Eric Clapton's Powerhouse
Encyclopedia
Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse was a British
blues
studio supergroup
formed in 1966.
Joe Boyd
was in the process of opening a London
office for Elektra Records
and was looking for some British
talent to feature on the first release from the label's local division; a sampler compilation album. Manfred Mann's
singer Paul Jones
suggested putting together an all-star band to mark the occasion.
The band starred Eric Clapton
(on guitar), and featured Paul Jones (harmonica) and Jack Bruce
(bass) from Manfred Mann, Steve Winwood
(vocals) and Pete York
(drums) from the Spencer Davis Group
, and Ben Palmer (piano) who had previously played with Clapton and Jones as a member of The Roosters. Originally, Ginger Baker
was intended to fill the drummer's position, but he was unavailable at the time.
alongside tracks by The Lovin' Spoonful
, Al Kooper
, Tom Rush
and The Butterfield Blues Band
. The album was later reissued in the UK under the title Good Time Music.
The tracks included were "Crossroads
" (R. Johnson), "Steppin' Out
" (M. Slim) and "I Want to Know" (S. McLeod). There was a fourth song recorded, a "slow blues", but to this day it remains unreleased. "The slow blues was never issued, so they must have it on tape at Elektra somewhere," said Clapton in a March 1968 interview, printed in Guitar Player
magazine in 1992. "It was pretty good, too."
Due to contractual constraints, Winwood was credited as Steve Anglo in the original album's liner notes. It has also been suggested that the song "I Want to Know" was in fact written by Jones under a pseudonym named for his wife, Sheila McLeod. The James Bracken
composition "Steppin' Out" was incorrectly credited to Memphis Slim
, the American bluesman who had made the song a cornerstone of his performances since the 1950s.
in 1966 with Ginger Baker, and Palmer later joined them as their tour manager
. Clapton and Winwood have appeared together on numerous occasions, most notably from 1968-1969 as two quarters of Blind Faith
, with Ric Grech
and again Ginger Baker.
Some of the Powerhouse recordings have also been re-released: "Crossroads" was included on Winwood's compilation album Winwood
in 1971, under the name Powerhouse; "I Want to Know" was included on Clapton's compilation The History of Eric Clapton
in 1972, as The Powerhouse; and both were released together on Winwood's compilation The Finer Things
in 1995, credited simply to Eric Clapton.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
studio supergroup
Supergroup (music)
In the late 1960s, the term supergroup was coined to describe "a rock music group whose performers are already famous from having performed individually or in other groups"....
formed in 1966.
History
The Powerhouse was formed with full intention of being a short-lived studio project. In 1965 and 1966, American record producerRecord producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd
Joe Boyd is an American record producer and former owner of the Witchseason production company. Boyd was instrumental in launching the careers of Nick Drake, Fairport Convention, and The Incredible String Band.-Career:...
was in the process of opening a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
office for Elektra Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
and was looking for some British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
talent to feature on the first release from the label's local division; a sampler compilation album. Manfred Mann's
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
singer Paul Jones
Paul Jones (singer)
Paul Jones is an English singer, actor, harmonica player, and radio personality and television presenter.-Career:As P. P...
suggested putting together an all-star band to mark the occasion.
The band starred Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
(on guitar), and featured Paul Jones (harmonica) and Jack Bruce
Jack Bruce
John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
(bass) from Manfred Mann, Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
(vocals) and Pete York
Pete York
Pete York is a rock drummer who has been performing since the 1960s.-Early life:...
(drums) from the Spencer Davis Group
Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group was a mid-1960s British beat group from Birmingham, England, formed by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother Muff Winwood...
, and Ben Palmer (piano) who had previously played with Clapton and Jones as a member of The Roosters. Originally, Ginger Baker
Ginger Baker
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker is an English drummer, best known for his work with Cream and Blind Faith. He is also known for his numerous associations with World music, mainly the use of African influences...
was intended to fill the drummer's position, but he was unavailable at the time.
What's Shakin
The Powerhouse only recorded a few songs in March 1966 (produced by Boyd), three of which were released on the Elektra compilation album What's Shakin'What's Shakin'
-Side One:# "Good Time Music" – The Lovin' Spoonful# "Almost Grown" – The Lovin' Spoonful# "Spoonful" – The Paul Butterfield Blues Band# "Off the Wall" – The Paul Butterfield Blues Band...
alongside tracks by The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful
The Lovin' Spoonful is an American pop rock band of the 1960s, named to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. When asked about his band, leader John Sebastian said it sounded like a combination of "Mississippi John Hurt and Chuck Berry," prompting his friend, Fritz Richmond, to suggest the name...
, Al Kooper
Al Kooper
Al Kooper is an American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears , providing studio support for Bob Dylan when he went electric in 1965, and also bringing together guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills to...
, Tom Rush
Tom Rush
Tom Rush is an American folk and blues singer, songwriter, musician and recording artist.- Life and career :Rush was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His father was a teacher at St. Paul's School, in Concord, New Hampshire. Tom began performing in 1961 while studying at Harvard University after...
and The Butterfield Blues Band
Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival...
. The album was later reissued in the UK under the title Good Time Music.
The tracks included were "Crossroads
Cross Road Blues
"Cross Road Blues" is a song by Delta Blues singer Robert Johnson; released on a 78 rpm record in 1936 by Vocalion Records, catalogue 3519. The original version remained out of print after its initial release until the appearance of The Complete Recordings in 1990...
" (R. Johnson), "Steppin' Out
Steppin' Out (James Bracken song)
"Steppin' Out" is a blues instrumental written by James Bracken. It opens with a guitar riff based on the blues-scale, and continues with improvisation. It is an up-tempo 12-bar blues in the key of G....
" (M. Slim) and "I Want to Know" (S. McLeod). There was a fourth song recorded, a "slow blues", but to this day it remains unreleased. "The slow blues was never issued, so they must have it on tape at Elektra somewhere," said Clapton in a March 1968 interview, printed in Guitar Player
Guitar Player
Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...
magazine in 1992. "It was pretty good, too."
Due to contractual constraints, Winwood was credited as Steve Anglo in the original album's liner notes. It has also been suggested that the song "I Want to Know" was in fact written by Jones under a pseudonym named for his wife, Sheila McLeod. The James Bracken
James Bracken
James C. Bracken was an African American songwriter and the co-founder and co-owner of Vee-Jay Records with his wife Vivian and her brother, Calvin Carter.-Life:...
composition "Steppin' Out" was incorrectly credited to Memphis Slim
Memphis Slim
Memphis Slim was an American blues pianist, singer, and composer. He led a series of bands that, reflecting the popular appeal of jump blues, included saxophones, bass, drums, and piano. A song he first cut in 1947, "Every Day I Have the Blues", has become a blues standard, recorded by many other...
, the American bluesman who had made the song a cornerstone of his performances since the 1950s.
After the Powerhouse
Many members of the Powerhouse would later play together as members of other bands. Bruce and Clapton formed CreamCream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
in 1966 with Ginger Baker, and Palmer later joined them as their tour manager
Tour Manager
A tour manager is the person who helps to organize the administration for a schedule of appearances of a musical group or artist at a sequence of venues .-Background:...
. Clapton and Winwood have appeared together on numerous occasions, most notably from 1968-1969 as two quarters of Blind Faith
Blind Faith
Blind Faith were an English blues-rock band that consisted of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood and Ric Grech. The band, which was one of the first "super-groups", released their only album, Blind Faith, in August 1969...
, with Ric Grech
Ric Grech
Richard Roman Grech was a British rock musician.-Career:Grech originally gained notice in the United Kingdom as the bass guitar player for the progressive rock group Family. He joined the band when it was a largely blues-based live act in Leicester known as the Farinas; he became their bassist in...
and again Ginger Baker.
Some of the Powerhouse recordings have also been re-released: "Crossroads" was included on Winwood's compilation album Winwood
Winwood (album)
Winwood is the first compilation album of music featuring Steve Winwood. This two-record set was issued in 1971 by United Artists Records and features music which Winwood performed with The Spencer Davis Group, Powerhouse, Traffic and Blind Faith...
in 1971, under the name Powerhouse; "I Want to Know" was included on Clapton's compilation The History of Eric Clapton
The History of Eric Clapton
The History of Eric Clapton is a compilation double LP, released in 1972 by Polydor Records in the United Kingdom, and Atco Records in the United States. It features Eric Clapton performing in various bands between 1964 and 1970, including The Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos...
in 1972, as The Powerhouse; and both were released together on Winwood's compilation The Finer Things
The Finer Things
The Finer Things is a compilation album of recordings by Steve Winwood. It includes songs from his early days with The Spencer Davis Group through Traffic and Blind Faith and into his work during his solo career.-Disc 1:# Dimples - Spencer Davis Group...
in 1995, credited simply to Eric Clapton.
Band members
- Eric ClaptonEric ClaptonEric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
– guitar - Steve WinwoodSteve WinwoodStephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
(as Steve Anglo) – vocals - Paul JonesPaul JonesPaul Jones may refer to:*Paul Jones , Australian politician*Paul Jones , American Episcopal Bishop*Paul Jones , British former professional boxer...
– harmonica - Jack BruceJack BruceJohn Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
– bass - Pete YorkPete YorkPete York is a rock drummer who has been performing since the 1960s.-Early life:...
– drums - Ben Palmer – piano
External links
- [ Biography] at AllMusicGuide.com
- Collaborations page at WinwoodFans.com