Sunday, July 23, 2006

73. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - John Mayall's Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton (1966)





















Track Listing


1. All Your Love
2. Hideaway
3. Little Girl
4. Another Man
5. Double Crossin' Time
6. What'd I Say
7. Key To Love
8. Parchman Farm
9. Have You Heard
10. Rambling On My Mind
11. Stepping Out
12. It Ain't Right

Review

When you think of Clapton today there are some unfortunate memories that really marr the image. Wonderful Tonight is but one example of unmitigated pigshit, another one was his stated support for asshole motherfucker Enoch Powell (look him up if you live across the pond). But cast your mind back to 1966 when I wasn't even a little swimmer in my father's bollocks. Then Clapton was God, there were grafitti attesting to this all over London.

You can tell why those graffiti were appearing in this album, whatever one can say about Clapton, his guitar playing was phenomenal. And this is an interesting little album, as it is a fully British blues affair. Eric Clapton had quit the Yardbirds to look for something more traditional and John Mayall provided that, this is pretty close to pure blues, although it does have a more rocky feel to it and the electric guitars rock a bit harder than any previous blues. The added stuff isn't enough to put it anywhere near the rim of the blues category, it's more a natural evolution of blues than a departure from it.

And for British blues players they make some really good shit. The quality of Clapton's guitar playing is unimpeachable even if I secretly want to impeach the little fuck. And the pace that he gives the music is also something that is really worth listening to. Is this the best Blues album ever? Certainly not. I much prefered Muddy Waters Live at Newport for example. Muddy gives a lot more of personality to his songs, this album on the other hand risks having all the songs meld into each other. There is a lack of personality to each individual track, which is really sad. It has got the most astounding technique but the soul doesn't follow through.

It is something you should listen to, however. Buy it from UK or US.

Track Highlights

1. What'd I Say
2. Little Girl
3. Steppin' Out
4. All Your Love

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

They're white boys from London... how much soul really can they have?

From Wiki

It is often referred to as The Beano album because the photograph on the album cover shows Clapton reading The Beano, a well-known British children's comic.

Apart from being one of the most important albums in blues history, it was likely the first time anyone had heard a Gibson Les Paul guitar through an overdriven Marshall amplifier; this unique sound would become highly influential. The re-introduction of the Les Paul by Gibson was largely fueled by the blues boom it often featured on. Clapton's incendiary playing inspired graffiti bearing the legend "Clapton is God" on the streets of London.

The Bluesbreakers, led by John Mayall, included John McVie on bass, Hughie Flint on drums, with John Almond, Alan Skidmore and Dennis Healey making up the horn section.

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