The Graham Bond Organisation - Live at Klook's Kleek, London, 1964

This recording could have been The GBO’s debut album had Graham Bond not signed deals with three major labels simultaneously. The recording was made by Giorgio Gomelsky and his sound-engineer Philip Wood. Previous endeavours included the Yardbirds 1st British LP Five Live Yardbirds, recorded at the Marquee, which is also being reissued by Charly to celebrate the YARDBIRDS’ 60th Anniversary this year. The Alan Price Rhythm and Blues Combo was also recorded at the Club A’ Gogo in Newcastle and when they relocated to London they changed their name to The Animals at Graham Bond’s suggestion. Klooks Kleek, formerly a Jazz club, also hosted Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce’s debut London performance with Eric Clapton (Ex-Yardbirds) as Cream in August 1966.


This GBO tapes features both Bruce’s signature tune ‘Train Time’, as well as Baker’s ‘Early in The Morning’. While this recording succeeded in getting the GBO signed to EMI’s Columbia imprint less than two months after it was recorded it wasn’t released until 1972, when Jean Luc Young issued it on his French label BYG Records as part of the archival Rock Generation series. This was a departure from BYG’s esoteric jazz recordings and a first step towards the creation of Charly Records in 1974. This reissue has been restored & digitally transferred at 96KHZ-24bit from the original BYG tapes acquired from Gomelsky and is accompanied by a new and insightful essay by author and music journalist Paul Drummond.