The Spencer Davis Group - BBC Sessions, Volume 3: 1967-1973

I already post4ed two albums of the Spencer Davis Group performing for the BBC. Those dealt with the time Steve Winwood was a member, and lead singer, of the group. I figured that was it, because Winwood is a musical giant and was the chief attraction for me. But in putting together lots more BBC albums for this blog, I found out that the band still had merit without him. 

Most importantly, when he left in early 1967, along with his brother Muff Winwood, they were replaced by Phil Sawyer on guitar and Eddie Hardin on keyboards. Sawyer didn't stay long, but Hardin was the key recruit. He sang lead vocals, and his voice had more than a passing resemblance to Steve Winwood's. But also, it turned out he was a decent songwriter. In late 1968, he left the band and took the drummer Pete York with him. They created the duo Hardin and York and had some success. The rest of the Spencer Davis Group fizzled out and then broke up without those two. Then, in 1973, the band was reformed with Hardin and York back in the fold, only to break up again in 1974.

So the way I look at it, this was basically a new band, an early version of Hardin and York. Guitarist Spencer Davis himself was a point of continuity, but in my opinion he was never the key member of the group despite having his name in the band's name. This new band didn't reach the commercial or critical success of the band with Steve Winwood, because Winwood's vocal and instrumental talents are unique and extraordinary, but if you compare them with other bands of the day, they were pretty good, I think. They still kept doing some R&B like they'd done with Winwood, but they also did a fair amount of psychedelic influenced music, to keep up with the times in 1967 and 1968.

This Winwood-less version of the band didn't do that many BBC sessions, but luckily there's just enough for an album decent length. It would be longer, except I didn't include the second versions of three songs they played twice: "Time Seller," "Feel Your Way," and "Mr. Second Class." As it is, I think it works neatly as a "best of" of this version of the band, featuring all their best known songs, including their three minor British hits, "Time Seller," "Mr. Second Class," and "After Tea." ("Time Seller" hit number two in the Netherlands.)

By the way, although it wasn't released as a single, their best song may be the first one, "Don't Want You No More." If you're a fan of the Allman Brothers Band, you probably recognize this. They did an instrumental version if it on their first album as part of a medley with the song "It Ain't My Cross to Bear," and they played that medley a zillion times in the years afterwards. It's interesting to hear the original version with lyrics.

All of the performances here from 1967 and 1968 have been officially released on the compilation album "Taking Out Time." However, a number of them, the ones with "[Edit]" in their titles, had BBC DJs talking over the music. I removed the DJ vocals in the usual way I do, using X-Minus audio editing software.

The last three songs are somewhat different. These all date to 1973, during the band's short-lived reunion. They're all from an unreleased concert that was broadcast on the BBC at the time. They finished with a version of "Gimme Some Lovin'," the band's most famous song from when Winwood was a member. 

This album is 42 minutes long.

01 Don't Want You No More [Edit] (Spencer Davis Group)
02 Mr. Second Class [Edit] (Spencer Davis Group)
03 Time Seller [Edit] (Spencer Davis Group)
04 Feel Your Way (Spencer Davis Group)
05 Taking Out Time (Spencer Davis Group)
06 Moonshine [Edit] (Spencer Davis Group)
07 After Tea [Edit] (Spencer Davis Group)
08 Dust My Blues [Edit] (Spencer Davis Group)
09 With His New Face On (Spencer Davis Group)
10 Let's Have a Party (Spencer Davis Group)
11 Catch You on the Rebop (Spencer Davis Group)
12 Gimme Some Lovin' (Spencer Davis Group)

https://www.upload.ee/files/15111331/SpencerDG_1967-1973_BBSessionsVolume3_atse.zip.html

Boy, did I have a heard time finding any decent photos of this version of the band. Steve Winwood casts such a huge shadow over the band that it seems virtually any photo includes him. I had to resort to using the photo of the cover of the "Taking Out Time" compilation album. It's not great - is it intentional that one of the band members is visibly yawning? - but at least it's not terrible.