One of the first acts signed to the fledgling Harvest label in 1969,
Bakerloo were very much a product of their time, a hard-hitting progressive blues band whose predilections ranged from a straightforward assimilation of
Willie Dixon to some positively dazzling flashes of instrumental prowess. Guitarist
Dave Clempson's "Big Bear Folly," the opening cut on the band's first and only album, is a dazzling
Ten Years After-style showcase, while a jazzy variation on a theme of
Bach, the aptly titled "Driving Bachwards," proves that the band wasn't averse to messing with the classics, either. The quartet's virtuosity occasionally overwhelms the songs themselves, although there is no shortage of gripping atmosphere. Bassist
Terry Poole unleashes an almost sepulchral vocal across the stygian "Last Blues," a seven-minute marathon that swiftly develops into a full-fledged heavy rocker, punctuated by mood shifts that amount to separate movements -- it's a magnificent piece, rendered with both musical precision and some of producer
Gus Dudgeon's most inspired washes and effects. Impressive, too, is "Son of Moonshine," a distorted metal effort that clocks in at double that length and combines
Clempson's intensive guitar soloing with a desperately driving blues rhythm. Period comparisons with
Cream and early
Led Zeppelin really weren't that far off the mark.
Bakerloo were not long for this earth --
Clempson quit to join
Colosseum shortly after the album's release;
Poole reappeared alongside
Graham Bond; drummer
Keith Baker departed for
Uriah Heep; and
Bakerloo itself disappeared off the shelves fairly quickly. ~ Dave Thompson