Mike Vernon was the leading producer of the British blues boom in the late '60s, working on discs by
John Mayall,
Fleetwood Mac,
Chicken Shack,
Duster Bennett,
Savoy Brown, and
Ten Years After. Several of these recordings came out on
Vernon's own
Blue Horizon label, as well as the lesser-known
Vernon-run labels, Purdah and Outasite, and
Vernon also recorded some American artists for his companies. Although he's primarily associated with blues-rock and blues,
Vernon has produced significant acts outside of the blues field as well, including
David Bowie,
Focus, and
Bloodstone. After playing for a while in the
Mojo Men,
Vernon started working for Decca Records in 1963, entering production with an album by Texan blues singer and pianist
Curtis Jones, and following that up with projects by better-known American bluesmen,
Champion Jack Dupree and
Otis Spann. At a time when
John Mayall and
Eric Clapton had established their names live with the
Bluesbreakers but had made relatively few recordings,
Vernon encouraged
Mayall to make an album with the
Clapton Bluesbreakers lineup for Decca, which
Mayall returned to after a brief sojourn at Immediate. In 1966,
Vernon was in the producer's chair for the only album the
Bluesbreakers made with
Clapton as guitarist,
Bluesbreakers, which is roundly recognized as the best British blues album. There had been several other great blues-soaked British recordings prior to this LP by bands such as the
Rolling Stones,
Yardbirds, and
Animals, but all of those groups were indebted to R&B, pop, and rock as well as the blues.
Bluesbreakers was almost all pure blues, bringing out some of
Mayall and
Clapton's best performances, sometimes augmented by a horn section.
Vernon also produced the
Bluesbreakers' only album with
Clapton's replacement,
Peter Green (
A Hard Road). It was while working with the
Bluesbreakers that
Vernon became familiar with the musicians who were to become the nucleus of the most successful British blues-rock band,
Fleetwood Mac, particularly
Peter Green and bassist
John McVie.
Vernon produced
Fleetwood Mac's first few albums and singles, including the hit "Albatross," and was on board for much of their most blues-centered work.
Blue Horizon made a major mistake, though, and forgot to pick up their option for a second year on
Fleetwood Mac's contract, which meant that the group left
Blue Horizon in early 1969.
There was still plenty of work for
Vernon at
Blue Horizon and other labels during the late '60s. These included recordings by
Ten Years After,
Chicken Shack,
Savoy Brown, and several other lesser lights of the British blues boom. As a major blues/R&B enthusiast himself,
Vernon seems to have allowed the bands to pretty much be as they were in the studio. With the best of his charges, such as
Mayall and
Fleetwood Mac, this worked very well; they got to make pure blues, or experiment within and without the form if they wished, without the sort of interference that might have been expected from more pop-conscious big labels and producers. There was also a good amount of routine, or even boring, material by artists and players that could not compare to the Americans they idolized.
Vernon did champion Americans as well, recording a wide variety of solid talents in both the U.S. and U.K., like
Eddie Boyd,
Furry Lewis, and
Bukka White, as well as leasing sides for U.K. release by greats like
B.B. King and
Elmore James.
Vernon himself made a solo album for
Blue Horizon in the early '70s, with
Rory Gallagher as one of the guest guitarists.
Vernon's importance to British music went beyond the mixed results he achieved in the studio. In a period of about four years, during which
Blue Horizon had distribution from CBS and Polydor, it issued about 60 singles and more than 100 albums, most of them blues records. This was a time when blues records were not too readily available in general, especially in Britain, and
Vernon deserves much credit for raising the profile of the music in general in the UK. A good way to get acquainted with
Vernon's work and sensibilities is on the double-LP Sire compilation
History of British Blues, which covers British blues from the early '60s to the early '70s.
Vernon assembled this anthology, which is largely comprised of sides he produced.
Vernon has not solely worked on blues or blues-rock recordings. In 1967 he was the producer for
David Bowie's self-titled debut album on Decca. Oddly, considering
Vernon's own tastes and
Bowie's past background (in which he had often sung and recorded R&B), there was no blues or R&B influence on the LP, which found
Bowie in the midst of his
Anthony Newley phase. Indeed, the arrangements were very much in the orchestrated music hall style, although
Vernon was not fond of
Bowie's Newleyesque direction. In the early '70s,
Vernon produced Dutch progressive rock stars
Focus, moving into soul in the mid-'70s with the American soul group
Bloodstone (including their big hit "Natural High") and the
Olympic Runners. Over the next couple of decades,
Vernon maintained an active profile as a producer, although he didn't generate discs with the commercial or artistic impact of those he had overseen during the British blues boom. Generally, he kept his hands in the rootsy sector, working at various points with
Dr. Feelgood,
Chris Farlowe,
Freddie King,
Frankie Ford, and
Jimmy Witherspoon. Outside of R&B there were projects with
Level 42,
Dexy's Midnight Runners, the
Pasadenas, and the
Proclaimers. He revived the
Blue Horizon label in the late '80s, and in the '90s set up a couple of other blues-oriented labels, Indigo and Code Blue.
–
Richie Unterberger, Rovi