However, an Olympic remake of “ Had to Cry Today” vastly upgraded the previous effort. Miller called for retakes of “ Presence of the Lord,” but none of the new efforts could match the intensity of the original Morgan Studio recording. Because of the limited time available, we worked non-stop for a week until the album finally came together.” “ I went through those tapes they had recorded and know that they could do so much better. “ I received a frantic call from Chris Blackwell, asking me to pull the situation together,” remembered Miller in 1993. Miller joined the band at Olympic and galvanized them with his trademark enthusiasm. To salvage their studio effort, Chris Blackwell turned to producer Jimmy Miller, hailed for his innovative work with Traffic and the Rolling Stones.
#Blind faith free#
The free concert drew in excess of 10,000 people, an astonishing feat considering that the group had yet to issue a single song.īlind Faith’s uneven performance at Hyde Park, couple with the tenuous status of their unfinished debut album, heightened fears that the group might not be ready. Outside the confines of the recording studio, such was the enthusiasm for the new group, now known as Blind Faith, that on June 7, they decided to make their public debut in London’s massive Hyde Park. The bassist paid immediate dividends, lending a distinctive violin overdub to “ Sea of Joy,” an inspired Winwood composition. With Grech now part of the band, sessions for the album resumed at London’s Olympic Studios. “ It had become obvious during that era that artists could be considered hot property,” remarks Winwood. The pressure to capitalize on their lucrative reputations was not lost on Baker, Clapton and Winwood. The two had organized massive publicity campaign to promote the forthcoming album, as well as a crowded U.S. We had run into Rick on a few occasions and he seemed very sympathetic kind of fellow, so he was in.”īy late May 1969, the band had come up with only two incomplete songs, and both Robert Stigwood, manager of Baker and Clapton, and Chris Blackwell, Winwood’s label’s chief, were becoming increasingly exasperated. “ It wasn’t impossible, as I had done it before, but I wanted to free my feet up. “ With me on the organ, handling the bass parts as well as the keyboards was a difficult situation,” explains Winwood. It was decided that a bassist should be added to the trio and Rick Grech, formerly of the Family, was selected. Recording with engineer Andy Johns, the group put basic tracks for two songs, “ Well All Right” and Presence of the Lord,” down on tape.Īfter a handful of sessions, everyone stepped back and evaluated their progress. The name Blind Faith had not yet been suggested, and the trio booked studio time under the name Baker-Clapton-Winwood. Recording began in February 1969 at Morgan Studios in London.
Despite Clapton’s fears that the public would see the new group as an extension of Cream, he decided to soldier on. But unbeknownst to the guitarist, Winwood had, in the meantime, invited Cream’s Ginger Baker to join the project.
Ispired by the tight arrangements and selfless interplay of the Band, Clapton wanted his next venture to include none of the endless soloing and egotism which had been Cream’s calling card. The band started when Eric Clapton, who had just left Cream, reached out to Traffic’s Steve Winwood in hopes of forming a new band. With its members drawn from Traffic and Cream, two of the most popular groups of the era, Blind Faith was hailed as rock’s first supergroup.
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