Blind Faith

Infobox musical artist
Name = Blind Faith


Img_capt = Left to right: Steve Winwood, Ric Grech, Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton
Img_size = 250
Landscape = Yes
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Surrey, England
Genre = Blues-rock, Hard rock, British blues
Years_active = 1969
Label = Polydor
Atco
RSO
Island
Associated_acts = Cream, Traffic, Family
URL =
Past_members = Eric Clapton
Steve Winwood
Ginger Baker
Rick Grech

Blind Faith were an English blues-rock band that consisted of Eric Clapton (The Yardbirds, Cream), Ginger Baker (Graham Bond Organisation, Cream), Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis Group, Traffic) and Ric Grech (Family). The band, which was one of the first so-called "supergroups", only released one album, "Blind Faith", in August 1969. They were stylistically similar to the bands in which Winwood, Baker, and Clapton had most recently participated (Traffic and Cream).

Formation and early history

Blind Faith's beginnings date to mid-1968, with the breakup of Cream. Rock's original supergroup had become a financial powerhouse, selling millions of records within a few years and raising the group's (and each member's) repertoire to international popularity. Despite that success, the band was crumbling from within due to frequent animosity between Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, with Eric Clapton doing his best to mediate. In addition, Clapton had tired of being coerced into playing commercially driven blues, and hoped to move forward with a new, experimental, less strait-jacketed approach to the genre.

Steve Winwood was facing similar problems in The Spencer Davis Group, in which he had been the lead singer for three years. Winwood wanted to experiment with the band's sound by infusing jazz elements, but left due to his musical differences, instead forming a new band — Traffic — in 1967. That band split temporarily in 1969, and Winwood started to jam with his good friend Eric in Clapton's basement in Surrey, England. Winwood and Clapton had previously collaborated on the one-off "Powerhouse" project.

Clapton was pleased with the jam sessions and looked seriously toward starting a trio with Winwood, but they needed a drummer. Ginger Baker turned up to sit in with them in 1969, and the band took near-final form. But Clapton questioned letting Baker in the band, because he had promised Jack Bruce that, if they were to work with one another again, they would all three play. Moreover, Clapton didn't want to reunite with Cream barely nine weeks after the breakup, and also didn't want to deal with another "Cream-like" superstardom situation. Winwood ultimately persuaded Clapton to finalize Baker's inclusion in the lineup, arguing that Ginger Baker strengthened their musicianship and that it would be hard to find an equally talented drummer.

By May 1969, Ric Grech, bassist with Family, was invited to join them (leaving Family, mid-tour). They laid down most of their album at Olympic Studios under the supervision of producer Jimmy Miller. Miller provided focus to the band, who often preferred jamming, over the standard commercial 3-5 minute track. By then the group was known collectively as Blind Faith, a slyly cynical reference by Clapton to his outlook on the new group.

Debut and touring

News of the group's formation created a buzz of excitement among the public and press, which even heralded the band as "super Cream". The group debuted at a free concert at London's Hyde Park on 7 June 1969. [cite web|url=http://www.angelfire.com/wi/blindfaith/bfconcerts.|title=Blind Faith Website|accessdate=2007-01-16] The performance was well received by fans there but troubled Clapton, who thought that the band's playing was sub-par and that the adulation was undeserved and reminiscent of his Cream days when the crowds would applaud for nearly everything. Clapton, knowing the band had not rehearsed enough and was unprepared, was reluctant to tour and feared that the band would develop into a Cream repeat.

Because Steve Winwood was signed to Island Records, he had to be "leased" to Polydor Records (to whom Clapton and Baker were signed). Possibly as part of this deal, a rare one-off promotional single was released by Island, although the promotion was for Island itself. It was a single announcing the fact that they were moving their offices. Titled "Change Of Address From 23 June 1969", the one-sided promo featured an instrumental jam by the group who were not mentioned at all on the label (the only other label info is the new address, phone number, and new cable address of Island). Recorded at Olympic, probably sometime between March and May 1969, it is thought that around 500 copies of the single were pressed, mostly sent to UK disc jockeys and other music industry insiders. The track was finally released widely when it appeared as a bonus track on the 2-CD "Deluxe Edition" of the Blind Faith album in 2000 (titled "Change Of Address Jam").

[

From left to right: Steve Winwood, Ric Grech, Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton] The recording of their album continued, followed by a short tour of Scandinavia, where the band played smaller gigs and were able to rehearse their sound and prepare it for bigger audiences in America and England. After Scandinavia, the band toured the United States, making their debut at Madison Square Garden on 12 July for more than 20,000. During the performance a 30-minute-long riot occurred on stage. Involving police and concert goers, it led to Baker accidentally getting clubbed on the head by a police officer and Winwood's piano being destroyed. The band would tour for seven more weeks in America, finishing their tour in Hawaii on 24 August 1969. [cite web|url=http://www.stevewinwood.com/timeline.full.htm|title=Official Steve Winwood Website|accessdate=2007-01-16]

A major problem with the tour was that the band had only a few songs in their catalogue — barely enough to fill an hour. They were forced to play old Cream and Traffic songs, to the delight of a crowd which usually preferred their older, popular material to their new Blind Faith material. Clapton was now exactly where he didn't want to be — stuck in a "super Cream" that was causing riots during their live shows (Cream hadn't even reached the status to create riots). They were playing the same material from his Cream days, to appease the audience and to fill the void left by the lack of adequate new material.

Opening acts for the band included the band Free and a blues-based rock act called Delaney & Bonnie. Clapton particularly liked the soulful, folksy-sounding blues of Delaney & Bonnie; he began spending most of his time with them instead of Blind Faith, letting Winwood take a more prominent role in the band.

Album release and controversy

Upon its release, "Blind Faith" topped Billboard's charts at the No. #1 spot for Pop Album in both America and the United Kingdom, and peaked at #40 on the Black Albums chart — an impressive feat for a British rock quartet. The album sold more than half a million copies within the first month of its release and was a huge profit-making device for both Atlantic Records (on their Atco label) and for Clapton & Baker (Blind Faith sales were helping to stimulate demand for Cream albums as well).

The release of the album provoked controversy because the cover featured a topless pubescent girl, [Romanowski, , Patricia (2003). "Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll" Rolling Stone Press, ISBN 0-671-43457-8] holding in her hands a silver space ship designed by Mick Milligan, a jeweller at the Royal College of Art. [ [http://www.bobseidemann.com/blind_faith_doc.html about BLIND FAITH ] ] Some perceived the ship as phallic [ [http://www.winwoodfans.com/cs/cscollab.htm Steve Winwood Fans' Site: Collaborations & Sessions: Collaborations ] ] The U.S. record company issued it with an alternative cover which showed a photograph of the band on the front. [Romanowski, , Patricia (2003). "Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll" Rolling Stone Press, ISBN 0-671-43457-8]

The cover art was created by photographer Bob Seidemann, a personal friend and former flatmate of Clapton who is known primarily for his photos of Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. Bizarre rumours both fuelled and were fuelled by the controversy, among them that the young girl was Baker's illegitimate daughter or, alternatively as a fantasy, was a groupie kept in the meadowlands as a slave by the band members. Actually, the young lass was a London suburbanite, who posed upon consent by her parents and for a handsome fee, as described in Seidemann's mini essay about the origins of the Blind Faith album cover artwork (Re: Blind Faith (album)). [cite web|url=http://www.angelfire.com/wi/blindfaith/vvcov69.html|title=Blind Faith Website|accessdate=2007-06-20] Also see "Origins of BF's Album Artwork" referenced web link below.

One other interesting note about the cover is that it was nameless — only the wrapping paper told the buyer who the artist was and the name of the album. Though initially banned in some parts of the USA and other countries, the original artwork was quite popular and collectible. It also became available later in the 1970s on the RSO label worldwide, and in the USA as an import item. Under licensing agreement during the mid- 1980s, the Blind Faith album was remastered to high definition vinyl and gold compact disc by Mobile fidelity Sound Labs. During 2000 the entire album was remastered and re-released as a 2-CD deluxe edition release from Polydor that includes alternates, outtakes and studio rehearsal versions of the band's music created during the early months of 1969.

Dissolution and separate paths

After the tour finished in August, the band returned to England surrounded by rumours of breakup or a possible UK tour. By October, the band had effectively dissolved within a year of its creation, and it did not produce another studio or live album — though several live tracks from the band can be found on Steve Winwood's 1995 retrospective album "The Finer Things". Outtakes and other live recordings were included in the "Deluxe Edition" of the album, released in 2000.

Thereafter, Clapton stepped out of the spotlight, first to sit in with the Plastic Ono Band and then to tour as a sideman for Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, with whom he had become good friends during the U.S. tour. This freed him of the limelight that he had considered a plague to both Cream and Blind Faith. After his sideman stint, he took several members from Delaney & Bonnie to form a new supergroup, Derek and the Dominos. Clapton never dropped his Blind Faith repertoire completely, as "Presence of the Lord" and "Can't Find My Way Home" have been performed occasionally throughout his solo career.

Unlike Clapton, Ginger Baker had enjoyed his Blind Faith experience and looked to carry on an offshoot of the band in the form of Ginger Baker's Air Force with both Grech and Winwood. After a few shows together, Winwood left with Grech and went to Island Records to reunite and reform Traffic (Grech is featured on bass on the Traffic albums "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" and "Welcome to the Canteen"). Winwood would later go on to have a successful solo career and Grech was a member of various groups before his death in 1990 due to a brain hemorrhage. [Romanowski, , Patricia (2003). "Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll" Rolling Stone Press, ISBN 0-671-43457-8 ]

Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood both appeared in the movie "Blues Brothers 2000".

Clapton and Winwood would later look favorably on their work in the band and featured several Blind Faith songs in the Clapton ("Crossroads") and Winwood collections and catalogs.

In July 2007, old friends Clapton and Winwood reunited for a performance at the Crossroads 2 concert in Chicago, where the duo performed a number of Blind Faith songs as part of their set. Their inspired performance led the two to announce plans to perform three reunion concerts at Madison Square Garden, that took place on 25, 26, and 28 February 2008. It was not an official Blind Faith reunion; rather "Winwood and Clapton." They performed primarily Blind Faith songs as well as some selections from Traffic, Derek and the Dominos, Clapton's solo career and some Jimi Hendrix covers. Their band consisted of Willie Weeks on bass, Ian Thomas on drums and Chris Stainton on keyboards.

Members

*Eric Clapton - guitar, Vocals
*Steve Winwood - organ, bass, guitar, piano, keyboard, vocals
*Ginger Baker - percussion, drums
*Ric Grech - bass, violin, vocals

Discography

*"Blind Faith" August 1969 #1 (US)

Chart positions

"Blind Faith" on the Billboard (North America):

References

External links

* [http://www.angelfire.com/wi/blindfaith/ Blind Faith reference information]
* [http://www.ericclapton.com/ Eric Clapton official website]
* [http://www.stevewinwood.com/ Steve Winwood official website]
* [http://www.stevewinwood.com/timeline.full.htm Steve Winwood historical time line]