Book: Strange Brew: Eric Clapton & The British Blues Boom 1965-1970 (Jawbone Books, March 2007)

Author: Christopher Hjort

Strange Brew has to be one of the most extensive chronologies (of a very specific group of musicians) of all time. Author and rock historian Christopher Hjort has taken the old addage: ‘write what you know’ to the extreme with this 352 page account of the musical lives of guitarists Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor and John Mayall. Strange Brew is literally a day-to-day diary of what each musician did, what band they were in from month to month over a span of five years.

This detailed history is, in a word, obsessive. Who in their right mind would track down all this information, and once they had it, would sit there and type it out, verify the information, edit it, etc.? It’s an insane amount of knowledge and it is mindblowing.

Every page is filled with an extensive amount of information on these men and their bands. Randomly open to a page, close your eyes and plop a finger down on any page and this is the type of information you’ll find:

“Tuesday 22, 1966, CREAM, Chinese Jazz R&B, Corn Exchange, Bristol. A short distance from Bath, Cream play this club on Corn Street in Bristol. The club is operated by a colourful promoter known as Uncle Bonny Manzi, who is based in Brighton, where he established a ‘Chinese Jazz Club’ as early as 1963.” (Page 79)

“Thursday 12, 1970, JOHN MAYALL. Mayall starts another tour of North America today in Edmonton, Canada, his fifth, but with a slight line-up change: bass player Steve Thompson, who has played with Mayall since the summer of 1968, has decided to leave, and his place is taken by Alex Dmochowski. The exotically-surnamed bass player has previously played with Aynsley Dunbar’s Retaliation.” (Page 285)

And Strange Brew doesn’t end with the December 31, 1970 entry, either. It is followed by biographies of Mayall, Clapton, Green, Taylor, a concert location index, recording session index, radio and TV appearances, equipment file and, finally, recommended listening.

If you can’t find the information you’re looking for in this book you probably aren’t going to find it. And any serious fan of Blind Faith, Fleetwood Mac or any of the other bands discussed in it can’t really call themselves a fan if they don’t own Strange Brew.

By Rachel Heisler