Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton

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Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton
Studio album by John Mayall

Publication
(s)

July 27, 1966

Label (s) Decca

Format (s)

LP, CD

Genre (s)

blues

Title (number)

12

running time

37:46

occupation see the Contributors section

production

Mike Vernon

Studio (s)

Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London

chronology
John Mayall Plays John Mayall (1965) Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton A Hard Road (1967)

Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton is the first studio album by British blues musician John Mayall . It appeared in 1966 on the Decca - label . Because of the Beano - Comics, the Eric Clapton on the cover photo of the hand holds, it is also called Beano album known.

Album history

In the spring of 1965, Eric Clapton replaced Roger Dean as guitarist in the band of multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, after he had separated from the Yardbirds shortly before due to musical differences . Other band members at this time were bassist John McVie and drummer Hughie Flint . In this line-up, they met the producer Mike Vernon , who later founded the successful British blues label Blue Horizon , the sound engineer Gus Dudgeon , the baritone saxophonist Johnny Almond , the tenor saxophonist Alan Skidmore and the trumpeter Dennis Healey in the Decca studios in London district West Hampstead to the twelve tracks of Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton einzuspielen. On July 22, 1966, the album was released in Great Britain in a mono version (LK 4804) and made it into the British LP charts within just eight days , where it lasted for seventeen weeks and reached number 6. At the same time, the album was released in the USA in both a mono and a stereo version, while Decca only made the stereo mix available in Europe in December 1969 (SKL 4804). The attempt to build on the album's surprising success in Great Britain through single releases proved to be a flop on both sides of the Atlantic. Other single releases with non-album titles, such as the instrumental Bernard Jenkins or I'm Your Witchdoctor, were also unsuccessful.

It was reported that there was a considerable need for discussion during the recording sessions, as Clapton was not prepared to turn the volume of his amplifier down to the setting that was then common in record studios. The fact that he prevailed against Vernon and Dudgeon contributed significantly to the success of the production. Only in this way could he, in the combination of his Gibson Les Paul with a Marshall JTM-45 combo, achieve that sound characterized by tube distortion and sustain , which was extremely modern and full for the time and as a woman tone during Clapton's time at Cream went down in music history. At the same time he underlined the importance of the electric guitar as a solo instrument and exerted a lasting influence on other guitarists of his generation, who now also resorted to Les Pauls and Marshall amplifiers. The fact that Clapton chose Robert Johnson's Ramblin 'on My Mind for his vocal debut is due   to his admiration for the Delta Bluesman, to whom he dedicated the 2004 tribute album Me and Mr Johnson . Although Clapton originally didn't want to sing the song because he didn't trust himself, Mayall managed to persuade him, Clapton said in his 2007 biography. Clapton's cooperation with John Mayall was due to end that same year. Mayall had to find out from an article in Melody Maker about the formation of the supergroup Cream. At Mayall, Clapton had met Jack Bruce , who briefly replaced John McVie, whom Mayall had thrown out of the band for excessive alcohol consumption. When Bruce switched to Manfred Mann, Mayall brought McVie back.

Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton played a major role in the European blues boom of the 1960s and underscored Mayall's reputation as the "father of British blues", from whose ever-changing bluesbreakers formations excellent musicians were to emerge from now on. At the time only few suspected that this LP would also lay the foundation for the careers of two of his colleagues far beyond the blues scene. One of these was Decca man and blues fan Neil Slaven, who even then predicted a great future for Eric Clapton. But the bassist John McVie stayed for two more albums a. a. with Peter Green , who replaced Clapton after he left for Cream. Green had also played for the Bluesbreakers with The Glands during Clapton's 1965 tour of Greece. He later became world famous as the co-founder of Fleetwood Mac . Hughie Flint became famous with his band McGuinness Flint through the single When I'm Dead and Gone . After being part of the original line-up of the blues band in 1979 , he retired from music almost three years later.

live

Originally, like the previous album, a live album was planned as the Bluesbreakers were one of the best live bands in London at the time, which also led to the Clapton is God - Graffiti . The project was not carried out, but there are isolated live recordings of the Bluesbreakers from this period that are very popular among collectors:

  • BBC Saturday Club of April 26, 1965, entitled:
  1. Crawling Up a Hill
  2. Crocodile Walk
  3. Bye bye bird
  • BBC Saturday Club of October 25, 1965, entitled:
  1. Cheatin 'Woman
  2. Nowhere to Turn
  3. I'm your witch doctor
  • A performance in the Flamingo Club on March 17th, 1966 (with Jack Bruce on bass), with the titles:
  1. Maudie
  2. It hurts to be in love
  3. Have You Ever Loved a Woman
  4. Bye bye bird
  5. Hoochie Coochie Man
  6. Stormy Monday Blues
  • BBC Saturday Club of March 19, 1966, entitled:
  1. On top of the world
  2. Key to Love
  3. Hideaway
  4. Little girl
  5. Tears in My Eyes
  6. Parchman Farm
  • An appearance on the 34th episode of the TV show Ready Steady Go! as a backing band for T-Bone Walker , which has not yet been released.

Track list

page 1
  1. All Your Love ( Otis Rush ) - 3:33
  2. Hideaway ( Freddie King / Sonny Thompson ) - 3:13
  3. Little Girl (John Mayall) - 2:32
  4. Another Man ( arr.John Mayall) - 1:44
  5. Double Crossin 'Time (John Mayall / Eric Clapton) - 3:00
  6. What'd I Say ( Ray Charles ) - 4:25
Page 2
  1. Key to Love (John Mayall) - 2:04
  2. Parchman Farm ( Moses Allison ) - 2:19
  3. Have You Heard (John Mayall) - 5:52
  4. Ramblin 'on My Mind (Robert Johnson / Trad.arr.John Mayall) - 3:05
  5. Steppin 'Out (James Bracken) - 2:26
  6. It Ain't Right ( Walter Jacobs ) - 2:38

Bonus tracks 2006

Singles, BBC 'Saturday Club' sessions and live recordings from the Flamingo Club , London:

  1. Crawling up a Hill (John Mayall) - 2:08
  2. Crocodile Walk (John Mayall) - 2:23
  3. Bye Bye Bird ( Sonny Boy Williamson , Willie Dixon ) - 2:49
  4. I'm Your Witchdoctor (John Mayall) - 2:11
  5. Telephone Blues (John Mayall) - 3:57
  6. Bernard Jenkins (Eric Clapton) - 3:49
  7. Lonely Years (John Mayall) - 3:19
  8. Cheatin 'Woman (John Mayall) - 2:03
  9. Nowhere to Turn (John Mayall) - 1:42
  10. I'm Your Witchdoctor (John Mayall) - 2:10
  11. On Top of the World (Stereo mix) (John Mayall) - 2:34
  12. Key to Love (John Mayall) - 2:02
  13. On Top of the World (John Mayall) - 2:34
  14. They Call It Stormy Monday ( T-Bone Walker ) - 4:35
  15. Intro into Maudie ( John Lee Hooker , John Mayall) - 2:27
  16. It Hurts to Be in Love (Willie Dixon, Rudolph Toombs) - 3:22
  17. Have You Ever Loved a Woman ( Billy Myles ) - 6:44
  18. Bye Bye Bird (Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Dixon) - 3:51
  19. Hoochie Coochie Man (Willie Dixon) - 3:53

Contributors

literature

  • Milestones in Blues History (Episode 2): John Mayall - Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton; bluesnews 49 (April – June 2007) ISSN  0948-5643
  • Liner notes by Neil Slaven (1966) and John Tracy (1988)
  • Bob Brunning: Blues in Britain — The History 1950s to the Present , London 1995, ISBN 0-7137-2457-9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ In contrast to both the previous album and the subsequent releases, the band name Bluesbreakers was not written in one word in the title of this album.
  2. ↑ CD liner notes by John Tracy (1988)
  3. ↑ The first single with the titles Parchman Farm and Key to Love was released in September 1966 in both Great Britain and the USA, the second with All Your Love and Hideaway only in the United States.
  4. ↑ The title is not explicitly attributed to Robert Johnson, but trades under the name of Trad. Arr. Mayall, as a traditional arranged by John Mayall.
  5. ↑ Liner notes for the LP release from 1966
  6. ↑ Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton at Discogs (English)