Spencer Davis Albums (14)
'Live in Manchester 2002'
Release Date 9/13/2004
Tracks 9
Label Angel Air Records
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
The Spencer Davis Group's Live in Manchester 2002 finds the same nine songs that appear on the DVD counterpart, yet this CD plays very well as a stand-alone. In fact, without the video presentation as a distraction, the listener gets a sense of how great a pop/blues unit the Spencer Davis Group is even without the talents of a Steve Winwood. Opening with "Keep On Running," this Angel Air release delivers solid musical performances that provide clear evidence why Davis deserves more credit for his contributions than he receives in America and elsewhere around the globe. "When I Come Home" and "Every Little Bit Hurts" could be the performances of a streamlined Allman Brothers Band. "San Francisco Bay" relies on Colin Hodgkinson's bass and creates a bridge between the boom boom boom found on "Dimples" and the smooth consistent groove of "Somebody Help Me." Producer Jimmy Miller, along with original keyboard/vocalist Winwood, created the song "I'm a Man," which extends beyond the Top Ten 1967 chart hit much like the group Chicago's various jams. At eight and a half minutes, it rivals some of Pete Cetera and company's various explorations of this coming-of-age saga. "Gimme Some Lovin'," the song that launched the group in the U.S. in January 1967, concludes this fine set in similar fashion, though at about half the length. The 12-page booklet contains drummer Pete York's extensive liner notes as well as mini bios of the bandmembers. Short and very sweet, this is good stuff. ~ Joe Viglione, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
Though named Time Seller [Special Edition], this is actually something like an expanded edition of the band's first post-Stevie Winwood album, With Their New Face On. The first disc of this two-CD set consists wholly of With Their New Face On, a not-bad record that nonetheless could not come close to matching the best of what the band had recorded with Winwood in the group, no matter how much some collectors might want to put a different face on that situation. The album veered from fairly decent pop-psychedelia ("With Their New Face On" itself) and rather Traffic-sounding cuts ("Mr. Second Class") to solid blues-rock ("Don't Want You No More," covered by the Allman Brothers) and mundane filler in the same mold. This particular reissue is perhaps more notable for the second disc, a CD-ROM consisting of a 56-minute 1967 documentary film on the group, at the time when the lineup included singer/guitarist Phil Sawyer (who had left the band by the time With Their New Face On came out) and organist Eddie Hardin as replacements for Stevie Winwood and Muff Winwood. There are factors that work against the film being a major enjoyable experience, aside from needing to view the whole thing on your computer screen. Though all the dialogue is in English, the commentary is in German and not subtitled in English (though, conversely, some of the spoken dialogue appears with German subtitles). The scenes in which the bandmembers are shown horsing around, doing photo sessions, and talking business are rather dull. Better is the glimpse of Davis and Sawyer working on a folky tune the band didn't record that year, "Robin Hood," and live footage (including some at the Marquee in London), largely of bluesy songs that were leftovers from the Winwood repertoire. Strangest is the scene of them recording the instrumental track to a tune that sounds much like, though not exactly like, their "I'm a Man" hit; when Sawyer overdubs vocals (which are much like, but hardly exactly like, Winwood's), it turns out to be not "I'm a Man," but a "Great Shakes" soft drink commercial! Super-brief glimpses of Noel Redding and Mick Jagger are also seen in a film of archival interest that never penetrates deeply into the obvious question that hovered over the band at the time: Did the Spencer Davis Group have a future after the departure of Stevie Winwood? ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
'Catch You on the Rebop: Live 1973'
Release Date 1/14/2000
Tracks 13
Label RPM
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Although it was recorded in 1969, this album was not released at the time (although a few were circulated in the US in 1971 before it was withdrawn due to contractual reasons). By the late 1960s the band were firmly under the creative direction of Ray Fenwick, who played lead guitar, sang lead vocals, and wrote all of the songs. Needless to say it was such a change from the Stevie Winwood days that it was in essence an entirely different group, playing competent but faceless period music that echoed trends in country-rock, Traffic-like soul-progressivism ("What a Way to Die"), and heavy blues. The CD reissue has ten bonus tracks from the same era, taken from TV and radio sessions, studio outtakes, and a live recording from the 1967-68 era. These have a slightly more interesting, though not very distinctive, psychedelic-pop air; all of them, however, were previously released on RPM's Taking Out Time compilation. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
'24 Hours, Live in Germany'
Release Date 3/19/1996
Tracks 13
Label Inakustik
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
A 1984 performance in Germany by Spencer Davis, reunited with his former drummer Pete York and with bassist extraordinaire Colin Hodgkinson. "Live Together" isn't an especially accomplished Spencer Davis live recording, but it's a very affable one: Davis banters with his audience in German throughout the set, and it's clear that everyone's enjoying themselves. Hodgkinson's finest bass work has always been in his blues covers, and it's shown to fine effect here in "Walking Blues" and "Sliding Delta Blues"; Davis himself turns in some tasteful guitar work in a pensive rendition of "Trouble in Mind." But the undeniable highlight is "I'm a Man." It's a hard one to go wrong with by any band, as it's a song simply incapable of not being rousing when played live. Still, Davis's washes of electric guitar and the insistent pounding by York make this version particularly worthy. ~ Paul Collins, All Music Guide
'Living on a Back Street'
Release Date 1/1/1974
Tracks 22
Label Vertigo
See Album Tracklist and Review
What The Critics Say
Living in a Back Street finds the Spencer Davis Group playing the heavy blues they first attempted on their initial reunion album, Gluggo. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The Spencer Davis Group reunited in 1973 and recorded Gluggo, its title referring to obscure slang for alcohol. In an attempt to keep with the times, the group chose a harder-rocking sound, which didn't sit well with their fondness for jazz and blues. As a result, the album is a turgid, tiresome collection of heavy rockers and blues that don't go anywhere. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
The original song "Tried" could have been written by Spencer Davis about the recording sessions for Mousetrap, something like the 20th album released under his own name between the mid '60s and early '70s. Having created some of the great hits of the former period, Davis' later efforts beg not to be dismissed out of hand. This one is credited to him individually and not as the leader of the Spencer Davis Group. That's a good thing, since nobody would mistake this record for the work of a band. Davis and his producer Sneaky Pete Kleinow "Tried" the leader's originals, they tried country blues, they tried hard rock, they tried mellow balladry, they tried bringing in veteran swing trumpeter Harry "Sweets" Edison. They tried sticking part of the riff from "Day Tripper" right in the midle of a song entitled "Tumble-Down Tenement Row" but it doesn't quite make drummer Jim Keltner and bassist Lee Sklar fall down the stairs. Whatever they try, they also try something else, just in case. They try adding some bumbling brass writing to sex up a melody when the track already sounds like a Girl Scout troupe has wandered into the studio and is singing along. They try so many things that the album literally sounds like a compilation. The opening "Rainy Season" will make listeners think they have stumbled on a country record, hardly what Davis is known for. It is a decent, yet hardly remarkable performance about on the level of a typical local coffeehouse band. Such a reaction is preferable to the agonized groans tracks such as "What Can I Be" and a really screwed-up arrangement of "Easy Rider" bring forth. There are moments that really do deserve praise, many of them associated with the producer's distinctive use of the pedal steel. "Sunday Walk in the Rain" is a good example, since the sound he gets on his solo is remarkable, like much of his work pointing the way for other steel guitarists who were too timid to follow. The decision to present an acoustic country sound with players such as fiddler Gib Gilbeaux on some tracks works out better than the over-produced mush portions or poorly mixed hard rock of "Listen to the Rhythm". Maybe Davis could have made a nice album entirely in a country direction, but probably not--his vocals lack character, making the traditional tracks almost sound like lame singalongs. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, All Music Guide
What The Critics Say
A hodgepodge of some of the group's lesser-known tracks, this actually contains some of their better performances. The instrumental jam "Waltz for Lumumba" sounds like a prototype for some of the ideas Winwood would employ in Traffic; the group original "Hey Darling" is a smoldering, moody blues, "Mean Woman Blues" and "Watch Your Step" are a couple of their best uptempo, and most guitar-oriented, R&B covers, "Please Do Something" is a good cover of a Don Covay tune, and "Back Into My Life Again" was co-written by Jackie Edwards, who was responsible for their first few British hits. Put together by United Artists after the group had broken up to capitalize on Winwood's ascent to superstardom in Traffic, it's nonetheless a decent compilation of some of their more interesting odds and ends. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
