Featuring Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack, Savoy Brown, Champion Jack Dupree, Muddy Waters and more... Thank you to Sky Vibes (Vibesinthesky) for graciously sending this to me
I’m amazed by the knowledge that everyone has I feel the passion sometimes I learn more from commentary section than documentary itself UK WILL always be ahead of their time they look like smart alien in a human body I’m nobody from Morocco who is fascinated by uk culture I live her in Morocco my life is miserable because of our failure regime but the poverty won’t prevent me to Learn from you guys through RU-vid and it gives me chill god bless everyone 🙏
The Fleetwood Mac footage must be from just after Peter Green left the band. Too bad he wasn’t there at this point. Would’ve loved to have had a documentary like this showing him playing with the band. He was brilliant
This seems to be from around the time they did Kiln House in 1970. Peter had officially gone though I think he came back to help with part of a tour. Kiln House is a favorite FM album, wish they could have kept that lineup with Danny, and Jeremy fronting and Christine joining as singer/songwriter/keyboardist …but it wasn’t to be. Of course it would have been great if Peter had stayed but that train had left the station.
I saw Chicken Shack on the 22nd December 1970 supporting YES. Great show from Stan and his extended guitar lead as he danced in the crowd. Looks like Yes trumped him though for me because I went out and bought The Yes Album. I got progged!!
I believe that is the guitar that was copied by Gibson for their limited edition "Collector's Choice Chicken Shack Burst" Les Paul model. Stan was briefly reunited with this guitar and presented with one of the replicas at an event in Las Vegas in 2018. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-i_QorP6suo0.htmlsi=lWqt-XyMkFbAmBVN
@@Jason.King.at.your.service I believe it is owned by Matt Swanson. Don't really know anything about him, other than that he has a really impressive guitar collection!
Jeez Fleetwood Mac always looked so pale back then. I remember in 1990 I was working in a biker cafe in Surrey, and this blues came on and I thought maybe it was the 'Stones, and someone said no its Fleetwood Mac. I was 18, and of course said "shut up it is not". The realisation that the greatest UK blues band wasn't the 'Stones happened right there. SO good to see the master, Alexis Korner. I remember his silky voice on the radio when I was a kid. Chicken Shack were brutal. Stan fairly pulling some faces there lol this film is in the library of congress!
The Champion! I saw him several times,, loved him. And he was such a smart, funny and incredibly nice old guy. He showed me my first blues licks on the piano when I was a boy. Will never forget him.
Dude said their tired of heavy rock. That didn't age well. I was born after this documentary came out and all I've listened to is heavy rock and blues my whole life.
Kiln House era Fleetwood Mac, Yes please!!! Jeremy was probably only months away from being "kidnapped" by that religious group and Danny Kirwan would only last for 2 more brilliant albums, Future Games and Bare Trees. Love all the pre Buckingham/Nicks Mac stuff.
All these guys played together during the summer of 71'. I saw them all and was introduced to them at The Summerthing Concerts in Boston. What a great line-up!
Thanks for this obscure relic. I think my personal highlights are Chicken Shack 'Gypsy Woman' live excerpt, Savoy Brown rehearsing, and Fleetwood Mac running down a working version of 'Station Man'.
Nice to see a bit of footage (and interview clips) of Duster Bennett, there's very little around! It was also nice that the narration has been pulled right back in the mix. It's always amused me that when a documentary is made about music they talk over the subject.
Who made this? Can't it be remixed? I don't understand how you can have music playing loud with the narrator talking in the background barely audible. No one's paying attention apparently.
Most interesting to me was the clip of Fleetwood Mac recording Station Man, interspersed with Pete Townshend saying that Fleetwood Mac's music deserved its own category, despite its similarity with Blues. At Mick Fleetwood's tribute to Peter Green a few years ago, Pete demonstrated how he modified Station Man to create Won't Get Fooled Again.
Goodness me! This takes me back to the High Wycombe Blues Loft of the late sixties. I saw most of the performers shown in this video (plus Jo Anne Kelly, John Dummer’s Blues Band, Steamhammer and Bakerloo Line and other British Blues bands). The most impressive artists without a doubt were Champion Jack Dupree and Howlin’ Wolf. I saw Howlin’ Wolf twice, once with a supporting band and once solo and he was quite stunning both times. We spoke to him at the interval and he was a charming man, no hint of the curmudgeon he was supposed to be like. Mike Raven was quite wrong, the ‘Blues Boom’ only lasted a couple of years and many bands playing Blues, joined the ranks of the Progressives or began playing Heavy Rock. Incidentally, Fleetwood Mac at 31.03 sound more like Little Feat. I also agree with Pete Townsend, I have been a semi pro. musician for over 50 years and the curse of open mic. nights is the Blues Jam. They are popular, because everyone can play a Blues chord progression and most musicians want an opportunity to play extended solos. Anyway, end of rant.
One of the things I really liked about the new rock bands who came through in the late 70s & early 80s was that they very deliberately _didn't_ play blues, eg Television from NYC, who played anything _but._ Likewise for example Wire here in the UK. Some of the post-punk groups were probably more free jazz influenced if anything. Not that I'm against white people playing blues at all, it's everywhere, but I'll always prefer a King Crimson to a Fleetwood Mac or a Free. Even with Led Zep I much prefer an _Achilles Last Stand_ to a _Lemon Song._
Pure Gold amazing time piece Unfortunately this captures the demise of this era as the heavy blues rock period was well on the way by 1971, Jeremy Spencer leaves in Mac not long after this was filmed and Danny Kirwan follows in 1972. 'Who's next' comes out in '71 and arena rock is born the next time blues goes mainstream is with the arrival of SRV.
No one can forget Johnny Winter, but he was already established having exploded onto the post Cream scene in early 1969 along with the likes of Mountain, Taste and Free. By 1972 he had teamed up with Rick Derringer and was following a more Rock based sound which fitted in well with the arena rock period along with Humble Pie and Canned Heat. Thinking about it now I did overlook ZZ Top whose first 3 albums could be considered to be the link between Winter and SRV ? and Rory Gallagher who always kept it 'earthy' but he was never really mainstream. But by '73 everything was a lot heavier , Free had gone and morphed into Bad Co. as did Chicken Shack into Savoy Brown.
Only contemporary footage I’ve seen of the great savoy brown. Think alexis was talking about another band. Savoy never made a bad album. A couple of average ones,yes.
Poor Alexis was so far off the mark with his take on Kim Simmons & all the versions of Savoy Brown i lost my respect for him , For the life of me i can't think of one LP they did i would be stupid enough to call sad & boring as hell . He'e so far off the mark it's pathetic . So how on earth did Kim become one of the best players on the planet ,well i know he was but Alexis has no clue & for one guy totally immersed in the scene he really has no clue & he was never that good a player to call others that were clearly better is sad. Why Pete Townsend is in this is a mystery as Blues was not his thing & at the time when all this was happening for the makers of this to not even mention Paul Kossoff or Peter Green or Mick Taylor is a mystery hell even Gary Moore & Rory Gallagher were not mentioned . Very one sided look at the blues in Europe & though it was great to see Danny K in this there is way to much missing & what on earth did the Brits have to influence Blues cats from the States ? They never needed help just a larger audience & in those days that was not easy . Having seen Kim & several later versions of Savoy Brown i for one will miss his great playing & his sense of humor. At least we got see some genuine Bluesmen that never needed to copy themselves. or anyone else. Thank you Jack !!!
Dangerous release some great footage of Savoy Brown when they were on the midnight special from the Jack the Toad album . They do coming your way and tell mama . Plus there is some great footage online of Savoy when they were at the Fillmore with Chris Young vocal but it's silent so they double song in but at least you could see Chris w savoy .
AK feels he needs to be a critic in his interview. AK is very important in the British Blues scene for reasons beyond the actual music… He was a facilitator and a lover of the blues; a bit like John M in that he brought people together. In this doc he seems to need to be critical, which might just be his personality. More of a historian and a fan than a real groundbreaking player… But he’s in almost every story told why and when bands formed in the early British blues scene, so he’s very important in that way I’m sure.
I get it that the originators aren't getting the props (or compensation) they deserve, but tbh, growing up, although I could recognize and appreciate Robert Johnson's genius, I most definitely preferred hearing Cream's version of "Crossroads."
'The Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall Can't Fail Blues..' Woke up this morning and my agent was standing in my room, Woke up this morning and my agent and a man from Blue Horizon records and Mike and Richard Vernon were all standing in my room, They said you better learn some blues son, because there's gonna be a boom. A great big boom, daddy... I got the Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall can't fail blues, I got the Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall can't fail blues I got the Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall can't fail blues From the deep, deep south of the river Thames, Bottleneck guitar is the latest trend, Gonna earn more money than I can spend, I got the blues... I got the Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall can't fail blues I got the Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall can't fail blues I got the Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall can't fail blues I got the Jethro Tull bellyful Savoy Brown reach me down blues I got the Jethro Tull bellyful Savoy Brown reach me down blues I got the Jethro Tull bellyful Savoy Brown reach me down blues I'm gonna pick that cotton and do my thing, Don't know the chords and I just can't sing But there's lots of noise and the drums don't swing, I got the blues..... I got the blues, the Jethro Tull bellyful blues I got the Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall can't fail blues I got the Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall can't fail blues Got money by the spoonful, Got money by the handful, Got money by the roomful, Got money by the bankful, I'm with Blue Horizon records everything is gonna be alright...
yes the Afro American Blues has chords, but the chords (1-4 or1-4-5) come from the influence of Celtic song. Remember Bluesmen were Songsters first. The use of one chord is present in the Delta Blues. However Piedmont Blues has different chord structures. Influenced by Ragtime swing.
This is fascinating, a lot of the Black american artists couldn't play in front of a racially mixed audience at home in the U.S. I'm not suggesting that Britain was a racial Utopia, bt the british white kids got into the blues because they would provide the backing bands to the American artists when they toured the UK. Ella Fitzgerald said Germany was her favourite country to play, and the best audience anywhere...who would of thought it!
It’s either that one mic was for the room PA, so the vocalist could be heard in the room, and the other was for the TV recording and/or one mic was a backup for the other in case one failed.
Ok I get using Chicken Shack as the white/British example...but using footage from when they had morphed into a hard blues/rock band a million miles away from their first 4 straight blues albums....is a bit strange!
A lot of them are like that… they did so many of all that, with many types of similar efforts. we saw all this and went with stuff at the time and many other things too. that's how it was - and quite often still is to be frank. The stuff of the common man with limited outlets and anxious thoughts of cash, pain and history, I imagine - oh yes
Alexis Korner sure was an opinionated fellow, he doesn't hesitate to criticise.. 'on a bad night (Fleetwood Mac's music) is the most dreadful bore you've ever heard in your life'...'they've (Savoy Brown) made some absolutely diabolical records...really atrocious'....interesting.