Blue Matter
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Album Summary
Blue Matter was the debut studio album from Savoy Brown, released in 1969 on the Decca Records label — and baby, this one came straight from the soul. Led by the fiercely dedicated guitarist Kim Simmonds, this British blues outfit walked into the studio carrying the weight and the warmth of Chicago blues on their shoulders, and they laid it down with conviction. Recorded during the peak of the late 1960s British blues boom, the album was shaped in the electric blues tradition, with Simmonds steering the ship as the band's creative engine. What came out the other side was something raw, honest, and deeply rooted — a debut that announced Savoy Brown not as imitators, but as true believers in the blues faith.
Reception
- Blue Matter earned the respect of British blues enthusiasts and helped cement Savoy Brown's standing as one of the more serious and committed blues interpreters to emerge from the UK scene in the late 1960s.
- The album drew favorable comparisons to the work being done by contemporaries like Fleetwood Mac and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, placing Savoy Brown firmly in the company of the era's most respected British blues acts.
Significance
- Blue Matter stands as a textbook example of the British blues revival at full spiritual height — featuring electrified readings of American blues traditions alongside original compositions that proved the band had genuine blues blood running through them.
- The album gave the world an early and essential look at Kim Simmonds' guitar voice, a sound that would carry Savoy Brown through decades of music and mark him as one of the unsung heroes of British blues-rock.
- Tracks like 'Louisiana Blues' and 'It Hurts Me Too' reveal the band's deep reverence for the American blues canon, interpreted not with detachment, but with the kind of respect and heat that only true devotion to the music can produce.
Tracklist
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A1 Train To Nowhere 111
4:12
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A2 Tolling Bells 133
6:33
-
A3 She's Got A Ring In His Nose And A Ring On Her Hand 138
3:07
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A4 Vicksburg Blues 103
4:03
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A5 Don't Turn Me From Your Door 112
5:04
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B1 May Be Wrong 163
7:50
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B2 Louisiana Blues 119
9:06
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B3 It Hurts Me Too 81
6:53
Artist Details
Savoy Brown is one of the most soulful, road-worn blues rock outfits to ever come rolling out of London, England, forming back in 1965 under the steady hand of guitarist Kim Simmonds, who kept that band burning long after most of his bandmates moved on to greener pastures — and man, did they move on, with founding members spinning off to form Foghat and other acts that rocked the decade hard. Their thick, swampy sound drew deep from the well of American blues and poured it through a distinctly British filter, putting out classics like *Hellbound Train* and carving out a loyal following on both sides of the Atlantic throughout the late '60s and into the '70s. Savoy Brown never quite grabbed the brass ring of mainstream superstardom, but for the true believers — the ones who knew where the real fire lived — they were an essential piece of the blues rock foundation that held up so much of what came after them.
