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suitable, from a producer’s point of view, for popular music programmes, in red bags,
we hope to overcome the BBC prejudice of much of the company’s singles product”.

No point in beating about the bush!

The first red release was ‘Rockin’ Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu’, by

Jellybread. It didn’t trouble the charts! Nor did subsequent releases in red, blue or
any other colour!

One of the unsuccessful red LPs was “Voodoo Rhythm”, by Key Largo, a London based
band with a following almost exclusively in the capital. I recall going to blues jams on

a Sunday lunchtime, at a pub in Stoke Newington, where various members of Key
Largo made up most of the house band. I particularly recall harmonica player Lawrie

Garman, who was a fine player. The Key Largo album was inspired by the music of
Dr. John, but without the sales to match.

The change of colour had failed to produce the hoped for hit, but on a brighter note,
Mike Vernon was involved in a project in October 1970, about which he stated, “As

long as I live I will remember the 4 days spent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. During my
short stay I heard, and was lucky enough to record, some of the finest blues

performers still active in this Southern State”. The resulting double LP entitled,
“Swamp Blues”, was a shot in the arm to the careers of Whispering Smith, Silas Hogan,

Clarence Edwards, Arthur ‘Guitar’ Kelly and Henry Gray. Vernon was given great
assistance by Excello Records to organise the recordings, all of which were rereleased

many years later, by Ace Records.

At this time Blue Horizon had the opportunity to reissue an album that had originally

been marketed by Sire in the US and
Decca in the UK - “Fiends And Angels”,

by Martha Velez, a New Yorker of
Puerto Rican descent who had

originally trained as an opera singer!
The presence on the recording of such
names as Eric Clapton, Paul Kossoff,

Stan Webb, Duster Bennett, Jack Bruce,
Mitch Mitchell, Brian Augur, Christine

Perfect, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and
Keef Hartley was sure to attract

attention in the UK - as it indeed did.
The Sire licensing deal with Decca had

elapsed, so they were happy to allow
Blue Horizon to issue it as “Fiends And
Angels Again” In my opinion it is a fine

album, with the powerful voice of Velez