A fixture on the British rhythm-and-blues scene for more than four decades, NINE BELOW ZERO have never been coy about their influences, the ensemble’s 1980 debut Nine Below Zero "Live At The Marquee" consisting primarily of classic numbers they borrowed from American masters of the trade. But the Englishmen used to play even more standards before that, when they were called STAN’S BLUES BAND whose first-ever recording, committed to tape in March 1979, founding member Dennis Greaves recently found in his loft. Laid down in a studio soon after the quartet’s first live appearance and cleaned up by Wayne Proctor, this invaluable artefact is ready for release now and will see the light of day on July 23rd.
Titled “Back In The Day” and credited currently to NINE BELOW ZERO – the name the group settled on in November 1979 – the 16-track collection of such perennials as “Route 66” and “Rocket 88” performed by Greaves on guitar and another singer, Mark Feltham, on harmonica, alongside Pete Clark on bass and the soon-to-quit Kenny Bradley on drums, is planned as a limited edition only available through the veterans’ online shop and at their shows, so there’s a reason to hurry and get this piece of the British blues history.
Back In The Day
1. Rock Me Baby
2. Temperature
3. Sugar Mama
4. Walkin’ Blues
5. Last Night’
6. I Wanna Be Loved’
7. Pack Fair And Square
8. When My Baby Left Me
9. Hoochie Coochie Man
10. It’s Hard Going Up (But Twice As Hard Coming Down)
11. Juke
12. Route 66
13. Rocket 88
14. Dr Brown
15. Watch Yourself
16. Goin’ Down
