Rock Family Trees - The British R & B Boom (documentary)

Rock family trees traces the history of the British R&B boom of the 60's.


Only to see on YouTube:

Part 1: http://youtu.be/ZZFyVuvoTa8

Part 2: http://youtu.be/Hf-WFc0oqXw

Part 3: http://youtu.be/zDqtmFD-bko

Part 4: http://youtu.be/WIl4p8bWtEM

Part 5: http://youtu.be/sF9PotSkh5A

Part 6: http://youtu.be/XO_91vfPZjw



British rhythm and blues (or R&B) was a musical movement that developed in the United Kingdom between the late 1950s and the early 1960s, and reached a peak in the mid-1960s. It overlapped with, but was distinct from, the broader British beat and more purist British blues scenes, attempting to emulate the music of African American blues and rock and roll pioneers, such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. It often placed greater emphasis on guitars and was often played with greater energy.

The origins of the movement were in the British jazz, skiffle and folk movements of the 1950s. The 1958 visit of Muddy Waters influenced key figures Cyril Davies and Alexis Korner to turn to electric blues and form the band Blues Incorporated, which became something of a clearing house for British rhythm and blues musicians. A flourishing scene of clubs and groups emerged in the later 1950s and 1960s and bands began to break through into mainstream success. Major acts included the Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann, The Animals, The Yardbirds, Them, and the Spencer Davis Group, who dominated the UK and US charts from 1964, in the wake of the Merseybeat craze, becoming central to the Mod subculture in the UK and a second wave of British Invasion acts in the US.

Several of the bands and their members went on to become leading rock music performers of the late 1960s and early 1970s, helping to create psychedelic, progressive and hard rock and making rhythm and blues a key component of that music. In the mid- to late-1970s, British R&B enjoyed a revival through the British soul and disco scenes, the pub rock circuit, New Wave Music, and Mod revival, and has enjoyed a resurgence of interest since the late 1980s. In the 2000s a British version of contemporary R&B, began gaining popularity, and since the late 2000s the success of British female singers influenced by soul and R&B led to talk of another "R&B British invasion".



Characteristics:

Commentators often distinguish British rhythm and blues bands from beat bands (who were influenced by rock and roll and rockabilly) on the one hand, and, from "purist" British blues (which particularly emulated Chicago electric blues artists), on the other, although there was considerable crossover between the three sets of musicians. Merseybeat bands like the Beatles, or from the parallel beat scene in Manchester, were influenced by American forms of music that included rockabilly, girl groups and the early Motown sound, helping them to produce commercial orientated form of music that began to dominate the British charts from 1963. 

However, bands from the developing London club scene were mainly concerned to emulate black rhythm and blues performers, including the work of Chess Records' blues artists like Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, but also wider rhythm and blues singer and rock and roll pioneers like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley resulting in a "rawer" or "grittier" sound.

British rhythm and blues differed in tone from that of African American artists, often with more emphasis on guitars and sometimes with greater energy. British rhythm and blues singers were criticised for their emulation of rhythm and blues vocal styles, with shouts, glottal stops, moans and cries. However, vocalists such as Van Morrison, Mick Jagger, Eric Burdon and Steve Winwood did not attempt to emulate a particular singer and were seen by critics as able to sing the blues convincingly and with some power. In cover versions of R&B songs, riffs were often simplified or used less frequently. The object of the music was usually to whip up energy, rather than to produce musical finesse. Many groups were based around guitars (rhythm, lead and bass) and drums and as a result arrangements tended to be guitar-oriented and at higher tempos than the originals. Amplification of guitars to the highest levels of underpowered amplifiers created the over-driven guitar sound that would become characteristic of rock music.

Nick Logan and Bob Woffinden noted that after the split of Blues Incorporated at the end of 1962, four main strands could be discerned in British Rhythm and Blues. Cyril Davies left to attempt to recreate the Chicago electric blues of Muddy Waters. The style would be the major influence on the later emergence of the blues boom, particularly through the work of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Alexis Korner continued with Blues Incorporated, bringing in jazz saxophonist Graham Bond and developing a more jazz orientated sound. This strand would be taken up by acts including the Graham Bond Organisation, Manfred Mann and Zoot Money. A unique form was pursued by Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, who as the resident band at the Flamingo club on Wardour Steet, unusual in having a predominately black audience of American GIs and locals, also utilised jazz, but mixed R&B with elements of Caribbean music, including Ska and bluebeat. The Rolling Stones and others focused on rocking guitar music based on the work of Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley and would be followed by many small guitar and drum based groups, many of which would rapidly move into rock music.




More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_rhythm_and_blues