The band came together from the remnants of R & B bands, The Farinas and The Roaring Sixties. Formed originally by Charlie Whitney, Jim King, Tim Kirchin and Harry Ovenall in the early sixties. By 1967, Ric Grech had replaced Kirchin on bass and Roger Chapman was now the vocalist. The band moved to London from their Leicestershire base and were renamed Family following a meeting with famous record producer Kim Fowley. It is rumoured that Fowley suggested the name due to the bands on- stage appearances in double-breasted suits that made them look like members of the Mafia!!

Now willing to throw off the straitjacket of R & B and ready to embrace the freedom and influences that the exploding underground scene offered, their reputation as a live act grew due in no short measure to the wild man antics of Chapman. They recorded their debut single “Scene Through An Eye Of A Lens” in late 1967. Produced by the influential Jimmy Miller, it is a fine example of British psychedelia and the first time Chapman’s unique vocals were heard on record. Not that too many did hear as the record sold poorly and flopped.

The band signed to the Reprise label and they set about recording their first album during early 1968. By this time, drummer Ovenall had left and Rob Townsend was drafted in as replacement. “Music In A Dolls House” was released in July 1968 and received wide critical acclaim. Mostly produced by Dave Mason of Traffic, the album accurately captured their live show, and contains a number of tracks destined to become firm Family favourites such as “See Through Windows” “Me My Friend” “Old Songs New Songs” and “Peace Of Mind”. With Chapman’s odd vocals, ranging from gentle and almost whispered words, though to rasping strained exclamations, and with a most un- rock like line up of instruments, the album perfectly reflected their position as one of the more original bands of the Progressive Underground. The rich and varied sound helped by the inclusion of saxophones, cello, sitar, impressive violin and freaky effects is now acknowledged as a forgotten classic of British Psychedelic Rock.

The band did receive some unwanted publicity around this time as they featured in the novel “Groupie” by Jenny Fabian and Johnny Byrne with the thinly disguised pseudonym “Relation”

Continuing on an upward path that saw them now in the same league as Pink Floyd and Soft Machine, the band were anxious to return to the studio to record their next album, 1969’s “Family Entertainment” This album was a more straight forward affair with less experimentation and with the psychedelics reigned in. More of an out and out rock album than the predecessor, the musicianship is still there and the songs are tight but you cannot help but be a tad disappointed after the originality of the debut. Chapman’s voice still ensures that “Family” sound and strong tracks such as “Observations From A Hill”, the gentle “Face In The Cloud” with its haunting sitar, the rocky Beatles-like “Second Generation Woman” and the timeless “Weavers Answer” all help to deliver a fine album that made its mark on the UK chart with a number 6 placing.

With their success in the UK now established, the next step was the American market and in April 1969 the group embarked on what was to be a problematical tour. Shortly after the tour started. Ric Grech left the band to join Blind Faith and John Weider was recruited. With previous experience playing with the likes of Steve Marriott, The Pirates and latterly with Eric Burdon’s Animals, Weider proved to be a more than suitable replacement. While this on its own would have been enough to throw the band off its stride, more problems followed. As support to Ten Years After, they received little attention or applause and confrontations with the audience were common. They also had an incident with influential promoter Bill Graham who accused Chapman of hurling a mic stand at him. Although not the case, they were removed from the support slot for a while and, coincidently, were never to become more than a cult band in the States.

Following their return home, Jim King was forced from the band and talented multi- instrumentalist John “Poli” Palmer joined.

The next album, “A Song For Me” was released in January 1970. As this album was the first to feature the new influential band members, it was obvious that the sound of the band would change. With this album, Family served up a much heavier version of the “Family sound" but still used an interesting array of instruments to keep listeners on their toes. The opening track, “Drowned In Wine” contained some of the most agonised, bluesy vocals from Chapman, while the title song, clocking in at around ten minutes, had all band members trying to out do each other as they rocked out. The new sounds appealed to the fans as the album speed up to number 4 in the charts.

Now on a commercial and critical high, the band wanted to capture their astonishing live show on record. The next release was “Anyway” which had one side live and one studio. (You could do that in those days!). A decent enough record, it does give the feeling of a bit of a stopgap before the next “proper” release. Perhaps this is a bit unfair as the live side is good if a bit unfocused and the recording quality is, at best, average. The studio side works better and shows the band once again not afraid to use an imaginative selection of instruments. The stand out tracks are the live “Strange Band” and the impressive “Part Of The Load” For the third release running, the album charted, reaching number 7.

The band had a break from recording, continuing with their heavy touring schedule and a compilation album was put out. “Old Songs New Songs” was just that-previously recorded tracks with some remixed.

 In June 1971, John Weider left and was replaced by John Wetton. Two albums were recorded with Wetton. “Fearless” in 1971 and “Bandstand” in 1972. “Fearless” was an outstanding release. Varied and expertly played throughout. New man Wetton’s debut was a success with his vocals on the track “Save Some For Thee” particularly impressive.1972’s “Bandstand” saw the band at its most mainstream yet. As always the musicianship was high, but the tracks were more conventional and commercial. The album contained the hit single “Burlesque” and the single that should have been a hit “My Friend The Sun” Chapman is at his most restrained throughout and the album has more than its share of ballads. Both the albums had respectable showings in the chart, reaching 10 & 15 respectively and even creeping into the US Top 200. During Wetton’s time with the band, they also released their best selling single “In My Own Time”

That was the last of Wetton’s involvement with Family. He left to join King Crimson in July 1972 and Jim Cregan was drafted in and by the end of that year, Poli Palmer had also left to be replaced by Tony Ashton.

“Its Only A Movie” was the last Family release in 1973. It was a dull affair showing the band to be just passed its prime. No longer innovative, the band seems to be going through the motions and it is a sad final document for the band to end on.

Following a farewell tour, they played their final show in their hometown of Leicester in October 1973.

Chapman and Whitney formed “Streetwalkers” in 1974 releasing a number of albums.

Chapman has since enjoyed a successful solo career, most notably in Europe, with 24 solo albums to his name.

Whitney now lives in Greece and concentrates on Bluegrass and Folk music.

Jim King is still involved in music but no longer performs.

Ric Grech played in Blind Faith, Ginger Baker’s Airforce and with Traffic. In 1974 he formed another “Supergroup” called KGB with Mike Bloomfield and Carmine Appice. He died in 1990.

Rob Townsend joined Medicine Head after Family and is a long time member of The Blues Band.

John Weider joined Stud upon leaving and continues to record and release music, most recently in a New Age style.

Poli Palmer has played on many albums as a session player, including releases by Pete Townsend, Peter Frampton and Linda Lewis.

John Wetton seems to have played in most UK rock bands. In addition to King Crimson, he has played with Asia, Wishbone Ash, Uriah Heep, UK, Roxy Music etc

Jim Cregan was in Cockney Rebel and a long time member of the Rod Stewart Band. He recently teamed up again with Roger Chapman to appear live and produce Chapman’s album “One More Time For Peace”

Tony Ashton enjoyed huge success with the single “Resurrection Shuffle” with Gardner and Dyke. Always in demand as a session player he recorded many albums. He died in 2001 from cancer.

Despite a number of chart albums and singles, Family were never big players in the Progressive rock scene. Their unforgettable live shows were sensational and the early albums showed remarkable creativity as they exploited the musical freedom the times allowed. The lack of success in the States however, ultimately hurt their reputation.

Never given the acclaim of their contemporaries like Traffic, The Moody Blues or Jethro Tull, their first three albums helped define the music of the time as much as any band. 

The track here is the rare first single "Scene Through The Eye Of A Lens" from 1969

Roger Gibbens

This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com

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No late-'60s American group ever started with as much musical promise as Blood, Sweat & Tears, or realized their potential more fully -- and then blew it all in a series of internal conflicts and grotesque career moves. It could almost sound funny, talking about a group that sold close to six million records in three years and then squandered all of that momentum. Then again, considering that none of the founding members ever intended to work together, perhaps the group was "lucky" after a fashion.

The roots of Blood, Sweat & Tears lay in one weekend of hastily assembled club shows in New York in July 1967. Al Kooper (born February 5, 1944, Brooklyn, NY) was an ex-member of the Blues Project, in need of money and a fresh start in music. He'd been toying with the notion, growing out of his admiration for jazz bandleader Maynard Ferguson, of forming an electric rock band that would use horns as much as guitarists, and jazz as much as rock as the basis for their music. As he later related, he saw the proposed group coming down somewhere midway between James Brown's Famous Flames and the Count Basie Orchestra. Kooper hoped to raise enough cash to get to London (where he would put such a band together) through a series of gigs involving some big-name friends in New York.

When the smoke cleared, there wasn't enough to get him to London, but the gig itself produced a core group of players who were interested in working with him: Jim Fielder (born October 4, 1947, Denton, TX), late of Buffalo Springfield, on bass, whom Kooper brought in from California; Kooper's former Blues Project bandmate, guitarist Steve Katz (born May 9, 1945, Brooklyn, NY); and drummer Bobby Colomby (born December 20, 1944, New York, NY), with whom Katz had been hanging out and also talking about starting a group. Kooper agreed, as long as he was in charge musically -- having just come off of the Blues Project, who'd been organized as a complete cooperative and essentially voted themselves out of existence, he was only prepared to throw into another band if he were calling the shots.

This became the group that Kooper had visualized; it would have a horn section that would be as out front as Kooper's keyboards or Katz's guitar. Colomby brought in alto saxman Fred Lipsius (born November 19, 1944, New York, NY), a longtime personal idol, and from there the lineup grew, with Randy Brecker (born November 27, 1945, Philadelphia, PA) and Jerry Weiss (born May 1, 1946, New York, NY) joining on trumpets and flügelhorns, and Dick Halligan (born August 29, 1943, Troy, NY) playing trombone. The new group was signed to Columbia Records, and the name Blood, Sweat & Tears came to Kooper in the wake of an after-hours jam at the Cafe au Go Go, where he'd played with a cut on his hand that had left his organ keyboard covered in blood.

The original Blood, Sweat & Tears turned out to be one of the greatest groups that the 1960s ever produced. Their sound, in contrast to R&B outfits that merely used horn sections for embellishment and accompaniment, was a true hybrid of rock and jazz, with a strong element of soul as the bonding agent that held it together; Lipsius, Brecker, Weiss, and Halligan didn't just honk along on the choruses, but played complex, detailed arrangements; Katz played guitar solos as well as rhythm accompaniment, and Kooper's keyboards moved to the fore along with his singing. Their sound was bold, and it was all new when Blood, Sweat & Tears debuted on-stage at the Cafe au Go Go in New York in September 1967, opening for Moby Grape.

Audiences at the time were just getting used to the psychedelic explosion of the previous spring and summer, but they were bowled over by what they heard - that first version of Blood, Sweat & Tears had elements of psychedelia in their work, but extended it into realms of jazz, R&B, and soul in ways that had scarcely been heard before in one band. The songs were attractive and challenging, and the arrangements gave room for Lipsius, Brecker, and others to solo as well as play rippling ensemble passages, while Kooper's organ and Katz's guitar swelled in pulsing, shimmering glory. The group's debut album, Child Is Father to the Man, recorded in just two weeks late in 1967 under producer John Simon, was released to positive reviews in February 1968, and it seemed to portend a great future for all concerned. It remained one of the great albums of its decade, right up there with Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited and the Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet. The only thing it didn't have, which those other albums did, was a hit single to get radio play and help drive sales. Child Is Father to the Man was out there on its own, invisible to AM radio and the vast majority of the public, awaiting word-of-mouth and whatever help the still fledgling rock press could give it, and the band's touring to promote it.

Even as their debut was being recorded, however, elements of discontent had manifested themselves within the group that would sabotage their first tour and their future. At first, these were disagreements about repertory, which grew into issues of control, and then doubts about Kooper's ability as a lead singer. With Colomby and Katz taking the lead, the group broached the idea of getting a new vocalist and moving Kooper over exclusively to playing the organ and composing. By the end of March 1968, with Child Is Father to the Man nudging onto the charts and sales edging toward 100,000 copies and some momentum finally building, Blood, Sweat & Tears blew apart - Kooper left the lineup, taking a producer's job at Columbia Records; at that same point, Randy Brecker announced his intent to quit. Ironically, at around the same time, Jerry Weiss, who'd actually favoured Kooper's ouster, also headed for the door as well, to form the group Ambergris?, which lasted long enough to cut one album in 1970.

That might've been the end of their story, except that Bobby Colomby and Steve Katz saw the opportunity to pull their own band out of this debacle. Columbia Records decided to stick with them while Katz and Colomby considered several new singers (including Stephen Stills), and actually got as far as auditioning and rehearsing with Laura Nyro before they found David Clayton-Thomas (born David Thomsett, September 13, 1941, Surrey, England). A Canadian national since the age of five, Clayton-Thomas at the time was performing with his own group at a small club in New York. He came aboard, with Halligan moved over to keyboards, Chuck Winfield (born February 5, 1943, Monessen, PA) and Lew Soloff (born February 20, 1944, Brooklyn, NY) on trumpets, and Jerry Hyman (born May 19, 1947, Brooklyn, NY) succeeding Halligan on the trombone. The new nine-member group reflected Colomby and Katz's vision of a band, which was heavily influenced by the Buckinghams, a mid-'60s outfit they'd both admired for its mix of soul influences and their use of horns - toward that end, they got James William Guercio, who had previously produced the Buckinghams, as producer for their proposed album.

Though Kooper was gone from Blood, Sweat & Tears, the group was forced to rely on a number of songs that he'd prepared for the new album. The resulting album, simply called Blood, Sweat & Tears, was issued 11 months after Child Is Father to the Man, in January 1969. Smoother, less challenging, and more traditionally melodic than its predecessor, it was ambitious in an accessible way, starting with its opening track, an adaptation of French expressionist composer Erik Satie's "Trois Gymnopedies" that transformed the languid early 20th century classical work into a pop standard.

Clayton-Thomas was the dominant personality, with Lipsius and the other jazzmen in the band getting their spots in the breaks of each song - equally important, and rather more telling the singles drawn from the album were all edited down, abbreviating or removing most of the featured spots for the jazz players. The first single by the new group, "You've Made Me So Very Happy," quickly rose to the number two spot on the charts and lofted the album to the top of the LP listings as well. That was followed by "Spinning Wheel" b/w "More and More," which also hit number two, which, in turn, was followed by the group's version of Laura Nyro's "And When I Die," another gold-selling single.

When the smoke cleared, that one album had yielded a career's worth of hits in the space of six months, and the LP had won the Grammy as Album of the Year, selling three million copies in the bargain. So much demand was created for work by Blood, Sweat & Tears that the now 18-month-old Child Is Father to the Man, with the different singer and very different sound, made the charts anew in the summer and fall of 1969 and earned a gold record. The group soon faced the problem that every act with a massive success has had to confront - where do you go from up?

By fall 1969, with ten months of massive success behind them, the record company was eager for a follow-up album. The group began recording Blood, Sweat & Tears while the second album was still selling many tens of thousands of copies every week. This time, the group would produce the album themselves, an unusual arrangement for what was still essentially a new group, but one the label agreed to, in the wake of the previous album's sales. And then issues of image and politics entered into the picture.

When Al Kooper led the group, there was no question of how hip and tuned in Blood, Sweat & Tears were, to the rock culture and the counterculture - by his own account, Kooper was a resident "freak" wherever he went in those days, and they were a daring enough ensemble to speak for themselves with their music. But the new group's music, and their use of horns, in particular, was more traditional, and it made them a little suspect among rock listeners. "Spinning Wheel," especially, was the kind of song that invited covers by the likes of Mel Tormé and Sammy Davis, Jr., and was the sort of "rock" hit that your parents didn't mind hearing. And "You've Made Me So Very Happy," for all of the soulfulness of David Clayton-Thomas' singing, also had a kind of jaunty pop-band edge that made the group seem closer in spirit to the Tonight Show band than, say, to the Rolling Stones.

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Compounding the uncertainty of just who and what Blood, Sweat & Tears were, and how cool they were, was a decision that they made in early 1970, to undertake a tour of Eastern Europe on behalf of the U.S. State Department. A few other rock bands had played Eastern Europe before, but never on behalf of a government, much less one that, at that particular time, was singularly unpopular with a lot of Blood, Sweat & Tears' potential fan base over the war in Vietnam. There was something horribly wrong with this picture in May 1970, but the group was oblivious to it.

The reason for the tour was a practical one, according to some sources. Clayton-Thomas was a Canadian with very uncertain visa status in the United States, and the State Department indicated that it would be a lot more agreeable about their singer working here if the band did them this favour. It was a coup for the administration, getting one of the hottest rock acts in the world to represent the government in the Eastern bloc nations - but it also took place just at the time of the Kent State massacre, in which four students were shot to death by National Guardsmen, an event that Nixon chose to capitalize on politically. And it got worse when they came back, after seeing the police in Bucharest, in particular, take a violent hand to any audience spontaneity; a statement was issued on the group's behalf, upon their return, trumpeting the virtues of American freedom - this, one month after Kent State, with the murders of the students still an open wound and the reactionary rioting that had ensued in cities like New York (where the police had done nothing to stop a mob of construction workers from attacking anyone with long hair and invading City Hall) still fresh in peoples' minds.

In June 1970, Blood, Sweat & Tears were the only act hipper than the Johnny Mann Singers putting out feel-good messages about the United States government. It was on their return to America, amid these dubious career moves, that Blood, Sweat & Tears was released. Under the best of conditions, it would have been too much to hope that it could match its predecessor, and the truth was that it didn't. Despite some attractive songs, the album never achieved the same mix of accessibility and inspiration displayed by the earlier album. The album shipped gold and topped the LP charts for two weeks in mid-1970, and the single "Hi-De-Ho" made it to number 14, but the edge was off and the numbers didn't keep soaring week after week as the sales of their prior two LPs had. More troubling, the group was starting to get criticized in the rock press, not directly for their State Department tour - though that couldn't have made a lot of reviewers and columnists too predisposed to go easy on the band - but over who and what they were (and that was where the infamous tour did enter into the picture).

A lot of rock critics felt that Blood, Sweat & Tears were a pretentious pop group that dabbled in horn riffs, while others argued that they were a jazz outfit trying to pass as a rock band - either way, they weren't "one of us" or part of who we were. Oddly enough, some members of the jazz press liked them, but that was small help - at any time after the early '40s, jazz reviewers in America reached no more than a small percentage of listeners. And regardless of what the critics said, a lot of serious jazz listeners who were the same age as the bandmembers thought the group was fluff, jazz-lite. Their image problem grew only worse when the group accepted an engagement to appear at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas - the gambling mecca had never been known as friendly to current rock acts, and the group felt it was doing journeyman service by opening up Caesar's Palace to performers under 30. Instead, it multiplied their difficulties - Vegas and what it represented were almost as bad as Nixon.

In the meantime, another act, Chicago, produced by James William Guercio, broke big in 1970, also on the Columbia label, and avoided all of these pitfalls and internal problems and ended up stealing a huge chunk of Blood, Sweat & Tears' audience. It seemed as though, after an extraordinary run of luck, the group couldn't catch a break; their musical contribution to the Barbara Streisand film The Owl and the Pussycat did nothing to enhance their image. The group's fourth album, begun in early 1971, was the first that ran into real trouble in the making, which showed from the presence of three producers in the credits, and even Kooper was represented in the songwriting and arranging department. The fourth album, issued in June 1971, peaked at number ten on the charts, nowhere near the top, and none of its singles cracked the Top 30.

It was around this time that the membership began shifting and splintering. By 1971, the group was basically divided into three factions, the rock rhythm section pitted against the jazz players, and the singer between them both, and no one happy with what anyone else was doing. Clayton-Thomas no longer enjoyed working with the rest of the band and chose to exit after the release of the fourth album to pursue a solo career. Despite this loss, the group carried on, and the label was willing to carry them a bit longer - after all, Blood, Sweat & Tears had sold a lifetime's worth of LPs, and the two subsequent albums, though disappointing in its wake, were respectable successes by any conventional standard, and one always hopes that lightning will strike twice.

Bob Doyle took the vocalist spot for a few months, and was then replaced by Jerry Fisher; elsewhere in the lineup, Fred Lipsius, who'd been there from the start and had put the original horn section together, finally called it quits and was replaced by Joe Henderson, who, in turn, was succeeded by Lou Marini, Jr., and Dick Halligan, who'd replaced Kooper on keyboards after the first band's breakup, was succeeded by Larry Willis, while Steve Katz got a second guitarist to play off of in the person of George Wadenius. All of these personnel changes led to an extended period of inactivity for the band, which Columbia Records made up for by releasing Blood, Sweat & Tears’ Greatest Hits in 1972 - this was probably a little sooner than they might otherwise have done it, under ideal circumstances, but the album became a Top 20 album and earned a gold record award and was a very popular catalogue item for many years; one advantage that its original LP version offered the casual fan was that its songs were all the shorter, single edits of their hits, which were otherwise only available on the original 45 rpm records.

In September 1972, this lineup released an album, appropriately enough called New Blood, which never made the Top 30 despite some good moments, accompanied by a single, "So Long Dixie," which didn't crack the Top 40. By this time, they'd turned more toward jazz, recognizing that the rock audience was slowly drifting out of their reach. Founding members Jim Fielder and Steve Katz called it quits during this period, Katz preferring to work in the more rock-oriented orbit of Lou Reed.

With replacements aboard, Blood, Sweat & Tears continued performing, but their next LP, humorously (or was it ominously?) entitled No Sweat, released in 1973, never rose higher than number 72 on the charts, and that was a hit compared to its successor, Mirror Image, which peaked at number 149. By this time, people were passing through the lineup like a revolving door, and even Jaco Pastorius put in some time playing bass for the group, all without leaving much of an impression on the public. The plug might've been pulled right about here, but for the return of Clayton-Thomas, whose solo career had fizzled. Now fronting an outfit billed officially as Blood, Sweat & Tears Featuring David Clayton-Thomas, they released a modestly successful comeback album, New City, in 1975, which - despite a few lapses in creativity and taste, and a range that encompassed Allen Toussant ("Life") and Randy Newman ("Naked Man," complete with a Mozartian digression) - featured some of the group's best jazz sides in years as well as superb performances by Clayton-Thomas.

The latter included a rare venture (for this group) into acoustic guitar blues on their rendition of John Lee Hooker's "One Room Country Shack." The accompanying single, a version of the Beatles "Got to Get You Into My Life" (which, peculiarly enough, anticipated the single release of a remixed version of the British band's own recording) never made the Top 40, but the album did well enough to justify an ambitious tour that yielded a double-LP concert album, Live and Improvised, that was issued in Europe (and, 15 years later, in America). Columbia Records dropped the group in 1976, and a brief association with ABC Records led nowhere. The group was caught between their former Columbia rivals Chicago, who continued to get airplay and chart regularly with new releases, and purer jazz ensembles such as Return to Forever and Weather Report, who had captured the moment in the press and before the public.

In the end, even Bobby Colomby, who had trademarked the group's name very early after Kooper's exit in 1968, gave up playing in the band, taking a corporate position at Columbia. Clayton-Thomas has kept the band alive in the decades since, fronting various lineups that continue to perform regularly and record sporadically, mostly updated renditions of their classic material. The advent of the CD era, and the release of expanded versions of their first two albums, fostered new interest in the group's early history, which was furthered by the 1990s release of Kooper's Soul of a Man, which presented new concert renditions of the 1967-era group's repertory. During the first decade of the 21st century, Wounded Bird Records also belatedly reissued the band's post-BST4 albums on CD, with surprising success – New Blood and, even more so, New City, sounded quite good musically, divorced from their origins by almost 30 years. The group name remains alive behind Clayton-Thomas, and their recordings through 1972 - especially the first album - still elicit a powerful response from those millions who've heard them. ~ 

Discography:

Source: Bruce Eder, All Music Guide; eNotes

This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com

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The Moody Blues

The Byrds

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Formed in 1967 from two Charterhouse Public School bands (The Anon and Garden Wall), they recorded some rough demos and sent these to performer and producer Jonathan King, himself a former Charterhouse schoolboy.

King took the band under his wing and arranged for them to be signed to Decca. He gave them the Genesis name and recorded a couple of singles from the demos, which were released in 1968. Although both decent stabs at flower power pop, they sank without trace. With the lack of commercial success, Chris Stewart left the band to continue his education. (He later had success of his own with a number of best selling books about his life in Spain). His place behind the drum kit was taken by John Silver.

Despite the commercial failure of the singles, King booked some studio time during the bands summer holidays to record a full album. Released in 1969, " From Genesis To Revelation" is a keyboard heavy debut with lush orchestration. It was an ambitious attempt and very much influenced by the psychedelic pop so popular at this time. How much input the band had in its conception is, however, debatable. It is known that the band deliberately wrote songs in the style of one of Kings favourite bands, The Bee Gees, to ensure his continued support. The most obvious reference point is The Moody Blues with echoes of early Pink Floyd. What is clear however, is Gabriel’s voice. Bearing in mind they were schoolboys, his voice was instantly recognisable, strong and assured. As a debut, it stood up remarkably well with a number of potential “hits”. Had Decca not lost interest in the band, who knows?

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After the commercial failure of the album (rumours have it that it sold just a few hundred copies), the band decamped to a cottage to write and rehearse. Now released from their contract with Decca, they were free to take their time to find their own sound. By now John Silver had left and John Mayhew became yet another of the band’s drummers. The result was a much more confident group who were quickly picked up by a new label, Charisma. The first album for the new label was "Trespass" (1970). Although a somewhat patchy affair, it contained some of the elements that would later become trademarks, particularly the standout last track "The Knife", which soon became a firm live favourite for many years. Having to tour the album did not suit Phillips who suffered from stage fright so he left, along with -surprise surprise - the drummer. Their replacements, Steve Hackett and Phil Collins joined to become what many people believe to be the classic Genesis line up.

The next album, released in 1971, "Nursery Cryme", was a big step forward and established the Genesis sound with tracks like "The Return Of The Giant Hogweed" and another long lasting live favourite, "Musical Box" However, once again the album failed to sell in large quantities. Their live shows were gaining much media attention, most notably for Gabriel’s many and varied costume changes and surreal song intros. They were building up an ever growing and loyal following. The big breakthrough came the following year with the release of "Foxtrot". Their first chart album, it reached the dizzy heights of number 12. Music and performance came together brilliantly. A virtuoso group performance, each track allowed members the opportunity to showcase their considerable musical ability. Once again Gabriel was the centre point for the live shows. The massive 24 minute long "Supper’s Ready" closed most of their performances and climaxed with him changing into a flying angel after a giant thunder flash. Now under the management of label boss Tony Stratton-Smith, they were ready to have a crack at the States and toured in late 1973. Always popular on the continent, sell out tours around Europe followed and a live album was released which made the UK Top 10 and just crept into the US Top 100. Despite the busy schedule, they found time to record the next album "Selling England By The Pound", which gave the band their highest chart placing in both the UK and US so far. Perhaps lyrically inferior to "Foxtrot", musically the band were on a spectacular high. The album is notable for producing Genesis first chart single, "I Know What I Like", and for having one track with vocals from Phil Collins - a sign of things to come! After years of hard work, their popularity was sealed and with the next album, super stardom was awaiting.

This album was the 1974 release, "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway". A double concept album it told the tale of Rael and his journey to find freedom and identity. A collection of shorter songs joined by lengthy instrumentals, it was the arch typical prog rock album and showcased the band at its musical peak. The shorter tracks resulted in a couple of well-received singles ("Counting Out Time" and "Carpet Crawlers") and a couple of tracks produced by Brian Eno. The stage shows for the world tour were spectacular with innovative lighting and many set and costume changes. After performing the show over 100 times and seemingly on a steady upward path to even greater success, the bombshell came in mid 1975. Gabriel was unhappy with the band and left for “personal reasons”. To most this marked the end of the group. After all, wasn’t Gabriel the vocal, visual and spiritual centre of the band? If the remaining members thought this, it must have been only briefly for pretty soon they were auditioning for a new vocalist (rumour has it that nearly 400 hopefuls were tried out). No one proved satisfactory and drummer Phil Collins took over as lead vocalist.

To ensure they maintained as much momentum as possible, two albums were quickly released in 1976. Remarkably, they proved to be their most successful yet. "Trick Of The Tail" went to number 3 and "Wind and Wuthering" number 7 in the UK, while both reached the US top 30. The decision to have Collins as lead singer proved to be inspired. They continued touring to sell-out crowds with Bill Bruford then Chester Thompson taking the drum seats while Collins carried out his vocal duties. After the recording of the live album with this line up, "Seconds Out" in 1977, guitarist Steve Hackett decided to leave to concentrate on his thriving solo career. Flushed with the success of the last time this happened, once again the band looked to within to fill the gap. Up stepped Mike Rutherford to play lead in addition to his role as bass guitarist. This prompted the title of the 1978 release "And Then There Were Three". Astonishingly, the smaller the band the bigger the success. The hits kept on coming. "And Then There Were Three" went top three while the next 4 albums, "Duke" in 1980, "Abacab" in 1981, "Genesis" in 1983 and "Invisible Touch" in 1986, all went to the top of the UK charts and top 10 in the States. Another live album, released in 1982, "Three Sides Live", reached no 2 in the UK. For a band that started out bathed in psychedelia they became the very definition of Prog Rock. Their success with singles is remarkable, with in excess of 15 top twenty hits in the UK, and many more in the US. They continued to tour the world using session musicians to bolster live performances and were established as one of the world’s top bands.

With all group members involved in non-Genesis work, it would be a whole five years before a new Genesis album was released. "We Can't Dance" continued the success; topping both the UK and US charts and featuring 5 hit singles.

In 1996 Phil Collins announced he too would be leaving the band. The most successful of the band as a solo performer, he would now be concentrating on his solo work and various film projects. It was also reported that he was suffering with hearing problems and would be reluctant to tour.

Surprisingly, Banks and Rutherford continued as Genesis. The old trick of doing it all themselves would not work this time and after a long search to recruit a new vocalist, they decided on Ray Wilson, the ex lead singer of Stiltskin. They recorded just one album with this line up, the 1997 release "Calling All Stations". Successful in Europe but not in the all-important American market, they were forced to cancel a planned tour of the States. Wilson was sacked shortly after and the whole band operation went on hold.

In 1999 the “classic” line up reunited to record a new version of "Carpet Crawler" for inclusion on the "Turn It On Again - Hits" compilation. This prompted much speculation over the band reforming and continued until 2007 when Banks, Rutherford and Collins surprisingly announced a new tour. This was hoped to have been a full reunion but neither Gabriel nor Hackett was able to commit to the dates and in June 2007 just the three, along with live show regulars Daryl Stuermer and Chester Thompson commenced the Turn It On Again world tour. This took in over 50 arena-sized dates and inevitably saw the release of yet another live album with DVD.

It is unlikely any new material will be recorded and that’s how it is left with Genesis. In every interview the three are always asked if a full reunion of the classic line up will ever happen. The answer is always, “Never say never”, and this is why you will always see old Genesis fans with their fingers crossed.

Genesis was a strange band. Despite a privileged start and a lot of early luck, they never seemed to be resented or hated by their peers, public or press unlike many other bands of their type. The legacy they leave behind is of a  overtly British band conveying eccentricity and weirdness. Their early work remains a lasting example of all that was good about Prog Rock. The later period shows that even sitting at Rock’s top table, they were never afraid to take a chance or two and were comfortably at home as either an album or singles band.

If we have seen the last of Genesis, we should celebrate their success. They are one of the top 30 selling bands of all time. The works individuals have produced outside the band have also been outstanding. Peter Gabriel remains a highly respected artist after releasing a number of successful albums, singles and influential videos. While his stage shows are as ambitious as ever. He is the founder of the WOMAD world music festival. Mike Rutherford formed Mike And The Mechanics in 1985 to great success having hit albums and singles including the poignant "Living Years". Tony Banks has composed much music for films and TV and continues to release solo recordings. His value to Genesis has probably been underrated over the years. Steve Hackett has released dozens of solo albums, formed the prog rock super-group GTR and is cited as an influence to many guitarists such as Brian May and Eddie Van Halen. And Phil Collins, the most successful of them all, as singer, songwriter, actor, film theme song composer etc. etc. With many hit singles and albums all over the world, he is one of the biggest artists on the planet.

We should celebrate their uniqueness and remember them with affection.

Roger Gibbens

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This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com

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