Climax Blues Band
| Climax Blues Band | |
|---|---|
 The group in 1974 Haycock, Holt, Cuffley, Cooper (v.) |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Stafford , England |
| Genre (s) | Blues rock , fusion , pop |
| founding | 1967 |
| Website | http://www.climaxbluesband.com |
| Founding members | |
| Saxophone , harmonica , clarinet , vocals | |
| Guitar , vocals | |
Derek Holt |
Bass , vocals, keyboard , guitar |
Richard Jones |
Bass, keyboard |
Arthur Wood |
Keyboard |
George Ewart Newsome |
Drums |
| Current occupation | |
singing |
Graham Dee (since 2012) |
Saxophone, harmonica |
Chris "Beebe" Aldridge (since 2012) |
guitar |
Lester Hunt (since 1986) |
bass |
Neil Simpson (since 1991) |
Keyboard |
George Glover (since 1981) |
Drums |
Roy Adams (since 1987) |
| former members | |
Saxophone, harmonica, clarinet, vocals |
Colin Cooper (1967-2008, † 2008) |
Guitar, vocals |
Pete Haycock (1967–1984, † 2013) |
Bass, vocals |
Derek Holt (1968-1982) |
Keyboard |
Arthur Wood (1968–1973, † 2005), Richard Jones (1968–1969 bass, 1975–1977 keyboards), Anton Farmer (1969–1970), Peter Filleu (1970–1975, 1977–1980) |
Drums |
George Ewart Newsome (1968–1970), John Cuffley (1971–1983) |
Session musician |
Saxophone, harmonica, vocals: Johnny Pugh (2009–2012) / bass: Dave Marquee (1982–1983), John Edwards (1983–1985), Roger Inniss (1985), Derek Holt (1986–1991) / keyboard: Nicky Hopkins (1978–1979, † 1994) / drums: Henry Spinetti (1983–1985), Jeff Rich (1983–1985) |
Manager & Producer |
Chris Thomas , Richard Gottehrer , Mike Vernon , Miles Copeland , Roy Wood , John Ryan, Alyn Smith |
The Climax Blues Band is a British blues rock band that was founded in Stafford in 1967 and was very successful commercially until the early 1980s, especially in the USA. With their latest studio album, Hands of Time , the first sound carrier with original material in 30 years, the band managed to build on their earlier successes in 2019 by placing the album in the top ten on Amazon and iTunes .
Band history
The group around frontman Colin Cooper was originally called The Climax Chicago Blues Band , but in 1971 they shortened their name to Climax Chicago . To avoid confusion with the American band Chicago prevent, in 1972, finally Chicago dropped from the name and the label Blues Band reattached to the name.
In the course of time there have been several line-ups, with the so-called Rich Man line-up (Cooper, Haycock, Holt, Cuffley), the most successful line-up in the band's history, lasting until 1982. There were also changes in style early on; If the band played pure Chicago blues on their debut album, the style initially developed continuously in a harder, progressive direction with influences from jazz , folk and psychedelic rock . Influenced by the emerging disco music of the early 1970s, the band increasingly moved away from the blues and switched to a more commercial, funk-dominated style from the Stamp album (1975).
In 1973 the band embarked on their first US tour, which culminated in a concert at the famous Carnegie Hall and a performance at the New York Academy of Music . The latter was broadcast live nationwide by a radio station, which gave the Climax Blues Band a higher profile. In the same year a concert recording of it was released as a double live album FM / Live . The single I Am Constant / Goin 'To New York became their biggest commercial success to date. This was followed by US tours with the likes of Albert King , BB King , James Brown , T-Bone Walker , Jeff Beck , Johnny Winter , Steve Miller , Aerosmith , Bachman Turner Overdrive , Bad Company , Black Sabbath , Curved Air , Dire Straits , The Eagles , Electric Light Orchestra , Emerson, Lake and Palmer , Lynyrd Skynyrd , Marshall Tucker Band , The Ventures , Wishbone Ash and ZZ Top . Concerts with visitor numbers up to 20,000 became the rule.
Their commercial breakthrough came with the world hits Couldn't Get It Right from the album Gold Plated (1976) and I Love You from the album Flying the Flag (1980).
After bassist Derek Holt (1982) and guitarist Pete Haycock (1984) left, success gradually waned from the mid-1980s. Numerous line-up changes followed until the band finally fell apart completely at the end of 1985.
In 1986 Colin Cooper re-formed the Climax Blues Band; Bassist Derek Holt and keyboardist George Glover returned. Guitarist Lester Hunt ( Demon , Hunter) and drummer Roy Adams were newly recruited .
In 1988/89 the Climax Blues Band had a modest respectable success with the single California Sunshine , from the album Drastic Steps , in which original member Derek Holt hardly participated. This left the band for good in 1991. Neil Simpson took his place.
In 1993 there was a comeback with the live album Blues From The Attic , in which the band around the only remaining founding member and frontman Colin Cooper returned to their musical roots.
Multi-instrumentalist Colin Cooper died on July 3, 2008 in his home town of Stafford as a result of many years of cancer. Pete Haycock died of a heart attack on October 31, 2013, at the age of 62.
In 2012, singer Graham Dee (The Contenders, Lone Sharks) and saxophonist Chris Aldridge ( Bizarre Inc ) took Coopers' place.
In 2018 the band celebrated their 50th anniversary.
On January 4, 2019, the current studio album Hands of Time was released , which contains 13 original songs, in which the band stylistically again oriented itself much closer to the earlier commercial successes than to the blues.
The music video for the title track Hands of Time , published on Vevo , reached # 25 on the iTunes Blues Video Charts in the UK.
In January 2019 the Climax Blues Band started a European tour, on which they gave concerts in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Another European tour has been announced for 2020, and on December 20, 2019, the band announced on their YouTube channel that they would be releasing many more songs in 2020.
Music style & influences
The band called their style of music Cosmo Neuro Rock . One of the special features is the three-part harmony singing by Colin Cooper, Pete Haycock and Derek Holt. Through Cooper's unusually deep and Holt's unusually high voice in combination with Haycock's intermediate pitch and his voluminous and clear voice, an unmistakable vocal sound was created, which from the single Like Uncle Charlie from 1969 until the breakup of the Rich Man line-up in 1982 as one was an important trademark. Another typical feature was Haycock's excessive slide guitar playing and the extensive instrumental parts alternating between guitar and saxophone.
Disco and videography
|
Climax Blues Band - discography
|
|
| Publications | |
|---|---|
 Studio albums
|
16 |
|
Live albums
|
6th |
|
Compilations
|
13 |
|
EPs
|
1 |
|
Singles
|
27 |
|
Video albums
|
3 |
|
Music videos
|
7th |
|
Box sets
|
4th |
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1969 | The Climax Chicago Blues Band | - | - |
First published: 1969
|
| 1969 | … Plays On | - |
US197 (1 week) US |
First published: 1969
|
| 1970 | A lot of bottle | - | - |
First published: 1970
|
| 1971 | Tightly knit | - | - |
First published: October 8th, 1971
|
| 1972 | Rich man | - |
US150 (10 weeks) US |
First published: 1972
|
| 1974 | Sense of Direction | - |
US37 (29 weeks) US |
First published: 1974
|
| 1975 | Stamp album | - |
US69 (11 weeks) US |
First published: 1975
|
| 1976 | Gold Plated |
UK56 (1 week) UK |
US27 (44 weeks) US |
First published: 1976
|
| 1978 | Shine on | - |
US71 (11 weeks) US |
First published: 1978
|
| 1979 | Real to reel | - |
US170 (6 weeks) US |
First published: 4.5.1979
|
| 1980 | Flying the flag | - |
US75 (16 weeks) US |
First published: 1980
|
| 1981 | Lucky for Some | - | - |
First publication: 1981
|
| 1983 | Sample and Hold | - | - |
First published: 1983
|
| 1988 | Drastic Steps | - | - |
First published: 1988
|
| 2003 | Big Blues (The Songs of Willie Dixon) | - | - |
First published: 2003
|
| 2019 | Hands of time | - | - |
First publication: 4.1.2019
|
Live albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1973 | FM / Live (US version) | - |
US107 (30 weeks) US |
First published: 1973 The UK version, which appeared in 1974 with a different cover, contains three additional tracks. |
| 1979 | Live - The Warner Bros. Music Show | - | - |
First published: 1979 Promo LP, included on the Live Rare & Raw 1973-1979 compilation as Live from Miami 1979 . |
| 1993 | Blues from the Attic | - | - |
First published: 1993
|
| 2005 | The River Sessions 1982 | - | - |
First published: 2005
|
| 2012 | World Tour 1976 | - | - |
First published: 2012
|
| 2014 | Security Alert - The Official Bootleg | - | - |
First published: 2014
|
Compilations
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1975 | 1969/1972 | - | - |
First published: 1975 Re-release: 1998 with a different cover than The Harvest Years 69-72 |
| 1979 | Take off! - The best of | - | - |
First published: 1979
|
| 1984 | Collection '77 -'83 | - | - |
First published: 1984
|
| 1984 | Loosen Up 1974-1976 | - | - |
First published: 1984 Re-release: 1987 with a different cover and extended track list as Couldn't Get It Right… Plus |
| 1994 | 25 Years (1968-1993) | - | - |
First published: 1994
|
| 1996 | The best of | - | - |
First published: 1996
|
| 1996 | Rock & Pop Legends | - | - |
First published: 1996
|
| 1999 | Got It Right - Greatest Hits | - | - |
First published: 1999
|
| 2000 | Couldn't Get It Right | - | - |
First published: 2000
|
| 2007 | 20 greatest hits | - | - |
First published: 2007
|
| 2012 | Classic Climax: The Best Of 1978-1989 | - | - |
First published: 2012
|
| 2014 | Live Rare & Raw 1973-1979 | - | - |
First published: 2014
|
| 2017 | Live at the BBC 1970–1978 | - | - |
First published: 2017
|
EPs
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 2017 | Tempus Fugit | - | - |
First published: 2017
|
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1969 | Cubano Chant ... Plays On |
- | - |
First published: 1969 B-side: Little Girl |
| 1969 | Like Uncle Charlie (non-album single) |
- | - |
First published: 1969 B-side: Loving Machine |
| 1970 | Reap What I've Sowed A Lot of Bottle |
- | - |
First published: 1970 B-side: Spoonful |
| 1971 | Towards the Sun Tightly Knit |
- | - |
First published: 1971 B-side: Everyday |
| 1972 | Shake Your Love Rich Man |
- | - |
First published: 1972 B-side: You Make Me Sick |
| 1973 | Mole on the Dole Rich Man |
- | - |
First published: 1973 B-side: Like Uncle Charlie |
| 1973 | I Am Constant FM / Live |
- | - |
First published: 1973 B-side: Goin 'To New York |
| 1974 | Sense of Direction Sense of Direction |
- | - |
First published: 1974 B-side: Bird to Whistle |
| 1974 | Reaching Out Sense of Direction |
- | - |
First published: 1974 B-Side: Milwauke Truckin 'Blues (Chipper's Song) |
| 1975 | Using the Power Stamp Album |
- |
US110 (? Where) US |
First published: 1975 B-side: Running Out Of Time |
| 1976 | Together and Free Gold Plated |
- | - |
First published: 1976 B-side: Berlin Blues |
| 1977 | Couldn't Get It Right Gold Plated |
UK10 (9 weeks) UK |
US3 (22 weeks) US |
First published: October 1976 B-side: Fat Maybellene |
| 1978 | Makin 'Love Shine On |
- |
US91 (4 weeks) US |
First published: June 1978 B-side: The Gospel Singer |
| 1978 | Mistress Moonshine Shine On |
- | - |
First published: 1978 B-side: Teartrops |
| 1978 | When Talking Is Too Much Trouble Shine On |
- | - |
First published: 1978 B-side: Take a hold |
| 1979 | Summer Rain Real to Reel |
- | - |
First published: 1979 B-side: Money in Your Pocket |
| 1979 | Children of the Night-Time Real to Reel |
- | - |
First published: 1979 B-side: Long Distance Love |
| 1980 | Gotta Have More Love Flying the Flag |
- |
US47 (12 weeks) US |
First published: November 1980 B-side: One for Me and You |
| 1980 | Dance the Night Away Flying the Flag |
- | - |
First published: 1980 B-side: Blackjack and Me |
| 1981 | I love you flying the flag |
- |
US12 (27 weeks) US |
First published: February 1981 B-side: Horizontalized |
| 1981 | Breakdown Lucky for Some |
- | - |
First publication: 1981 B-side: breakdown |
| 1982 | Darlin ' Lucky for Some |
- | - |
First published: 1982 B-side: Darlin ' |
| 1982 | Friends in High Places Sample and Hold |
- | - |
First published: 1982 B-side: Movie Queen |
| 1983 | Listen to the Night Sample and Hold |
- | - |
First published: 1983 B-side: Church |
| 1988 | The Winner Drastic Steps |
- | - |
First published: 1988 B-side: American Dream |
| 1988 | California Sunshine Drastic Steps |
- | - |
First published: 1988 B-side: Good Times |
| 1988 | Couldn't Get It Right '88 Mix Drastic Steps |
- | - |
First published: 1988 B-side: 12 "version of the A-side and the deceiver |
Video albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1986 | Live from the Marquee Club, London 1984 | - | - |
First published: 1986 Later, as At the Marquee Club (2000), Live - Legends of Rock - Collector's Edition (2001), Live at the Marquee republished |
| 2013 | Live at Rockpalast 1976 | - | - |
First published: 2013
|
| 2015 | Live at the BBC 1978 (Rock Goes To College) | - | - |
First published: 2015
|
Music videos
| year | title |
|---|---|
| 1981 | I Love You (2 versions) |
| 2017 | Ain't that a kick in the head |
| 17th Street Canal | |
| Simple song | |
| 2019 | Hands of time |
| What's your name |
Box sets
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 2001 | Blues apostles | - | - |
First published: 2001 (LPs 1969–1972) |
| 2009 | Back to back | - | - |
First published: 2009 ( Stamp Album and Sense of Direction ) |
| 2019 | The Albums 1969-1972 | - | - |
First published: 2019
|
| 2019 | The Albums 1973-1976 | - | - |
First published: 2019
|
Awards
- 1976 Capitol Radio Award in the Best New Band category .
- The hit song Couldn't Get It Right , re-recorded in 1988 and released as a maxi single, was voted BBC Record of the Week .
Trivia
- At the time of recording the debut album The Climax Chicago Blues Band in 1968, guitarist and singer Pete Haycock was only 17 years old, while saxophonist and singer Colin Cooper was 29 years old.
- At the same time as the recordings for the debut album in Abbey Road Studios in Studio 1, the Beatles worked next door in Studio 2 and Pink Floyd in Studio 3 on their new works, which led to the acquaintance of these. Paul McCartney was partly against during the recordings and let the band listen to demo recordings for the white album in the control room .
- Her second single Like Uncle Charlie from 1969 is a reference to the 1943 film Im Schatten des Zweifels by Alfred Hitchcock , which ends in the original language with the words “the world just seems to go crazy every now and then, like uncle Charlie” .
- The single I Am Constant from the album FM / Live is a reference to William Shakespeare's drama Julius Caesar , from which the line “I am constant as the morning star” is quoted.
- After the Jimmy Reed cover Goin 'to New York , which appeared on the B-side of the single I Am Constant , was played up and down nationwide by US radio stations in 1973/74 and thus became a surprise success, the band pursued the idea of in to thematize locations more and more in their songs in order to establish a personal relationship with their fans from all over the world. As a result, songs were created that already have the place name in the title, such as Milwaukee Truckin 'Blues and Berlin Blues , as well as numerous other songs whose plot is each related to a city or state, such as Champagne and Rock'N'Roll (Tennessie) and Horizontalized (Kansas City). This tradition was continued with later line-ups and is still maintained today, for example with California Sunshine and 17th Street Canal .
- Because they were mistaken for tramps because of their style of clothing and their long hair, the band members were arrested in 1974 on their North American tour in the Mexican border town of Nogales (Sonora) and taken into custody for over 24 hours. This experience is detailed in the song Nogales from the album Sense of Direction .
- The funky blues song Mighty Fire is a tribute to blues artist BB King , with whom the band worked.
- The hit album Gold Plated was named after Pete Haycock's gold-plated Veleno guitar, which he received as a gift from Ronnie Van Zant , lead singer of the band Lynyrd Skynyrd .
- The song Horizontalized from the album Flying the Flag , which was also released on the B-side of the hit single I Love You , is a reference to Lynyrd Skynyrd.
- On the album Live in New Jersey (January 1974) by the band Wishbone Ash , which was released in 2016, Pete Haycock and Colin Cooper can be heard as guest musicians on Where Were You Tomorrow .
- The Climax Blues Band played all the instruments on the Tarney / Spencer Band 's 1978 album Three's a Crowd .
Web links
- Official website (English)
- Climax Blues Band at Allmusic (English)