Eddie Hardin and Pete York first met as members of The Spencer Davis Group.  York, the drummer, was a founding member of Davis' outfit while keyboardist-singer Hardin joined in 1967 to fill the void left by Steve Winwood.  As they refined the sound of the "new" Group, Hardin and York developed their own rapport but found themselves at odds with their bandmates.  York was moving in a more improvised, jazz-oriented direction and Hardin was more interested in songwriting; both men left the Group in October 1968.  Months later, they reunited, and soon the power duo Hardin and York was born.  Now, the Spencer Davis splinter group's recordings have been collected on a comprehensive new 6-CD box set from Cherry Red's Grapefruit imprint.  Can't Keep a Good Man Down: The Hardin and York Anthology features all four of the duo's albums for Bell, Decca, and Vertigo, plus live recordings, radio sessions, and more.

Disc One opens with a radio session before presenting Hardin and York's 1969 Bell debut Tomorrow, Today in full.  Produced by Mike Hurst, the LP showcased Hardin's Winwood-esque vocals and swirling Hammond organ and York's forceful drumming.  While the duo could create a mighty sound on their own, Hurst thickened their psychedelic R&B sound with background vocalists Sue and Sunny, orchestral embellishments, and musicians including guitarist Vic Flick and bassist Herbie Flowers.  Hardin continued to grow as a songwriter, penning most of the album's original material.

The second disc continues chronologically with outtakes from the first album (three attractive Hardin originals and a rip-roaring take on Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music") before launching into sophomore LP The World's Smallest Big Band.  Though Hurst again produced, the approach here was very different and arguably less cohesive.  While the album started promisingly with three tracks teasing a new sound - Hardin played piano rather than his signature organ - the remainder was filled out with "live in the studio" tracks replicating a Hardin and York live show.  A "Rock 'n' Roll Medley" showcased their gritty approach to oldies, while a Beatles medley of "Norwegian Wood" and "Lady Madonna" had been devised by Hardin and York while still with the Spencer Davis Group.  "The Pike" was a heavier jam.  Still, Big Band deftly fused R&B, jazz, soul, and rock-and-roll, and continued to grow the duo's fan base in Germany even as U.K. and U.S. audiences mainly didn't notice.  This disc is completed with another radio session and an outtake.

CDs 3 and 4 offer more live Hardin and York, with the former concentrating on a bootleg LP recorded at a German youth center gig and released to the underground market in that country.  While some of the material from Big Band was repeated, the rest does offer more to savor from their live repertoire (including a cover of "Drown in My Own Tears") in surprisingly decent sound.  The latter disc preserves a 1971 set at London's Marquee.  Though there are just four tracks - among them a "Freedom Medley" featuring Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and yet another run down "The Pike" - they run nearly 70 minutes' length, making this disc ideal for fans of the heavier, improvisational side of the duo.

Hardin and York moved to Decca for their third long-player, 1971's For the World.  Perhaps to fit in with the rising number of singer-songwriter albums, the feel was more ballad-heavy, introspective, and orchestral.  Featured on CD 5, For the World is filled with strong material from the lovely opening "Deep in My Despair" to the drum-led jazz-rocker "Extension 345."  By this time, Hardin and York were exploring new musical avenues individually, but they still found time to perform together.  One such occasion was an In Concert show for BBC Radio One.  The four-song concert from the Paris Theatre on April 1, 1972 makes its worldwide debut in this box set.

As locked in as the duo sounds on that concert, they weren't quite content to remain in the same format.  Guitarist and Spencer Davis Group veteran Ray Fenwick, who had guested on the Decca LP, briefly joined Eddie and Pete as Hardin, York, and Fenwick before all three joined a reconstituted Spencer Davis Group.  Former Taste bassist Richard "Charlie" McCracken had been a part of the SDG line-up, and when that unit dissolved, he continued with Hardin and York and recorded the album Hardin & York with Charlie McCracken.  Included here on CD 6, the LP was recorded at Ian Gillan's Kingsway Studios.  Gillan's Deep Purple bandmate Roger Glover co-wrote and produced a couple of tunes with Hardin, "Ain't No Breeze" and the ironically-titled "Wish I'd Never Joined a Band."  The album's sound was eclectic.  Glover brought out the hard rock sensibilities of the trio while other tracks, such as "Back Row Movie Star," were MOR '70s pop-oriented.  Hardin's ARP synthesizer adds a time-specific flavor to the album, too.  But if there were concessions towards commercialism, the ten-minute workout on "Freedom" placed the emphasis squarely on improvisation and musicianship.  Hardin & York with Charlie McCracken was released on the Vertigo label in Germany and Italy only; it comprises the sixth and final disc of this collection.

That wasn't the end of the Hardin and York story, though.  The friends would periodically reunite, recording new albums in 1981 and 1995, and would remain involved on various projects with their friends in Deep Purple.  They remained close until Hardin's death in 2015.  Can't Keep a Good Man Down is the most comprehensive tribute yet to the music they created together.  The clamshell case houses the discs in individual paper sleeves along with a copiously-illustrated 24-page booklet containing an introduction from Pete York and an essay by David Wells.  Simon Murphy has remastered all albums.  This is a solid addition to any Spencer Davis Group library and a compelling anthology in its own right.

Hardin and York, Can't Keep a Good Man Down: The Hardin and York Anthology (Cherry Red/Grapefruit CRSEGBOX089, 2021) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. Tomorrow Today (Radio Session)
2. Candlelight (Radio Session)
3. If I Could Join Them (Radio Session)
4. David Difficult (a.k.a. Untitled) (Radio Session)
5. Little Miss Blue (Radio Session)
6. Can't Keep a Good Man Down (Radio Session)
7. Tomorrow Today
8. 100 Years from Now
9. I'm Lost
10. Drinking My Wine
11. Candlelight
12. Beautiful Day
13. Mountains of Sand
14. Can't Keep a Good Man Down
15. Listen, Everyone

CD 2

1. Mulberry Place
2. Sunday Morning
3. All I See Is You
4. Rock 'n' Roll Music
5. Just a Case of Time
6. I Can't Find My Way Back Home
7. Love, A Song for You
8. Rock 'n' Roll Medley (Jailhouse Rock/Mean Woman Blues/Rip It Up)
9. The Pike
10. Northern Medley (Lady Madonna/Norwegian Wood)
11. If I Can't Find My Way Back Home (Radio Session)
12. Just a Case of Time (Radio Session)
13. Parking Meters (Outtake)

CD 3 (all tracks live)

1. The Pike
2. Tomorrow Today
3. Cowboy
4. Everyone I Know
5. Lady Madonna/Norwegian Wood
6. Drinking My Wine
7. I'll Drown in My Own Tears
8. The Long Road
9. Driftin' Blue
10. Jailhouse Rock/Mean Woman Blues

CD 4: Live at the Marquee, June 5, 1971

1. Freedom Suite (Freedom Shuffle/Like a Rolling Stone/Freedom)
2. I Care for You
3. The Pike
4. Find Myself Again

CD 5

1. Deep in My Despair
2. Have Mercy, Woman
3. For the World
4. Some Places Are Better to Be
5. Extension 345
6. Cowboy
7. I'll Be Back Again
8. Feeling, Seeing, Hearing
9. Natural Gas
10. Take Away Today
11. Cowboy (Radio Session)
12. Untitled (Radio Session)
13. Everyone I Know (Radio Session)
14. The Pike (Radio Session)

CD 6

1. Ain't No Breeze
2. Back Row Movie Star
3. Freedom
4. Wish I'd Never Joined a Band
5. Clubtrop
6. Some Sweet Dream
7. Loving You's So Easy

CD 1, Tracks 1-6 from radio session, June 4, 1969
CD 1, Tracks 7-15 from Tomorrow, Today, Bell LP SBLL 125, 1969
CD 2, Tracks 1-4 outtakes from Tomorrow, Today
CD 2, Tracks 5-10 from The World's Smallest Big Band, Bell LP SBLL 136, 1970
CD 2, Tracks 11-12 from radio session, July 23, 1970
CD 2, Track 13 outtake, date unknown
CD 3, Tracks 1-2 live in Germany, December 31, 1969
CD 3, Tracks 3-4 live in Germany, 1970
CD 3, Tracks 5-10 from Hardin & York Live, bootleg LP, 1970
CD 5, Tracks 1-10 from For the World, Decca LP SKL 5095, 1971
CD 5, Tracks 11-14 from BBC In Concert, transmitted April 1, 1972, previously unreleased
CD 6, Tracks 1-7 from Hardin & York with Charlie McCracken, Vertigo (Germany) LP 6360 622, 1974