Bo's Flashbacks

The Climax Blues Band

Live @ the Brewery in East Lansing

1973

To be truthful I had not known much about the Climax Blues Band when I sauntered back into my favorite club. At that point, I had been attending MSU for three years and had checked out all the clubs. I loved seeing the Woolies at Lizards and I saw Byrds front man Roger McGuinn @ a small bourgeois chain of clubs known as the Coral Gables but I always preferred the Brewery. It had more of a working class feel and the price for beer was reasonable. I had nothing better to do so I hooked up with my best buddy “the Nabber” and made it to the how on time. After several beers and an opening act I cannot remember, Climax Blue Band took the stage. The lead guitarist and singer Peter Haycock wad the focal point. He could play guitar like ringing a bell – straight up 12 bar blues with or without the slide, hard rock, boogie, country, pop – he could do it all. He was just a sprite of a man, the rest of the group towered over him. The bassist Derek Holt kept a strong bottom and he was a great harmony singer while Colin Cooper blew a mean sax and he could sing leads with his smooth supple baritone. They opened the show with the sultry and sensuous All the Time in the World. It is a mid-tempo rocker that is a mature statement about sex and love – a masterpiece that should have been a #1 hit – only it went on for six minutes. I Am Constant followed. It is a pop-oriented ode to honesty

I Am Constant

As the morning star
Shines out of the sky
And I am constant
Never knowing if it's

Truth that's in your eyes,
As unchanging as the rivers flow,
But heaven knows I've tried
Rearranging different music

But still the same inside
I am constant...
I am constant
As the morning star

Shines down from above
And I am truthful
But who knows the truth
When jokers fall in love

Dust and ashes take the best of us
But what goes on before
Superficial as humanity
When people go to war

I am constant...
I am you...yes I am...

They followed with Flight an extended jazz/blues jam with a unique interplay between the lead guitar, bass, keyboard and saxophone. It meandered a bit but it allowed the musician to stretch out and get down. The band went back to their origins with a knockout version of Willie Dixon’s masterpiece Seventh Son. Standing by the River and So Many Roads are a back-to back blues rockers that pay homage to the bands early influences. The use the 12-bar format to stretch out and jam with Haycock’s brilliant guitar work and extended keyboard and saxophone flourishes. It was during this extended jam that I got up and danced in front of the band pulling up my smiley face tee shirt over my head and bouncing around like a happy lunatic. They didn’t seem to notice and as I continued to listen to the band and appreciate their great music I felt just like a fool. The leader Colin Cooper takes the vocals on the upbeat rocker You Make Me Sick. Haycock ripped it up with some brilliant slide work.

At this point of the show, they performed Shake Your Love, a hit on our college radio station. I loved the rawness and the heat of this lurid tale of sex and debauchery. It has a speeded up Bo Diddley beat and screaming harp that is deliciously primal. The lyrics don’t hold anything back

Mama mama when you hear me call

It’s time to rock and it’s time to ball

Can be rough so hold on tight

We gonna shake some love tonight

Gonna shake some love tonight

Gonna jump and shout, gonna scratch and bite

Gonna Shake your love tonight

Rolly Polly jump the gun

We’ll keep on shaking till the morning come

I can tell by the look in your eyes

You just won the super prize

Up and down and in and out

I’m gonna show you what it’s all about

You don’t need your high class friends

Cos  I’m gonna shake your love again\

The show ended with Wilbert Harrison’s magnificent peace and brotherhood anthem Let’s Work Together - a perfect closer. Last time I heard about the Climax Blue band they had a radio hit with Couldn’t Get it Right, not a bad song but it had nowhere near the power and artistry of the songs they performed at the Brewery in 1973. By the mid-eighties Colin Cooper was the only member left from that classic lineup in 1973.  Through the ensuing years Peter Haycock was involved in several projects including a tour with a re-formatted Electric Light Orchestra. But in 1973 he was on top of his game, a real master of the art of blues based rock & roll.