Climax Blues Band

Climax Blues Band - Drastic Steps - 1988 - Clay

The album includes a new version and a bonus remixed version of "Couldn't Get It Right". "California Sunshine", and "The Deceiver" are good tracks, and the album includes an old reworked CBB favourite, "Fool For The Bright Lights". Great guitar work from Les Hunt, but the album is more typical of a commercial late 80's West Coast sound. If you are not too familiar with this great band's history, you may enjoy this album, but if you are looking for the more authentic "John Mayall" CBB sound, then listen to the band's great "Rich Man" album. Check out the band's "FM Live" album @ CBB/FMLIVE for the "real" CBB sound. N.B: This album has been released with different track sequences. Some 1988 vinyl releases did not include the track "Couldn't Get It Right (extended '88 mix)". The album has also been released as "Drastic Steps Plus". The album posted here is the 1988 UK Clay label CD issue, which includes the "Couldn't Get It Right (extended '88 mix)" track. It has been said that this album was recorded as a three piece band with session musicians. Wikipedia states that Lester Hunt played on this album, and not Pete Haycock. Can anybody pinpoint the drummer on this release? Did Derek Holt and John Edwards both play bass on the album? Who are the session musicians? All info appreciated

TRACKS / COMPOSERS

1 California Sunshine - Cooper, Glover
2 Lonely Avenue - Cooper, Glover
3 The Deceiver - Cooper, Glover
4 Ordinary People - Cooper, Glover
5 The Winner - Cooper, Glover
6 Couldn't Get It Right - Cooper, Cuffley, Haycock, Holt, Jones
7 Fool for the Bright Lights - Cooper, Glover
8 Good Times - Cooper, Glover
9 Trouble - Cooper, Glover
10 Couldn't Get It Right (extended '88 mix) - Cooper, Cuffley, Haycock, Holt, Jones

BAND [Not definitive]

Pete Haycock - Guitar, Vocals [N.B: Wikipedia states that Pete Haycock was not on this album]
Lester Hunt - Guitar, Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals
John Edwards - Bass, Vocals
Derek Holt - Bass
Peter Filleul - Keyboards, Vocals
Colin Cooper - Sax

It has been said that this album was recorded as a three piece band with session musicians. Wikipedia states that Lester Hunt played on this album, and not Pete Haycock. Can anybody pinpoint the drummer on this release? Did Derek Holt and John Edwards both play bass on the album? Who are the session musicians? All info appreciated

SHORT BIO

Led by Colin Cooper, the former frontman of the R&B unit The Hipster Image, the Stafford, England-based Climax Chicago Blues Band was one of the leading lights of the late-1960s blues boom. A sextet also comprised of guitarists Derek Holt and Peter Haycock, keyboardist Arthur Wood, bassist Richard Jones and drummer George Newsome, the group debuted in 1969 with a self-titled effort recalling the work of John Mayall. Prior to the release of 1969's Plays On, Jones left the group, prompting Holt to move to bass. In 1970 the Climax Chicago Blues Band moved to the Harvest label, at the same time shifting towards a more rock-oriented sound on the LP A Lot Of Bottle. Around the release of 1971's Tightly Knit, Newsome was replaced by drummer John Holt; upon Wood's exit in the wake of 1972's Rich Man, the unit decided to continue on as a quartet, also dropping the "Chicago" portion of their name to avoid confusion with the American band of the same name. In 1974 The Climax Blues Band issued Fm Live, a document of a New York radio concert. 1975's Stamp was their commercial breakthrough, and 1976's Gold Plated fared even better, spurred on by the success of the hit "Couldn't Get It Right." However, the rise of punk effectively stopped the group in their tracks, although they continued recording prolifically well into the 1980s; after 1988's Drastic Steps, The Climax Blues Band was silent for a number of years, but resurfaced in 1994 with Blues From The Attic. © Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide