[edit] John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton

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Track List:

All Your Love.
Hideaway.
Little Girl.
Another Man.
Double Crossing Time.
What’d I Say.
Key To Love.
Parchman Farm.
Have You Heard.
Ramblin’ On My Mind.
Steppin’ Out.
It Ain’t Right.

John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers was one of the most important bands of the 1960’s, yet Mayall’s contribution to the British music scene is sadly much under-appreciated. Through the ever-changing ranks of Mayall’s Bluesbreakers came guitarists such as Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor; who later went on to find greater success with Cream, Fleetwood Mac and the Rolling Stones respectively. Other notable musicians such as John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, Andy Fraser, Jack Bruce, Aynsley Dunbar and Dick Heckstall-Smith were all involved with Bluesbreakers.

In March 1965 Mayall’s Bluesbreakers were released from their contract with Decca Records after one unsuccessful live album. Whilst the likes of the Stones, Yardbirds and the Animals had all scored record deals, the Bluesbreakers seemed destined to miss out on mainstream success. By April 1966 the were resigned, thanks to the successes of their live performances with their new guitarist, Eric Clapton, and they entered the studios with the intention of capturing their live set as quickly nas simply as possible. Their breakthrough album, and arguably their finest, was 1966’s ‘Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton.’ This mix of blues-standards covers and Mayall-penned originals was one of the most important recordings of the 1960’s. It featured the smooth creamy growl of Clapton’s Les Pail and fully-cranked Marshall amp, the tight rhythm section of John McVie and Hughie Flint with Mayall himself on organs and providing the vocals. The album reached Number 6 in the UK, staying in the charts for seventeen weeks.

This is a superb recording - fantastic for listening to after a hard day at the office or for cranking up and jamming along to – it is one of the albums that every person with a liking of electric blues or simply an appreciation of good guitar music should own. From the opening track ‘All Your Love’ (an Otis Rush cover) through Mayall’s ‘Double Crossing Time’ to the twelfth and final track ‘It Ain’t Right,’ Clapton is on find form, better than anything he’d done before and of a high standard in comparison to everything he did after leaving the fold. Aside from the tracks mentioned, other notable highlights include a cover of Freddie King’s ‘Hideaway,’ ‘Another Man’ and a cover of Ray Charles’ ‘What’d I Say’ featuring a lengthy drum solo in the middle before Clapton brings in a massive Daytripper-esque riff.

What was important about ‘Bluesbreakers….’ Was that it took the electric blues to a whole new audience and it was a source of inspiration to many other musicians. Without the influence Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, the British blues revival and the British music scene of the following decades would have been very different.

[edit] John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton

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