Savoy Brown have always been commonly known as a boogie / blues band. But in 1977 (after long time keyboardist / mate Paul Raymond left Savoy Brown for U-F-O), main man Kim Simmonds stripped the band down to a hard rockin' trio. The following album "Savage Return" (1978) surprised / dismayed / disappointed a lot of Savoy Brown fans. Due to Kim abandoning his purist blues roots in favor of a more hard rock approach. Me personally, think it's one of Savoy Brown's finest recorded moments. Presumably encouraged or prodded by (then unknown producer) Robert "Mutt" Lange, Kim turned it up to 11 and "kicked ass". The band consisting of Kim Simmonds (guitar, some voacls), Ian Ellis (bass, lead vocals) and Tommy Farnell (drums) supported this album on the road opening for AC/DC. Getting excellent audience response. But due to little to no label support, Savage Return didn't crack the Top 200 chartwise (a shame). But then again, the hideous jacket cover probably didn't help. Kim later disbanded this version of Savoy Brown and moved to the states and later returned to the blues. He's still touring constantly to this day. Keep on keeping on Kim.

Savage Return was officialy re-issued on CD in 1995 DERAM 844 243-2 (along with the rest of the Savoy Brown catalog) and is now long out of print. Ebay is the best source courrently. But beware of Russian bootlegs.

The track playing is the album opener "The First Night". It kicks!

Status Quo "Blue For You" 1976 (UK cover w/o title)

BLODWYN PIG mk. II  (re-named BLODWYN)

The cover on the left is the UK / European issue. On the right is the US one (which I bought and prefer in 1972).