Author(s):
Summer McStravick / John Roos
with Julian Barker / Martin Celmins / Borge Skilbrigt / Harry Shapiro / Mike Stax / John Watt
Reference: ISBN 0-9701332-7-8
Year: 2001
Blues-Rock Explosion, the first volume in a series covering Sixties rock music, offers fascinating profiles of 42 artists, ranging from the influential and popular Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield and the Allman Brothers to lesser-known contributors including Bakerloo and Black Cat Bones. This comprehensive collection, which concentrates on 1960-1970 - a vibrant period where blues music enjoyed a significant renaissance due largely to young white musicians who brought a rock `n' roll intensity to the blues - is unrivaled in its attention to detail and accuracy. Along with complete biographies, U.S. and UK discographies and the artists' critical and commercial impact, Blues-Rock Explosion opens a window to the often riveting interpersonal dynamics that shaped and ultimately defined combustible groups like the Yardbirds, Allman Brothers, the Graham Bond Organisation, Cream, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Fleetwood Mac and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers -that renowned launching pad for future guitar heroes Mick Taylor, Peter Green and "Slowhand" Eric Clapton.
My opinion:
A superb book, absolutely needed for blues fans! A must!
This is the complete list of artists featured in the book:
Allman Brothers
Artwoods
Bakerloo
Elvin Bishop
Black Cat Bones
Blind Faith
Mike Bloomfield
Blues Project
Graham Bond
Brunning Hall Sunflower Blues Band
Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Canned Heat
Chicken Shack
Eric Clapton
Climax Blues Band
Cream
Cyril Davies & The R&B All-Stars
Downliners Sect
John Dummer Band
Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation
Electric Flag
Fleetwood Mac
Rory Gallagher (Taste)
Barry Goldberg
Nick Gravenites
Dave Kelly
Jo Ann Kelly
Alexis Korner
Mark Leeman Five
Taj Mahal
Harvey Mandel
John Mayall
Charlie Musselwhite
Tracy Nelson (Mother Earth)
Rod Piazza
Duffy Power
Pretty Things
Savoy Brown
Siegel-Schwall Band
Ten Years After
Johnny Winter
Yardbirds
Other opinions:
These are some reviews about the book:
John Mayall says:
"A magnificent piece of research with stuff in there that I'd forgotten and will use whenever I eventually write an autobiography without clash of facts."
Stan Webb, from Chicken Shack:
"A book like this would be a valuable assert to a blues-rock fan. Let's hope that it gets the recognition it deserves and that the facts for once will now be the right ones."
Mark Naftalin, from Paul Butterfield Blues Band:
"This book is an exudant tide -almost a tsunami- of information. Plunge it and enjoy!"
Mike Vernon, mythical producer:
"An outstanding piece of research work full of detail and pertinent information. Essential reading for all music fans and surely a 'must acquire' for serious aficionados of the 'sixties blues revival'."
Renowned critic Chris Welch:
"An indispensable reference... a fascinating journey back into the heyday of the blues revival; bringing to life once more, in anecdotes and great detail, those exciting American and British bands that shaped rock history."
Nadine Cohodas, author of a book about Chess Records:
"This fact-rich compilation is a music fan's treasure, full of information and insights about the artists. The helpful postcripts answer the 'where are they now' question. The discographies remind us of all that came out of this important musical moment."
And 'god' Pete Frame, author of those marvellous rock family trees, says:
"Such assiduity warms the cockles of my heart."
Special thanks to: John Watt