Cherry Red's RPM Records has just celebrated the legacy of The Spencer Davis Group with a new 3-CD box set.  Taking Out Time: Complete Recordings 1967-1979 brings together two complete albums with a host of singles, soundtrack performances, BBC sessions and rarities to paint a full portrait of the group's "Mk. II" years in which Eddie Hardin, Phil Sawyer, Ray Fenwick, Nigel Olsson and Dee Murray all passed through its ranks.  This release can be considered an expansion of RPM's 2000 release of 20 tracks from the same period, similarly titled (just) Taking Out Time.

In Andy Neill's excellent liner notes accompanying this set, Spencer Davis recalls, "It was a ridiculous scenario, really...we had a record ['I'm a Man'] in the Top Ten in Britain and a record ['Gimme Some Lovin''] in the Top Ten in America at the same time.  The possibilities were wide open and then suddenly...no band!  Talk about an unreal situation to be in."  Davis formed the group that bore his name in 1963 when the Welsh guitarist invited singer/guitarist/pianist Steve Winwood, Steve's brother and bassist Muff Winwood, and drummer Pete York to join him in a new band.  By late 1965, The Spencer Davis Group had reached the summit of the U.K. pop chart with "Keep On Running," written by Jackie Edwards.  Edwards' "Somebody Help Me" and "When I Come Home" (co-written with Steve Winwood) continued the group's winning streak, reaching No. 1 and No. 12, respectively, on the U.K. chart.  The stage had been set for success in America, too, which was achieved when 1966's U.K. No. 2 hit "Gimme Some Lovin'," co-written by Davis and the Winwoods, went all the way to No. 7 in the United States.  Its follow-up, 1967's "I'm a Man," by Steve Winwood and Jimmy Miller, also went Top 10 in both countries.  Then everything changed.

Steve and Muff Winwood both left The Spencer Davis Group.  Steve went on to form Traffic, and Muff segued into a behind-the-scenes career at Island Records.  Davis and York pressed on, resolved to assemble a new group.  The first recruit was singer-keyboardist Eddie Hardin, and then came singer-guitarist Phil Sawyer.  (The need for a bass player was negated thanks to Hardin's clever use of the pedals on his organ.)  A new Spencer Davis Group was born.

The new line-up made its public debut at the Marquee Club on May 30, 1967, and in July, the single "Time Seller" b/w "Don't Want You No More" arrived in stores.  The United Artists single kicks off Taking Out Time. Fans of the band's original R&B sound would likely have been surprised by the heavily-orchestrated slice of psychedelia.  The B-side, "Don't Want You No More," was more in line with the group's classic sound.  But this line-up would prove to be short-lived, as Phil Sawyer departed in November 1967 in the midst of recording the group's new album.  (Further material from this version of the group would arrive on the soundtrack of director Clive Donner's film Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush.  The album had been in development for so long, Steve Winwood appears on it with both The Spencer Davis Group and Traffic!)

Enter Ray Fenwick.  His recorded debut with the group came with the single "Mr. Second Class" b/w "Sanity Inspector."  In June 1968, the appropriately-titled LP With Their New Face On arrived, including overdubbed versions of "Time Seller" and "Don't Want You No More" now sung by Eddie and Ray, respectively.  Other previously-released singles were remixed for the album.  In October 1968, however, another seismic shift occurred when Eddie Hardin and Pete York departed the group over creative differences in the band's increasingly pop-oriented direction.  They would meet a few months later and form Hardin and York.  Dee Murray (later of The Elton John Band) and Dave Hynes joined up, and a final United Artists single, "Short Change" b/w "Picture of Heaven," was released.

One last album emerged from the group's American tour.  Funky (which evolved from the album tentatively titled Letters from Edith) was primarily recorded in New York under the supervision of Lewis Merenstein (Van Morrison's Astral Weeks).  Melding pop, country-rock, soul, progressive rock and an underpinning of the blues that had always been at the band's core, Funky sounded far-removed from all previous releases.  It was inauspiciously issued on CBS' Date imprint in the United States and remained unreleased in the United Kingdom.  By the time of the album's completion, Nigel Olsson had replaced Dave Hynes.  After an October 1969 tour, the band called it a day, even as Murray and Olsson were beginning to rehearse with Elton John.

Funky is featured on Disc Two alongside some one-off oddities, such as German language versions of 'Hair" and "Let the Sunshine In" from the Broadway musical Hair, as well as a single credited to The Murgatroyd Band featuring the group's theme song to the children's television show Magpie.  Among the (previously issued) outtakes is a rendition of Jimmy Webb's "The Girls Song" (also recorded by Jackie DeShannon and The 5th Dimension and a demo of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In."    The third disc rounds up six alternates from the Mulberry Bush sessions as well as a live version of "Dust My Blues" from 1968 and fifteen BBC performances recorded in 1967-1968.  This compilation marks the first official release of the BBC tracks.

Taking Out Time is packaged in a compact clamshell case, with each disc housed in its own mini-LP sleeve.  A 24-page booklet features Andy Neill's liner notes (drawing on fresh interviews with surviving band members) and full credits, plus a BBC sessionography.  Simon Murphy has remastered at Another Planet Music.  You can order RPM's 3-CD set at the links below!

The Spencer Davis Group, Taking Out Time: Complete Recordings 1967-1969 (RPM RPMBX533, 2016) (Amazon U.S. /Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1

1. Time Seller (Mono) (Fontana single TF 854, 1967)
2. Don't Want You No More (Mono) (Fontana single TF 854, 1967)
3. Taking Out Time
4. Every Little Thing
5. Virginals Dream
6. Looking Back
7. Picture of Her
8. Just Like Me
9. Possession
10. Second Class (Mono) (United Artists single UP 1203, 1967)
11. Sanity Inspector (Mono) (United Artists single UP 1203, 1967)
12. After Tea (Mono) (United Artists single UP 2213, 1968)
13. Moonshine (Mono) (United Artists single UP 2213, 1968)
14. With His New Face On
15. Second Class
16. Alec in Transitland
17. Sanity Inspector
18. Feel Your Way
19. Morning Sun
20. Moonshine
21. Don't Want You No More
22. Time Seller
23. Stop Me, I'm Falling
24. After Tea (Previously Unreleased Stereo Mix)

CD 2

1. (Aquarius) Der Wassermann (United Artists German single 67129, 1968)
2. Let the Sunshine In (United Artists German single 67129, 1968)
3. Short Change (United Artists single UP 2226, 1968)
4. Picture of Heaven (United Artists single UP 2226, 1968)
5. I Met a Woman
6. Letters from Edith
7. Raintree River
8. What a Way to Die
9. Firefly (Funky)
10. Magical Day
11. I Guess I'm Wasting My Time
12. Misguided (Poor Misguided Woman)
13. And the Gods Came Down
14. New Jersey Turnpike
15. Magpie The Murgatroyd Band (Decca single F 13256, 1971)
16. Twice a Week - The Murgatroyd Band (Decca single F 13256, 1971)
17. I'm Lost
18. Pools Winner
19. Groove Extra
20. The Girls' Song
21. Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (Demo)
22. Feel Your Way (Backing Track)

CD 3

1. Feel Your Way (Alternate)
2. Morning Sun (Alternate)
3. Taking Out Time (Alternate)
4. Picture of Her (Alternate)
5. Just Like Me (Alternate)
6. Possession (Alternate)
7. Don't Want You No More (Live 18.12.67)
8. Interview (Live 18.12.67)
9. Second Class (Live 18.12.67)
10. Time Seller (Live 18.12.67)
11. Feel Your Way (Live 17.1.68)
12. Taking Out Time (Live 17.1.68)
13. Time Seller (Live 17.1.68)
14. Moonshine (Live 11.3.68)
15. Interview (Live 11.3.68)
16. After Tea (Live 11.3.68)
17. Feel Your Way (Live 11.3.68)
18. Dust My Blues (Live 24.6.68)
19. Interview (Live 24.6.68)
20. With His New Face On (Live 24.6.68)
21. Second Class (Live 24.6.68)
22. Dust My Blues (Live, Empire Pool, Wembley, 24.3.68)

CD 1, Tracks 3-9 from Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, United Artists SULP 1186, 1968
CD 1, Tracks 14-23 from With Their New Face On, United Artists UA 1192, 1968
CD 2, Tracks 5-14 from Funky, Date TES 4021, 1970
CD 2, Tracks 17-18 first released 1997
CD 2, Tracks 19-22 first released 1994
CD 3, Tracks 1-6 alternate versions of tracks from Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush, United Artists SULP 1186, 1968, first released 1997
CD 3, Tracks 7-21 previously unreleased BBC sessions
CD 3, Track 22 first released 1994