Chapter 17: That's the Way God Planned It (March - September 1970)

30 March 1970

The cover for Ginger Baker's Air Force self-titled album, released March 1970.

It's always the small things that kept a band from staying together. By the end of Cream's latest tour for Blind Faith, Ginger Baker had stepped down as drummer and brought Steve Winwood with him to form Ginger Baker's Air Force, a jazz-rock fusion supergroup that included members such as Denny Laine, Alan White, Ric Grech, and Harold McNair. Their first album was released at the end of March in 1970, a recording of their live performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 15 January. It was a moderate success, reaching the Top 40 in both America and Great Britain, but its sole single, "Man of Constant Sorrow", only hit #86 in the latter country.

GINGER BAKER: "I was feeling a bit fed up by the end of the 60s. Despite that Steve Winwood gave Cream a more fresh sound when we did Blind Faith, I wanted out. I wanted to expand my horizons and felt that being with Eric and Jack was holding me back. Understandably, they were disappointed with my decision, but they supported me and we still kept in touch." (2009)

With only Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce left in Cream, it would've been the end of the supergroup for real, except that once again, they still had help from friends in high places.

Delaney & Bonnie with Eric Clapton and George Harrison, 1970.

One of Cream's opening acts was Delaney & Bonnie, a rock/soul musical duo formed by the Bramletts and one of George Harrison's signings onto Apple Records. Clapton was particularly chummy with the married couple as he was a fan of their soulful, folksy-sounding blues roots and even spent time with them off-stage and even sat in on their opening sets. It even got to the point he wanted them to be the tour's headliners.

DELANEY BRAMLETT: "After Ginger left Cream, Eric called me up and asked if Delaney & Bonnie would be willing to play with them for their next album. I was willing to play with them, as well as help to produce the album. Heck, Jim Gordon offered to be their new drummer despite being committed to D&B, and Bobby [Whitlock] and Leon [Russell] also volunteered to play. Even Stephen Stills played on a few songs whilst he, [David] Crosby and [Graham] Nash recorded with Neil Young. *chuckles* Small world." (1995)

ERIC CLAPTON: "The recording for Let It Rain began back in November of 1969, and lasted four months. Jack was feeling pretty overwhelmed by the amount of company we had. He was even a bit cross that I got more vocal spots than he did, even though I thought we contributed just as much as the other." (2005)

15 May 1970

Cream - Let It Rain

Released: 15 May 1970

Recorded: November 1969 - March 1970

Producer: Delaney Bramlett

Track listing[1]

Side A

Slunky
Bad Boy
Tickets to Water Falls
Easy Now
To Isengard

Side B
Bottle of Red Wine
The Ministry of Bag
He the Richmond
Don't Know Why
Let It Rain

Cream's fifth album was preceded by the non-album single, a cover of J. J. Cale's "After Midnight" with Bruce's original "Rope Ladder to the Moon" as the B-side. The single topped at #18 in the United States but did not chart in the United Kingdom. Cream's rendition was faster-paced compared to Cale's slower tempo version. Cale was surprised to hear Cream's version become a big radio hit, believing he had fallen into obscurity by this point; he would later admit years later that his music was more famous than he himself.

Let It Rain was released to generally positive reception. Although it paled in comparison to last year's Blind Faith, not helped by the absence of founding member Ginger Baker, it was still a Top 10 hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and even got praise for the mixture of variety in the music, showcasing some of Clapton's musical personality. Although ten tracks were chosen for the final album, there were a lot more tracks featuring Clapton's voice that would end up being released as bonus tracks for future releases, including the "After Midnight" single.

June 19, 1970

The Monkees - Changes

Released: June 19, 1970

Recorded: October 28, 1966 - November 11, 1969, February 5 - April 2, 1970

Producer: The Monkees, Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Bill Chadwick, Jeff Barry

Track listing[2]

Side A

Oh My My
Propinquity (I've Just Begun to Care)
You're So Good to Me
It's Got to Be Love
How Insensitive
Acapulco Sun
Time and Time Again

Side B
Angel Band
Tell Me Love
Do You Feel It Too?
Some of Shelly's Blues
All Alone in the Dark
I Never Thought it Peculiar
Little Red Rider

The Monkees' eighth album, Changes, was their last with Michael Nesmith for seventeen years. The reason for his departure from the group was because he wanted to continue recording with his own country-rock group, Michael Nesmith & The First National Band. The band's first album, Magnetic South, was due out in June, the same month that the Monkees' Changes would be released; it even included new versions of four songs Nesmith and written and sung for the Monkees. The album charted at #143 on Billboard's Top 200, though the "Joanne"/"One Rose" single reached #21.

MICKY DOLENZ: "It was just sad, looking back. Mike was no longer interested in being a Monkee, Pete was essentially AWOL, and Davy and I were just tired. Monkeemania had long since worn off. Changes and Mike's solo album Magnetic South proved to be the death knell for the Monkees." (2006)

Changes peaked at #152, the Monkees lowest chart position for any of their albums, and critical reception was of indifference at best. But despite that, the Monkees still had to put out one more album in order to fulfill their contract, and so Micky Dolenz and Davy Jones went through the archives to compile an album with previously unreleased recordings ranging from their self-titled album in 1966 all the way up to unused recordings from Changes. The only new songs recorded for it were "Do It in the Name of Love" and "Lady Jane", recorded only by Dolenz and Jones that September.

The resulting album, Instant Replay, served as a showcase as to how far the Monkees' music had gone in a short period, and it was also a gentle goodbye to their fans. When it finally came out in April 1971, the Monkees were no more.

September 4, 1970

Jimi Hendrix - The Cry of Love

Released: September 4, 1970

Recorded: March 1968 - August 1970

Producer: Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Kramer

Track listing[3]

Side A

Dolly Dagger
Night Bird Flying
Room Full of Mirrors
Drifter's Escape
Belly Button Window
Freedom

Side B
Earth Blues
Ezy Ryder
Astro Man
Straight Ahead
In From the Storm

Ever since his last release, Electric Ladyland, Jimi Hendrix had been working on and off again on his fourth album, a comeback he had planned to call First Rays of the New Rising Sun.[4] The initial sessions for the album had stretched as far back as March 1968, during the sessions for Electric Ladyland, all the way up to August 1970 with newer songs such as "Dolly Dagger", "Freedom", "Ezy Ryder", and "Night Bird Flying". Hendrix had initially planned for the album to be a double, but producer Eddie Kramer suggested that it would be better to release a single album instead, and work on some of the cut tracks for a later release. Surprisingly, Hendrix heeded the producer's advice.

The Cry of Love was released September 4, 1970, almost two years after Hendrix's last album. It reached #3 in the United States but was kept out of the #1 spot in the United Kingdom by the Beatles' Everest. Critics and fans saw this release as a return to form for Hendrix following what was perceived at the time as a two-year hibernation. How the album managed to reach these heights despite the artist being absent on the music scene for a long time was not without a frightening experience...

18 September 1970

Jimi Hendrix, the day before his near-death experience, 17 September 1970.

JIMI HENDRIX: "I was in London with Monkia [Dannemann], and I'll admit the details of what we did around London were a bit of a blur. Lots drinking and talking to friends, and all that. But when she and I got home very early in the morning, I took on some sleeping pills and was soon asleep in bed. Next thing I knew, it was a few hours later, Monika had left to buy cigarettes, and I found myself vomiting onto the floor. That was when Monika realized something was wrong with me and quickly called the hospital. Doctors said that I had almost choked on my own vomit, and that if I hadn't woken up, I'd have choked to death." (2005)

Hendrix was soon discharged from St. Mary Abotts hospital a few days after his near-death. September 18, 1970 would be remembered as a day of "what could've been", and the 22nd would be remembered as a day of relief when Hendrix re-emerged from hospital and returned to the United States, with girlfriend Monkia Dannemann around his arm.

Following this scare, Hendrix would get back into the music scene for his next project, Black Gold, which was released at the end of 1971, being hailed as his greatest work. He would soon marry his girlfriend Monkia in mid-1972, and together they had three children before breaking up in 1996. Hendrix would continue releasing new music during the 1970s and 1980s, and every once in a while, he would turn up at a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame or Grammy ceremony. He eventually retired from the music scene at the end of the 2000s, and died from lung cancer on July 20, 2011. Jimi Hendrix was aged 68.

Footnotes

1. Tracks are sourced from Eric Clapton's 1970 self-titled album and Jack Bruce's Songs for a Tailor.
2. Micky and Davy's tracks are sourced from the 1994 reissue of Changes, and Michael's tracks are sourced from Missing Links Vol. 3 excluding "Some of Shelly's Blues", sourced from Vol. 2.
3. Tracks are sourced from Rainbow Bridge and The Cry of Love, excluding "Drifter's Escape" from South Saturn Delta, "Earth Blues" from disc four of The Jimi Hendrix Experience box set, and "In From the Storm" from West Coast Seattle Boy.
4. This was indeed the title Jimi Hendrix had planned for his follow-up to Electric Ladyland.

Author's Comments

This chapter's a bit shorter than some of the previous ones, but I don't think that's really a bad thing now, is it? The Monkees have split up much like OTL, except Michael stayed a bit longer; things will carry on much as they did, though we will come across one of the Monkees at some point again in the future.

But perhaps one of the biggest deviations from this timeline is the survival of Jimi Hendrix. Admittedly, there wasn't really a lot for me to work with as I'm not 100% sure what he would have done had he survived, but I did write up a brief summary as to what he did following his near death, including the release of Black Gold. I like how his story turned out, but I'm not necessarily the biggest fan of it. What would y'all do differently? I'd like to hear suggestions!

Speaking of which, what are the surviving Beach Boys up to? Next chapter will reveal all!