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Cyril Davies And His Rhythm & Blues All Stars* ?– The Sound Of Cyril Davies

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• Distributed By – Pye Records (Sales) Ltd.
• Printed By – Delga Press Limited

History[edit]

Cyril Davies[edit]

The All-Stars were initially formed as a backing band for Cyril Davies after his departure from Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated in October 1962. The original lineup was tentatively christened the Cyril Davies Blues Band and was made up of former members of Screaming Lord Sutch's group, the Savages, including Nicky Hopkins on piano, Carlo Little on drums and Rick Brown on bass. The band also featured Jimmy Page on guitar for a brief period, though he soon backed out to focus on his burgeoning career as a session musician and was replaced by Bernie Watson, another former member of the Savages.[1][2]

"I went over to Eel Pie Island that night to see Sutch and the Savages as billed. In the event, members of the Savages had teamed up with Cyril Davies, from Alexis Korner’s Blues Inc., to perform as the Cyril Davies Rhythm and Blues Allstars. Cyril had been in Blues Inc., and he’d recruited members of the Savages rather than taking over from Dave Sutch."

In December 1962, Davies was in competition with Korner to recruit Long John Baldry as a second lead vocalist. Baldry played a few gigs with each band before eventually deciding to join Davies' camp in January 1963. At the same time, Davies also added female backing singers to the lineup in the form of South African trio the Velvettes (not to be confused with Motown trio, the Velvelettes). This trio was made up of Hazel Futa, Patience Gcwabe and Eunice Mamsie Mthombeni, all of whom had emigrated to England after touring with a musical stage production of King Kong.[3] On 27 February, the band recorded their first single for Pye Records: the original compositions "Country Line Special" and "Chicago Calling", released under the name Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars.[1][2] However, Baldry and the Velvettes are not featured on these recordings.[4]

In May 1963, illness forced the departure of Hopkins as he was hospitalised for several months. Former Blues Incorporated pianist Keith Scott was recruited in his stead, but growing tensions between Davies and the other band members meant that Brown, Little and Watson each soon left the group to be replaced by bassist Cliff Barton, guitarist Geoff Bradford and drummer Micky Waller. In August, this lineup recorded the R&B All-Stars' second single for Pye: "Preachin' the Blues", a Robert Johnson cover, and "Sweet Mary", a Lead Belly cover.[1][2] As with the previous recordings, Baldry and the Velvettes are not featured. Instead, backing vocals for "Preachin' the Blues" are provided by Alex Bradford and Madeline Bell.[4]

Towards the end of 1963, Scott and Waller were themselves replaced by the group's final members Johnny Parker and Bob Wackett. Two more cover songs are known to have been recorded for Immediate Records: Little Joe Walter's "Someday Baby", first issued in 1968 on the compilation album Blues Anytime Vol. 3, and Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away", which would remain unreleased for more than thirty years until it was included as a bonus track on the 1996 CD box set The Immediate Blues Anthology. These tracks were credited to Cyril Davies and the All-Stars, although it is not clear when these recordings were made, nor with which lineup(s).[1][2]

Following Davies' death in January 1964, Baldry took the helm and the surviving All-Stars lineup of Barton, Bradford, Parker and Wackett were joined by Rod Stewart to become known as the Hoochie Coochie Men.[1][2] Pye Records paid tribute to Davies by re-releasing the four tracks he had recorded for them as the EP The Sound of Cyril Davies and His Rhythm and Blues All-Stars.