Mighty Baby | |
---|---|
Origin | London, England |
Genres | Psychedelic rock, folk rock |
Years active | 1968-1971 |
Labels | Head Records, Blue Horizon, Castle Music |
Associated acts | The Action |
Website | actionmightybaby.co.uk |
Past members | Alan 'Bam' King Martin Stone Ian Whiteman Mike Evans Roger Powell |
Mighty Baby were formed in 1968 from the ashes of The Action. They released two albums, Mighty Baby (which appeared in December 1969, but had been recorded a year earlier) and A Jug of Love (October 1971).
Their debut, a collection of psychedelic rock songs, appeared on the tiny Head record label in the UK, and on Chess in the United States. Over the course of 1970 several members of the band became Muslims (adherents of the Sufi order), and their second album reflected the spiritual journey they had embarked on, sounding little like its predecessor. They were the closing act on the first day of the Isle of Wight Festival 1970. It has been said that it was a meeting between Richard Thompson and the band that introduced Richard and Linda Thompson to the Sufi order. It has notable guitar parts from Martin Stone.
As well as gigging regularly, the band also played many sessions for others, including Robin Scott (Woman From the Warm Grass), Andy Roberts, Keith Christmas (Stimulus and Fable Of The Wings), Shelagh McDonald, Sandy Denny, Gary Farr (Take Something with You, Strange Fruit).
A live concert, recorded at Malvern Winter Gardens in 1970, was released on the Sunbeam label during early 2010. These are from tapes held by Ian Whiteman given to him after the concert. A hitherto unreleased recording from the Glastonbury Fayre 1971 has been included in this document. It has been retrieved from the Radio Geronimo archive.