Founded 1963 in Birmingham, England, the Spencer Davis Group were one of the finest bands to emerge from the fertile British music community. The quartet featured Steve Winwood on lead vocals, guitar and keyboards, his brother Muff Winwood on bass, Spencer Davis on guitar and Pete York on drums.
The Spencer Davis Group’s greatest commercial success occurred in 1966-67, when soul-slanted rock songs like “Keep On Running,” “Somebody Help Me,” “Gimme Some Lovin'” and “I’m a Man” clasped the charts.
Steve Winwood resigned at the height of the Spencer Davis Group’s fame and quickly put together Traffic, while Muff simultaneously staged his exit to work as an A&R agent at Island Records. Determined to keep the band going, Spencer and Pete brought guitarist Phil Sawyer (soon to be replaced by Ray Fenwick) and vocalist and keyboardist Eddie Hardin on board to cement the revised outfit.
In 1968, the revamped Spencer Davis Group issued an album, With Their New Face On prior experiencing a further alteration in the personnel department. Eddie and Pete fled the fold, coupling as a duo aptly dubbed Hardin and York. Bassist Dee Murray and drummer Nigel Olsson – who both later played in Elton John’s band – then joined the Spencer Davis Group for the Funky album in 1969, which was also when the crew called it a day.
[SOMETHING ELSE! INTERVIEW: Spencer Davis always saw big things for Steve Winwood – “You must be bloody kidding?! I knew from the get go,” Davis tells Steve Elliott.]
However, in 1973, Spencer resurrected the group. Ray, Eddie and Pete returned to the show, while ex-Taste bassist Charlie McCracken completed the configuration.
The Spencer Davis Group’s following album, Gluggo (Vertigo Records) received little fanfare. Sales were flat and the majority of reviews were less than flattering. Yet in retrospect, Gluggo stands as a fun and energetic collection of meat-and-potatoes rock and roll. Perhaps at this point, the band’s original audience had moved on, and critics may have expected something a bit more inventive, resulting in the dismissal of the album.
Governed by galloping rhythms, chugging chords and a gigantic thigh-slapping chorus, “Catch You on the Rebop” roars and soars with convincing enthusiasm, and “Mr. Operator” wiggles and jiggles to a dance-friendly funk groove.
A raw-boned cover of the blues standard “Trouble in Mind” casts an impressive Ray Charles impersonation, the wonky hard rock of “Tumble Down Tenement Row” contains a jaunty riff bearing a close similarity to John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s “Day Tripper” and “Today Gluggo, Tomorrow the World” is a plucky instrumental rigged with shifting boogie-based beats and the buzzing burr of a swirling synthesizer.
[SOMETHING ELSE! INTERVIEW: Inside the Spencer Davis Group’s decision to carry on without Steve Winwood – “I wasn’t looking to duplicate Steve’s voice,” Davis reveals.]
Quieter moods are provided on the melancholic piano-driven “Alone” and “Don’t Let It Bring You Down,” which entails an appealing blend of pretty pop melodies and feathery Beach Boys-buttered harmonies. But the bulk of Gluggo definitely favors the kind of raunchy bar band-styled rock and roll rooted in the blood of acts such as Status Quo and Foghat.
The same version of the Spencer Davis Group that appeared on Gluggo released a subsequent album in 1974 titled Living in a Back Street before laying the line-up to eternal rest. Spencer has remained active in music all these years, and is rightfully regarded by both peers and the public as a living legend. His contributions to the scene are indeed noteworthy and valid.
And what in the heck is gluggo, you ask? Grab a copy of the album, read the inside jacket, have a good laugh and make your own assumptions!
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