British blues
British blues | |
---|---|
Stylistic origins | |
Cultural origins | Mid-twentieth-century United Kingdom |
Derivative forms |
|
Fusion genres | |
British blues is a form of music derived from American blues that originated in the late 1950s, and reached its height of mainstream popularity in the 1960s. In Britain, blues developed a distinctive and influential style dominated by electric guitar, and made international stars of several proponents of the genre, including the Rolling Stones, the Animals, the Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin.
Origins
American blues became known in Britain from the 1930s onwards through a number of routes, including records brought to Britain, particularly by African-American
Among these were guitarist and blues harpist
Davies and Korner, having already split with Barber, now plugged in and began to play high-powered electric blues that became the model for the subgenre, forming the band
Blues Incorporated became something of a clearing house for British blues musicians in the later 1950s and early 1960s, with many joining, or sitting in on sessions. These included future
British rhythm and blues
While some bands focused on blues artists, particularly those of Chicago electric blues, others adopted a wider interest in rhythm and blues, including the work of Chess Records' blues artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, but also rock and roll pioneers Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley.[7] Most successful were the Rolling Stones, who abandoned blues purism before their line-up solidified and they produced their first eponymously titled album in 1964, which largely consisted of rhythm and blues standards. Following in the wake of the Beatles' national and then international success, the Rolling Stones soon established themselves as the second most popular UK band and joined the British Invasion of the American record charts as leaders of a second wave of R&B orientated bands.[7][8] In addition to Chicago blues numbers, the Rolling Stones covered songs by Chuck Berry and the Valentinos, with the latter's "It's All Over Now" giving them their first UK number one in 1964.[9] Blues songs and influences continued to surface in the Rolling Stones' music, as in their version of "Little Red Rooster", which went to number 1 on the UK singles chart in December 1964.[10]
Other London-based bands included
The British
Because of the very different circumstances from which they came, and in which they played, the rhythm and blues these bands produced was very different in tone from that of African American artists, often with more emphasis on guitars and sometimes with greater energy.[7] They have been criticised for exploiting the massive catalogue of African American music, but it has also been noted that they both popularised that music, bringing it to British, world and in some cases American audiences, and helping to build the reputation of existing and past rhythm and blues artists.[7] Most of these bands rapidly moved on from recording and performing American standards to writing and recording their own music, often leaving their R&B roots behind, but enabling several to enjoy sustained careers that were not open to most of the more pop-oriented beat groups of the first wave of the invasion, who (with the major exception of the Beatles) were unable to write their own material or adapt to changes in the musical climate.[7]
British blues boom
The blues boom overlapped, both chronologically and in terms of personnel, with the earlier, wider rhythm and blues phase, which had begun to peter out in the mid-1960s leaving a nucleus of instrumentalists with a wide knowledge of blues forms and techniques, which they would carry into the pursuit of more purist blues interests.
The rise of electric blues, and its eventual mainstream success, meant that British acoustic blues was completely overshadowed. In the early 1960s,
In contrast, the next wave of bands, formed from about 1967, like Cream, Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After, Savoy Brown, and Free, pursued a different route, retaining blues standards in their repertoire and producing original material that often shied away from obvious pop influences, placing an emphasis on individual virtuosity.[24] The result has been characterised as blues rock and arguably marked the beginnings of a separation of pop and rock music that was to be a feature of the record industry for several decades.[24] Cream is often seen as the first supergroup, combining the talents of Clapton, Bruce and Baker;[25] they have also been seen as one of the first groups to exploit the power trio. Although only together for a little over two years in 1966–1969, they were highly influential and it was in this period that Clapton became an international superstar.[26] Fleetwood Mac are often considered to have produced some of the finest work in the subgenre, with inventive interpretations of Chicago blues.[4] They were also the most commercially successful group, with their eponymous début album reaching the UK top five in early 1968 and as the instrumental "Albatross" reached number one in the single charts in early 1969. This was, as Scott Schinder and Andy Schwartz put it, "The commercial apex of the British blues Boom".[27] Free, with the guitar talents of Paul Kossoff, particularly from their self titled second album (1969), produced a stripped down form of blues that would be highly influential on hard rock and later heavy metal.[28] Ten Years After, with guitarist Alvin Lee, formed in 1967, but achieved their breakthrough in 1968 with their live album Undead and in the US with their appearance at Woodstock the next year.[29] Among the last British blues bands to gain mainstream success were Jethro Tull, formed from the amalgamation of two blues bands, the John Evan Band and the Mcgregor's Engine in 1967. Their second album, Stand Up, reached number one in the UK in 1969.[30]
Decline
British blues entered a rapid decline at the end of 1960s. Surviving bands and musicians tended to move into other expanding areas of rock music. Some, like Jethro Tull, followed bands like the Moody Blues away from 12-bar structures and harmonicas into complex, classical-influenced progressive rock.[31] Some played a loud version of blues rock that became the foundation for hard rock and heavy metal. Led Zeppelin, formed by Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page, on their first two albums, both released in 1969, fused heavy blues and amplified rock to create what has been seen as a watershed in the development of hard rock and nascent heavy metal.[32] Later recordings would mix in elements of folk and mysticism, which would also be a major influence on heavy metal music.[33] Deep Purple developed a sound based on "squeezing and stretching" the blues,[34] and achieved their commercial breakthrough with their fourth and distinctively heavier album, Deep Purple in Rock (1970), which has been seen as one of heavy metal's defining albums.[35] Black Sabbath was the third incarnation of a group that started as the Polka Tulk Blues Band in 1968. Their early work included blues standards, but by the time of their second album Paranoid (1970), they had added elements of modality and the occult that would largely define modern heavy metal.[36] Some, like Korner and Mayall, continued to play a "pure" form of the blues, but largely outside of mainstream notice. The structure of clubs, venues and festivals that had grown up in the early 1950s in Britain virtually disappeared in the 1970s.[37]
Survival and resurgence
Although overshadowed by the growth of rock music the blues did not disappear in Britain, with American bluesmen such as John Lee Hooker, Eddie Taylor, and Freddie King continuing to be well received in the UK and an active home scene led by figures including Dave Kelly and his sister Jo Ann Kelly, who helped keep the acoustic blues alive on the British folk circuit.[38] Dave Kelly was also a founder of The Blues Band with former Manfred Mann members Paul Jones and Tom McGuinness, Hughie Flint and Gary Fletcher.[38] The Blues Band was credited with kicking off a second blues boom in Britain, which by the 1990s led to festivals all around the country, including The Swanage Blues Festival, The Burnley National Blues Festival, The Gloucester Blues and Heritage Festival and The Great British Rhythm and Blues Festival at Colne.[38] The twenty-first century has seen an upsurge in interest in the blues in Britain that can be seen in the success of previously unknown acts including Seasick Steve,[39] in the return to the blues by major figures who began in the first boom, including Peter Green,[40] Mick Fleetwood,[41] Chris Rea[42] and Eric Clapton,[43] as well as the arrival of new artists such as Dani Wilde, Matt Schofield,[44] Aynsley Lister and most recently in 2017 the Starlite Campbell Band.[45] The British blues tradition lives on, as a style, outside of Britain as well. American guitarist Joe Bonamassa describes his main influences as the 1960s era British blues players, and considers himself a part of that tradition rather than the earlier American blues styles.[46]
Significance
Beside giving a start to many important blues, pop and rock musicians, in spawning blues rock British blues also ultimately gave rise to a host of subgenres of rock, including particularly psychedelic rock, progressive rock,[24] hard rock and ultimately heavy metal.[47] Perhaps the most important contribution of British blues was the surprising re-exportation of American blues back to America, where, in the wake of the success of bands like the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac, white audiences began to look again at black blues musicians like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker, who suddenly began to appeal to middle class white Americans.[47] The result was a re-evaluation of the blues in America which enabled white Americans much more easily to become blues musicians, opening the door to Southern rock and the development of Texas blues musicians like Stevie Ray Vaughan.[4]
See also
Notes
- ISBN 0-7546-5580-6, p. 28.
- ^ a b c R. F. Schwartz, How Britain Got the Blues: the Transmission and Reception of American Blues Style in the United Kingdom (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), p. 22.
- ^ M. Brocken, The British Folk Revival, 1944-2002 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003), pp. 69-80.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine, eds, All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive Guide to the Blues (Backbeat, 3rd edn., 2003), p. 700.
- ^ L. Portis, Soul Trains (Virtualbookworm Publishing, 2002), p. 213.
- ^ a b Marshall, Wolf (September 2007). "Peter Green: The Blues of Greeny". Vintage Guitar. 21 (11): 96–100.
- ^ ISBN 0-87930-653-X, pp. 1315-6.
- ^ a b Gilliland 1969, show 38.
- ISBN 0-7894-9998-3, p. 137.
- ^ S. T. Erlewine, "Rolling Stones", Allmusic, retrieved 16 July 2010.
- ^ ISBN 0-87930-653-X, pp. 1321-2.
- ^ B. Eder & S. T. Erlewine, "The Who", Allmusic, retrieved 16 July 2010.
- ISBN 0-87930-653-X, pp. 1315-6.
- ISBN 0-352-39715-2, pp. 61-2.
- ^ T. Rawlings, A. Neill, C. Charlesworth and C. White, Then, Now and Rare British Beat 1960–1969 (Omnibus Press, 2002), p. 130.
- ^ M. Roberty and C. Charlesworth, The Complete Guide to the Music of Eric Clapton (Omnibus Press, 1995), p. 11.
- ISBN 1-904041-96-5.
- ^ R. Brunning, The Fleetwood Mac Story: Rumours and Lies (Omnibus Press, 2004), pp. 1–15.
- ISBN 9780754655800. Retrieved 5 September 2020 – via Google Books.
- ^ B. Sweers, Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music (Oxford University Press, 2005) pp. 184–189.
- ^ "Ian A. Anderson[permanent dead link]", NME Artists, retrieved 23/06/09.
- ^ "Al Jones: acoustic blues and folk musician", Times Online 20/08/08, retrieved 23/06/09.
- ^ B. Sweers, Electric Folk: The Changing Face of English Traditional Music (Oxford University Press, 2005) p. 252.
- ^ a b c D. Hatch and S. Millward, From Blues to Rock: an Analytical History of Pop Music (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1987), p. 105.
- ^ Gilliland 1969, show 53.
- ^ R. Unterberger, "Cream: biography", Allmusic, retrieved 22 June 2012.
- ^ S. Schinder and A. Schwartz, Icons of Rock: An Encyclopedia of the Legends Who Changed Music Forever (Greenwood, 2008), p. 218.
- ^ J. Ankeny, "Free: biography", Allmusic, retrieved 22 June 2012.
- ^ W. Ruhlmann, "Ten Years After: biography", Allmusic, retrieved 22 June 2012.
- ISBN 1402769768, p. 286.
- ISBN 0-7486-1745-0, p. 64.
- ISBN 0-19-537371-5, pp. 64-5.
- ^ S. T. Erlewine, "Led Zeppelin: biography", Allmusic, retrieved 8 September 2011.
- ISBN 1-84353-105-4, p. 278.
- ^ E. Rivadavia, "Review: Deep Purple, In Rock", Allmusic, retrieved 29 December 2011.
- ISBN 0-534-64295-0, pp. 213-4.
- ^ R. F. Schwartz, How Britain Got the Blues: the Transmission and Reception of American Blues Style in the United Kingdom (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2007), p. 242.
- ^ a b c Year of the Blues Archived 2012-12-15 at the Wayback Machine, retrieved 20 July 2009.
- ^ Akbar, Arifa (2009-01-21). "Seasick Steve sings the blues for a Brit". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-03-11.
- ^ R. Brunning, The Fleetwood Mac Story: Rumours and Lies (Omnibus Press, 2004), p. 161.
- ^ "Mick Fleetwood Blues Band", Blues Matters, retrieved 20/06/09.
- ^ "Chris Rea: Confessions of a blues survivor", Independent, 26/03/04, retrieved 20/03/09.
- ^ R. Weissman, Blues: the Basics (Routledge, 2005), p. 69.
- ^ "Matt Schofield" and "When blues turns to gold" in Guitarist, 317 (July 2009), pp. 57-60 and 69-71.
- ^ "Blueberry Pie". MusicBrainz. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
- ^ Hodgett, Trevor. "Joe Bonamassa Interview". Blues in Britain. Clikka. Archived from the original on 9 November 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2017.
- ^ a b W. Kaufman and H. S. Macpherson, Britain and the Americas: Culture, Politics, and History (ABC-CLIO, 2005), p. 154.
References
- Bane, M., (1982) White Boy Singin' the Blues, London: Penguin, 1982, ISBN 0-14-006045-6.
- ISBN 1-900924-41-2- First edition 1986 - Second edition 1995 Blues in Britain
- ISBN 0-7119-6907-8
- Martin Celmins, ISBN 1-86074-233-5
- Fancourt, L., (1989) British blues on record (1957–1970), Retrack Books.
- Gilliland, John (1969). "String Man" (audio). Pop Chronicles. University of North Texas Libraries.
- ISBN 1-904555-04-7
- Christopher Hjort, Strange brew: ISBN 1-906002-00-2
- Paul Myers, ISBN 1-55365-200-2
- Harry Shapiro ISBN 0-7475-3163-3
- Schwartz, R. F., (2007) How Britain got the blues : The transmission and reception of American blues style in the United Kingdom Ashgate, ISBN 0-7546-5580-6.
- Mike Vernon, The Blue Horizon story 1965-1970 vol.1, notes of the booklet of the Box Set (60 pages)