Collective Consciousness Society

Collective Consciousness Society, more commonly known as CCS, were a British musical group, led by blues guitarist Alexis Korner.

Formed in 1970 by musical director John Cameron and record producer Mickie Most, CCS consisted largely of session musicians, and was created primarily as a recording outfit. The personnel also included Peter Thorup, vocals; Alan Parker, guitar; Harold McNair, flute; Herbie Flowers, bass; Roger Coulam, keyboards; Barry Morgan, drums; plus Don Lusher and Bill Geldard, trombone. Some of the musicians were also members of Blue Mink.

CCS are best known for their instrumental version of Led Zeppelin's 1969 track "Whole Lotta Love", which got into in the UK Singles Chart in 1970,^[1] and was used as the theme music for the BBC pop programme Top of the Pops for most of the 1970s, and, in a remixed version, between 1997 and 2003. Technically, the TOTP theme was not by CCS, but was recorded by the TOTP orchestra one morning before the day's rehearsals. Having said that, the band was conducted by John Cameron on that occasion and many of the musicians were CCS regulars. This enabled the production to tailor the tune to the correct duration and, more importantly, avoided the weekly payment of royalties to the record label.

Their single, "Brother", was used as the theme to Tom Browne's and Simon Bates' Sunday Top 40/20 Chart Rundown on Radio 1 in the 70's.

Their highest-charting singles were the Donovan song "Walkin'", and "Tap Turns on the Water". They also recorded three albums, including cover versions of the old blues standard "Boom Boom", "Living in the Past", and "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" as well as original material. A retrospective compilation album, Singles As, Bs and Rarities was released in 2004.

Not widely known is that the band were also responsible for the first set of jingles for Manchester's Piccadilly Radio when the station launched in April 1974 — examples can be found on ex Piccadilly presenter Jeff Cooper's website.

Discography

Singles

• "Whole Lotta Love" (1970) UK #13
• "Walkin'" (Donovan) (RAK Records RAK 109, 1971) UK #7
• "Tap Turns on the Water" (1971) UK #5
• "Brother" (1972) UK #25
• "Sixteen Tons" (1972)
• "The Band Played the Boogie" (1973) UK #36
• "Hurricane Comin'" (1974)

^[1]

Albums

• C.C.S., also known as Whole Lotta Love (RAK SRKA 6751) 1970
• C.C.S., also known as C.C.S. 2 (RAK SRAK 503) 1972 UK #23
• The Best Band in the Land (RAK SRAK 504) 1973

^[1]

Compilation albums

• The Best of C.C.S. (RAK SRAK 527) 1977

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. pp. 88/89. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 

External links

• CCS at Allmusic
• Alexis Korner at Allmusic
• Biography at www.mystrands.com
• Alexis Korner discography at alexis-korner.net
• CCS fansite at www.alexgitlin.com
• Jeff Cooper's tribute site featuring a number of jingles recorded by CCS for the station