Savoy Brown - Strange Dreams
  • When It Rains
  • Can't Take It With You
  • Meat Shaking Woman
  • Strange Dream
  • Keep On Rollin'
  • Shake It All Night
  • Pain Of Love
  • (Hard Time) Believing In You
  • Memphis Last Night
  • Can't Let You Go
  • When It Rains
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:04) [7.03 MB]
  • Can't Take It With You
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:12) [7.34 MB]
  • Meat Shaking Woman
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (03:50) [8.78 MB]
  • Strange Dream
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (04:51) [11.1 MB]
  • Keep On Rollin'
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (04:59) [11.42 MB]
  • Shake It All Night
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (05:36) [12.82 MB]
  • Pain Of Love
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (04:26) [10.14 MB]
  • (Hard Time) Believing In You
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (04:16) [9.78 MB]
  • Memphis Last Night
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (06:46) [15.49 MB]
  • Can't Let You Go
    Genre: Blues
    MP3 (04:51) [11.1 MB]
Biography
Legendary....a blues/rock institution....true innovators....These are just a few of the ways Savoy Brown has been described over the past thirty-five years by music critics and afficionados. Now one of the most celebrated groups in modern blues history perpetuates their storied tradition with the release of Strange Dreams on Blind Pig Records.

One of the earliest of British blues bands, Savoy Brown (with founder guitarist and longtime member Kim Simmonds at the helm) helped launch the U.K. blues/rock movement that paved the way for such acts as Led Zeppelin.

The band recorded their first singles for noted producer Mike Vernon's Purdah label in 1966 and quickly followed up with the landmark album Shakedown on Decca. Singer Chris Youlden joined the band in 1968 and many classic records followed, with songs such as "I'm Tired" and "Louisiana Blues" becoming radio staples. Blues/rock and boogie music was always the band's calling card. In 1969 they captured the spirit of the band's exuberant live performances on A Step Further with a twenty minute rendition of "The Savoy Brown Boogie," dedicated to fans in Detroit, one of the hotbeds of the driving beat of American rootsy rock.

Savoy Brown served as John Lee Hooker's backing band for his U.K. tour in 1967, the same year they opened for Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group Cream on their very first London gig. Simmonds performed with two other members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - Jimi Hendrix and Eric Burdon - on the same stage in London in 1969. He has also played with many of the blues greats, including Bobby Blue Bland, Charles Brown, and Earl Hooker. Savoy Brown was also appearing on the same concert bill with such rock icons as Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Rod Stewart, Jethro Tull, Fleetwood Mac, and Eric Clapton.

By 1971, Youlden had departed on a solo career and band members Dave Peverett, Roger Earle and Tony Stevens had left to form their own group, Foghat. Simmonds rebuilt the band using former members of the blues band Chicken Shack and adding vocalist Dave Walker. This marked a musical turning point, branching out from being an underground blues band to more of a rock group. That year, Street Corner Talking brought the band its best chart success up to that date. "Tell Mama," "Street Comer Talking," "All I Can Do Is Cry" and the band's funky re-make of the Motown classic, "I Can't Get Next To You" took the band to platinum status and placed them in front of wildly enthusiastic rock audiences in arenas all over the world. They followed up in 1972 with the release of another highly successful album, Hellbound Train.

"It was a great time," says Simmonds. "Such commercial success doesn't come to everyone and I also felt we were making important music too, which made it doubly satisfying." Simmonds, who also produced many of the band's early albums, has long been synonymous with "Legendary British Blues Guitar," being mentioned in the same breath as Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor in the hierarchy of England's best guitar slingers from the 60's golden era of British blues. In 1999 Simmonds was inducted into Hollywood's Rock Walk of Fame, joining the likes of Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page, Aerosmith, James Brown, Stevie Wonder and other rock music greats.

After the successful run of the early to mid 70's, during which Savoy Brown released another half dozen albums, the punk rock movement took over the scene in England, so Simmonds moved operations to the U.S. in 1979. In America he was able to continue making the kind of records he wanted to make, using a succession of line-ups. Records as diverse as the hard rocking Rock And Roll Warriors (1981) and the acoustic blues album Slow Train (1986 on Relix) appeared and all were eagerly accepted by the fans.

A three record deal with Crescendo, in 1987, took the band into a more rock direction, with records such as Live 'n' Kicking placing the group in a live setting, one in which they have always excelled.

With the band's release of Let It Ride in 1992, they began a return to their bluesier roots. Things really turned around in 1994 when Simmonds enlisted Pete McMahon for vocal and harmonica duties and ex-Robert Cray drummer Dave Olson and recorded Bring It Home for Viceroy Records. This return to a blues sound set the tone for the next five years by enabling the band to find a new audience, an influx of blues lovers.

Following that successful record, Nathaniel Peterson was brought in to handle the bass playing and singing. In 1999, after touring the world extensively for three years, The Blues Keep Me Holding On was released on Mystic Music. By touching base with the blues music that had made such a strong impression on them at the very beginning of their career, this modern blues record brought the band's epic music journey full circle.

Over the years Savoy Brown has performed over 5,000 concerts, headlining such legendary venues as Carnegie Hall, the Fillmore, and the Fillmore East. Now, more than three decades after they began, Savoy Brown is continuing their glorious history with the release of their 30th album, Strange Dreams on Blind Pig Records. According to Simmonds, "I've tried hard the past two years to build a new platform that will take me through the next few years of my career. I've given a renewed look at my singing and have placed that center stage and also I've dug deeper into my songwriting capabilities. Both these aspects have improved naturally with age but I've worked at it too. I'd like to think that the results show positively in the new CD."

"The music of Savoy Brown has never really got that far away from the blues," Simmonds says. "Today, I can still do a show that does straight traditional blues along with rock hits like "Tell Mama" and it all seems to fit. Everything that I have done with the band has had a blues standpoint to it." While others have strayed from their roots, Simmonds has stayed the course. A true journeyman and road warrior, he's comfortably settled into an elder statesman role at the same time that he's at the top of his game, burning up the fretboard on the concert stage.

Now, in the year 2003, the band line-up includes David Malachowski (guitar), Gerry Sorrentino (bass), Dennis Cotton (drums) and is led as always by Simmonds, who remarks about the new band line-up: "I've been blessed with a band that has natural musical chemistry together and one with a desire to do justice to the past as well as being able to create new music on which to build a future."

Savoy Brown continues to operate as a powerful and important blues/rock and boogie act, with a fan base that remains large. With Blind Pig's offering of Strange Dreams to long-time loyalists as well as a new generation of fans, that future shines clear and bright.
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