The Blues Band - Part I

The Blues Band were formed in 1979 by Paul Jones, former lead singer and harmonica player with Manfred Mann in the 60's, and guitarist Dave Kelly. Also in the band’s first line-up were bassist Gary Fletcher, Jones’s former Manfred Mann colleague, guitarist Tom McGuinness, and drummer Hugh Flint, the two latter having been the mainstay of McGuinness Flint before.
Their first album, The Official Blues Band Bootleg Album, a mixture of blues standards and original songs – notably the Paul Jones-Tom McGuinness cut Come On In, and their long-standing stage favourite Flatfoot Sam - initially attracted no interest from major labels, so they pressed a limited run of 3,000 themselves, hand-stamped their logo on the cardboard sleeve, and signed them all. After unqualified endorsement from BBC Radio 1 and others, media interest resulted in a contract with Arista records, who gave the album an official release.