Blind Faith
	Produced by Jimmy Miller
	Released on July 1969
	UK CHART POSITION #1 . . . US CHART POSITION #1 . . . PLATINUM RECORD
	Find it at GEMM
SD 33-304B cover

K ronomyth 1.0: BLAND FAITH. This is a several-month snapshot of time during which Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood intersected, engaged Ginger Baker, coerced Rick Grech to leave his Family, and recorded an album that sounded like a mix of Traffic and Cream with one caveat: if these songs had been recorded by Cream or Traffic (in its Barleycorn incarnation), they would have sounded better. I like this album but have always felt it was an overrated asterisk. The opening “Had To Cry Today” lays it on the line; Winwood wrote it, but Jack Bruce should be singing it. Conversely, “Can’t Find My Way Home” would have worked better on Barleycorn with Chris Wood (though Baker does an admirable job of playing the drums on a song that doesn’t require them). The main pleasure I get from this record is hearing Clapton and Baker play together again. Of course, Clapton fans will find more to get excited about in Derek & The Dominoes, in all ways the superior session. Blind Faith has been reissued about a billion times, usually with the controversial model cover, honored with a Mobile Fidelity remaster, expanded with a couple of post-session recordings (“Exchange and Mart,” “Spending All My Days”) and given a double-disc Deluxe Edition treatment that includes an electric version of “Can’t Find My Way Home,” two versions of Sam Myers’ “Sleeping in the Ground” and a bunch of instrumental jams (most of them recorded before Grech joined) that aren’t likely to increase your faith one iota. Given the dearth of classic Cream and Traffic recordings, you’ll probably pony up for this some day (if you haven’t already). I’d leave the deluxe to the deluded and settle on one of the single-disc remasters.

549 531-2 cover [high resolution scan]

TRACK LISTING

1. HAD TO CRY TODAY    (Steve Winwood)    8:49
2. CAN'T FIND MY WAY HOME    (Steve Winwood)    3:17
3. WELL ALL RIGHT    (Norman Petty/Buddy Holly/Jerry Allison/Joe Mauldin)    4:28
4. PRESENCE OF THE LORD    (Eric Clapton)    4:50
5. SEA OF JOY    (Steve Winwood)    5:22
6. DO WHAT YOU LIKE    (Ginger Baker)    15:20
   
   CD reissue #1 bonus tracks
   
7. EXCHANGE AND MART
8. SPENDING ALL MY DAYS
   
   CD reissue #2 bonus tracks
   
7. SLEEPING IN THE GROUND
8. CAN'T FIND MY WAY HOME (ELECTRIC VERSION)
   
   2-CD Deluxe Edition reissue
   
7. SLEEPING IN THE GROUND    (Sam Myers)    2:49
8. CAN'T FIND MY WAY HOME (ELECTRIC VERSION)    (Steve Winwood)    5:40
9. ACOUSTIC JAM    (Steve Winwood/Eric Clapton/Rick Grech/Ginger Baker)    15:50
10. TIME WINDS    (Steve Winwood)    3:15
11. SLEEPING IN THE GROUND (SLOW BLUES VERSION)    (Sam Myers)    4:44
    
    Deluxe Edition: Disc Two
    
1. JAM NO. 1: "VERY LONG & GOOD JAM"    (Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood/Ginger Baker)    14:01
2. JAM NO. 2: "SLOW JAM #1"    (Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood/Ginger Baker)    15:06
3. JAM NO. 3: "CHANGE OF ADDRESS JAM"    (Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood/Ginger Baker)    12:06
4. JAM NO. 4: "SLOW JAM #2"    (Eric Clapton/Steve Winwood/Ginger Baker)    16:06

CREDITS

GINGER BAKER -- drums, percussion
ERIC CLAPTON -- guitar
RICK GRECH -- bass, violin
STEVE WINWOOD -- organ, piano, guitar, bass, lead vocals, bass pedals (B1-B4)
Guy Warner -- percussion (B1-B4)
George Chkiantz -- engineer
Keith Harwood -- engineer
Jimmy Miller -- mixing
Andy Johns -- engineer, mix engineer
Alan O'Duffy -- engineer
Bob Seiderman -- cover photo (33-304B)
Stanley Miller -- cover art (33-304B)
Mick Milligan -- spaceship

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