Drummer Keith "Keef" Hartley started his professional career rather auspiciously - replacing Ringo Starr in Rory Storm and The Hurricanes when Ringo was enlisted for duty with a certain fab foursome.  Hartley went on to play with The Artwoods as well as with John Mayall before forming his own group.  The Keef Hartley Band played at Woodstock and released six albums - five studio and one live - between 1969 and 1972 on Decca's "progressive" Deram imprint.  Hartley would then release one solo LP in 1973 before moving onto other musical pursuits.  Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings arm has just reissued Hartley's entire 1969-1973 albums discography on the new 7-CD box set Sinnin' for You: The Albums 1969-1973.  Though based on Esoteric's 2008-2009 Hartley reissue series, the new box offers additional bonus tracks (for a total of 15 extra cuts peppered throughout).

1969's Halfbreed introduced The Keef Hartley Band's blend of rock, blues, and jazz, melding a five-piece rhythm section (Miller Anderson on vocals/guitar, Peter Dines on organ/harpsichord, Ian Cruickshank a.k.a. Spit James on guitar, Gary Thain on bass, and Hartley on drums) with a four-piece brass unit (Henry Lowther and Harry Beckett on trumpet, Lyn Dobson on tenor saxophone and flute, and Chris Mercer on tenor saxophone).  With most of the compositions coming from Hartley and his bandmates, Halfbreed allowed Hartley to realize his musical ambitions.  Deram saw the Band as an albums outfit, and indeed would only release two singles from them.  But the material on the blues-focused Halfbreed was accessible, including the slow-burning "Born to Die" (Miller Anderson's vocal on which impressed none other than Decca labelmate Tom Jones) and funky, heavy B.B. King cover "Think It Over."  John Mayall even showed up for a couple of bookending "phone calls" which lend the album a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor.

Halfbreed was promising enough for Decca to sign The Keef Hartley Band to a multi-album deal, and the group soon reunited with producer Neil Slaven later in 1969 for The Battle of North West Six.  Peter Dines was replaced by Mick Weaver, and the lineup was expanded with guest Mick Taylor as well as additional woodwind players Barbara Thompson and Ray Warleigh and trumpeter Mike Davis.  The Battle gave plenty of room for the musicians to stretch out as Hartley embraced his big-band sound as epitomized by the majestic, swinging opener "The Dansette Kid - Hartley Jam for Bread."  But without abandoning its blues foundation, the album also found room for straight-ahead pop and rock ("Don't Give Up" with its gentle brass accents, the single A-side "Waiting Around").

A slimmed-down ensemble of Hartley, Anderson, Thain, organist Stuart Wicks, percussionist Del Roll, and a four-piece brass section, recorded The Time Is Near (1970), anchored by six solo compositions from Miller Anderson including the urgent, brassy title track.  Hartley was becoming more interested in the possibilities of the studio, and co-produced the LP with Neil Slaven.  It was the KHB's most eclectic, with rock, pop, soul, jazz, Latin, blues, and acoustic folk all on display.  Hartley, Anderson, Thain, and Mick Weaver teamed for 1971's Overdog along with the returning Peter Dines on keyboards, John Hiseman on drums, plus the brass and wind players.  The subtler sound of The Time Is Near was replaced on Overdog by the KHB's most aggressive yet.  The opening "You Can Choose" is muscular brass-rock; "Plain Talkin'" offered up driving, Stax-inspired R&B.  Anderson, who once again supplied the lion's share of the material, was sensitive on the ballad "We Are All the Same" but the heavier material carried the LP including "Roundabout," the Band's second single release and one that places the spotlight squarely on Hartley's forceful drums.

There wasn't much little about the live set Little Big Band (1971).  Hartley and Slaven recorded their fifteen-piece group live onstage at the Marquee for this powerful, gritty set boasting ten horn players in support of Hartley, Anderson, Thain, organist Derek Austin, and percussionist Pete York (of Hardin and York fame).  But this extended jam session would be the last hurrah for the KHB as it had been known.  Miller Anderson, whose voice and songs came to play an integral role in Hartley's musical family, departed to pursue a solo career.  Neil Slaven was out of the picture, too, leaving Hartley to self-produce with engineer Roy Thomas Baker (at Trident Studios) and John Burns (at Island).  Seventy Second Brave (1972) featured Keef, Gary Thain, Mick Weaver, woodwind players Chris Mercer and Nick Newell, pianist/singer Pete Winfield, and guitarist/singer Junior Kerr.  This tight line-up delivered a tight album, too, not quite as expansive as those in the past but with standout songs as Kerr's "Heartbreakin' Woman" and Wingfield's "Hard Pill to Swallow" rendered with the strong and intuitive musicianship that was the Keef Hartley Band's trademark.

Keef Hartley sensed that his Band was winding down, though.  Seventy Second Brave turned out to be the KHB's swansong.  He returned to John Mayall's fold and played with Vinegar Joe before recording his first (and sadly, last) solo album, 1973's Lancashire Hustler.  Junior Kerr and Mick Weaver joined him along with vocalist Jess Roden (formerly of The Alan Bown Set), keyboardist Jean Rouselle, bassist Philip Chen, and Vinegar Joe's Robert Palmer and Elkie Brooks on background vocals.  John Burns co-produced and engineered.  Burns and Hartley both contributed songs as did Robert Palmer ("Circles").  In a sense, the vibrant Lancashire Hustler encapsulated Hartley's short but potent discography with flashes of the KHB's past plus surprisingly smooth blue-eyed soul and even a raucous cover of Sly and the Family Stone's "Dance to the Music."

Esoteric's new box adds bonus tracks to four of the albums; these include the non-LP side "Leave It 'Til the Morning," the single edit of "Roundabout," and various live and studio outtakes released on CD-era compilations.  Though Hartley died in 2011 at the age of 67, his insightful album-by-album commentary from the 2008-2009 reissues has been reprinted here.  Compiler Mark Powell also provides a new introduction in the thick 48-page booklet.  Paschal Byrne has remastered all audio.  The clamshell case holds each album in a mini-LP replica sleeve, with five of the albums in gatefolds.

Sinnin' for You: The Albums 1969-1973 is a timely reminder of an uncompromising albums artist who left behind a small if enjoyable catalogue of brassy rock and rhythm and blues. Crank it up!

Keef Hartley Band, Sinnin' for You: The Albums 1969-1973 (Cherry Red/Esoteric ECLEC 72809, 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Halfbreed (Deram SML 1037, 1969)

1. Sacked/Introducing Hearts and Flowers/Confusion Theme/The Halfbreed)
2. Born to Die
3. Sinnin' for You
4. Leavin' Trunk
5. Just to Cry
6. Too Much Thinking
7. Think It Over/Too Much to Take
8. Leave It 'Til The Morning (Deram single DM 250, 1969)

CD 2: The Battle of North West Six (Deram SML 1054, 1969)

1. The Dansette Kid - Hartley Jam for Bread
2. Don't Give Up
3. Me and My Woman
4. Hickory
5. Don't Be Afraid
6. Not Foolish, Not Wise
7. Waiting Around
8. Tadpole
9. Poor Mabel (You're Just Like Me)
10. Believe in You

Live bonus tracks recorded in 1969 (from Mooncrest CRESTCD 043Z, 1999)

11. Spanish Fly
12. Me and My Woman
13. Too Much Thinking
14. Not Foolish, Not Wise

CD 3: The Time Is Near (Deram SML 1071, 1970)

1. Morning Rain
2. From the Window
3. The Time Is Near
4. You Can't Take It With You
5. Premonition
6. Another Time, Another Place
7. Change

CD 4: Overdog (Deram SDL 2, 1971)

1. You Can Choose
2. Plain Talkin'
3. Theme Song/En Route/Theme Song (Reprise)
4. Overdog
5. Roundabout
6. Invitations from Home
7. We Are All the Same

Live bonus tracks recorded in 1971 (from Mooncrest CRESTCD 043Z, 1999)

8. Colours (You Can Choose)
9. Roundabout
10. You Can't Take It with You
11. Just to Cry

 

12. Roundabout (Part One) (Deram single 316-A, 1971)
13. Roundabout (Part Two) (Deram single 316-B, 1971)

CD 5: Little Big Band (Deram SDL 4, 1971)

1. You Can't Take It with You
2. Me and My Woman
3. Not Foolish, Not Wise
4. Legoverture (Leavin' Trunk/Halfbreed/Just to Cry/Sinnin' for You)

CD 6: Seventy Second Brave (Deram SDL 9, 1972)

1. Heartbreakin' Woman
2. Marin County
3. Hard Pill to Swallow
4. Don't You Be Long
5. Nicturns
6. Don't Sign It
7. Always Thinking of You
8. You Say You're Together Now
9. What It Is

Live in Studio Bonus Tracks (from Mooncrest CRESTCD 043Z, 1999)

10. Don't You Be Long
11. Marin County
12. Don't Sign It
13. Always Thinking of You

CD 7: Lancashire Hustler (Deram SDL 13, 1973)

1. Circles
2. You and Me
3. Shovel a Minor
4. Australian Lady
5. Action
6. Something About You
7. Jennie's Father
8. Dance to the Music