of Snafu and Nazareth
doing his best Elmore James.
Side 2 of this criminally
forgotten album opens with a deep-voiced cover of Willie Dixon’s "Seventh
Son" – a Fever-like Bass note and distant guitar holding stage until all
Hell breaks loose and the band literally come boogieing in - soloing on guitar
as the brass supports like CBB was jamming at The Isle Of Wight (an impressive
six and half minutes). "Morning Noon and Night" features Joe Turner
lyrics from Atlantic Records original despite the band trying to claim the tune
as their own. Speaking of old genius, perhaps best on the album is the Johnny
Winter guitar-and-harmonica combo delivered on "Louisiana Blues" – a
storming version of the Muddy Waters classic. Going down to New Orleans, get me
a Mojo Hand…indeed. The album ends on "Cut You Loose" – a very Savoy
Brown meets Ten Years After shuffle with shimmering guitar anchored by a
Georgie Fame organ. The three live versions only seasoning to this forgotten
broth of Blues goodness.
Album four was their first
for Harvest in the UK (October 1971) and along with an eye-catching Hipgnosis
sleeve clearly the production values were amped up to slick on the Brass and
Harmonica combo that is "Hey Mama". They try their luck at some
ham-fisted razor and gun lyrics in the unfortunately titled "Shoot Her If
She Runs" – heavy guitars doubling up with vocals. "Towards The
Sun" is a driving out to the big yellow thing poppy ditty that feels a
little like Canned Heat on a diet. Things improve immeasurably with their slide
guitar Foghat-like cover of Robert Johnson’s classic "Come On In My
Kitchen" – a doubled-up guitar and Harmonica chugging in a very cool way.
The one and half minute
"Little Link" is an Allman Brothers guitar instrumental that sounds
like its title. It's a lead-in to the near ten minutes of a huge Slow Blues
monster called "St. Michael's Blues" where CBB think they’re Led
Zeppelin and the singer Robert Plant. It's actually a hugely impressive chunk
of Blues Rock revolving around a girlfriend mashing up his Marks and Spencer
socks (yikes!). A one-time cool vibe oozes out of "Bide My Time" – a
slick piece of jangling guitars anchored by distant Harmonica and Keyboards
jabs. It ends on the Jug Band ditty "That’s All" – two minutes of CBB
sounding like "Neanderthal Man" by (pre 10cc) Hotlegs.
Record number five sees our
boys contemplating feelingless types who drive Cadillac's in a world where the
rich man wins and the poor man pays. As the title track suddenly launches into
a rapid Allmans guitar boogie – it seems CBB are off into another direction.
The full-length album version of "Mole On The Dole" (5:04 minutes)
was chosen as a 3:59-minute seven-inch single edit by Harvest Records in
advance of the album in November 1972 and suddenly CBB sound like a plaintive
Nilsson or The Strawbs contemplating unemployment. It’s pleasant but that’s
about all. Then it's a John Lee Hooker 'Boogie Chillun' groove for the I love
you so much, "You Make Me Sick" song – home to some great Johnny
Winter type slide guitar pinging about the speakers. And on it goes…
You can't but feel that The
Climax Chicago Blues Band flirted around the danger zone for five whole albums
without ever getting truly dangerous enough for people to care. And not for the
first time did ludicrous Hipgnosis artwork confuse buyers (what kind of band is
this?). But there are gems on all of these records and that "A Lot Of
Bottle" third album is a bit of a forgotten masterpiece to me (nondescript
artwork did it no favours either).
"The Albums
1969-1972" by The Climax Blues Band is a rather cool little reissue really
and as they sang on the Son House cover that ends album number five -
"Don't You Mind People Grinning In Your Face" - where the singer
tells us "...bear this is mind...a true friend is hard to find..."
Well I think there's more than one or two pals waiting for you in here...check
it out...
