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Blind Faith is the self-titled album by the British supergroup Blind Faith, which consisted of Eric Clapton (The Yardbirds, Cream), Ginger Baker (Graham Bond Organisation, Cream), Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis Group, Traffic) and Ric Grech (Family).

There was an intense buzz about the band and its debut album Blind Faith, which on release topped Billboard's Pop Albums chart in America (as it did the UK and Canadian charts) and peaked at #40 on the Black Albums chart, an impressive feat for a British rock quartet. In addition, Rolling Stone published three reviews of the album in their September 6, 1969 issue, which were written by Ed Leimbacher, Lester Bangs, and John Morthland.

They began to work out songs early in 1969, and in February and March the group was in London at Morgan Studios, preparing for the beginnings of basic tracks for their album, although the first few almost finished songs didn't show up until they were at Olympic Studios in April and May under the direction of producer Jimmy Miller. The music community was already aware of the linkup, despite Clapton's claim that he was cutting an album of his own on which Winwood would play. The rock press wasn't buying any of it, knowing that Baker was involved as well, and then the promoters and record companies got involved, pushing those concerned for an album and a tour.

The recording of their album was interrupted by such a tour of Scandinavia, then a U.S. tour from July 11 (Newport) to August 24 (Hawaii), supported by Free, Taste and Delaney & Bonnie and Friends. Although a chart topper the LP was recorded hurriedly and side two consisted of just two songs, one of them a 15-minute jam entitled "Do What You Like." Nevertheless the band was able to produce two classic hits, Winwood's "Can't Find My Way Home" and Clapton's "Presence of the Lord".

An expanded, deluxe edition of the album was released in 2001, with previously unreleased tracks and 'jams' included. Two live tracks from the Hyde Park concert, Sleeping In The Ground by Sam Myers and the Rolling Stones song "Under My Thumb" are also available on Winwood's 4-CD retrospective The Finer Things.

Album cover controversy

The release of the album provoked controversy because the cover featured a topless pubescent girl, holding in her hands a sculpture of an airplane, which some perceived as phallic. The U.S. record company issued it with an alternative cover (which showed a photograph of the band on the front) as well as the original cover.

The cover art was created by photographer Bob Seidemann, a personal friend and former flatmate of Clapton's who is primarily known for his photos of Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. In the mid-1990s, in an advertising circular intended to help sell lithographic reprints of the famous album cover, he explained his thinking behind the image.

I could not get my hands on the image until out of the mist a concept began to emerge. To symbolize the achievement of human creativity and its expression through technology a space ship was the material object. To carry this new spore into the universe, innocence would be the ideal bearer, a young girl, a girl as young as Shakespeare's Juliet. The space ship would be the fruit of the tree of knowledge and the girl, the fruit of the tree of life.

The space ship could be made by Mick Milligan, a jeweler at the Royal College or Art [sic]. The girl was another matter. If she were too old it would be cheesecake, too young and it would be nothing. The beginning of the transition from girl to woman, that is what I was after. That temporal point, that singular flare of radiant innocence. Where is that girl?

Seidemann wrote that he approached a girl reported to be 14 years old on the London Tube about modelling for the cover, and eventually met with her parents, but that she proved too old for the effect he wanted. Instead, the model he used was her younger sister Mariora Goschen, who was reported to be 11 years old. Mariora initially requested a horse as a fee but was instead paid £40.

Bizarre rumours both surfaced and were fuelled by the controversy, including that the girl was Baker's daughter or was a groupie kept as a slave by the band.

The image, titled "Blind Faith" by Seidemann, became the inspiration for the name of the band itself, which had been unnamed when the artwork was commissioned.

According to Seidemann, "It was Eric who elected to not print the name of the band on the cover. The name was instead printed on the wrapper, when the wrapper came off, so did the type." In fact, this had been done previously for The Rolling Stones' 1964 debut album, Traffic's self-titled 1968 album, and The Beatles' albums Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966).

Track listing

Original version

Side 1

1. "Had to Cry Today" (Steve Winwood) – 8:48
2. "Can't Find My Way Home" (Steve Winwood) – 3:16
3. "Well All Right" (Norman Petty, Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin) – 4:27
4. "Presence of the Lord" (Eric Clapton) – 4:50

Side 2

1. "Sea of Joy" (Steve Winwood) – 5:22
2. "Do What You Like" (Ginger Baker) – 15:20

• Note that on the original Polydor CD release from 1986, two previously unreleased tracks were added as a bonus, "Exchange and Mart" and "Spending All My Days". These were originally recorded for a never released Ric Grech solo album, and there is no proof that any of the other members of Blind Faith took part in the recording sessions.

Deluxe edition

Disc 1

1. "Had to Cry Today" (Steve Winwood) – 8:48
2. "Can't Find My Way Home" (Steve Winwood) – 3:16
3. "Well All Right" (Petty, Holly, Allison, Mauldin) – 4:27
4. "Presence of the Lord" (Eric Clapton) – 4:50
5. "Sea of Joy" (Steve Winwood) – 5:22
6. "Do What You Like" (Ginger Baker) – 15:18
7. "Sleeping in the Ground" (Sam Myers) – 2:49
8. "Can't Find My Way Home" (Electric Version) - 5:40
9. "Acoustic Jam" (Previously Unreleased) - 15:50
10. "Time Winds" (Previously Unreleased - 3:15
11. "Sleeping in the Ground" (Slow Blues Version) (Previously Unreleased) - 4:44

Disc 2

1. "Jam No.1: Very Long & Good Jam" (Previously Unreleased) - 14:01
2. "Jam No.2: Slow Jam #1" (Previously Unreleased) - 15:06
3. "Jam No.3: Change of Address Jam" (Previously Unreleased) - 12:06
4. "Jam No.4: Slow Jam #2" (Previously Unreleased) - 16:06

Personnel

• Steve Winwood - organ, piano, guitar, bass, lead vocals
• Eric Clapton - guitar, vocals
• Ric Grech - bass guitar, violin, vocals
• Ginger Baker - drums, percussion.

Personnel on deluxe edition disc 2

• Steve Winwood - organ, bass pedals, bass
• Eric Clapton - guitar
• Ginger Baker - drums and percussion

Production

• Producer: Jimmy Miller
• Engineers: George Chkiantz, Keith Harwood, Andy Johns, Alan O'Duffy
• Mixing: Andy Johns, Jimmy Miller
• Remastering: Suha Gur
• Production coordination: Margaret Goldfarb
• Arranger: Chris Blackwell, Robert Stigwood
• Reissue supervisor: Bill Levenson
• Art direction: Vartan
• Cover design: Stanley Miller, Bob Seidemann
• Cover art: Stanley Miller
• Cover photo: Bob Seidmannn
• Photography: Bob Seidemann

References

1. Doggett, Peter (2008). There's a Riot Going On: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars, and the Rise and Fall of the '60s. Canongate. pp. 280–281. ISBN 1847671802.
2. Larkin, Colin (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Guinness. p. 268. ISBN 0851129390.
3. "She's older than she looks..." Badcat Records. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
4. ^ Thorgerson, Storm (1999). 100 Best Album Covers: The Stories Behind the Sleeves. Dorling Kindersley. p. 29. ISBN 0751307068. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
5. Interview with Mariora Goschen
6. Mariora Goschen's web page
7. Steve Winwood Fans' Site: Collaborations & Sessions: Collaborations
8. Blind Faith

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• Blind Faith albums
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• 1969 albums
• Debut albums
• Albums produced by Jimmy Miller
• Universal Deluxe Editions
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• Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab albums