BLUES INCORPORATED: AT THE CAVERN (1964)
1) Overdrive; 2) Whoa Babe; 3)
Every Day I Have The Blues; 4) Hoochie Coochie Man; 5) Herbie's Tune; 6) Little
Bitty Gal Blues; 7) OK You Win; 8) Kansas City.
With Beatlemania already in full swing and the
British rhythm & blues scene already beginning to be populated by newcoming
young ruffians, this record already has less historical significance than R&B At The Marquee — yet it is also
an honestly much better album. First, unlike the «Marquee» sessions, this one
was actually recorded live (February 23, 1964, at The Cavern in Liverpool,
already made famous by the Beatles' residence): expectedly, it catches Korner's
band in a more adventurous and riskier state of mind, where their purpose is
not only to «introduce» their influences, but to actually do something with those influences as well.
Second, with several years of experience behind
their backs, Blues Incorporated were almost beginning to develop some sort of
personal identity — very important in an era of swiftly increasing
competition, even though it was still never enough to make Korner into a
superstar (not that he ever entertained any such ambitions). Clearly, they were
listening not only to «mass appeal» records from the Chicago blues scene, but
to various strands and strains of jazz as well, and introducing «bizarre»
elements into their own musical approach.
This particular line-up, other than Korner
himself, included mostly new players: Dave Castle replacing Dick Heckstall-Smith
on sax; Malcom Saul on organ; Vernon Bown on bass; Mike Scott on drums; and
Herbie Goins on vocals, although Alexis himself takes the lead on several of
the tracks (allegedly, he abhorred his own singing voice and only sang out of
necessity — which is understandable, since he has a raspy croak that, at best,
comes across as «funny»; still, in terms of mood, it agrees well with many of
the arrangements, and it is still light years more «accessible» than, say, any
random Jimmy Reed vocal).
Of all these people, Dave Castle is the
loudest, and his sax frequently tends to outshout the vocalist (ʽEveryday I
Have The Bluesʼ is a particularly illustrative example: no sooner does Alexis
introduce Herbie Goins to the Cavern audiences as «someone who can sing» than
the frenetic blurting from Dave's pipe completely prevents us — and I am not even talking about the
actual audience at the club — from assessing that statement). Some find this a
problem, but not me: the noisy ambience generated by Dave's ruckus is
intermittently irritating... and curious
— certainly B. B. King would never have dreamed of performing the song that way.
The lengthy instrumental ʽHerbie's Tuneʼ,
ironically named after the band's only non-performing member, is quite solid —
a carefully constructed workout in 12/4, with Castle and Saul taking time to
improvise and Mike Scott turning in the obligatory drum solo, probably making
this the earliest «jazz-style rock instrumental» in the history of British
rhythm & blues, and a pretty good one: everything gels, even if the main
theme, with its rather monotonous rise-and-fall pattern, is hardly on par with
Charles Mingus.
Alexis throws in a few of his own compositions,
introducing ʽWhoa Babeʼ as a «John Lee Hooker type blues» (not that John Lee
Hooker would care for such saxophone exuberance on his records, but otherwise,
a fairly good definition) and giving the other one the ambitious title of
ʽOverdriveʼ — although, frankly, the only performer to remain in overdrive
throughout the album is Dave Castle, so much so that they should have honestly
credited this one to «Dave Castle's Blues Incorporated». He even manages to
dominate ʽHoochie Coochie Manʼ, no matter how much Alexis tries to revert
attention to himself by playing a «stinging» slide guitar solo.
Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it amuses, but in
the end, it is what gives At The Cavern
its distinct flavor: Britain had its fair share of competent sax blowers, yet,
for the most part, they were either bit players of relatively little
significance (e. g. Mike Vickers of Manfred Mann) or played in a strictly pop
configuration (Mike Smith of the Dave Clark 5). Heckstall-Smith was among the
few exceptions, but he had not yet latched on to his chance to shine — so Dave
Castle takes the lead here and blows 'em all away, for bad or for good. Yes,
and Herbie Goins does have a nice blueswailing tone, after all (check out ʽOK
You Winʼ for proof).
Thumbs up, of course,
and there is also an expanded reissue of the album that includes an additional
six tracks recorded live for the BBC that same year — including ʽTurn On Your
Lovelightʼ and ʽPlease, Please, Pleaseʼ, showing how much Korner was really
getting into soul-based R&B at that time, way beyond his passion for the
Chicago blues scene.
Check "At The Cavern" (MP3) on Amazon
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