A Step Further
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Album Summary
Savoy Brown's 'A Step Further' came rolling out in 1969, landing on Decca Records in the UK and Parrot Records across the Atlantic in the United States — and brother, it was something special. Produced by the great Mike Vernon, who had his fingerprints all over the British blues boom and knew exactly how to let a band breathe on tape, the album captured Savoy Brown in a beautifully loose, exploratory moment. The core lineup was firing on all cylinders, with the commanding Chris Youlden on vocals and the endlessly expressive Kim Simmonds on guitar — that man's playing was the beating heart of everything this band did. What Vernon managed to do in the studio was bottle some of that raw, spontaneous energy the band was known for on the live circuit, giving the record a feel that was less polished and more alive than a lot of their contemporaries were putting out at the time.
Reception
- The album performed modestly on the charts but did meaningful work in deepening Savoy Brown's foothold with American audiences, who had developed a genuine hunger for the kind of hard, honest blues rock that was pouring out of Britain at the time.
- Critics who paid attention recognized the album's gritty authenticity and consistently pointed to Kim Simmonds' guitar work as the emotional core of the record, even as some felt the studio couldn't fully contain the firepower the band unleashed live.
- The record continued building the loyal stateside fanbase that would prove to be Savoy Brown's true home base — a foundation sturdy enough to carry the band through the many lineup changes that lay ahead.
Significance
- 'A Step Further' stands as a genuine artifact of the late 1960s British blues revival at its most vital, with Savoy Brown embodying that electric moment when American blues traditions and British rock hunger collided and produced something entirely their own.
- The album's willingness to stretch out and improvise — heard vividly in the extended live medley on the B side — placed it squarely in the vanguard of a movement toward album-oriented rock and the heavier blues styles that would define the early 1970s.
- In the long view of music history, the record has come to be recognized as a key piece of evidence for Savoy Brown's status as one of the most underappreciated but genuinely influential acts of the entire British blues boom — a reputation that has only deepened among serious blues rock scholars and devotees over the decades.
Tracklist
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A1 Made Up My Mind —
2:56
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A2 Waiting In The Bamboo Grove —
3:37
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A3 Life's One Act Play —
6:29
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A4 I'm Tired 118
3:21
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A5 Where Am I —
1:51
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B1.1 I Feel So Good —
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B1.2 Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On —
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B1.3 Little Queenie —
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B1.4 Purple Haze —
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B1.5 Hernando's Hideaway —
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.
