Though there is something stolid, oaken and implicitly old about the very name, Savoy Brown have endured for nigh eight years through every trend and bend, till now they’re practically making a career out of being soul survivors, or at least an institution. Savoy Brown membership has been through almost as many permutations as the Byrds, but through it all leader-founder Kim Simmonds has held on to both name and original spirit. It was for purposes of ascertaining the Why? as much as the How? that I went to New York during their most recent American tour to talk with the most recent crop of limeys corralled under this venerable rubric. '

After 9 albums and 15 American tours,. Kim Simmonds is the only one who remains of the original Savoy Brown ratpack. In spite of that, there is a uniformity of sound and purpose to most of the band’s work. They began by playing the grimy English blues back in 1965, went on to become the kings of boogie, and in their last few albums have come full circle back to straight-up rock ’n’ roll.