Maybe I’m unusual but I love identifying and collecting records with one of rock’s foot soldiers on. A good one to do this with is Rick Grech. Originally born in France, he was a member of the Leicester band, Family back when they were the Farinas. He played powerful bass as well as cello and violin and added to the unique flavour of that band. He played on the first two albums but then Steve Winwood formed Blind Faith and wanted Grech to play bass for them as they’d jammed with him in the Bluesbreakers and Spencer Davis Group. He was their first choice for the gig with the supergroup, so high was his stock.
He recorded that Blind Faith album, but Eric Clapton was dissatisfied with the material and recording. They toured America, which I imagine was lucrative, and then disbanded.
Around this time Grech played on original R&B, jazz-rocker and infamous occultist Graham Bond’s Holy Magick album. Grech then joined Ginger Baker’s Airforce with Steve Winwood, Denny Laine and Chris Wood. They made two albums in 1970, then Winwood revived Traffic and took Grech for two albums, including the exceptionally good Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys studio record and the live Welcome To The Canteen. However, he was sacked because of a self-destructive drug habit, despite co-writing with Jim Gordon, the semi-successful single Rock n Roll Stew which was a minor hit in North America.
Grech did session work, playing with Rod Stewart, Ronnie Lane, Vivian Stanshall and Muddy Waters. He also worked with Rosetta Hightower, the Crickets, Bee Gees and Gram Parsons. In January 1973, he played in Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert and is on that excellent if poorly recorded album and he reunited with Roger Chapman and Charlie Whitney when the duo recorded an album in 1974 after Family's breakup. Grech was one of many special guests on that record, which led to Chapman and Whitney forming the group Streetwalkers. Grech, however, was not in that band.
So you can see he played on some classic albums as well as recording solo stuff with the help of George Harrison. In 1973, RSO Records released The Last Five Years. It contained songs that Grech wrote and recorded with Family, Gram Parsons, Blind Faith, Traffic, and Ginger Baker's Airforce between 1968 and 1973. One track, "Just a Guest", was written by Grech and sung by Rosetta Hightower. It is apparently exclusive to this album. It was here I first became aware of him when I was 13.
In 1974, Grech made a strange choice to join KGB. Which consisted of Grech on bass, Mike Bloomfield on guitar, Carmine Appice on drums, Barry Goldberg on keyboards, and Ray Kennedy on vocals. The group released its eponymous debut album that year. Grech and Bloomfield immediately quit after its release, stating they never had faith in the project. The album was not critically well received but I must say, I got it the following year and rather enjoy it’s soft rock-cum-bluesy soul.
In 1976 he formed Rick Grech's SDM (Square Dance Machine) to perform country music in a Gram Parsons style, but proved unsuccessful as punk rock grew in popularity. I don’t remember that at all and must have been out of tune with the times.
Grech retired from music in 1977 after playing on all these wonderful records. He died on 17 March 1990, aged 43, of liver failure as a result of alcoholism, which was a terrible waste really and rather sad. Not everyone got out of those hedonistic times alive.
He played powerful bass...
