From: stuart@apollo.hp.com (Stuart Troutman)
Newsgroups: rec.music.misc
Subject: The Powerhouse
Summary: London 1966
Date: 18 Dec 92 18:03:01 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Apollo Division - Chelmsford, MA
Originator: stuart@mingus


I occasionally bring this subject out of the mothballs, because I've yet to 
find the definitive info I seek. Any corrections or additions are welcome.

The setting is the British blues period of the 1960s, and the subject is a 
very short-lived band/project, engineered by Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood,
called The Powerhouse. 

The story is that Clapton was ready to step out on his own after his popu-
lar stint with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers in 1965. He'd already recorded
some sessions with US-expatriate bluesman Champion Jack Dupree, some duets
with Mayall (including his first vocal, Robert Johnson's "Ramblin' on my
Mind") and some with Jimmy Page. Winwood was at the height of his success-
ful time with The Spencer Davis Group, but he contributed some piano to
some of the above sessions (under the pseudonym Steve Anglo). Clapton and
Winwood were inspired to put together their own band, so The Powerhouse
was assembled with some friends (who also happened to be some fine musi-
cians and blues enthusiasts of the same generation), including singer/har-
monica blower Paul Jones and Clapton's old Roosters/Engineers partner,
guitarist/bassist Tom McGuinness (both of these guys having just split 
from the original Manfred Mann), as well as bassist/harmonicist/singer
Jack Bruce (who had been bouncing from The Graham Bond Organisation to
Mayall's band to Manfred Mann), and Mayall's longtime drummer Hughie Flint.

This was apparently the line-up of The Powerhouse when they recorded a few
sides in 1966, most of which went unreleased. The newly blossoming New York
City record company Elektra put out a sampler album of new blues/rock/folk
artists called "What's Shakin'", which included one (or was it two?) of
the Powerhouse tracks (I'm pretty sure it was just one: their version of
Robert Johnson's "Crossroads"). I believe that a second track has since
been issued on either the Clapton "Crossroads" box set or the recent Winwood
retrospective box set, or maybe also on the Elektra anniversary set (what 
was this other track?). 

That's what I know (....or what I THINK I know). My main questions are:

    1) Is that personnel lineup correct?
       That would be: Winwood (vocal and either piano or guitar)
                      Clapton (guitar)
                      Bruce (bass)
                      Jones (harmonica)
                      McGuinness (guitar?)
                      Flint (drums)

    2) How many total Powerhouse sides were recorded, and what are they?
       (Surely Clapton and/or Jones did some singing, and I'd suspect that
        Bruce did some of his harmonica noise.)

    3) I take it they never played any live gigs. They were probably only
       together long enough to do that one studio session.

The story went that Winwood was still contract-bound to Spencer Davis, so
The Powerhouse folded. Clapton and Bruce took Ginger Baker up on his sug-
gestion to put together a "power trio"/"superband" (Cream). Jones decided
that he wanted to jump into the British "cabaret" circuit and to get into
some acting for film and tv (he did). McGuinness & Flint went off to dabble
in a sort of folk/rock vein, later turning up with a band called (ready?)
McGuinness Flint (they also put out a good album of covers of rare Bob 
Dylan songs under the expanded name Coulson, Dean, McGuinness, & Flint).
By the time Winwood's tenure with Davis was up, Clapton was way off in the
Cream frenzy, so Winwood took a different track and ended up with Traffic.
Once Clapton had had enough of Cream, Winwood said, "Ok, let's try some-
thing together now." Unfortunately, the "supergroup" curse ruined that too.
(But Blind Faith DID resurrect the Powerhouse version of "Crossroads", as
 documented on the bootleg of the '69 Winterland show.)

I'd love some further enlightenment on this little chapter of history, if
anyone out there has any more solid information on The Powerhouse.

                                            -stuart@apollo.hp.com