Mighty Baby were an English band formed in January 1969 from the ashes of The Action.[1] They released two albums, Mighty Baby (which appeared in December 1969, but had been recorded almost a year earlier) and A Jug of Love (October 1971).
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Mighty Baby | |
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Origin | London, England |
Genres | Psychedelic rock, folk rock, progressive rock, acid rock |
Years active | 1969–1971[1] |
Labels | Head Records, Blue Horizon, Castle Music |
Past members | Alan 'Bam' King Martin Stone Ian Whiteman Mike Evans Roger Powell |
Website | actionmightybaby.co.uk |
Their debut, a collection of psychedelic rock songs, appeared on the small independent Head record label in the UK, and on Chess in the United States. Over the course of 1970 several members of the band became Muslims (adherents of the Sufi order), and their second album reflected the spiritual journey they had embarked on, sounding little like its predecessor. They were the closing act on the first day of the Isle of Wight Festival 1970. It has been said[by whom?] that it was a meeting between Richard Thompson and the band that introduced Richard and Linda Thompson to the Sufi order.[2] It has notable guitar parts from Martin Stone.
As well as gigging regularly, the band also played many sessions for others, including Robin Scott (Woman From the Warm Grass), Andy Roberts, Keith Christmas (Stimulus and Fable Of The Wings), Shelagh McDonald, Sandy Denny, and Gary Farr (Take Something with You, Strange Fruit).
A live concert, recorded at Malvern Winter Gardens in 1970, was released on the Sunbeam label during early 2010. These are from tapes held by Ian Whiteman given to him after the concert. A hitherto unreleased recording from the Glastonbury Fayre 1971 has been included in this document. It has been retrieved from the Radio Geronimo archive.
In 2019, the complete recordings of the band were released as At A Point Between Fate And Destiny: a six CD boxed set, including their first album, with, as bonus tracks, a previously unissued alternate acetate version of the album; A Jug Of Love, with as bonus tracks, the Blue Horizon-single and the Action Speak Louder ... tracks; "A Jug Of Love Rehearsals", which were previously issued on Slipstreams (Flashback, 2015) and, as bonus tracks, a 1969 jam and the French Philips single; "Day Of The Soup", a set of mainly instrumental demos for a 'potential', unissued second album and, as bonus tracks, 1970 live recordings; Live At Malvern (same tracks as Tasting The Life - Live 1971); and Live At Glastonbury, a more complete, cassette recording by Radio Geronimo DJs[3] of their 1971 Glastonbury set. A 40-page booklet with an extensive band history, based on contemporary documents and interviews with all members of the band, is included.[4]
Mike 'Ace' Evans died on 15 January 2010 in London. He was buried at Woodland Burial Park near Beaconsfield.
With Reg King