Customer Reviews

Everything Stops for Tea

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...as soon as i can afford to order some music, i will have, though.

However, i have strong and fond memories of the original album, so this review is based on those (thus, i won't be discussing the bonus tracks or the CD quality/packaging).

I guess that the saddest thing i have to report, to begin with, is that Long John stepped on a rainbow two months before the release of this disc, dying in hospital in Vancouver on July 21, 2005.

But the important thing is that great artists -- even mediocre or poor artists, for that matter, live on after their deaths through their works.

An example -- I was just listening to a Fairport Convention live recording from 1974 featuring the late great Sandy Denny, who died in 1978; but there was her incredible voice and music, right there for me to hear for the very first time, thirty-one years later.

And so it will be with Long John; with any luck, as long as there are blues fans, Baldry's work will be available to electrify our consciousness.

Long John (at 6' 7", there weren't any other nicknames more likely) Baldry was born in England in 1941, and by the time he was twenty, he was spreading the gospel of the blues.

It is virtually certain that, without Baldry's influence, the growth of British blues would have been rather different; one almost wonders if there would have been any significant Brit blues movement (or English Invasion, as we know it) at all.

Consider the following list of some of the early bands that Baldry either formed or fronted vocally, and of some of the people who were in them:

1962-Blues Incorporated
Mick Jagger
Alexis Korner
Jack Bruce
Charlie Watts
Notes: Brian Jones, Keith Richards, and Paul Jones (also appeared with Blues Incorporated)

1963-Cyril Davis and The All Stars
Jimmy Page
Nicky Hopkins

1964/65- Long John Baldry and the Hoochie Coochie Men
Rod Stewart

1965/66- The Steam Packet
Rod Stewart
Brian Auger

1966-1968 -Bluesology
Reg Dwight (later known as Elton John)

(Reg Dwight took the "John" part of his stage name from Long John.)

So, when it came time to make this album (and "It Ain't Easy", which, i believe, cme out the year before) there were a lot of old mates Long John could call on, and two of them -- the afore-mentioned Messrs. Stewart and Dwight -- each produced one side of both LPs, and contributed performances, as well.

"Mother Ain't Dead", a folk-gospel, with Stewart and Baldry duetting, is almost painfully beautiful.

"Wild Mountain Thyme" is a lovely reading of what i believe is a semi-genuine Scottish folk song.

"Iko Iko" is a New Orleansy, hard-edged, percussion/guitar driven call-and-response number (The MP3 can be downloaded at the official Long John Baldry website, and i heartily recommend it.); somewhere in my collection, i have a recording of "Iko Iko" featuring Professor Longhair and Gatemouth Brown, and i think Baldry's is the better.

The title song is a British music hall number from some revue from the 30's or 40's -- a nice change of pace, and the intro, portraying Baldry as a Power in the music industry (John Lennon is begging him to use one of his songs on his next album...) being driven totally up the wall by the pressures of fame, survivng the day only because "Everything Stops for Tea" is nicely silly.

I haven't heard any of the bonus tracks, but if "I'm Just a Rake & Ramblin' Boy" is the Ramblin' Jack Elliott song i suspect it is, i look forward to it with great anticipation.

Based solely on the original content from 1972, let alone the neet-sounding bonus tracks, you need this album.

(BTW -- the cover painting, portraying Baldry as the Mad Hatter in an "Alice in Wonderland" setting, is by Ron Wood. Yes, that Ron Wood.)

Is there anything better out there? Sure, maybe, does it matter? My only knowledge of John Baldry was the commercial piece "Boogie Woogie" and the "Conditional Discharge" intro for the song. I surfed iTunes and Amazon and found this--one of the best bits of blues I've every heard. What I hear is 'American' Blues with a Brit twist coupled with incredible keyboards and guitar. Baldry wraps the blues in a unique 70's British presentation. Go ahead and listen--find as many influences as you can. The sound of all the old Blues guys in America are here, as well as some current ones--Rick Estrin of Little Charlie & the Nightcats, Curtis Salgado from Portland, Oregon must have gleaned something from Baldry. I am not a music reviewer or a writer, so it's difficult to put it all in to words. So, just listen to this CD. Enough said.

I've loved this since the early 70s. Baldry was a tremendous musician and a funny, clever man. He pretty much discovered Elton John and Rod Stewart, and they participate in this album.
Can't go wrong; it's just a lot of fun.

The follow on album to "It Ain't Easy", ESFT is a masterpiece of British R&B inflected Rock n Roll. And Baldry was among the best at it. Unfortunately, you probably never heard anything from him that you would ever recognise.

No collection is complete without this album. No understanding of the music of the times in which this was produced is complete without including this album as a bell weather example of a man at the top of his game, and a master at his craft.

You can't listen to this album and not realise within 30 seconds that this guy should have gotten far more recognition than he was given. He deserves far more accolades than many of his less capable contemporaries who got all the "glory" in the midst of their talentless, soul-less noise some dared to actually consider "classic" rock n roll.

One listen to this and you will know the truth.

Excellent recording... It was a pleasure heard this record and "It Aint Easy" thirty years after I heard them first time. LJB was the best musician of english R&B.

i have just recently discovered john baldry while shopping for b.b. king. someone had misplaced it or maybe had placed it there for fellow blues fans. i looked at the back and saw the record was produced by rod stewart one of my all time favorites and elton john. i was very curious and had to have a listen. i must say i have never been so impressed by an album as i was with it ain't easy. everything stops for tea is the next step in a journey for anyone searching for the right kind of blues that you feel deep down within. i reccomend john baldry to everyone with a little bit of blues in their soul.

Just having recently rediscovered Long John's music, I was thrilled to again hear this classic. His humour, sensuality and zest for life is recorded for posterity. We miss you, John.