Neil Christian And The Crusaders might be a relatively obscure UK pop group of the early 60's, but they were as good a breeding ground for guitarists as John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, including in their ranks at various times such luminaries as Jimmy Page, Ritchie Blackmore, Albert Lee, Mick Abrahams and Paul Brett, as well as pianist Micky Hopkins, and bassist Alex Dmchowski, who later went on to join Aynsley Dunbar's Retaliation. Christopher Tidmarsh started his career in music by managing a North London-based outfit called The Red-E-Lewis And The Red Cats, who underwent a line-up shift when the original members joined Johnny Kidd as The Pirates from July 1961 to early 1962. Recruiting guitarist Bobby Oats and drummer Jim Evans, they played a few gigs at the Ebisham Hall in Epsom, and Tidmarsh first spotted Jimmy Page paying there. In early 1959, John Spicer joined the band on rhythm guitar, and when Oates announced that he was leaving the band, Tidmarsh contacted Page and invited him down to Shoreditch to audition for the vacancy. He became their new lead guitarist and Spicer switched to bass, and in Spring 1960 Tidmarsh replaced Lewis on vocals, and they reinvented themselves as Neil Christian And The Crusaders. Tidmarsh changed the names of his musicians, with Page being known as 'Nelson Storm', John Spicer was 'Jumbo' and drummer Evans was nicknamed 'Tornado'.
Page toured with them for two years until he was forced to quit due to illness, suffering from glandular fever, although he would later still record with the band in the studio until 1964. Page's replacement was Paul Brett from the Impacs, who was himself briefly replaced by Albert Lee, while bassist Jumbo Spicer left to be replaced by Arvid Andersen. The Crusaders were augmented by pianist Tony Marsh, who had previously been in a Wembley-based combo called the Escort alongside drummer Keith Moon, and is was Marsh who introduced guitarist Ritchie Blackmore to Neil Christian, who teamed up with Andersen and Evans for a brief spell in early 1965. In March 1965, Blackmore and the rest of the group defected Screaming Lord Sutch to become The Savages, and so Christian pulled in an entirely new line-up, taking over a Luton group called The Hustlers, who featured Mick Abrahams on guitar. By June 1965 the new line-up was cemented by the addition of drummer Carlo Little, keyboardist Graham Waller and bassist Alex Dmchowski. While he was guitarist with the Crusaders, Abrahams stood in for Screaming Lord Sutch, who did exactly the same set as The Crusaders, before eventually leaving in late 1965.
Christian disbanded the Crusaders soon after and decided to pursue a solo career, and his fortunes went on the upswing after he hooked up with songwriter and producer Miki Dallon, and landed a number 14 hit single with Dallon's 'That's Nice. To promote 'That’s Nice', Christian reassembled The Crusaders with Richie Blackmore, Tornado Evans, Avid Andersen and Tony Mash, and they toured the UK and Europe, particularly Germany, where they had a residency in Munich. While there he also recorded some tracks for the Metronome label, with 'Two At A Time' being a big hit for him in Germany in 1966. Christian went back to England and recruited new musicians who formed the final incarnation of the Crusaders, with pianist Matt Smith joining three members of Lord Caesar Sutch & The Roman Empire, Richie Blackmore, Carlo Little and bassist Tony Dangerfield. After The Crusaders split up following an argument in a restaurant, Christian released his final UK 45 'You're All Things Bright And Beautiful' for Pye in 1967, although when he moved to the Vogue label he recorded 'My Baby's Left Me' with his old Crusaders mates Blackmore and Little, with Nicky Hopkins on piano and Rick Brown on bass. Christian continued to release singles under his own name and as Neil Christian And The Crusaders well into the mid 70's, but he is best remembered for employing a string of guitarists who later went on to greater things, and an album around 1967 could have included tracks featuring most of them. As that never came about, then here is the best of the band's output, leaving aside some of the more 'pop' moments, and concentrating on the R&B that let those guitarists shine.
Track listing
01 She's Got The Action
02 Get A Load Of This
03 One For The Money
04 Yakity Yak
05 That's Nice
06 Honey Hush
07 Bad Girl
08 Crusading
09 Oops
10 Countdown
11 My Baby's Left Me
12 Let Me In
13 I Like It
Featuring on guitar:
01, 02, 08, 12, 13 Jimmy Page
04, 07, 09, 10, 11 Richie Blackmore
01, 05 Mick Abrahams
03, 06 Phil McPill
