Guide to British Music of the 1960s

January 2013

CD Review

The Graham Bond Organization - Wade in the Water

 

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The Graham Bond Organization were one of the key bands of the 1960s British Blues explosion although they did not gain the commercial credit they deserved. However, listening to this collection the listener can get a genuine feel for the energy of the time with a band that is now correctly recognised as being at the heart of this movement. In fact, The Graham Bond Organization could be considered one of the first supergroups, or even pre-supergroup, as it counted future Cream members Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce among its members we well as guitar virtuoso John McLaughlin and Dick Heckstall-Smith who was later in Colosseum.

This 4-CD set is an excellent overview of the band's career including unreleased tracks, alternative versions, demos and live tracks. Several tracks are present in many forms. The title track Wade in the Water shows how it progressed and developed over the course of the band's life. Train Time even became a feature of Cream's live set. The set shows how the band evolved from the Graham Bond Quartet to the Graham Band Organization in which only Bond and Dick Hestall-Smith were the only constant members.

Compiled by Pete Brown and Dick Heckstall-Smith the tracks have been "improved" in quality, bringing out elements that were not so audible in the originals. However, the power of the band is something that is ever-present. The live tracks reinforce the feeling on the earlier released Live at Klooks Kleek that the Graham Bond Organization must have been an exceptional live act for those who were fortunate enough to see them.

Many of the tracks are covers of well-known standards such as High-Heel Sneakers and What I'd Say. There are also originals written by band members including Bond and even Ginger Baker whose song Cold Rain about heroin addiction was previously unreleased. The collection is broad although the third line-up with Jon Hiseman is not represented for contractual reasons. A cover of I Saw Her Standing There with Duffy Power is one of several tracks recorded as Duffy Power with the Graham Bond Quartet.

Those who have not previously listened to John McLaughlin will marvel at the jazzy guitar parts of those earlier GBO tracks where McLaughlin was building his reputation as a jazz guitar player. Wade in the Water sounds quite different to the later versions where Heckstall-Smith's saxophone is to the fore. After this the classic line-up of Bond, Baker, Bruce and Heckstall-Smith evolve their tight blues sound into something quite special. Particularly interesting are the previously unreleased versions of Booker T's Green Onions and the classic High-Heeled Sneakers. Later tracks include Waltz for a Pig, credited to The Who Orchestra. This has been issued as the b-side of The Who single Substitute in the US even though the track was solely the Graham Bond Organization.

Many of the tracks have previously appeared on The Sound of '65 and There's a Bond Between Us but a large proportion of the tracks are appearing for the first time. Despite the Jon Hiseman era omissions, this is a superb collection of jazzy blues tracks by one of the most under-rated but most important bands of the 1960s.