The Blues Band is a British blues band formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead vocalist and harmonica player with Manfred Mann, and guitarist Tom McGuinness also of Manfred Mann and The Roosters. The band’s first line-up also included bassist Gary Fletcher, slide-guitarist Dave Kelly who had previously played with The John Dummer Band, Howling Wolf and John Lee Hooker and drummer

Hughie Flint Hughie Flint (born 15 March 1940, Manchester, Lancashire) is an English drummer, known for his stint in John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, for his group McGuinness Flint in the early 1970s and for his subsequent association with The Blues Ba ...

, of John Mayall's Blues Breakers and McGuinness Flint, the band he formed with Tom McGuinness. In 1982 Flint left and was replaced by former

Family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

drummer Rob Townsend.

History

Their first

album 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 co ...

''The Official Blues Band Bootleg Album'', a mixture of blues standards and original

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

s featured the Jones and McGuinness

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

"Come On In" and their long-standing stage favourite "Flatfoot Sam". This album initially attracted no interest from major

record companies 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 produc ...

, so the band pressed a limited run of 3,000, hand-stamped their

logo A logo (abbreviation of logotype; ) is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol used to aid and promote public identification and recognition. It may be of an abstract or figurative design or include the text of the name it represents as in a wo ...

on the cardboard sleeve and signed them all. After unqualified endorsement from

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

presenter

Simon Bates Simon Philip Bates (born 17 December 1946) is an English disc jockey and radio presenter. Between 1976 and 1993 he worked at BBC Radio 1, presenting the station's weekday mid-morning show for most of this period. He later became a regular pres ...

and others, media interest resulted in a recording contract with Arista Records, who re-released the album under the same title. After that they released ''Ready'', ''Itchy Feet'' and ''Brand Loyalty'' albums and regularly toured through Europe. They briefly disbanded after recording a live album ''Bye Bye Blues'' (1983), but reformed three years later. In 1995, they unveiled their version of the 'Unplugged' craze, but rather than a MTV event, ''Wire Less'' was recorded at the

Snape Maltings Snape Maltings is an arts complex on the banks of the River Alde at Snape, Suffolk, England. It is best known for its concert hall, which is one of the main sites of the annual Aldeburgh Festival. The original purpose of the Maltings was the m ...

in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. They later recorded albums such as ''Stepping Out'' (2002) and ''Thank You Brother Ray'' (2004), which paid tribute to Ray Charles. In 2022, the Blues Band marked their final live performances with the release of their last studio album "So Long".

Discography

Albums

* ''The Official Blues Band Bootleg Album'' (1980). Number 40 UK * ''Ready'' (1980). Number 36 UK * ''Itchy Feet'' (1981). Number 60 UK * ''Brand Loyalty'' (1982) * ''Bye-Bye Blues'' (1983) * ''These Kind of Blues'' (1986) * ''Back for More'' (1989) * ''Fat City'' (1991) * ''Homage'' (1993) * ''Wire Less'' (1995) * ''Live at the BBC'' (1996) * ''18 Years Old and Alive'' (1996) * ''The Best of The Blues Band'' (1999) US only * ''Brassed Up'' (1999) * ''Scratching on my Screen'' (2001) * ''Green Stuff'' (2001) * ''Stepping Out'' (2002) * ''Be My Guest'' (2003) (Best of guest appearances) * ''Thank You Brother Ray'' (2005) * ''Few Short Lines'' (2011) * ''The Rooster Crowed'' (2018) * ''Bye Bye Blues Band'' (2021) * ''So Long'' (2022)

Compilation albums

*''Live At Kent Custom Bike Show'' (1988) Cassette only

Chart EP

* "

Maggie's Farm "Maggie's Farm" is a song written by Bob Dylan, recorded on January 15, 1965, and released on the album '' Bringing It All Back Home'' on March 22 of that year. Like many other Dylan songs of the 1965–66 period, "Maggie's Farm" is based on elect ...

"/"Ain't It Tuff"/"Diddy Wah Diddy"/"

Back Door Man "Back Door Man" is a blues song written by Willie Dixon and recorded by Howlin' Wolf in 1960. The lyrics draw on a Southern U.S. cultural term for an extramarital affair. The song is one of several Dixon-Wolf songs that became popular among roc ...

" (1980) Number 68 - UK

Singles

* "Come On In" / "The Blues Band Song" (1980) * "Find Yourself Another Fool" / "SUS Blues" (1980) * "Nadine" / "

That's All Right "That's All Right" is a song written and originally performed by blues singer Arthur Crudup and recorded in 1946. The song was rereleased in early March 1949 under the title "That's All Right, Mama", which was issued as RCA's first rhythm and bl ...

" (1980) (Two live tracks issued free with early copies of ''Ready'') * "Who's Right, Who's Wrong?" / "Itchy Feet" (1981) * "Come On" / "Green Stuff" (1981) * "Take Me Home" / "So Bad" (1982) * "Hey Hey Little Girl" / "SUS Blues" (1982) (Limited edition live single) * "Seemed Like a Good Idea" / "Rolling Log" (1982) * "Blue Collar" / "Duisburg Blues" (1989) (Promo for ''Back for More'')

DVDs

* ''Across Borders - Live'' (2004) * ''The Blues Band in Concert : Steppin' Out On Main'' (2004) * ''The Blues Band:Bungay Jumpin' Live'' (2009) * ''The Blues Band:Official Blues Band Bootleg DVD-DeLIVEred'' (2009) * ''Rock Goes To College: The Blues Band, 22 May 1980, Keele University '' (2015) (DVD/CD)

References

External links

The Blues Band official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blues Band, The English blues rock musical groups Musical groups established in 1979 English blues musical groups