VA - Crawling Up A Hill A Journey Through The British Blues Boom 1966-71 (2020)

                                                                           VA
 Crawling Up a Hill: A Journey Through the British Blues Boom 1966-71 Review by Thom Jurek

Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint is a reissue label that tends to devote itself to issuing high-quality single-artist career anthologies, rare albums, and various overviews of segments in British popular music circa 1965-1974. Crawling Up a Hill: A Journey Through the British Blues Boom 1966-71, asserts that the U.K. explosion ran concurrently with the country's emergent psych and garage scenes. That's true, but it was less formal and more primal. It derived its inspiration from pre- and post-war American bluesmen including Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James, and Muddy Waters, as well as from the dying British jump R&B scene established by Alexis Korner, Graham Bond, Long John Baldry, Cyril Davies, etc. John Mayall was getting his Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton to the charts as well, Duster Bennet was hanging around with Peter Green, and artists such as Jo-Ann Kelly, Mike Cooper, and Ian A. Anderson were reveling in country blues.

While there have been many British blues anthologies, the vast majority tend to be single-label projects rather than scene-wide curatorial efforts. This three-disc, 56-track box is the first attempt at a comprehensive overview. On disc one, the Bluesbreakers are represented by Willie Dixon's and Otis Rush's steamy, raw, "All Your Love." The previously unissued title track is offered by with sass and verve by then-new and always unheralded Zany Woodruff Organization (who later hosted guitarist Allan Holdsworth). Tracks by Bond, Jeff Beck, Love Sculpture, and early Fleetwood Mac, Ten Years After, and the Deviants round it out. But there are surprises: Duster Bennett's demo for "Jumping at Shadows," made immortal by Fleetwood Mac, and the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band delivering a scorching, humorous, barroom strutter called "Can Blue Men Sing the Whites?" There is a smoldering Korner jam here too, titled "Operator," with a very young Robert Plant on vocals. Disc two contains a smoking acoustic version of "Death Letter Blues" by Mike Cooper, as well as "It's You I Miss," by the Christine Perfect Band (aka Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie), the swampy, modal blues-rock of Levee Camp Moan on "I Just Can't Keep from Crying," Taste's "Blister on the Moon," revealing Rory Gallagher's early guitar genius, and tracks by Blodwyn Pig and Chicken Shack, as well as a host of obscurities including Quiet Melon's rarity "Diamond Joe," featuring the pre-Faces Ronnie Wood, Kenny Jones, Rod Stewart, Ian McLagan, and Ronnie Lane. The final disc includes a scorching, live, "A Hard Way to Go" by Savoy Brown (with Chris Youlden), Stone the Crows' "Raining in Your Heart," the Edgar Broughton Band's "Old Gopher," Skid Row's "The Man Who Never Was," an early example of dual-lead proto-metal blues with guitarist Gary Moore (Phil Lynott was their original vocalist, but not here), and Status Quo's early boogie exercise "Railroad," with obscure numbers byLinda Hoyle (a rousing "Mr. Backlash"), a ragged "Road Runner" by Stack Waddy, and a rare live take of "I'm a Man," by the pre-pop Yardbirds. The set is adorned with copious, authoritative liner notes by compilation producer David Wells, and contains wonderful photos and brilliant sound. Crawling Up a Hill is essentially the definitive British blues compilation. Its amazing cross-licensing and skillful presentation leave very little out, yet covers all major and most minor artists on the scene with careful attention paid to stylistic variation.

320 kbps
517 Megabytes

Tracklist:

Disc 01

01. John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton - All Your Love 03:36
02. The Zany Woodruff Operation - Crawling Up a Hill 02:05
03. Anderson Jones Jackson - Louise 05:13
04. The Graham Bond Organisation - I Love You 02:55
05. The Yardbirds - I'm a Man (live) 06:41
06. The Spencer Davis Group - Don't Want You No More 03:11
07. Ten Years After - I Can't Keep from Crying, Sometimes 05:25
08. Duster Bennett - Jumping at Shadows (demo version) 04:10
09. The Deviants - Charlie 03:53
10. Jeff Beck - You Shook Me 02:30
11. Jo-Ann Kelly - Ain't Nothin' in Ramblin' 03:15
12. Fleetwood Mac - Love That Burns 05:05
13. Love Sculpture - Wang Dang Doodle 03:32
14. Alexis Korner - Operator (feat. Robert Plant) 04:40
15. The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band - Can Blue Men Sing the Whites? 02:47
16. Dr. K's Blues Band - Walking 03:24
17. Shakey Vick - Little Woman You're So Sweet 05:56
18. The Climax Chicago Blues Band - A Stranger in Your Town 04:16
19. Downliners Sect - Lord of the Rings 03:42

Disc 02

01. Free - Sweet Tooth 04:56
02. Mike Cooper - Death Letter 03:15
03. Taste - Blister on the Moon 03:27
04. Levee Camp Moan - I Just Can't Keep from Crying 03:52
05. Sam Apple Pie - Sometime Girl 04:01
06. John Dummer Blues Band - Skin Game (alternative version) 03:51
07. Quiet Melon - Diamond Joe 03:48
08. Killing Floor - Nobody by My Side 03:48
09 Blodwyn Pig - Dear Jill (live) 03:48
10. Icarus - There's an Easy and a Hard Way of Living 03:48
11. Chicken Shack - Tears in the Wind 02:42
12. Bakerloo - Bring It on Home 04:18
13. Jaklin - The Same for You 03:11
14. Frozen Tear - Train Comes, Train Goes 03:14
15. The Rats - Telephone Blues (aka Talk to Me Baby) 04:08
16. Angel Pavement - Madison Blues 02:37
17. Christine Perfect - It's You I Miss 03:48
18. Medicine Head - This Love of Old 03:14
19. Jasper - Baby Please Don't Go 07:25

Disc 03

01. The Liverpool Scene - I've Got Those Fleetwood Mac Chicken Shack John Mayall Can't Fail Blues 05:39
02. Brunning Sunflower Blues Band - Ride with Your Daddy Tonight (feat. Peter Green) 03:30
03. Red Dirt - Time to Move 03:21
04. Savoy Brown - A Hard Way to Go (live) 02:27
05. Jeremy Spencer - Mean Blues 04:10
06. Black Cat Bones - Chauffeur 05:18
07. Siren - Gardener Man 03:33
08. Blue Blood - Dupree Blues 04:34
09. Steamhammer - Passing Through 05:21
10. Stone the Crows - Raining in Your Heart 05:08
11. The Edgar Broughton Band - Old Gopher 03:52
12. Stack Waddy - Roadrunner 03:27
13. Heavy Jelly - Take Me Down to the Water 07:33
14. Skid Row - The Man Who Never Was 02:32
15. Brett Marvin & The Thunderbolts - Take Your Money 02:37
16. Mungo Jerry - The Sun Is Shining 03:41
17. Linda Hoyle - Backlash Blues 05:53
18. Status Quo - Railroad 05:33