"Evesham
Boy, born in '46,
Evesham Boy, he learned all the licks.
He left home to search for fame,
Turned out to be the biggest game".
These are the opening lines to the song
‘Evesham Boy’, the opening
song on Luther Grosvenor's solo album
released in August 1996. Sadly, not much
has been heard from this talented musician
since. He retired from the music industry,
disillusioned with the business side of
it all for the second time in his career.
Luther Grosvenor was born in Evesham,
Worcester, just before Christmas in 1946.
By the time he was eleven years old he
got his first acoustic guitar, and at
fifteen he formed his own group, the Wavelength.
By the mid-sixties Luther Grosvenor felt
he had outgrown his own band and wanted
to turn into a fulltime professional musician.
So when Dave Mason left Worcester's premier
rock group, the Hellions, Luther applied
for the job and with a change of name
Deep Feelings were created, making a name
for themselves on the college dance scene.
While Luther was honing his skills as
lead guitarist with Deep Feelings, other
members were Jim Capaldi, later to reach
fame and fortune with a solo career and
as one of the major driving forces in
Traffic, and Poli Palmer, who was rattling
the keyboards and later went on to record
five albums with Family. Deep Feelings
was the band Luther made his studio recording
debut. The two singles were the wonderful
‘Pretty Colours’, and ‘Poltergeist
of Alice’.
When Steve Winwood put out the call for
Jim Capaldi to leave Deep Feelings and
rejoin Dave Mason in the fledgling Traffic,
Deep Feeling fell apart. Shame. Great
band. Steve Winwood saw the raw talent
of the young guitarist and let him gig
as lead guitarist with the local band
the V.I.P's, who had just had a minor
hit with 'I Wanna Be Free' (1966). The
V.I.P's briefly had Keith Emerson on keyboards
while Luther was in the band along with
Greg Ridley on bass, Mike Kellie on drums,
and Mike Harrison on vocals and keyboards.
With Emerson gone and Guy Stevens as
producer and mentor, the V.I.P's were
signed to the Island Record label. They
released one more single ‘Straight
Down To The Bottom’, which was a
bit of a shame really as that was exactly
where they went in the singles charts.
Undaunted the band plugged on, but a change
of name was deemed necessary. Consequently
Guy Stevens renamed them Art and hustled
them back into the studio to record a
new single along with a whole new album.
The single, which was a minor hit, was
a reworking of the Buffalo Springfield
song 'For What It's Worth', re-titled
'What's That Sound', the prominent chorus
line from the song.
The album came out in a blaze of publicity
in the year of the summer of love –
1967. The album was wrapped in a stunning
full-blown psychedelic sleeve designed
by Haphash and the multi colored coat.
The album made little impression on the
charts though and another re-think was
in order.
Chris Blackwell, head of Island Records,
had just brought across the young American
singer/songwriter/keyboard player Gary
Wright to kick start his career on the
east side of the Atlantic. It was he who
suggested that Wright joining the four
piece Art. At first the boys were not
keen on the idea as they already had a
singer/songwriter/keyboard player in the
band in Mike Harrison, but agreed to a
meeting. In one afternoon of rehearsals
minds molded and the band became a five
piece and were renamed for the second
time by Guy Stevens to the magical Spooky
Tooth.
The debut album recorded in 1968 was
called ‘It's All About’ (Jimmy
Miller held down production duties as
Guy Stevens was proving a little too erratic;
there is a fine line between genius and
insanity), with its blistering version
of John D. Louder’s 'Tobacco Road'.
This cemented the Spooky Tooth’s
obvious heavy keyboard laden sound and
showing off the dual lead vocals of Harrison
and Wright. However, more importantly
to our story, gave also full reign to
the talents of young Mr. Luther Grosvenor's
lead axe work. ‘Tobacco Road’
was always a fan favorite in Spooky Tooth’s
live shows throughout their career. The
single lifted off the album became also
a hit, ‘Sunshine Help Me’,
perhaps the first self written Spooky
Tooth classic.
After a year of heavy road work, including
two promising trips to the United States,
the band returned to the studio again
with Jimmy Miller at the helm to record
their classic album, and one of the highlights
of Luther Grosvenor's career, 'Spooky
Two'. But more of this in part two…
Pawed
by Mott The Dog
Re-chewed by Ella Crew
E-mail: review@mott-the-dog.com
Go to Part 1
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(1967)