So the soundtrack of the return home from North Brunswick the other night featured the Voodoo Moon the new album from Savoy Brown. Now I have not through the years been a Savoy Brown fan, about the only thing of theirs that’s in my collection is a track or two on a compilation album of British Blues from the early 70s. The band never made a big splash on the US Pop scene like Eric Clapton, Ten Years After or John Mayall, but through the years led by guitarist Kim Simmonds the band has consistently been releasing albums and touring. Through the years many artist have passed through the band and went on to some join some pretty big name bands. From the bands Wikipedia page:
Guitarist “Lonesome” Dave Peverett, bassist Tony Stevens, and drummer Roger Earl went on to form Foghat.[2] Original member and harmonica player John O’Leary is still active on the British blues circuit with his band Sugarkane. Another singer, Dave Walker, would later join Fleetwood Mac and Black Sabbath. Their bassists included Andy Pyle, who played with Mick Abrahams from Jethro Tull in Blodwyn Pig then later with The Kinks and Gary Moore. Andy Silvester had played with Wha-Koo and Chicken Shack. Savoy Brown also provided an outlet for keyboardist and guitarist Paul Raymond, who later went on to join UFO.
From 1999 to 2009 Kim Simmonds handled guitar and lead vocal duties for the band. In 2009 he decided he wanted to concentrate more on his guitar playing, so Simmonds brought in Joe Whiting as lead singer. The band thus became a four piece aggregation with Garnet Grimm on drums and Pat DeSalvo playing bass. And after listening to Voodoo Moon I think he made the right decisions. I have really enjoy the album the songs have great lyrics, good hooks and lots of good guotar from Simmonds. So check it out!
Here’s the title track from their 1972 release Hellbound Train. The album was their most successful album rising to # 34 on the US charts!