Bakerloo - Bakerloo (1969) {1993, Reissue}

Bakerloo (previously The Bakerloo Blues Line) was an English heavy blues-rock trio, established by Staffordshire guitarist David "Clem" Clempson, Terry Poole and others in the late 1960s, at the high point of the influence of The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Cream. Although the group was prominent only for around a year (1968-9) and released only one album it played an important part in the history of the genre, especially in view of its members' subsequent involvement with Colosseum, Humble Pie, May Blitz, Graham Bond, Vinegar Joe, Judas Priest and Uriah Heep.

One of the first acts signed to the fledgling Harvest label in 1969, Bakerloo were very much a product of their time, a hard-hitting progressive blues band whose predilections ranged from a straightforward assimilation of Willie Dixon to some positively dazzling flashes of instrumental prowess. Guitarist Dave Clempson's "Big Bear Folly," the opening cut on the band's first and only album, is a dazzling Ten Years After-style showcase, while a jazzy variation on a theme of Bach, the aptly titled "Driving Bachwards," proves that the band wasn't averse to messing with the classics, either. The quartet's virtuosity occasionally overwhelms the songs themselves, although there is no shortage of gripping atmosphere. Bassist Terry Poole unleashes an almost sepulchral vocal across the stygian "Last Blues," a seven-minute marathon that swiftly develops into a full-fledged heavy rocker, punctuated by mood shifts that amount to separate movements – it's a magnificent piece, rendered with both musical precision and some of producer Gus Dudgeon's most inspired washes and effects. Impressive, too, is "Son of Moonshine," a distorted metal effort that clocks in at double that length and combines Clempson's intensive guitar soloing with a desperately driving blues rhythm. Period comparisons with Cream and early Led Zeppelin really weren't that far off the mark. Bakerloo were not long for this earth – Clempson quit to join Colosseum shortly after the album's release; Poole reappeared alongside Graham Bond; drummer Keith Baker departed for Uriah Heep; and Bakerloo itself disappeared off the shelves fairly quickly.