In the late 60s, the competition to put together the ultimate ‘supergroup’ was as cutthroat as the nuclear arms race. One, Led Zeppelin (although, strictly speaking, not a supergroup), went on to achieve global domination. Others collapsed under their own hubris. In the case of Blind Faith, the original true supergroup (Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker from Cream, Steve Winwood from Traffic, Ric Grech from Family), they buckled under the unbearable weight of the expectation they had generated.
Had the original vision for Cactus – with a planned line-up of Rod Stewart, Jeff Beck, Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice – come about, they would quite possibly have seen off all comers from Zeppelin down. But since only the former Vanilla Fudge rhythm section of bassist Bogert and drummer Appice made it into the line-up which came together in 1970, the result was really just another band. (Beck, for one, was incapacitated for 18 months following a car crash; although the Fudge duo would later play with him when they formed Beck, Bogert & Appice in ’73.)
