Climax Blues Band

Formed in the late-1960s in England, this blues-rock band was originally called the Climax Chicago Blues Band, because of a keen interest in the authentic blues records coming out of the windy city. Led by saxophonist Colin Cooper, the group initially had a sound not unlike John Mayall & His Blues Breakers and the original Fleetwood Mac, when guitarist Peter Green was at the helm. (Ironically, both the Climax Chicago Blues Band and Fleetwood Mac released blues rock albums in 1969 called Play On).

They were a great little boogie machine whose best years were in the mid-1970s while they were on Sire Records, the future home of Talking Heads. In fact, it was the overwhelming success of the Heads, and other New York alternative bands signed by Sire, that many feel caused the label to lose interest in their more mainstream artists such as Climax Blues Band.

Like their contemporaries, Fleetwood Mac, by the mid-1970s Climax was hardly a blues band. They had moved in a decidedly more pop and rock direction, and found success as a result. Shortly after the success of Gold Plated, the punk and new wave scenes started to emerge, and marginal rock bands like Climax had a tough time competing. They faded out in the 1980s, but have reunited on occasion and recorded new studio albums as late as the mid-1990s.