Blind Faith Fairfax VA

Blind Faith

Blind Faith

Polydor Records, 1969

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 06/12/1998

Almost 30 years after their one and only album came out, I seriously wonder why anyone considered Blind Faith a supergroup.

Sure, it took two of the best-known non-Beatle names in British music, Steve Winwood and Eric Clapton, and threw them together in an unlikely marriage with bassist Ric Grech and drummer Ginger Baker. It is surprising to hear Clapton working with Baker, two of the three members of the then recently-deceased Cream. This was a marriage that was, in fact, doomed from the start - the band lasted less than a year together - and their self-titled release is an album I'd be hard-pressed to call a classic in any fashion.

Of the six songs on this release, the only one that shines to my ears is "Can't Find My Way Home," a piece that highlights Winwood's voice and Clapton's acoustic (or is that dobro?) guitar work. It doesn't go for the bombast that makes up most of the rest of the album, and remains one song that is rightfully revered to this day.

But you know the rest of the album is in trouble from the start of "Had To Cry Today," the album's opener. I will admit that some of Clapton's guitar work is pretty fanciful on this one, and it is interesting to hear him layer guitar solos together near the end of the song. However, the song engages in far too much repetition of musical ideas, and damned if Winwood's voice doesn't go south twice (once hardly noticeable, once painfully obvious).