CAROL GRIMES AND DELIVERY LP fools meeting PSYCH PROG

$

114

Original German pressing from 1970 on Philips. The record and laminated gatefold sleeve are in near mint condition! Amazing for it's age!

This is the one and only album by a band whose name is stated in the family trees of some well-known other bands, like Caravan, Hatfield And The North, National Health, Gong, and Soft Machine. The core of Delivery is formed by guitarist Philip Miller, drummer Philip "Pip" Pyle, and pianist and Phil's brother Stephen Miller. On this album, which contains the complete studio recording history of the band, the line-up includes Roy Babbington on bass, Carol Grimes on vocals, and Lol Coxhill on saxophone.

The music can be filed under progressive blues. It's all based on the blues, but there's a lot more than just that. It's got elements you can hear on Deep Purple's first three records, but without organ, Cream without the emphasis on the guitar solos and more on the songs instead. And there is a lot more jazz in the music of Delivery. Another distinctive element in their music is Carol Grimes's voice. The record company saw in her a British Grace Slick or Janis Joplin, and here voice is somewhere between those, although she also reminded me of Stone The Crows and Julian's Treatment's first album (singer Cathy Pruden). Phil Miller is quoted saying "Delivery was a learning band". This is where it all started for most of the musicians. Steve Miller had been playing with Alexis Korner, but the others, who were a few years younger, were less experienced. Blues was the music that inspired most of the successful bands, but Steve was also very interested in jazz and rhythm & blues. The joining of Lol Coxhill introduced more jazz, more freedom of playing to their music, making it more jazzy and more progressive.

I am not a great fan of saxophones, and a solo like the one in Is It Really The Same is too freaky for me (Coxhill had left the band to join Kevin Ayers, but was invited as a guest player on the recording). In other, less jazzy pieces, where the sax is less prominently present, it offers a strange but nice ingredient to the whole of the sound, sometimes reminding me of Soft Machine and Robert Wyatt.
I prefer drummers and bass players like this, who have that blues feeling in their play. They know when to play loud, and when to play gently, unlike too many rock musicians. The Wrong Time is a great example with its heavier and softer pieces alternating. It has a soft jazzy opening, and a quiet bluesy part (after a long sax solo, I should add...). This song shows both Steve's great piano playing and the band's blend of blues and jazz.

In 1971, Pip Pyle joins Gong, to be replaced by Laurie Allen. The music progressed more and more towards jazz improvisations, which led Carol Grimes to leave. When Roy Babbington also left, the band quit. The story of Delivery continues however, since later, Coxhill formed a band with Steve Miller, Phil Miller, Laurie Allen, and Judy Dyble, formerly singing with Fairport Convention: DC & The MB's (Dyble, Coxhill, And The Miller Brothers). Also here, a lot of improvisations. This band fell apart when Steve was asked to replace David Sinclair in Caravan, and Robert Wyatt formed Matching Mole with David Sinclair and Phil Miller. When playing in Caravan, Steve Miller brought in much of the music he had written for Delivery earlier that year. Songs on Caravan's Waterloo Lily album, can be heard as late / lost period Delivery songs with the framework of a great Caravan album.
You might conclude that this band didn't know to make a choice between blues or jazz, but to me that's simply the strongest point in their music.

A reformed Delivery, with Richard Sinclair on bass, played a few gigs, but Steve Miller didn't feel comfortable with his brother's musical direction. He left and was replaced with David Sinclair. The band then changed their name to Hatfield And The North.
It's strange to see that a great album like this, which is still part of the history of a number of well-known groups who all have their own part in musical history, could have been forgotten. Fans of all bands linked to Delivery should have this album, but also if you're interested in a great combination of blues and jazz, it's a great choice. More jazz than most progressive blues bands from the late Sixties, and bluesier, rawer, and rocking more than jazz.

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