ouT oF mY minD

ouT oF mY minD

SPENCER DAVIS

I have been reading and hearing about a new “Rock Standby” returning to the States, with new visions, new inspirations and a new appeal. So strong was the audience response, and so overwhelmed the group that they will get their just rewards here, cancelling their European sellout dates to spend three more weeks in the U.S.

Spencer Davis was telling me this, slumped in his chair in the hotel, as we listened to the new Beatles album. He registered every beat with his fingers, toes and eyes. When a note was groved or an exceptionally hard passage was laid down by the genius of Paul McCartney. . .he chuckled and came out with a hollow laughter, as he shook and rolled his frame. This was his registering of satisfaction as he meshed in with the surrounding.

He invited me to talk. I wanted a reply worth -something, so I stated flatly, “Most artists have said that the highlight on listening to the new Beatles album is reached on the first side with “My guitar gently Weeps.” (Iwent on, as Spencer Davis nodded and snapped his fingers to the music).“lots of crit-

ics have ignored music, but this one has been lost in the shuffle. . .except by musicians. What do you think of that?”

Spencer replied: Sure, the song is a real rave, but you’ll never get me to say here’s the highlight anytime with a great disc. I can’t see limiting the album to one song. That would be a fixation. There’s so much in every cut and you get it out and appreciate it. Here’s one you’ll enjoy. Listen (and Spencer put the needle on the cut from the Beatle fan club Christmas ’68 release), and he began to nod and spoke, “That is gen-i-ou-s, MAN, they’ve got it, haven’t they?”

Weakly, I chimed in, “Too much.”

Spencer Davis: You have more on your mind. Questions, man?

I opened up with, “Where are your boys. What happened lately, and to get to the bottom, how much credit do you give the Yardbirds for setting a pace for the type of hard rock you are turning out?”

Davis: Well, what you really mean is lyric flow, the taping techniques and the meter and such as that. Right? Well, seeing you don’t really disagree, I’ll go on. The Yardbirds had such offerings at the time. . .down and out, real earthy lyrics and that sort of rubbish. (We were all thinking of comparisons.. .Yardbirds “I Can’t Make Your Way” and the Davis “Shortchanged.”) Here, I’m trying to say that the involvement was simultaneous, but still distinct, and the Yardbirds remain the Yardbirds, just as Spence Davis is Spence

Davis.

This brought me a new question and I popped it, “How much did the departure of Windwood affect you later style... .or did it?”

Davis looked at me a second and thought, “God Man, that hits me. I gotta think. I guess it did, come to think of it. Yes, it did, and I’ll tell you. As much as Stevie is a super star, he must depend on merit. We all depend on merit and so does the Traffic. It is hard to say we don’t miss him, but at the same time, you just pick up and move on. YOu give credit where credit is due, and nobody should be unhappy or fel sorry for the other guy. That’s the way it is when you have a split.”

I shifted gears and asked, “Is the scene in England turning out more hard rock. How about your Small Faces, as against the soft rock such as Bee Gees and the Moody Blues.”

He came through on this like gangbusters, “The demand in England is for exciting, hard driving all out types of performances, because the European generally tends to be much less interested in the sophistication of an artists material. They almost turn their backs to the entertainer who gets no charge in developing a generation of real loud explosive material.

I volunteered that the only exception was Tim Rose.

Davis’ Don’t forget Tiny Tim, hey (he laughed hard).

It was getting on and I didn’t want to wear out the welcome, so I shot one through, “How’s the U.S. scene for you? How do you relate? (and you get Spence unhitched lie this. He gave me a confused look and said short. . .“What do oyu mean, like what. Or, do you mean how will I do here? I’ll tell you... .)

He said the popularity of all groups is not reached a peak. Both the soft and hard rock are plying to a group. They don’t have it exclusively, do the? In America the audiences will sit down or stand and give a man his due. They listen to the entertaining value of the orchestra forms, but they give you the benefit and feel you have something else to offer. That’s great, man.”

“How about when you have a bad nigght,” I asked. “Doesn’t it throw you, when they still come up and say, ‘Boy, that was good. That was far out, Wow. Really fantastic.” But you know it was just fair. How do you react to that?”

Spencer Davis: The pride thing really drags you down. You know it was ordinary, not great. It hurts some, maybe you feel worse than if they didn’t say anything. You know they are being kind, and that isn’t getting recognition on your merit. Know what I mean? I gotta go, fellas. Really, man, I gotta split. Thanks for coming by.

As we left, I dawdled a minute and he smiled and shook hands, knowing we had a ball with Spencer Davis. I closed by stating, “Thanks, let’s face it, you’ve said it all.”

ABRAXAS IS coming!