Miller Anderson - ...and on guitar (1994)

Miller Anderson was born on 12 April 1945 in Houston, Renfrewshire in Scotland, and started his career in the group The Royal Crests in Scotland around 1964, and after moving down to London in March 1965 they renamed themselves Karl Stuart And The Profiles. Under this name they released two singles in 1965, 'Love Of My Eyes'/'Not A Girl In A Million' and  and 'Haven't They Got Better Things'/'Touch Of Your Hand', before dropping the Karl Stuart part and becoming The Profiles. Two more singles followed in the same year, before Anderson left the band and joined The Voice. This time the group only managed one single, 'Train To Disaster'/'Truth', before he departed, although he was there long enough to play with Mick Ronson when they were both members at the same time. Anderson then formed a duo with Dave Dufort in the mid-60's, but with the addition of future Mott The Hoople leader Ian Hunter on bass and Dante Smith on keyboards they became The Scenery, and after Dofort left the band and was replaced by John Vernon Smith, yet another single emerged in 'To Make A Man Cry'/'Thread Of Time'. In March 1968 he joined the strangely-named At Last the 1958 Rock And Roll Show, bumping into Hunter again, and with Freddie Fingers Lee on keyboards and Pete Phillips on drums, they released one single, with the Jimmi Duncan-produced 'I Can't Drive'/'Working On The Railroad' appearing on the CBS label in 1968. 

In October 1968 the band changed their name to Charlie Woolfe, with the same line-up, and they were soon back in the studio to record another single, this time for NEMS in UK (also released by CBS in Holland), with 'Dance Dance Dance'/'Home', with the b-side being a Freddie Fingers Lee, Miller Anderson and Ian Hunter co-write. Soon afterwards, Anderson and Hunter decided to abandon Charlie Woolfe, so they resurrected The Scenery, and although this edition of the band did not record, they did back singer David McWilliams for a British tour. In November 1968 Anderson finally got the call that he'd been waiting for, with an offer to join the Keef Hartley Band as vocalist and lead guitarist, and he ended up composing most of their original material. They released the excellent 'Halfbreed' album, recorded in just three days, and which opened with 'Sacked', a recording of an answerphone message from John Mayall telling Hartley that he was out of The Bluesbreakers. On this album Miller only contributed vocals, with guitar courtesy of Spit James, but once James left the band, Anderson took over the guitar role completely, and this line-up played in Woodstock Festival on its second day, although unfortunately they don't appear on the movie or soundtrack. With the addition of Mick Weaver, the Keef Hartley Band released their second album, 'The Battle Of North West Six', with guitar by Spit James, who was still in the band when it was recorded, and with one track featuring Mick Taylor guesting on guitar. 

'Overdog' followed in 1971 , and the group converted into a big band, in order to record a live album in the legendary Marquee in London, called 'Little Big Band', and they toured with a line-up of up to 20 members. After the live recording, the band returned to their usual quintet, and after recording some tracks for BBC in March 1971, Anderson started to think of pursuing a solo career. leaving the band in 1971. His first solo album 'Bright City', was released on Dream later that year, and he assembled a band to play some concerts, although he didn't actually tour. Around January 1973 he  formed a new band with keyboardist Mick Weaver, with Hemlock having more of a folk feel than the blues that he was associated with. They released a self-titled album, 'Hemlock', which was originally conceived as Anderson's second solo album, with help from Pete Willsher on steel guitar and Chris Mercer on sax. They toured supporting Procol Harum in England in March 1973, followed by another tour supporting Savoy Brown and Uriah Heep. On that tour, the chemistry between Savoy Brown's Kim Simmonds and Anderson finished with the offer of them forming a band together, so with the addition of Hemlock's rhythm section the formed The Boogie Brothers, which eventually led to him joining Savoy Brown themselves in January 1974, giving a three-guitar line-up of Simmonds, Anderson, and ex-Chicken Shack leader Stan Webb. 

They released the 'Boogie Brothers' album in 1974, but with too many leaders in the band, they only stayed together until December. In 1975, Anderson teamed up with his old boss Keef Hartley, and formed the short-lived Dog Soldier. After releasing their self-titled album, 'Dog Soldier', Hartley and bassist Paul Bliss left the band, and although they carried on with replacements Jim Leverton and Eric Dillon, they soon parted ways after touring with Back Street Crawler. Around August 1976, Marc Bolan refreshed the line-up of T Rex completely, keeping only Dino Dines, who recruited his old mate Anderson to play on Bolan's next album 'Dandy In The Underworld', and after that he joined Donovan for a tour, but before he could re-join T Rex, Bolan was killed in a car accident in 1977. The following year Anderson put together another band with keyboardist Ronnie Leahy, and after adding Colin Allen on drums, and recruiting guitarist Jimmy McCulloch, The Dukes recorded their only album in 1979, and then toured with Wishbone Ash. They had a minor success with the single 'Hearts In Trouble', but soon after that, tragedy struck again and Jimmy McCulloch sadly died. They replaced him with Mick Grabham, but the band folder shortly afterwards. In 1982 Anderson was asked to join Stan Webb in his new band Stan Webb´s Speedway, but he was only in the group for a short while, and didn't record with them. 

His next gig evolved from a collaboration between Ian Hunter and Corky Laing, who was the drummer in Mountain, who wrote several songs together, and then Hunter called Anderson to come over and sing and play guitar on the recordings. After Leslie West was invited to contribute to the project, it was suddenly a full-blown Mountain reunion, and in 1982 they started recording an album, 'Go For Your life', but Anderson has been forced to switch to bass after West joined, and so when he realized his part was to be too small, he left the band, although he can be heard on 'Makin' It In Your Car' from the record. In 1988 he joined The Spencer Davis Group, alongside vocalist Chris Farlowe, bassist Colin Hodgkinson, Zoot Money on keyboards, Pete York on drums, and Davis himself on vocals and guitar. They released a live album, 'Extremely Live At Birmingham Town Hall' in 1988, with Anderson in great form on 'Feet's Too Big' and 'Stormy Monday'. In November and December 1988 the toured Germany under the name of Pete York's R&B Revue, and in 1991 they recorded a live album under their alternative name of Pete York & Superblues, released in 1994, and featuring renditions of the Billie Holliday classic 'Lover Man', Chris Farlowe's early hit 'Out Of Time', and Anderson's showcases on 'Dimples' and 'Resurrection Shuffle'. Anderson is still working, and in the spring of 2016, he returned to the studio, releasing his new album 'Through The Mill' in the July, and this collection of tracks from throughout his long and varied career will go some way to show how he got to that point.  

Track listing

Disc One
01 Love Of My Eyes (single by Karl Stuart And The Profiles 1965)
02 Got To Find A Way (single by The Profile 1966)
03 The Train To Disaster (single by The Voice 1966)
04 Thread Of Time (b-side of 'To Make A Man Cry' by The Scenery 1967)
05 I Can't Drive (single by At Last The 1958 Rock And Roll Show 1968)
06 Dance Dance Dance (single by Charlie Woolfe 1968)
07 You Can Choose (from 'Overdog' by The Keef Hartley Band 1971)
08 The Actor (from 'Two Weeks Last Summer' by Dave Cousins 1972)
09 Ship To Nowhere (from 'Hemlock' by Hemlock 1973)
10 You Don't Love Me (from 'Boogie Brothers' by Savoy Brown 1974)

Disc Two
01 Broken Glass (from 'Broken Glass' by Broken Glass' 1975)
02 You Are My Spark (from 'Dog Soldier' by Dog Soldier 1975)
03 Jason B. Sad (from 'Dandy In The Underworld' by T. Rex 1977)
04 We Can Make It Together (from 'Heartbreak Hill' by The Strawbs 1978)
05 Time On Your Side (from 'The Dukes' by The Dukes 1979)
06 We Are One (from 'Neutronica' by Donovan 1980)
07 Makin' It In Your Car (from 'Go For Your Life' by Mountain 1985)
08 The Thrill Is Gone (from 'Extremely Live At Birmingham Town Hall' by The Spencer Davis Group 1988)
09 Dimples (from 'Superblues' by Pete York 1994)

Savoy Brown - Taste And Try (1981)

Savoy Brown Blues Band were formed by guitarist Kim Simmonds and harmonica player John O'Leary, following a chance meeting at Transat Imports record shop in Lisle Street, Soho, in 1965. Their name was a combination of the American blues label, Savoy Records, as they thought the word 'Savoy' sounded elegant, and to contrast this they chose the extremely plain Brown as the other half, adding Blues Band to tell listeners what they played. The original line-up included singer Brice Portius, keyboardist Trevor Jeavons, bassist Ray Chappell, drummer Leo Manning and harmonica player John O'Leary, but Jeavons was replaced by Bob Hall shortly after the band's formation, and Martin Stone was added on guitar. Not long after Stone's arrival, O'Leary left the band as a consequence of a dispute with manager Harry Simmonds, and it was this line-up which recorded the band's 1967 debut album 'Shake Down'. It was a superb collection of blues covers, and established the group at the forefront of the blues/r'n'b scene. Further line-up changes ensued, with founding members Portius, Chappell and Manning departing along with recently recruited guitarist Stone over a short period of time, and they were replaced by vocalist Chris Youlden and "Lonesome" Dave Peverett on second guitar. With the addition of drummer Roger Earl, this line-up recorded two albums in 1968, 'Getting To The Point' which came out that year, and 'Blue Matter' which was released in 1969. Both of these included much more original material, and further albums in that vein followed, with 1969's 'A Step Further' and 1970's 'Raw Sienna'. cementing their place in the late 60's blues boom, and breaking them in the States at the same time. 

Following the release of 'Raw Sienna' Youlden left the band, and they recorded their next album 'Looking In' as a four-piece, after which Peverett, Stevens, and Earl left to form Foghat with guitarist Rod Price. Simmonds recruited Dave Walker on vocals, Paul Raymond on keyboards and guitars, Andy Silvester on bass, and Dave Bidwell on drums, most of whom had just left Chicken Shack, and released 'Street Corner Talking' in 1971. Despite their continued success at home, superstardom perpetually evaded them, perhaps in part because of their frequent line-up changes, but despite this their 1972 album 'Hellbound Train' was a Top 40 album for them in the US. In the late 1970's there were more line-up changes, but for most people the glory days of the band were behind them, and despite releasing many more albums for their loyal followers, the group never had the same success. In 1981 they had a surprise hit single with a cover of 70's popsters Smokie's 'Run To Me', and it became the band's highest-charting single in the United States, peaking at number 68 on the Billboard Hot 100, but it certainly wasn't the blues. They did record some outstanding music in their heyday, and their early albums are all blues classics, so it's good to find that there are a number of singles and their b-sides from that period which did not appear on their albums, which I've collected here, along with a couple of BBC sessions, a fine live take of an otherwise unrecorded song, and that 1981 single, if you really want to hear it. 

Track listing

01 Taste And Try, Before You Buy (single 1967)
02 Someday People (b-side of 'Taste And Try, Before You Buy')
03 Walking By Myself (b-side of 'Vicksburg Blues' 1968)
04 Gnome Sweet Gnome (Top Gear session 1968)
05 I Want You To Love Me (Live 1969)
06 Grits And Groceries (All Around The World) (single 1969)
07 Louisiana Blues (Top Gear session 1968)
08 Coming Down Your Way (single 1973)
09 Tell Mama (single edit 1971)

10 You'd Better Pray For The Lord To Guide You (Top Gear session 1970)
11 Blues On The Ceiling (BBC session 1971)
12 Run To Me (single 1981)