Can I get a witness (Steampacket) (LP 3948)

Steampacket  Rod Stewart & Steampacket (Vinyl, Pagan Records, 1993) ****  

Genre: Soul revue, jazz, R&B, blues

Places I remember: Real Groovy Records

Fab, and all the other pimply hyperboles: Can I Get A Witness

Gear costume: Back at the Chicken Shack 

They loom large in his legend (The Album Collection playlists): Part 1; Part 2; Part 3; Part 4; Part 5; Part 6

Active compensatory factors: A cheeky bit of packaging promotes this album as Rod Stewart & Steampacket. He's the biggest name that eventually emerged from this sixties' blues band, but it could just as easily have been marketed as Julie Driscoll & Steampacket, or Brian Auger & Steampacket, or Long John Baldry & Steampacket (he has the best claim as he started the band). 

All four were members, along with guitarist Vic Briggs, Richard Brown on bass guitar and Micky Waller on drums.

They never recorded a studio album, nor did they release a live album at the time. So where did these songs come from? The answer is - from some demo tapes they recorded at a rehearsal in the Marquee Club. They've been released in a myriad of titles ever since.

It's soul-jazz-rock music featuring Brian's cool organ sounds. The three vocalists are on form when featured, even though it's a demo, but it's Brian Auger that's the appeal for me. Everything he does has value.

 

Where do they all belong? What happened next is probably more interesting to fans of each member. Rod Stewart left in early 1966 and joined Shotgun Express. Long John Baldry left a few months later, and Steampacket disbanded soon after. Long John Baldry then joined Bluesology (which included a then unknown Elton John). Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger and Vic Briggs formed Trinity.