CD review: The Keef Hartley Band – Live at Essen Pop and Blues Festival 1969/1970 – 2024: Video, CD cover

A giant in the formative years of British blues, drummer/bandleader Keef Hartley gets to live and soar again on this extensive two-disc set, which captured him at his best on stage in Germany three months after he appeared at Woodstock, where he was the only artist who didn’t appear in the documentary and only music wasn’t recorded because of restrictions put in place by the group’s manager.

Keef studied percussion under the same instructor who taught Phil Collins, and his career began in Liverpool when he replaced Ringo Starr as the drummer in Rory Storm & the Hurricanes. He became John Mayall’s drummer in the Bluesbreakers after Storm’s death, and he formed his own group shortly after serving as Mayall’s only accompaniment on The Blues Alone LP.

Also a member of the rock group Dog Soldier and a beloved figure on the British club circuit, frequently dressing up as an American Indian and hitting the skins attired in warpaint and wearing a full headdress, Keef delivered a style similar to both Blood Sweat & Tears and Chicago Transit Authority. The band’s lineup changed often throughout its brief career, but they managed to release five albums on the Deram imprint before disbanding in 1972. And Keef continued performing until his untimely death at age 67 in 2011, an event caused by surgical complications.

Captured in Grugahelle, Germany, in October 1969 and 1970, the roster for these sets include guitarist/vocalist Miller Anderson, keyboard player Mick Weaver, future Uriah Heep bassist Gary Thain and sax player Chris Mercer, and all of the songs are long, freeform jams that give all of the principals space to work out. The ’69 setlist contains only six songs with seven in ’70, and although the order varies, four of the numbers are repeated. Despite the redundancies, song lengths vary dramatically throughout.

The slow blues, “Too Much Thinking,” kicks things off in style as Anderson insists there’s nothing wrong with his mind other than the repeating thought that he feels like he’s dead. Mercer’s stellar solo mid-tune drives the message home. The band dips into Taj Mahal’s early catalog to follow to deliver an extended take on “Leavin’ Trunk” to with Anderson ripping it up on the six-string.

Mercer’s front and center again for the original, “Just to Cry,” which lays down a jazzy, stop-time rhythmic foundation that carries forward. A number that will definitely remind you of BS&T, “Sinnin’ for You” blazes throughout propelled by a repetitive horn line. B.B. King’s “Rock Me Baby” was one of the biggest hits in blues in the ’60s, and Hartley’s drumbeat comes to the fore for an over-the-top, seven-plus minute redo prior to a partially redacted “Believe in You” concludes the set.

A year later, Hartley’s drums open the action and sets the temperature to burn for “Think It Over,” an original that shares its title with a memorable number from Buddy Holly. This time, the singer’s lady has hit the door and he’s in agony as he wonders if she’ll come back. His frustration is evident through anguished solos from Anderson and Mercer. The mood brightens dramatically with the sweet “Believe in You” before the band delivers extended versions of “Leavin’ Trunk” and “Just to Cry” and a shortened take on “Sinnin’ for You.”

Written by folk-rocker and fellow Brit Roy Harper, the original version of “Me and My Woman” featured lush arrangements by Mike Oldfield of “Tubular Bells” fame. But Hartley reworks it into an intense blues-rocker bemoaning the fact that the couple can’t get along for more than a day at a time. The action closes with a nine-minute redo of “Too Much Thinking.”

If you’re old enough to remember the ’60s, this CD will be a blast from the past. Music stylings have changed in a major way since this era, but even if you’re a blues-rocker from a more recent generation, this might strike a positive chord in your ear.