Sunday 10 September 2017

The Best Of – THE SPENCER DAVIS GROUP*****

I’m A Man/Gimme Some Lovin’/Every Little Bit Hurts/This Hammer/Back Into My Life Again/Waltz For Lumumba/ Together Till The End Of Time/Keep On Running/Trampoline/When I Come Home/Strong Love/Somebody Help Me/She Put The Hurt On Me/Goodbye Stevie

With the departure of Stevie Winwood to form Traffic, The Spencer Davis Group lost their greatest talent and quickly faded. This timely compilation includes all their major hits.

"Of course it's 'featuring Stevie Winwood'. I don't know one person who'd want to start their exploration of The Spencer Davis Group with any collection not featuring the supremely soulful young vocalist. For that matter, I don't know one person compelled to further explore any of the band's material sans Stevie."

"If you don't already know Keep On Running, Somebody Help Me and Gimme Some Lovin', then you really ought to get out more. Stand out track for me though is I'm A Man - the intro sounds remarkable and Stevie Winwood's Hammond organ and vocals are sublime. The Spencer Davis Group's first incarnation was definitely one of the best blue-eyed soul groups of all time. Shame they weren't together a while longer, although you do have this tasty morsel to ease the pain of longing."

"What a singer and musician Stevie Winwood was. Prodigiously gifted and barely twenty at the time these tracks propelled the group up the 60s charts."

"The Spencer Davis Group were perhaps the greatest R & B group to come out of England during the 1960s. However, their individual albums were cluttered with filler, something this anthology strips away. What's left is some of the best British R & B sides ever released. The soulfulness of Steve Winwood's vocals is even more impressive considering that he was only in his teens when these were recorded. His work on the organ is also impressive."

"Blast out the thunderous grooves of I'm A Man, Gimme Some Lovin', Keep On Running, Somebody Help Me, the far out instrumental of Waltz For Lumumba, and marvel at one of the best white soul singers and musicians of the 60s."

"Hard to believe Stevie Winwood hadn't yet turned 20 when he sang these amazing lead vocals. One of the finest British singers ever."

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