Blind Faith (Blind Faith album)

Blind Faith
Studio album by Blind Faith
Released August 1969 (1969-08)
Recorded 20 February – 24 June 1969
Studio Olympic Studios & Morgan Studios, London
Genre Blues rock[1]
Length 42:12
Label Polydor
Producer Jimmy Miller
Alternative cover
US cover

Blind Faith is the self-titled and only album by the English supergroup Blind Faith, originally released in 1969 on Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Europe and on Atlantic Records in the United States. It topped the album charts in the UK, Canada and US, and was listed at No. 40 on the US Soul Albums chart. It has been certified platinum by the RIAA. Rolling Stone published three reviews of the album in their 6 September 1969 issue, which were written by Ed Leimbacher, Lester Bangs, and John Morthland.

Background

A buzz built about the band, since it contained two-thirds of the immensely popular power trio Cream in Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton working in collaboration with British star Steve Winwood of the Spencer Davis Group, and Traffic, along with Ric Grech of Family. They began to work out songs early in 1969, and in February and March the group was in London at Morgan Studios, preparing for the beginnings of basic tracks for their album, although the first few almost finished songs didn't show up until they were at Olympic Studios in April and May under the direction of producer Jimmy Miller. The music community was already aware of the linkup, despite Clapton's claim that he was cutting an album of his own on which Winwood would play. The promoters and record companies got involved, pushing those concerned for an album and a tour.

The recording of their album was interrupted by a tour of Scandinavia, then a US tour from 11 July (Newport) to 24 August (Hawaii), supported by Free, Taste and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. Although a chart topper, the LP was recorded hurriedly and side two consisted of just two songs, one of them a 15-minute jam entitled "Do What You Like". Nevertheless the band was able to produce two hits, Winwood's "Can't Find My Way Home" and Clapton's "Presence of the Lord".

Album cover controversy

The release of the album provoked controversy because the cover featured a topless pubescent girl, holding what appears to be the hood ornament of a Chevrolet Bel Air, which some perceived as phallic.[2][3] The American record company issued it with an alternative cover showing a photograph of the band on the front as well as the original cover.

The cover art was created by photographer Bob Seidemann, a personal friend and former flatmate of Clapton's who is primarily known for his photos of Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. In the mid-1990s, in an advertising circular intended to help sell lithographic reprints of the famous album cover, he explained his thinking behind the image.

I could not get my hands on the image until out of the mist a concept began to emerge. To symbolize the achievement of human creativity and its expression through technology a spaceship was the material object. To carry this new spore into the universe, innocence would be the ideal bearer, a young girl, a girl as young as Shakespeare's Juliet. The spaceship would be the fruit of the tree of knowledge and the girl, the fruit of the tree of life.

The spaceship could be made by Mick Milligan, a jeweller at the Royal College of Art [sic]. The girl was another matter. If she were too old it would be cheesecake, too young and it would be nothing. The beginning of the transition from girl to woman, that is what I was after. That temporal point, that singular flare of radiant innocence. Where is that girl?[4]

Seidemann wrote that he approached a girl reported to be 14 years old on the London Underground about modelling for the cover, and eventually met with her parents, but that she proved too old for the effect he wanted. Instead, the model he used was her younger sister Mariora Goschen, who was reported to be 11 years old.[5] Mariora initially requested a horse as a fee but was instead paid £40.[5][6]

Bizarre rumours both contributed to and were fuelled by the controversy, including that the girl was Baker's daughter or was a groupie kept as a slave by the band. The image, titled "Blind Faith" by Seidemann, became the inspiration for the name of the band itself, which had been unnamed when the artwork was commissioned. According to Seidemann: "It was Eric who elected to not print the name of the band on the cover. The name was instead printed on the wrapper, when the wrapper came off, so did the type." This had been done previously for the Rolling Stones' 1964 debut album, the Beatles' albums Rubber Soul in 1965 and Revolver in 1966, and Traffic's self-titled 1968 debut album.

In America, Atco Records made a cover based on elements from a flyer for the band's Hyde Park concert of 7 June 1969 in London.

Release history

The album was released on vinyl in 1969 on Polydor Records in the UK and Europe, and on Atco Records in the US. Polydor released a compact disc in 1986, adding two previously unreleased tracks, "Exchange and Mart" and "Spending All My Days", recorded by Ric Grech for an unfinished solo album, supported by George Harrison, Denny Laine, and Trevor Burton.[7]

An expanded, deluxe edition of the album was released on 9 January 2001, with previously unreleased tracks and 'jams' included. The studio electric version of "Sleeping in the Ground" had previously been released on the four-disc boxed set for Clapton, Crossroads (released 1988, recorded 1963–1987, including several previously unreleased live or alternate studio recordings). The bonus disc of jams does not include bassist Grech, who had yet to join the band. Two live tracks from the 1969 Hyde Park concert not included here, "Sleeping in the Ground" and a cover of "Under My Thumb", are also available on Winwood's four-disc retrospective The Finer Things.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Rolling Stone(favourable)[9]
The 1000 Best Pop-Rock Albums[10]
Music Story[11]

The album was a critical and commercial success, reaching number one on both sides of the Atlantic [12][13] and receiving mostly positive reviews. On a list by Rolling Stone of "The 30 Greatest One Album Wonders", Blind Faith was at 14, while songs such as "Can't Find My Way Home" and "Presence of the Lord" were described as "incredible".[14] Classic Rock Review spoke positively of the album, saying the critical acclaim it had received was "well-deserved".[15] The German edition of Rolling Stone ranked the album as the 140th greatest of all time.

Track listing

Side one[16]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Had to Cry Today"Steve Winwood8:48
2."Can't Find My Way Home"Winwood3:16
3."Well All Right"Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Norman Petty4:27
4."Presence of the Lord"Eric Clapton4:50
Side two[16]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Sea of Joy"Winwood5:22
6."Do What You Like"Ginger Baker15:18

Deluxe edition

2001 bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."Sleeping in the Ground"Sam Myers2:49
8."Can't Find My Way Home" (Electric version)Winwood5:40
9."Acoustic Jam"Winwood, Clapton, Baker, Ric Grech15:50
10."Time Winds"Winwood3:15
11."Sleeping in the Ground" (Slow blues version)Myers4:44
2001 bonus disc
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Jam No. 1: Very Long & Good Jam"Winwood, Clapton, Baker14:01
2."Jam No. 2: Slow Jam No. 1"Winwood, Clapton, Baker15:06
3."Jam No. 3: Change of Address Jam"Winwood, Clapton, Baker12:06
4."Jam No. 4: Slow Jam No. 2"Winwood, Clapton, Baker16:06

Personnel

  • Steve Winwood – keyboards, vocals, guitars; bass guitar on "Presence of the Lord"
  • Eric Clapton – guitars; vocals on "Do What You Like"
  • Ric Grech – bass guitar, violin on "Sea of Joy"; vocals on "Do What You Like"
  • Ginger Baker – drums, percussion; vocals on "Do What You Like"
Production personnel

Charts

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/Sales
Australia (ARIA)[34] 3× Platinum 210,000^
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[27] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[35] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[36] Platinum 1,000,000^
Summaries
Worldwide (IFPI) 8,000,000[37]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Top 30 British Blues Rock Albums Of All Time". Classic Rock. Future plc. 23 March 2007. Retrieved 1 September 2018.
  2. ↑ Doggett, Peter (2008). There's a Riot Going On: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars, and the Rise and Fall of the '60s. Canongate Books. pp. 280–281. ISBN 1-84767-180-2.
  3. ↑ Larkin, Colin (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. p. 268. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
  4. ↑ "She's older than she looks..." Badcat Records. Archived from the original on 25 October 2009. Retrieved 9 May 2008.
  5. 1 2 Thorgerson, Storm; Powell, Aubrey (1999). 100 Best Album Covers: The Stories Behind the Sleeves. Dorling Kindersley. p. 29. ISBN 0-7513-0706-8.
  6. ↑ Barrell, Tony, "Cover Stories", Sunday Times (11 November 2007)
  7. ↑ Simon Leng (2003). The Music of George Harrison: While My Guitar Gently Weeps. SAF Publishing Ltd. p. 43.
  8. ↑ "Blind Faith – Blind Faith | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  9. ↑ Leimbacher, Ed (6 September 1969). "Blind Faith". Rolling Stone. San Francisco: Straight Arrow Publishers (41): 27–28.
  10. ↑ "Blind Faith". acclaimedmusic.net. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  11. ↑ "Blind Faith". acclaimedmusic.net. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
  12. ↑ "Blind Faith – Chart history – Billboard". Billboard.com. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  13. ↑ "BLIND FAITH – full Official Chart History – Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  14. ↑ "40 Greatest One-Album Wonders". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  15. ↑ "Blind Faith debut album". Classicrockreview.com. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  16. 1 2 "Blind Faith". discogs.com.
  17. ↑ Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. Note: This reference gives Australian albums and singles information. It is used for chart peak positions as early materials were released before ARIA regulated the Australian charts itself (1989).
  18. ↑ "Top Albums/CDs – Volume 12, No. 10". RPM Magazine. Library and Archives Canada. 25 October 1969. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  19. ↑ "Top Stranih [Top Foreign]" (in Croatian). Top Foreign Albums. Hrvatska diskografska udruga. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  20. ↑ "Blind Faith". Hitlisten (in Danish). Danskehitlister.dk. Retrieved 1 January 2016.
  21. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Blind Faith – Blind Faith" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  22. ↑ "InfoDisc : Tous les Albums classés par Artiste". Institut français d'opinion publique (in French). InfoDisc.fr. Archived from the original on 7 November 2011. Retrieved 29 August 2015. Note: Select "BLIND FAITH", then press "OK" to see selected charting positions.
  23. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  24. ↑ See the Irish Chart Tread 2005 for Reference at UKMIX.org. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  25. ↑ "ブラインド・フェイスの売上ランキング | ORICON STYLE". Archived from the original on 29 August 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2015. . (in Japanese). Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  26. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – Blind Faith – Blind Faith". Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  27. 1 2 "LISTAS DE AFYVE: 1992 Albumes (1ª parte)". Archived from the original on 29 August 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2015. . (in Spanish). Retrieved 29 August 2015. Note: Search for Spanish album versions only to see the charting positions and selected certification awards.
  28. ↑ "Blind Faith | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  29. ↑ "Blind Faith – Blind Faith | Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  30. ↑ "Blind Faith | Awards | AllMusic". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  31. ↑ "Alben 1969 Deutschland | Album-Charts | Top 100 Auswertung". GfK Entertainment (in German). Chartsurfer.de. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  32. ↑ "Alben 1969 Norwegen | Album-Charts | Top 40 Auswertung". GfK Entertainment (in German). Chartsurfer.de. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  33. ↑ "Alben 1969 UK | Album-Charts | Top 75 Auswertung". GfK Entertainment (in German). Chartsurfer.de. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  34. ↑ "Australian Fun Countdowns: Accreditation Awards". Australian Recording Industry Association. Australian Fun Countdowns. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  35. ↑ See BPI Certifications list on UKMIX.org for reference. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  36. ↑ "American album certifications – Blind Faith – Blind Faith". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 29 August 2015. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
  37. ↑ Eder, Bruce (2007). "Rovi Corporation". MTV Biographies – Blind Faith. United States: MTV Books. p. 2.
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