Levi Blues Set demos?

[dansven]

Hi everybody!

Great to see this group!

Mike Vernon once said that Jeremy Spencer's first band - The Levi Blues Set - recorded some demo tracks for Blue Horizon. Vernon didn't think the band itself was any good, but he thought Jeremy was quite a slide guitar player and later brought him and Peter Green together.

Then when I got my "Fleetwood Mac - The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions" box set, there where not much info about the Spencer tracks "I'm Coming Home To Stay" and "Mystery Boogie". The tracks are rather loose, and Vernon had no memories of recording them. He also thought that the bass player might be Peter Green (!) since it was clear that it was NOT John McVie.

So I thought maybe these could be Jeremy's pre FM Levi Blues Set demos. Any thoughts/suggestions on this?

Daniel,
Norway.

[wetcamelfood]

Hard to say, if they're sure that John McVie isn't on "I'm coming home to stay" then I wonder if this was another track that was cut with Brunning on bass? After all, Brunning only "remembered appearing on 3 tracks that got released (at that time)" (which of course were "I believe my time ain't long", "Rambling pony" (probably "number 2" from the 1971 "Original FM" album) & "Long grey mare") though he recalled "recording many tracks late at night, sneaking in to the CBS studios with Vernon and co. when they weren't supossed to be there" so maybe this was why it was hard for Vernon to remember about ICHTS (with all the cloak & dagger stuff)? Just a thought/theory.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that Vernon had suggested that maybe "Mean old fireman" & "Allow me one more show" (again, surfacing on the 1971 "The original FM" album) may have come from the Levi Set tape he had submitted to him but like you say, he has also commented on not liking John & Ian Charles' work which of course are not to be heard on either of those tracks so other Levi Set tapes must've existed at some point (if we assume MOF & AMOMS are in fact Levi Set tracks).

Sorry I can't really help here, just trying to think out loud. Hmm...

John

[dansven]

Yes, it could indeed be one of those late night sessions with Bob Brunning. I also wonder where and when Jeremy's two tracks "Look Down At My Woman" and "Who's Knocking" were recorded.

I once read that they were recorded during the Man of The World sessions. Maybe they were outtakes for his solo album "Jeremy Spencer". Who knows..

But it would really be nice to hear more of the Levi Blues Set recordings - if they existed!

Daniel,
Norway

[wetcamelfood]

Well, it would make sense if "Look down at my woman" & "Who's knocking" were recorded circa "Man of the world" since that Spencer single was on Immediate (as was the MOTW single) but yeah, the details on those tracks have always been annoyingly vague.

Nah, I don't think they'd be outtakes from his selftitled Reprise solo album as that Reprise stuff was after the "Immediate days" and sonically speaking those two tracks sound more Immediate that Reprise to me but like you say, who knows? ...and hopefully we will find out all about this stuff someday somehow.

John

[dansven]

Thanks for the answers,

I agree with you about them probably not being outts from the "Jeremy Spencer" LP. Were they officially released as a single??

Daniel

[wetcamelfood]

I understand those JS tracks were released on an Immediate single but I've never seen one. I just have them courtesy of the V/A "White boy blues" release on Castle Communications from 1985 in the UK (though, as I'm sure you are aware, these tracks have surfaced on numerous compilations since, this of course just being one of the many). I will post about it here though if I find out for sure one way or the other if those tracks were released as a solo Spencer Immediate single though I'm going by the assumption that they were for now unless it can be proved otherwise by anyone. Hope that helps.

John

[BklynBlue]

Fleetwood Mac's early catalog, like that of so many other bands from the British Blues Explosion period, The Yardbirds, John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, Them, is riddled with misinformation and confusion -
To paraphrase from "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance", when the choice is fact or legend, print the legend. Eventually, it is fact.
The idea that "Mean Old Fireman" and "Allow Me One More Show" is from the Levi Set's audition I think is a good example - it's possible that Vernon asked the rest of the band to sit out and had Jeremy do a couple of solo numbers - so he could better hear what he could do.
In the liner notes to the Blue Horizon sessions box set, Vernon says the unreleased tracks from the "stray" reel of Masters were:

I'm Coming Home to Stay
I Held My Baby Last Night
Mystery Boogie - both have horns, (added later(?)- McVie not on tracks)

Allow Me One More Show
Mean Old Fireman
Love That Woman

Vernon calls these last three "alternative mix versions" - they must have been on another reel also as they were "found" when the "Original Fleetwood Mac" LP was compiled in '71.

It's possible that "Allow Me One More Show" & "Mean Old Fireman" were recorded in '67 -
Vernon actually lists the recording date for "Mean Old Fireman" as 11/22/67 - but no date is listed for "Allow Me One More Show".
I firmly believe they were recorded at the same time regardless of the attribution in the liner notes - and that these were added to a reel of tracks recorded in '68 -
"I Held My Baby Last Night" shows up on "London Live '68", and Celmins places the recording of "Love That Woman" at the "Black Magic Woman" sessions - that Mike Vernon, or Jeremy Spencer had planned to continue working on i.e. overdub additional parts -some got finished, others didn't -
As with so many other tracks, these were forgotten or lost and they just moved on -

I'm going to go with their being recorded in '68 - Vernon lists three separate studio dates for "Need Your Love So Bad" - not counting the USA version - over a five week period and Jeremy doesn't play on that - what was he doing all that time?

It's all speculation anyway, so anyone who cares to take a guess, it's free

[dansven]

Thanks for your comments, John and BklynBlue!

It's nice to hear your suggestion. I think Jeremy did very well on many of these recordings that were not intended for release back then. Especially the two solo numbers - AMOMS and MOF.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get the Real Audio clip of him pre Mac to work (on the Penguin biography).

I hope he would start recording more music. Those India recordings were really good to hear.

Daniel