Mighty Baby were an English band formed in January 1969 from the ashes of

The Action The Action were an English band of the 1960s, formed as the Boys in August 1963, in Kentish Town, North West London. They were part of the mod subculture, and played soul music-influenced pop music. Career The band was formed as the Boys in Au ...

. They released two

albums An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records coll ...

, ''Mighty Baby'' (which appeared in December 1969, but had been recorded almost a year earlier) and ''A Jug of Love'' (October 1971).

History

Their debut, a collection of

psychedelic rock Psychedelic rock is a rock music Music genre, genre that is inspired, influenced, or representative of psychedelia, psychedelic culture, which is centered on perception-altering hallucinogenic drugs. The music incorporated new electronic sound ...

songs, appeared on the small independent Head

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

in the UK, and on

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

in the United States. Over the course of 1970 several members of the band became Muslims (adherents of the

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

order), and their second album reflected the spiritual journey they had embarked on, sounding little like its predecessor. They were the closing act on the first day of the

Isle of Wight Festival 1970 The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 was a music festival held between 26 and 31 August 1970 at Afton Down, an area on the western side of the Isle of Wight in England. It was the last of three consecutive music festivals to take place on the islan ...

. It has been said that it was a meeting between Richard Thompson and the band that introduced Richard and Linda Thompson to the Sufi order. It has notable guitar parts from Martin Stone. As well as

gigging Gigging is the practice of hunting fish or small game with a gig or similar multi-pronged spear. Commonly harvested wildlife include freshwater suckers, saltwater flounder, and small game, such as frogs. A gig can refer to any long pole which ...

regularly, the

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran *Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

also played many sessions for others, including Robin Scott (''Woman From the Warm Grass''), Andy Roberts,

Keith Christmas Keith Peter Christmas (born 13 October 1946, Wivenhoe, near Colchester, Essex, England) is an English singer and songwriter. He attended Bath University to read architecture but, because the Architecture School was, at that time, based in Kin ...

(''Stimulus'' and ''Fable Of The Wings''),

Shelagh McDonald Shelagh McDonald (born 1948, Edinburgh, Scotland) is a Scottish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist who released two albums before her abrupt disappearance in 1971. Nothing further was heard of her until 2005, when she made contact with the ...

Sandy Denny Alexandra Elene MacLean Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978) was an English singer who was lead singer of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. She has been described as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer". After briefly w ...

, and Gary Farr (''Take Something with You'', ''Strange Fruit''). A live concert, recorded at Malvern Winter Gardens in 1970, was released on the Sunbeam label during early 2010. These are from tapes held by Ian Whiteman given to him after the concert. A hitherto unreleased recording from the Glastonbury Fayre 1971 has been included in this document. It has been retrieved from the Radio Geronimo archive. In 2019, the complete recordings of the band were released as ''At A Point Between Fate And Destiny'': a six CD boxed set, including their first album, with, as bonus tracks, a previously unissued alternate acetate version of the album; ''A Jug Of Love'', with as bonus tracks, the Blue Horizon-single and the ''Action Speak Louder ...'' tracks; "A Jug Of Love Rehearsals", which were previously issued on ''Slipstreams'' (Flashback, 2015) and, as bonus tracks, a 1969 jam and the French Philips single; "Day Of The Soup", a set of mainly instrumental demos for a 'potential', unissued second album and, as bonus tracks, 1970 live recordings; ''Live At Malvern'' (same tracks as ''Tasting The Life - Live 1971''); and ''Live At Glastonbury'', a more complete, cassette recording by Radio Geronimo DJs of their 1971 Glastonbury set. A 40-page booklet with an extensive band history, based on contemporary documents and interviews with all members of the band, is included. Mike 'Ace' Evans died on 15 January 2010 in London. He was buried at Woodland Burial Park near

Beaconsfield Beaconsfield ( ) is a market town and civil parish within the unitary authority of Buckinghamshire, England, west-northwest of central London and south-southeast of Aylesbury. Three other towns are within : Gerrards Cross, Amersham and High W ...

Discography

*''Action Speak Louder Than ...'' (1968 recordings of The Action already in Mighty Baby line-up, released in 1985) *''Mighty Baby'' (

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, Head Records, 1969) *"Egyptian Tomb" / "I'm From the Country" (Single Philips France 1969) *"Devil's Whisper" b/w "Virgin Spring" (

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, Blue Horizon 2096-003, October 1971) *''A Jug of Love'' (album, Blue Horizon 2931-001, October 1971) *'' Glastonbury Fayre'' - various artists: one song: "A Blanket In My Muesli" (Revelation 1/2/3, triple album, April 1972, live recordings from

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

1971) *''Live In The Attic'' (Rolled Gold Productions, December 2000) *''Tasting The Life - Live 1971'' (double album, Sunbeam Records, 2010) *''At A Point Between Fate And Destiny - The Complete Recordings '' (Grapefruit Records, 2019) With

Reg King Reg King (5 February 1945, Paddington, West London – 8 October 2010, Belvedere, Kent) was an English singer and songwriter, most famous for being the solo and lead singer with The Boys and The Action. He died of cancer, aged 65, in October 2 ...

*''Reg King'' (album,

United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1959, ...

29157, 1971)

Band members

* Alan 'Bam' King -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(born 18 September 1945,

Muswell Hill Muswell Hill is a suburban district of the London Borough of Haringey, north London. The hill, which reaches over above sea level, is situated north of Charing Cross. Neighbouring areas include Highgate, Hampstead Garden Suburb, East Finchl ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nort ...

) * Martin Stone -

(born 11 December 1946,

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

) *Ian Whiteman -

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(born 18 May 1945,

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

) *Mike 'Ace' Evans -

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

(born Michael Evans, 10 July 1945,

Henley Henley may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Henley, Dorset, a location * Henley, Gloucestershire, a location * Henley-on-Thames, a town in South Oxfordshire, England ** Henley (UK Parliament constituency) ** Henley Rural District, a former ru ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

) *Roger Powell -

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s (born 4 July 1944,

Camden Town Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

)

References

External links

* {{Authority control English progressive rock groups English psychedelic rock music groups Musical groups established in 1969 Musical groups disestablished in 1971