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Blind Faith (Blind Faith album)

Blind Faith is the only studio album by the English supergroup Blind Faith, originally released in 1969 on Polydor Records in the United Kingdom and Europe and on Atco Records in the United States. It topped the album charts in the UK, Canada and US, and was listed at No. 40 on the US Soul Albums chart. It has been certified platinum by the RIAA.

Blind Faith

9 August 1969 (US)[1]
22 August 1969 (UK)[2]

20 February – 28 June 1969

42:01

Background[edit]

The band contained two-thirds of the popular power trio Cream, in Ginger Baker and Eric Clapton, working in collaboration with British star Steve Winwood of the Spencer Davis Group and Traffic, along with Ric Grech of Family. They began to work out songs early in 1969, and in February and March the group was at Morgan Studios in London, although the first few almost-finished songs did not show up until they were at Olympic Studios in April and May under the direction of producer Jimmy Miller.[5]


The recording of their album was interrupted by a tour of Scandinavia, then a US tour from 11 July (Newport) to 24 August (Hawaii), supported by Free, Taste and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. Although a chart topper, the LP was recorded hurriedly and side two consisted of just two songs, one of them a 15-minute jam entitled "Do What You Like". Nevertheless, the band was able to produce two hits, Winwood's "Can't Find My Way Home" and Clapton's "Presence of the Lord".[5][6]

Release history[edit]

The album was released on vinyl in 1969 on Polydor Records in the UK and Europe, and on Atco Records in the US. Polydor released a compact disc in 1986, adding two previously unreleased tracks, "Exchange and Mart" and "Spending All My Days", recorded by Ric Grech for an unfinished solo album, supported by George Harrison, Denny Laine, and Trevor Burton.[13]


An expanded edition of the album was released on 9 January 2001, with previously unreleased tracks and 'jams' included. The studio electric version of "Sleeping in the Ground" had previously been released on the four-disc boxed set for Clapton, Crossroads (released 1988, recorded 1963–1987, including several previously unreleased live or alternate studio recordings). The bonus disc of jams does not include bassist Grech, who had yet to join the band, but includes a guest percussionist, Guy Warner. Two live tracks from the 1969 Hyde Park concert not included here, "Sleeping in the Ground" and a cover of "Under My Thumb", are also available on Winwood's four-disc retrospective The Finer Things.

– keyboards, vocals, guitars; bass guitar on "Presence of the Lord" and "Well All Right"; autoharp on "Sea of Joy"; bass pedals on "Jam No. 1–4"

Steve Winwood

– guitars; vocals on "Well All Right" and "Do What You Like"

Eric Clapton

– bass guitar, violin on "Sea of Joy"; vocals on "Do What You Like"

Ric Grech

– drums, percussion; vocals on "Do What You Like"

Ginger Baker

Blind Faith


Guest


Production personnel

List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 1969

List of Canadian number-one albums of 1969

List of UK Albums Chart number ones of the 1960s

List of controversial album art