• After independently leaving The Spencer Davis Group in late 1968, organist and singer Eddie Hardin and drummer Pete York got back together a few months later to work as that most intriguing of late Sixties rock music concepts: the power duo.
• Self-described as “the world’s smallest big band”, Hardin & York’s two-man brand of rock, blues, jazz and soul – not a million miles away from the likes of Traffic or Procol Harum – was hugely popular on the Continent. Indeed, they had such a following in Germany that one show was surreptitiously taped, becoming one of the earliest European vinyl bootlegs when it was sneaked out in 1970.
• Naturally enough, that live set is included on our definitive 6-CD anthology, together with further live performances (including a 1972 show for the BBC now gaining its first-ever commercial release), their trio of 1969-71 albums, various studio out-takes and even a non-UK 1974 reunion LP that was recorded with former Taste bassist Charlie McCracken.
• A 6-CD package, Can’t Keep A Good Man Down is the final word on one of the most intriguing musical partnerships of the late Sixties/early Seventies. Housed in a stylish clamshell box, it includes a 24-page booklet with rare photos, a new 4000 word essay on the duo as well as a scene-setting foreword by Pete York.
Track Listing:
DISC ONE:
1. TOMORROW TODAY (BBC RADIO SESSION)
2. CANDLELIGHT (BBC RADIO SESSION)
3. IF I COULD JOIN THEM (BBC RADIO SESSION)
4. DAVID DIFFICULT (BBC RADIO SESSION)
5. LITTLE MISS BLUE (BBC RADIO SESSION)
6. CAN’T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN (BBC RADIO SESSION)
7. TOMORROW TODAY
8. 100 YEARS FROM NOW
9. I’M LOST
10. DRINKING MY WINE
11. CANDLELIGHT
12. BEAUTIFUL DAY
13. MOUNTAINS OF SAND
14. CAN’T KEEP A GOOD MAN DOWN
15. LISTEN EVERYONE
1-6 Radio Session 4th June 1969
7-15 The album Tomorrow, Today (Bell SBLL 125, Released November 1969)
DISC TWO:
1. MULBERRY PLACE
2. SUNDAY MORNING
3. ALL I SEE IS YOU
4. ROCK’N’ROLL MUSIC
5. JUST A CASE OF TIME
6. I CAN’T FIND MY WAY HOME
7. LOVE, A SONG FOR YOU
8. ROCK’N’ROLL MEDLEY: JAILHOUSE ROCK/MEAN WOMAN BLUES/RIP IT UP
9. THE PIKE
10. NORTHERN MEDLEY: LADY MADONNA/NORWEGIAN WOOD
11. I CAN’T FIND MY WAY HOME (BBC RADIO SESSION)
12. JUST A CASE OF TIME (BBC RADIO SESSION)
13. PARKING METERS
1-4 Out-Takes From Sessions For The Album Tomorrow Today
5-10 The album The World’s Smallest Big Band (Bell SBLL136, Released June 1970)
11-12 Radio Session 23rd July 1970
13 Out-Take, Date Of Recording Not Known
DISC THREE:
1. THE PIKE (LIVE)
2. TOMORROW TODAY (LIVE)
3. COWBOY (LIVE)
4. EVERYONE I KNOW (LIVE)
5. LADY MADONNA/NORWEGIAN WOOD (LIVE)
6. DRINKING MY WINE (LIVE)
7. I’LL DROWN IN MY OWN TEARS (LIVE)
8. THE LONG ROAD (LIVE)
9. DRIFTIN’ BLUE (LIVE)
10. JAILHOUSE ROCK/MEAN WOMAN BLUES (LIVE)
1-2 Live In Germany, 31st December 1969
3-4 Live In Germany, 1970
5-10 The album Smallest Big Band Live (1970 Bootleg Of German Gig)
DISC FOUR:
1. FREEDOM SUITE (INCORPORATING LIKE A ROLLING STONE AND FREEDOM) (LIVE)
2. I CARE FOR YOU (LIVE)
3. THE PIKE (LIVE)
4. FIND MYSELF AGAIN (LIVE)
1-4 Recorded live at The Marquee, June 1971
DISC FIVE:
1. DEEP IN MY DESPAIR
2. HAVE MERCY WOMAN
3. FOR THE WORLD
4. SOME PLACES ARE BETTER TO BE
5. EXTENSION 345
6. COWBOY
7. I’LL BE BACK AGAIN
8. FEELING, SEEING, HEARING
9. NATURAL GAS
10. TAKE AWAY TODAY
11. COWBOY (BBC RADIO SESSION)
12. UNTITLED (BBC RADIO SESSION)
13. EVERYONE I KNOW (BBC RADIO SESSION)
14. THE PIKE (BBC RADIO SESSION)
1-10 The album For The World (Decca SKL 5095, released July 1971)
11-14 BBC In Concert show, transmitted 1st April 1972
DISC SIX:
1. AIN’T NO BREEZE
2. BACK ROW MOVIE STAR
3. FREEDOM
4. WISH I’D NEVER JOINED A BAND
5. CLUBTROP
6. SOME SWEET DREAM
7. LOVING YOU’S SO EASY
1-7 The album Hardin & York with Charlie McCracken (German Vertigo 6360 622, released December 1974)
