173 Goodbye Spencer Davis Group - Mr Second Class

Chart  entered : 10  January  1968

Chart  peak : 35

So  we  move on  into  1968,  the  year  I  think  my  earliest  memories  relate  to, none  of  them  pop  related. And  I  certainly  don't  recall  ever  having  heard  this  one  until  a  few  minutes  ago.

The  group  were  still  re-grouping  after  the  departure  of  the  Winwood  brothers  in  early  1967. They were  replaced  by  Eddie  Hardin,  a  vocalist  and  keyboard  player  ( ex - A  Wild  Uncertainty ) and  Phil Sawyer  on  bass  ( ex - Les  Fleurs  de  Lys ). However  Sawyer  only  lasted  for  one  single  so  this  one features  Ray  Fenwick  formerly  with  The  Syndicats. Despite  a  one  hundred  per  cent  hit rate  since first  breaking  through  and  an  immediate  hit  with  the  new  line  up  in  "Time  Seller" , Fontana  were not convinced  the  group  were  viable  without  Steve  Winwood  and  let  them  go  so   this  single  came  out on  United  Artists.

"Mr  Second  Class"  was  written  by  Davis  and  Hardin who  must  surely  have  paused  for  thought  on  the  ammunition  he  was  giving  to  those  who  thought  him  incapable  of  filling  Winwood's  shoes. In  fact  his  vocal  is  a  pretty  good  approximation  of  Winwood  and  he's  no  slouch  on  the  Hammond  either. It's  not  an  obvious  single ;  it's  by  far  the  heaviest  sound  we've  encountered  to  date  and  there  are  no  pop  hooks. I  guess  the  combination  of  post-Christmas  lull, the  general  tendency  of  a  rock  fanbase   to  greater  loyalty  than  a  pop  audience  and  support  from  Radio  Caroline  were  enough  to  make  it  a  hit. The  song  is  a  Weller-anticipating  attack  on  a  social  climber  deserting  his  old  friends  which  gets  off  the  odd  good  line  - "You've  got  up  off  the  floor, got  no  real  friends  no  more "  -  but  is  generally  clumsily  expressed  both  lyrically  and  musically. The  best  bit  of  the  record  is  the  last  half  minute's  energetic  coda  where  Hardin  proves  himself  the  equal  of  Jon  Lord  or  Vincent  Crane  on  the  organ  and  Peter  York  gets  to  whack  his  cowbells.

The  band  got  more  exposure  from  the  release  of  the  film  Here  We  Go  Round  The  Mulberry  Bush  for  which  they  provided  the  bulk  of  the  music. However  they  were  not  able  to  capitalise on  it. Their  next  single  was  in  May. Immediately  prior  to  joining  Ray  had  been  playing  in  a  Dutch  band  After  Tea  and  had  co-written  an  eponymous  hit  single. The  band  decided  to  cover  it  with  the  help of  Traffic's  Dave  Mason  on  sitars  and  unsurprisingly  it  sounds  a  lot  like  Traffic. It's  competent  psychedelic  pop  though  it  does  run  out  of  ideas  towards  the  end  and  ends  up  repeating  the  simplistic  chorus  ad  infinitum. It  was  also  up  against  a  rival  version  by  The  Rattles  which  has  a  cleaner  production  and  better  harmonies. In  the  end  though  neither  was  a  hit. This  line-up  also  recorded  the  theme  tune  to  the  newly-launched  TV  series  Magpie  under  the  nom  de  plume  The  Murgatroyd  Band  but  strangely  it  was  never  released  as  a  single.

The  band  went  on  a  US  tour  that  summer. In  October  Eddie  decided  to  quit  the  band  and  took Peter  with  him. They  were  replaced  by  Dee  Murray  on  bass  and  Nigel  Olsson  on  drums. Ray  took over  as  lead  vocalist. This  line  up  released  just  the  one  single   in  December  1968 ,"Short  Change" built  around  a  descending  bassline  with  some  similarities  to Cream's  In  The  White  Room . With  no keyboard  player  in  the  set-up  an  important  element  in  the  sound  had  gone  and  "Short  Change" doesn't  sound  fully  formed.  Davis's  guitar  solo  at  the  end  is  the  best  bit.  They  recorded  an  album "Funky" , entirely  written  by Fenwick  but  it  was  only  released  in  the  US. The  band  then  called  it  a day.

Spencer  first  tried  to  hook  up  with  Cat  Stevens' associate  Alun  Davies  then  moved  to  Germany  for a  short  while  before  a  re-location  to  California.  He  eventually  released  an  acoustic  album  with Peter Jameson,  "It's  Been  So  Long"  in  1970  then  a  solo  album  "Mousetrap"  the  following  year. These were  only  released  in  the  US  and  didn't  sell.

He  returned  to  the  UK  and  put  together  a  new  Spencer  Davis  Group  line-up  with  Ray, Eddie  and Peter  plus  Charlie  McCracken  on  bass. "Catch  You  On The  Rebop"  was  the  first  single  on  Vertigo in  March  1973,  a  loose  funk/rock  hybrid  with  similarities  to  Free  and  the  odd  nod  to  glam. It's  not  bad. "Mr  Operator", the  next  one  from  June  1973  sounds  a  bit  like  10cc  and  could  well  have  been  a  hit  with  the  right  breaks. The  album  "Gluggo"  sank  without  trace. The  next  single  "Living  In  A  Backstreet"  was  the  title  track  of  their  next  one  and  sounds  a  bit  like  a  humourless  Mott  The  Hoople  with  its  female  backing  singers. The  group  disbanded  again  in  1974. The  original  line-u  reunited  briefly  in  the  1980s to  fight  a  legal  battle  with  Island  over  unpaid  royalties.

Ten  years  later, after  a  decade  working  behind  the  scenes  as  a  producer  and  A  & R  man  he  put out  another  solo  album  "Crossfire"  then  decided  to  tour  with  a  new  US  version  of  the  Spencer Davis  Group. This  lasted  until  1993 when  he  joined  a  collective  known  as  the  Classic  Rock  All Stars.  The  SDG  banner  was  picked  up  once  again  in  2006  although  strangely  he  has  one  line  up in  Europe  and  an  entirely  different  one  in  the  US. The  European  version  features  Eddie  but otherwise  there  are  no  personnel  from  their  sixties  hey-day. Spencer  does  still  record  new  material as  a  solo  artist, his  last  album  being  So  Far  in  2008.

So  what  of  the  others ?  Well  I've  a  bit  of  a  problem  dealing  with  Steve  Winwood. Neither  with  Traffic  nor  as  a  solo  artist  does  he  rack  up  enough  hits  for  another  post  but  on  the  other  hand  his  is  too  substantial  a  body  of  work  to  cover  adequately  in  this one. I  think  I'll  just  give an  outline  for  further  exploration

1967  Forms  psychedelic  rock  band  Traffic  with  Jim  Capaldi, Dave  Mason  and  Chris  Wood . First             album   "Mr Fantasy"  reaches  number  8. "Hole  In  My  Shoe"  single  reaches  number  2

1968  Second  album  "Traffic" reaches  number  9 . Their  singles  stop   charting  as  the  band  switches to           a  more  folk/blues  style

1969  Third  album  "Last  Exit"  fails  to  chart  in  the  UK. Steve  leaves  to  form  supergroup  Blind  Faith            with  Eric  Clapton, Ginger  Baker  and  Family's  Rick  Grech. Eponymous  ( and  only ) album                    noted   for  sleeve  featuring  topless  13-year  old  ( for  which  they  may  yet  be  prosecuted  if                  she   decides  she  was  "abused" )  Contents  generally  felt  to  be  less  than  super.

1970   Rejoins  Traffic  for  album  "John  Barleycorn  Must  Die"  which  gets  to  number  11

1971  Starts  suffering  from  peritonisis

1974  Quits  Traffic  once  more

1977  First  solo  LP  "Steve  Winwood"  released. Reaches  22  in  the  US

1980  Second  LP   "Arc  Of  A  Diver " on  which  he  played  everything  a  huge  success although                       containing  only  one  minor   hit  in  the  UK.

1982  "Talking  Back  To  The  Night"  LP   also  successful  with  its  synth-dominated  songs.

1986  "Back  In  The  High  Life"  another  major  success. "Higher  Love"  becomes  the  biggest of  6  solo            hits.

1987  "Chronicles "  compilation  of  solo  work "Valerie"  is  second  Top  20  hit.

1988  "Roll  With  It"  tops  US  charts, number  4  in  Britain. Title  track  is  Steve's  last  hit ( number  53 )

1990  "Refugees  Of  The  Heart"  less  successfu  than  its  predecessors

1994  Re-forms  "Traffic"  with  Jim  Capaldi  only. "Far From  Home" LP  a  moderate  hit  on  both  sides             of  the  pond

1997   "Junction  Seven "  fails  to  sell  well

2003  "About  Time" LP

2008  "Nine  Lives  " LP  featuring  Eric  Clapton  reaches  number  12  in  the  US. Performs  with  Clapton            at  Madison  Square  Gardens

2010   "Revolutions"  career  retrospective  box  set

The  big-jawed   Mervyn  "Muff"  Winwood  quit  the  bass  to  go  into  the  industry  as  an  A &  R  man  and  producer for  Island which  Chris  Blackwell  was  just  starting.  He  produced  Sparks's  big  hit  albums. In  1978  he  was  poached  by  CBS  and  produced  the  first  Dire Straits  album.  He  signed  Shakin' Stevens, Sade  and  Terence  Trent  D'Arby  to  the  label. In  1990  he  became  managing  director  of  Sony  Music  UK. He  retired  in  March  2004.

Peter  York  has  been  a   jobbing  drummer  ever  since  working  with  various  artists  and  taking  part  in  drum  workshops  in  Germany  where  he  now  lives. In  1991 he  toured  in  Germany  under  his  own  name  helped  out  by  Davis , Hardin  and  Chris  Farlowe. Farlowe  also  helped  him  out  on  an  album  of  standards  "Swinging Hollywood"  in  1994.

Eddie  Hardin  recorded  a  string  of  solo  albums  from  1972  to  2000  before  joining  Davis's  touring line-up. He  and  Peter  often  worked  together  as  Hardin  and  York  particularly  in  Germany  where they  were  popular. I'm  presuming  he  paid  the  rent through  session  work. 

Ray  Fenwick  also  remained  in  the  music  business. He  had  a  couple  of  hits  in  the  US   with  the   group  Fancy  in  1974  and  success  in  Japan  as  guitarist  in  the  Ian  Gillan  Band  in  the  mid-70s. He was  in  the  band  Forcefield  with  Cozy  Powell  in  the  late  eighties. After  that  he  alternated  session work  with  teaching  guitar  in  colleges. In  2003  he  did  a  tour  with  Steve  Howe  but  seems  to  have been  inactive  since  then.