Not All Great Bands Have a Greatest Hits: Savoy Brown Comes to Brixton

Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown
Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown

Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown

There’s a great difference between the most successful bands of all time and the best bands of all time. Sure, some bands enjoy top success because they are the best; but commonly many of the best bands don’t see that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Consequently, they fall short of entering the common tongue – unlike a Santana, Lennon, or Cher, who register in the minds of nearly anyone. Meanwhile, names like Alexander Skip Spence, Robert Fripp, or Chris Youlden are often met with a blank response. The point is: just because maybe you haven’t heard of Savoy Brown, doesn’t mean they aren’t one of the best bands of all time.


Savoy Brown was founded in 1966 by legendary British blues guitarist Kim Simmonds, and is revered as one of the forerunning innovative proponents of the British blues revival.

“I was one of those precocious guys that could play quite well when I was young,” says Simmonds. “I’m told anyway – I don’t remember.”

He was a professional musician and formidable guitar player by the age of 17. And for Simmonds the framework was the blues.

He says, “I think it was the distillation of all the music I’d been listening to – jazz, R&B, rock n’ roll, pop of the ‘50s, early ‘60s… For me, blues summed everything up, the starting point to everything I was listening to… There were fantastic blues guitarists at the time… the obvious one was B.B. King… I was young and wanted to be part of the future, something new.”

So with mentors like Earl Hooker, Freddie King, and Matt “Guitar” Murphy, Simmonds plunged into the music scene and Savoy Brown became one of the earliest British blues bands of all time. The blues guitarists had beckoned to him in their esoteric language.

“The guitar playing for mass consumption did nothing for me,” he recalls. “What was going on in the underground and what could be done with the guitar… the guitar that I was listening to was singing… like a second voice… That’s what a great blues guitar player should be; it’s like a second voice, and really not a guitar at all.”

Throughout the years, Simmonds and his band have shared bills with such legends as Ten Years After, John Mayall and The Blues Breakers, Earl Hooker, Peter Green and Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, Captain Beefheart, Cream, Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, and Rod Stewart.

“We played with The Who in ’69 in England,” says Simmonds. “It was one of the most astonishing rock and roll shows I’ve ever seen to this day, for my taste (apart from Jerry Lee Lewis in ’63).”

In a different tone of astonishment, Simmonds recalls a hilarious moment when Savoy Brown performed alongside The Four Tops. “It was the worst response you’ve ever got your whole career,” he says. “They had no idea what we were playing! You just act as professional as you can…”

Savoy Brown is also one of those groups that spun other artists and acts into its web. It was notorious for perpetually shifting lineups from album to album, era to era. Individual musicians coming in and out of the group’s various incarnations have had ties to Black Sabbath, Humble Pie, Blodwyn Pig, Chicken Shack, UFO, Gary Moore, Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, and Ten Years After. Perhaps most famously, following the dissolution of the 1970 lineup on the standout album “Looking In”, departed Savoy Brown members went on to form Foghat – bringing the overtly classic “Slow Ride” to the timeless halls of our pop culture.

Simmonds has possessed an uncanny ability to attract and nurture myriad musicians throughout his long career, with many of them going on to accrue more fame and recognition than himself. No “big hits”, no Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, no eternal glam and glitz for Savoy Brown. However, Simmonds has received a plaque at the Hollywood Rockwalk of Fame, finding residence among legends like Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix.

While “Slow Ride” may have secured a regal seat in music history, Savoy Brown’s own pinnacle of creative output, the 1969/70s LP “Raw Sienna” remains drastically underrated.

Simmonds humbly reflects, “Perhaps it was always meant to be… You have a place to fill, and you have certain people you reach out to, and it will be appealing to them.” He continues without disdain, “It’s a constant source of disappointment that people will take what’s fed them… but not everyone.”

Although “Raw Sienna” is arguably one of the most perfect albums to come out of the era, Simmond’s own favorite from his long career belongs to a different intersection.

“If you really pushed me down to making a decision, I’d have to say [1971’s] “Street Corner Talking”, he eventually admitted.

With an impressive career spanning four and a half decades smothered in rock and the blues, Simmonds feels strongly about his current Savoy Brown incarnation.

“It’s some of my best writing… and I’ve got one of the best bands in a long, long time… That’s the great thing about the blues – it has great continuity, the players don’t let you down.”

The current lineup, including Joe Whiting (vocals, sax), Garnet Grimm (drums), and Pat Desalvo (bass), is awaiting a summer release of their new album “Voodoo Moon”. This legendary band, which has headlined Carnegie Hall, both Fillmores, and performed in Central Park, will be in town Sunday for its 45th anniversary release party.

Kim Simmonds and Savoy Brown have etched an honored place into music history. With over 30 albums under his belt, and a handful of solo records, Simmonds still feels quite young. With a rekindled interest in his own career, a 2011 album release, and three scheduled European tours, he looks auspiciously forward to a rocking future.

“Whether the past can be totally eclipsed is highly doubtful,” he says. “But you keep plugging along… I feel it’s important for the old dogs like myself to contribute… keep on doing my bit to still be a part of it… try to help blues rock along its path, to say my two cents… I feel very strong about it… very strongly that all hasn’t been said.”

Savoy Brown performs on Sunday at Brixton on the Redondo Beach Pier. Doors open at 6, and the show is at 7 p.m. Tickets $20. Also performing, Electric Caravan and 7th Sons. (310) 406-1931 or go to brixtonsouthbay.com. ER

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