Keef Hartley Band - Halfbreed (CD)

Original release 1969
Re-issue 2003 Walhalla Records

Track Listings

Following his break away from John Mayall, Keef Hartley looked rockwards and saw it was all good. A prominent and important figure in the British Blues explosion Hartley stamped his individuality all over the albums he would release as the Keef Hartley Band. Halfbreed(1969) is, along with Battle of North West Six, one of the best albums Hartley would release either as a sidesman or as group leader and it presents Keef's fresh approach to British blues rock.

With Miller Anderson's voice, they release the fantastic album, Halfbreed, recorded in three days, with a funny introduction where you can hear John Mayall's conversation with Keef, when he tells him he's out of Bluesbreakers band. The track is appropiately named Sacked. :)

In the album, Halfbreed, there's a horn section to enrich their sound (mainly Hartley former bandmates in John Mayall band):

Henry Lowther (trumpet, violin)
Harry Beckett (trumpet)
Lyn Dobson (tenor sax, flute)
Chris Mercer (tenor sax)

Once Spit James leaves the band, Miller Anderson takes the guitar role completely. New changes leave the lineup as follows:

Miller Anderson (guitar, vocals)

Gary Thain (bass)

Henry Lowther (trumpet, violin)

Jimmy Jewell (sax)
Keef Hartley (drums)

Best English blues album ever -- in my opinion, anyway :), August 17, 2004

Reviewer:

R. Lindeboom theboomer (Cambria, CA USA)

The Keef Hartley Band's ''Halfbreed'' is arguably the best English blues album ever recorded. Having just been fired from the drum kit in John Mayall's Bluebreakers -- Keef Hartley took with him seemingly the entire horn section of the Bluebreakers who had just recorded the great ''Crusade'' album. Joining them was Gary Thain on bass (who would later show up on Uriah Heep's best efforts like ''Demons & Wizards'' and ''Look At Yourself.''), along with Spit James and Miller Anderson on guitars. Two incredably talented guitarists whose work on cuts like ''Born To Die'' is as good as any work by better known guitarists, such as Clapton, Beck, Peter Green, etc. These guys were incredible. Miller Anderson also had a voice that was born to sing the blues -- it is an incredibly expressive voice that carries so much strength, emotion and tenderness (when needed) that few singers are his equal. To fill it all out, Peter Dines was on piano and the Hammond B3 organ to give that fat sound that only a B3 can bring to the blues. Gorgeous stuff. Brash stuff. Blistering stuff. It's all here. Their version of ''Leavin' Trunk'' will peel the paint off the walls and the aforementioned ''Born To Die'' would easily make any Best 10 Cuts of English Blues albums that were really worth their salt. This album was, for me, in 1969 when it was released, the high-water mark of English Blues. These guys were incredible. Today, my son listens to it and tells me that it's one of the best albums he's ever heard -- it is. If you can find a copy, don't pass it up.