The Spencer Davis Group is best known to history as being the springboard for Steve Winwood, but in the mid '60s, they were one of the best (and most successful) bands on the British R&B scene. Winwood was a teenage phenomenon at the time, whose precociously soulful voice and bluesy keyboard work juiced up the sound based around the solid guitar work of Davis. The title song of the band's 1967 album GIMME SOME LOVIN' finds them at their peak, Winwood's joyful vocal and thunderous organ driving things along, but there are plenty of other highlights, including a jazz-tinged, piano-based rendition of "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out", and the percolating soul of "Keep on Running", one of the band's signature songs. Winwood would depart to form Traffic shortly after this release, but GIMME SOME LOVIN' stands as a testament to the group's place in U.K. R&B legend.|
Rovi