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Keef Hartley Band Halfbreed
Released : 1969
Label : Deram
Format : [email protected]
Keef Hartley is a little-known (stateside) but integral member of the British blues and blues-rock scene of the 1960s. Born Keith Hartley in 1944 in Preston, Lancashire England, the young drummer left home at 15 and became Ringo Starr's replacement in the Merseybeat band Rory Storm & the Hurricanes. He later honed his skills as a member of the London-based R&B outfit the Artwoods, playing with future Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord.
Hartley achieved some degree of prominence after joining John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in the mid-1960s. Hartley appeared on several Mayall albums, including 1967's often-overlooked Crusade (with a young, pre-Rolling Stones Mick Taylor on guitar) and The Blues Alone. He re-united with the Godfather of British Blues for 1971's Back To The Roots and 1973's Moving On and Ten Years Are Gone albums.
Hartley formed his own Keef Hartley Band in 1968 with talented Scottish singer and guitarist Miller Anderson (who would later play with Savoy Brown) and future Uriah Heap bassist Gary Thain, the band releasing its debut album, Half Breed, in 1969. The band performed at the Woodstock Festival later that year, but was cut from the commercially-successful documentary film, an omission that might have helped the band's stateside fortunes. The Keef Hartley Band released five albums of brilliant blues-and-jazz-influenced rock 'n' roll in three years, including 1970's The Time Is Near and 1971's Overdog. A sixth album, with contributions from John Mayall and singer Jess Roden, was recorded but remains unreleased.
After the Keef Hartley Band, the drummer put in a brief stint with British rock 'n' soul band Vinegar Joe, appearing on their 1972 album Rock 'n' Roll Gypsies alongside singers Elkie Brooks and Robert Palmer. In 1973, Hartley would release his lone solo effort, Lancashire Hustler, with Palmer and Brooks providing backing vocals behind singer Roden, and the drummer would reunite with Anderson and former Artwoods bassist Derek Griffiths in the ill-fated hard rock band Dog Soldier, which released a single eponymous album in 1975. Hartley recorded and toured with Michael Chapman, and reportedly made a nice chunk of change for his (uncredited) playing on the soundtrack to the blockbuster movie Grease.
Hartley disappeared from music in the 1980s, working as a cabinet maker and refurbishing recording studios. He released a biography titled Halfbreed (A Rock and Roll Journey That Happened Against All the Odds) in 2007, writing about his youth and career. In recent years, young blues-rock fans in both the U.S. and the U.K. have re-discovered the Keef Hartley Band, and virtually all of the band's albums have been re-issued. As both a bandleader and as part of Mayall's seminal Bluesbreakers, Keef Hartley's influence is inestimable.
Tracklist:
01a "Sacked (Introducing Hearts and Flowers)" - 0:40
01b "Confusion Theme" - 1:05
01c "The Halfbreed" - 6:07
02 "Born to Die" - 9:58
03"Sinnin' For You" - 5:51
04 "Leavin' Trunk" - 5:55
05 "Just to Cry" - 6:20
06 "Too Much Thinking" - 5:30
07 “Leave It ‘til The Morning” - 3:36
08a "Think it Over - 4:59
08b "Too Much to Take " - 0:32
Personnel
Miller Anderson - Vocals, Guitar
Peter Dines - Organ, Harpsichord
Spit James - Guitar
Gary Thain - Bass Guitar
Keef Hartley - Drums
Henry Lowther - Trumpet, Violin, Brass arrangements
Harry Beckett - Trumpet
Lynn Dobson - Tenor Sax, Flute
Chris Mercer - Tenor Sax
John Mayall - voice on "Sacked" and "Too Much to Take" |
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