63. Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton - John Mayall's Bluesbreakers

I don't know much John Mayall, but have heard people talk about him in sometimes reverential tones. Eric Clapton I am more familiar with, and he has always impressed me with his melodic playing.

The album is out and out Blues, as the name suggests. It is a bit hard to know, as no expert in the genre, whether this album influenced others, or is itself heavily influenced by other works - I guess primarily the latter. The opener All Your Love, for example, sounds remarkably similar to Cream's Strange Brew. The guitar sound, a Gibson Les Paul through a Marshall overdriven amp apparently, is now synonymous with this genre, and still sounds urgent today. 

Some of the songs seem to work really well in terms of capturing and distilling the Blues, whereas others seem wide of the mark. For example, Hideaway is an instrumental that doesn't offer much beyond some fretboard exercises for would be guitar heroes. Double Crossing Time hints at a more varied and rounded approach, but ends up sounding a bit like a pastiche, and What'd I Say has a ridiculous drum solo in it that Chloe couldn't listen to the whole way through. Key to Love and the album opener are much more coherent songs, with their simplicity working for them.

I'm sure Blues experts would point out that this album was a landmark, and set the tone for Blues from the ,mid 60s, but I just feel that it is a bit to miss rather than hit. I can't imagine putting it on much in the future, as if I want Blues, I'd rather go straight to the source than hearing more British imitations. 

Chloe's album rating: 4
Chloe's favourite track: 1. All Your Love
Olly's album rating: 5
Olly's favourite track: 7. Key To Love

Next week's album is 362. Songs in the Key of Life by Stevie Wonder.