Blind Faith

Blind Faith were an English blues-rock band which consisted of Eric Clapton (The Yardbirds, Cream), Ginger Baker (Graham Bond Organisation, Cream), Steve Winwood (Spencer Davis Group, Traffic) and Ric Grech (Family). The band, which was one of the first so-called supergroups, only released one album, Blind Faith, in August 1969. They were stylistically similar to the bands which Winwood, Baker, and Clapton had most recently participated in (Traffic and Cream).

News of the group's formation created a buzz of excitement among the public and press, which even heralded the band as "super Cream". The group debuted at a free concert at London's Hyde Park on June 7, 1969.[1] The performance was well received by fans there but troubled Clapton, who thought that the band's playing was sub-par and that the adulation was undeserved and reminiscent of his Cream days when the crowds would applaud for nearly everything. Clapton, knowing the band had not rehearsed enough and was unprepared, was reluctant to tour and feared that the band would develop into a Cream repeat.

Upon its release, Blind Faith topped Billboard's charts at the No. #1 spot for Pop Album in both America and the United Kingdom, and peaked at #40 on the Black Albums chart — an impressive feat for a British rock quartet. The album sold more than half a million copies within the first month of its release and was a huge profit-making device for both Atlantic Records and Eric Clapton (Blind Faith sales were helping to stimulate demand for Cream albums as well).
The release of the album provoked controversy because the cover featured a topless pubescent girl [3], holding in her hands a silver space ship designed by Mick Milligan, a jeweller at the Royal College of Art.[4] Some perceived the ship as phallic[5] The U.S. record company issued it with an alternative cover which showed a photograph of the band on the front.[6]

The cover art was created by photographer Bob Seidemann, a personal friend and former flatmate of Clapton who is known primarily for his photos of Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. Bizarre rumours both fuelled and were fuelled by the controversy, among them that the young girl was Baker's illegitimate daughter or, alternatively as a fantasy, was a groupie kept in the meadowlands as a slave by the band members. Actually, the young lass was a London suburbanite, who posed upon consent by her parents and for a handsome fee, as described in Seidemann's mini essay about the origins of the Blind Faith album cover artwork (Re: Blind Faith (album)). [7] Also see "Origins of BF's Album Artwork" referenced web link below.

One other interesting note about the cover is that it was nameless — only the wrapping paper told the buyer who the artist was and the name of the album. Though initially banned in some parts of the USA and other countries, the original artwork was quite popular and collectible. Also became available later in the 1970's on the RSO label worldwide, and in the USA as an import item. Under licensing agreement during the mid- 1980s, the Blind Faith album was remastered to high definition vinyl and gold compact disc by Mobile fidelity Sound Labs. During 2001 the entire album was remastered and re-released as a deluxe edition release from Polydor International that includes alternates, outtakes and studio rehearsal versions of the bands music created during the early months of 1969. -Wiki

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