Ryan's Gig Guide - February 2019

Big Bear Records was founded in October 1968 by Jim Simpson, the man who took Black Sabbath from obscurity as the Aston-based blues band Earth onto the charts with the al- bums “Black Sabbath” which charted at number 8 and “Paranoid” which reached number one in 1970 and went on to sell over 5 million copies worldwide. Black Sabbath had to wait until 2013 before they enjoyed another number one album. Initially Big Bear signed a series of Birmingham bands to management and recording, developed them, recorded demos which Simpson then took to major labels. Big Bear had a hit on EMI Parlophone with “Rudi’s In Love” by The Loco- motive and when EMI rejected the proposed follow-up single, “Rudi The Red Nosed Rein- deer” in favour of the heavier “Mr Armaged- don”, Simpson found himself with a master tape on his hands. So he set up his Big Bear Records label, initially distributed by Island Records and was rapidly sued by theWalt Disney Corpora- tion for employing a bear logo that resembled Walt’s Baloo The Bear just a little too closely. Meanwhile Big Bear signed Bakerloo and Tea & Symphony to EMI Harvest andThe DogThat Bit People to Parlophone, and later Hannibal to B&C Records, Indian Summer to RCA Neon and Brewers Droop to RCA. Big Bear then set up what was considered to be the first “progressive music” club outside Lon- don in a rented Birmingham pub room. He named it Henry’s Blueshouse and declared that Tuesdays Is Bluesdays. Intended as a showcase for Bakerloo and their hotshot teen guitarist Dave ‘Clem’ Clempson [later Humble Pie and Colosseum], Henry’s soon took on a life of its own, presenting American bluesmen such as Arthur Big Boy Crudup, JB Hutto and Champion Jack Dupree as well as emerging British rockers Status Quo, Rory Gallagher and Taste and Thin Lizzy. Earth, initially booked at Henry’s as support to Ten Years After, were taken up by Simpson for management, where they were name-changed to Black Sabbath. He eventually signed them to Vertigo just as he, having fourteen rejections from majors, was about to release them on Big Bear as a last resort. The week Big Bear lost Sabbath, the single Para- noid was at number 2, the albums Black Sabbath and Paranoid were at number 16 and 1 respec- tively, leaving Simpson at a crossroads. Should he continue developing unknown bands only to lose them to a smooth-talking London manage- ment company just as they achieved success, or does he take on a new challenge? By then,The Blues had beckoned. Checking the temperature of the water by or- ganising a seven week UK/European tour with The King Biscuit Boy from Toronto, promoting his RCA album, Big Bear then committed itself Black Sabbath 24 rgg Feb 2019 www.ryansgigguide.com