John Mayall Album by Album thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Sprocket Henry, Jul 22, 2015.

  1. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug

    Location:
    Germany
    I'm three years older. My mother will be coming along... :rolleyes: ;)

    "Kids Got the Blues" indeed!
     
  2. rkt88

    rkt88 The unknown soldier

    Location:
    malibu ca
    i used to hangout occasionally at his house on grandview drive in laurel canyon. he had the most extensive video collection i've ever seen. sadly, the house burned down.
     
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  3. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug

    Location:
    Germany
    Well, what can I say? John Mayall is a legend, but when I was queuing up, I did feel a bit lost as one of the very few young attendees. No bottles allowed in - I'd anticipated it, still don't like this policy, but I guess it's futile to complain.
    I'd repeatedly read that John signs things before and after gigs and lo and behold, he was already sitting behind a table signing things! To be honest I was a bit shocked when I saw him, as he appeared somewhat frail to me, and also kind of absent. This was not how he looked on the cover of the new album. He signed the couple of booklets I'd taken along but I was too nervous to say anything and I'm not sure he would have listened anyway.
    But whatever concerns I might have had, and no matter how surreal the situation appeared to me (the room was getting packed with people getting ready, and given the average age I'm sure many would have preferred to take a seat, while the star of the show was right there, a few metres away!), once his band took to the stage at half past seven, it became clear that this would be a great evening.
    The rhythm section of Greg Rzab and Jay Davenport had impressed me quite a bit on the studio albums, but I was shocked by how heavy they sounded. I'd go as far as saying that this gig was just as much rock as blues. As is so often the case, I thought the volume was a bit too high (that said, I was close to the front), and it struck me that Jay Davenport is the kind of drummer Status Quo would really need to sound great again. He's a heavy blues drummer with a good feel for shuffle and groove. He had two solo spots and during his second drum solo, I thought he was trying to blow his bandmates off the stage! Incredible. Greg Rzab was quite a sight with his hair and cap and seems to be quite a character. At one point, they somehow didn't start a song properly or something and John exclaimed "What am I gonna do with them!" :nyah:
    Mayall's stage presence was nothing short of astonishing considering his age and how he appeared to me before the show. Maybe it's the adrenalin, maybe he was saving himself for the concert, I don't know, but he was into it. He was also rather earnest and to-the-point in his announcements, but not completely dull (right at the beginning he remarked that it was Sunday, but that wouldn't keep them from being a bit raunchy). The onstage chemistry was noticeably enlivened by Carolyn Wonderland, who brought some youthful abandon to the proceedings. Her own performance was sadly hampered by two things: The mix I was hearing completely muted her rhythm guitar, she was only audible whenever she played a solo - and even then the sound was a bit artificial, as if her Les Paul (or whatever guitar it was) was actually a guitar synth. I kept moving more to the right, but it didn't change much (except me being able to watch her fingers - she didn't use a pick at all, I think). Looking at how microscopic her amplifier was compared to Greg's huge bass speaker, I'm not really surprised her guitar lacked presence. The other issue was what I perceived as a lack of confidence. There's no doubt she's very talented both as a guitar player and a singer, but at times I felt she wasn't quite ready to go with the flow, to fully throw everything into her performance. She even admitted that she was nervous after the show; I hope she can overcome her nervosity if this line-up makes a live recording (which it should). The one point where I felt she did allow herself to fully shine was "Driftin' Blues", one of the many surprises in the setlist, though every Mayall setlist is surprising in itself. There were no songs from the Clapton album, none from "The Turning Point", not even from the new album! We did get the title track off the previous album "Talk About That", a funk monster with Rzab quoting Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust". At one point John had switched on the midi-bar sound of his Roland keyboard and the effect was a bit strange, indeterminable "wooshing" coming from his keys. I wonder if that was intentional...
    I did think it was a bit sad that Mayall did not use the Hammond XK3 after the first song, because I really like the sound of the organ, but he stuck with his Roland for most of the gig. Three songs featured him on guitar. Although his guitar was loud and audible in the mix, I could have done with less of it, as he's never been the greatest guitarist to begin with. His keyboard playing was marvellous however, he stayed away from obvious boogie-woogie licks and played very well. This was matched by his handling of the harmonicas: wonderful! And of course, he did his routine of playing harp and keys simultaneously a few times. He also performed the entire evening standing up, remarkable. The only aspect where his age did show a bit was, unsurprisingly, the vocals. While he's pretty good at not making his vocal decline any obvious on studio productions, you can't really do that live. So it took some getting used to the fact that he lost some of his range, but compared to some far younger "aging" rock singers, he still rules! And thankfully blues does not depend on having to sing everything the way it was originally recorded, so changing some melodies here and there did not sound too jarring.
    Speaking of singing, Carolyn Wonderland also got two songs to sing and rather like her playing, her singing was full of promise but a bit tentative. She's got a great, powerful voice but it felt a bit like she was afraid to really increase the intensity despite the audience encouraging her. She also did not play any slide guitar, something I had secretly been looking forward to after hearing her on "Distant Lonesome Train".
    After thirteen songs it was over and while we would have liked another encore, the band walked straight off the stage and to the table again for signing. But again I had the impression that Mayall just did not really enjoy it, I did manage to tell him that he should do another album with this lineup... the other three members were totally up for it though. Carolyn was very nice in particular and gracefully accepted the compliments and somebody telling her she should sing more songs. Jay was standing there like an anchor and Greg was funny. Since I had packed away all my CDs already and I was anxious I might miss my train, I could only offer my ticket and managed to get it signed by all four. Greg was a bit off to the side so I yelled "Hey Greg, I've got all the others' signatures already" and he replied "And you're sure you want mine too?!". He also had a solo album on offer which I noticed featured (among others) Mark Knopfler and Eric Clapton! Sadly my money was in the wardrobe but I might search that CD out anyway.
    On summary, this was definitely an evening (and ticket price) well spent. Although Mayall's performance was convincing (especially considering his age!), I do wonder how long he's gonna continue doing this. I wouldn't bet on him still playing shows in five years' time, so if you've got him on your list, better go and see him soon while he's still around.
     
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  4. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug

    Location:
    Germany
    I'm going to continue this thread soon, but first let me comment on the albums I've bought and heard since then:

    A Hard Road

    This is a very good album. It may not be as frantic and ground-breaking as "Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton", but I actually think it has more depth and consistency. Peter Green was more developed as a vocalist than Clapton at this point, so his voice (on "You Don't Love Me" and "The Same Way") adds more colour and variety, as do his instrumental contributions "The Stumble" and "The Supernatural". John is in fine voice throughout and his performance on the opening title track is nothing but stunning. What range!
    Overall, I think "A Hard Road" is just as essential as its predecessor. Even if "There's Always Work" is a bit of a filler track.
    There's a lot of bonus tracks on the remaster, the first being the single "Looking Back"/"So Many Roads". I'm not sure I agree with PG that he has overplayed, but he does sound a bit too much like Clapton as opposed to his own self. Still some great guitar playing. "So Many Roads" is extraordinarily long for a single (almost five minutes!) and while it's well suited for Mayall's range, his vocals sound a bit shakier than on the LP and the ending suggests that this single was recorded quite quickly. Of the other tracks, another long slow blues, "Out of Reach" is well worth having too, as it's prime quality Peter Green and essential for any fan of the early Fleetwod Mac. You also get the entire EP with Paul Butterfield (which I think is really good), two J.B. Lenoir covers and a four-song BBC session.
    The remastering sounds rather good to my ears, although the mono bonus tracks are definitely louder than the main album, but not nearly as compressed as the "Blues Breakers" deluxe edition.
    Unfortunately there are some errors in the liner notes and packaging, the worst being "Peter Greem" on the back cover!
    As is not unusual in blues, John re-recorded the title track many years later on the album "Padlock on the Blues". Amazingly, the re-recording is just as good as, or even better than the original version! Partially, this is because he has lived through much more to actually fill those words with life. It's also longer than the original... but what also continues to amaze me is that he did it in the same key, and sings it in almost the exact same register as the (freaking high) original! He was already close to 70 at this point but the voice was still completely in place, in fact I think he actually sings it better - as far as enunciation goes. Kudos!

    Crusade

    This is another very good album and recommended for any blues lover. I'd say that it's by far the most authentic sounding album the Bluesbreakers made up till this point, as it really sounds as if it was recorded in Chicago. It's also a bit tamer than previous albums but obviously we're looking at a different group by now. There have been some horns on Mayall's records before but this is the first time two sax players (Chris Mercer on tenor and Rip Kant on baritone) are listed as actual band members and can be heard on nearly all tracks. It really makes the band sound much fuller and adds an extra layer of sophistication, plus there's some funny call-and-response between sax and harp in "Man of Stone". Mick Taylor makes quite an impression: How did Mayall manage to follow up Eric Clapton with Peter Green... and then to replace Peter Green with Mick Taylor! It's a miracle. Mick really owns the scene whenever he does a solo, beautiful and searing. Check out his own instrumental "Snowy Wood" and the Freddie King cover "Driving Sideways". That also has Mayall on piano hammering out some mean boogie-woogie solos - up until then he's playing mostly organ, but seems to have improved since its sound is never intrusive and always tastefully integrated into the main sound (something I'm not always sure about on the Clapton album, for example). His harmonica playing is excellent throughout and he doesn't shy away from being really in-your-face on the steaming closer "Checkin' Up On My Baby" (done in one take!). I was quite skeptical about "My Time after Awhile", since Buddy Guy's version is so definitive, what would be the point in trying to cover that song? But it's a surprisingly worthy version. It doesn't exactly manage to sound as chill-inducingly suspenseful as Buddy's take, but it's hardly a bad imitation either. Mayall gives another very convincing vocal performance on the album, hitting a lot of high notes but also weaving a lot of afro-american blues "phrasing" into his singing. The only slightly annoying thing is that he messed up the lyrics again on "Oh Pretty Woman". Knowing that Albert King was pretty nasty to Gary Moore for singing one word (!) wrong on his demo for the duet version that appeared in 1990, I wonder if Albert ever took John to task for this lyrical mess?
    There are a lot of covers on this record, and it's for a reason - to get people in Britain more interested in the original artists. Hence the title of the album. But there are some originals too. "Tears in My Eyes" is a bit like "Have You Heard" in style, but "The Death of J.B. Lenoir" is a really haunting tribute to Mayall's hero. The lyrics aren't always the most profound or poetic, but the track gets its message across and the sparse arrangement (pre-dating the feeling of "The Turning Point") works well.
    The remaster sounds really nice to my ears. They started getting better at mixing in stereo back in the day, so the lack of a mono version doesn't bother me much. This disc actually mops up most of the Peter Green stuff that didn't fit on "A Hard Road", so you get four tracks that don't feature Mayall at all! (That should mean it's PG playing harp.) The sound quality drops off a bit with the change to the mono tracks, though. More fitting chronologically is the two-part single "Suspicions" although it could also be taken as a precursor to "Bare Wires" with its length and fat horn arrangement.
    Unfortunately the liner notes are not entirely correct with reference to chronology...
     
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  5. NumberEight

    NumberEight Came too late and stayed too long

    Great review/analysis which - like all good reviews - makes me want to give the albums a spin right now. :):):)
     
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  6. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug

    Location:
    Germany
    Thanks! I've not yet finished my review of "Blues from Laurel Canyon", but that will be next. Hopefully this month!
     
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  7. Jim Walker

    Jim Walker Senior Member

    Location:
    southeast porttown
    I just noticed the thread a few minutes ago, great idea and a
    lot of prolific ground to cover. A Hard Road made the spin
    last night and this morning--great stuff, good flow. A big
    cheers to John Mayall, a most underrated artist, and a
    very deserving thread.


    [​IMG]
     
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  8. Brian Lux

    Brian Lux One in the Crowd

    Location:
    Placerville, CA
    Great to see a lot of appreciation for John Mayall here. I've been a fan since around 1967. A fanatic, really back in the day. I used to be able to cite every song title and musician on the Beano album, Hard Road, Crusade, Blues Alone, Bare Wires, and Blues From Laurel Canyon. Age has made that a bit more difficult! :laugh: Still love those and other Mayall albums though!
     
  9. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug

    Location:
    Germany
    Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long. I just kept forgetting about the thread several times, my review's been done a while. Let's do this properly.

    [​IMG]

    1. Vacation 2:48
    2. Walking on Sunset 2:53
    3. Laurel Canyon Home 4:33
    4. 2401 3:47
    5. Ready to Ride 3:34
    6. Medicine Man 2:45
    7. Somebody's Acting Like a Child 3:27
    8. The Bear 4:41
    9. Miss James 2:27
    10. First Time Alone 5:00
    11. Long Gone Midnight 3:29
    12. Fly Tomorrow 9:01
    2007 Remaster Bonus Tracks:
    13. 2401 (Single Version) 3:56
    14. Wish You Were Mine (Live in Sweden, December 1968) [from “Primal Solos”]
    John Mayall – vocals, guitars, piano, organ, harmonica
    Mick Taylor – lead guitar, Hawaiian guitar
    Stephen Thompson – bass guitar
    Colin Allen – drums, tablas
    Peter Green – guitar on “First Time Alone”
    Recorded in three days at Decca Studioes, West Hampstead, on the 26th, 27th and 28th of August 1968. Produced by Mike Vernon and John Mayall.
    --------------------------------
    John Mayall is never one to rest on his laurels. Bad joke, I know. But it's true! Once he wasn't satisfied with the large ensemble anymore, he just split it up in the middle of a tour and continued with a much smaller four-piece band,.
    If you write an entire concept album about your vacation, how high are the chances the vacation may turn into a more permanent relocation? This is exactly what happened with John's three-week vacation in L.A., he quickly fell in love with the place (and the weather!), and while he recorded this album in Great Britain, it has all the sounds he brought with him from the West Coast. You can hear some Canned Heat in there (not surprising since Mayall hung out with them and played on their album "Living the Blues"), but also some Lovin' Spoonful and other bands from the San Francisco and Los Angeles scenes. This means that "Blues from Laurel Canyon" is much less a traditional blues album than the earlier stuff was, bearing almost no resemblance to Chicago blues and being a far more individual and modern/contemporary (well, in the 60s) thing. (That said, bear (ha!) in mind that I haven't heard "Bare Wires" yet, which is also supposed to be a more progressive blues thing. Not to mention "The Blues Alone" Man, my Mayall collection is still really minuscule!)
    The production is more "homegrown" and rough than e.g. on "Crusade". I'd say the same thing about John's vocals, which have sounded far stronger to me on "A Hard Road" and "Crusade". At times he really sounds as if he's not that confident he really wants to sing all that... it's ok, they're very personal vocals.
    Virtually all songs fade into each other - sometimes quite cleverly so - which underlines the conceptual nature of the record and makes it even more of "a time and a place".
    Vacation: The opening scene (an aeroplane!), or overture if you like... very little singing, a lot of guitar playing by Mick Taylor, and certainly more of a (psychedelic) rock gesture than a blues song.
    Walking on Sunset: A more typical blues shuffle with some breaks and a nice solo. This has come up in the live setlist every now and then, I actually got to know the track on the 70th Birthday Concert, where it seems tighter to me, and I like the horn section. Compared to that, the original version sounds a bit bare and tentative. Still, it has a distinct melody, which is always welcome in a blues context.
    Laurel Canyon Home: Now we're into different territory. This is a relaxed, and rather effective blues number with the main focus being on John's piano and very laid back, almost hypnotic vocals. Mick adds some nice tremolo-laden guitar without being upfront. You didn't hear atmospheric songs like that on previous Mayall albums, I don't think.
    2104: I really don't like that vocal melody! Other than that, an OK blues rock track with a slightly unusual structure. The instrumental parts remind me of Canned Heat in places. There are references to Frank Zappa and Keith Moon, among others, so it's a bit of a historical account.
    Ready to Ride: This could almost be an AC/DC song, to be honest! Those lyrics... Not very subtle. Although, musically, it's probably closer to Muddy Waters than anything else. Love the blow bends on the harmonica, something I always found pretty hard to do (as somebody who plays a little harp myself).
    Medicine Man: I don't think it's coincidence that this song follows the previous one! He was so ready to ride that he now needs a medicine man. I guess this puts the preceding song into a different light... be careful who you ride, or get rode by, or whatever! I mean, if this track is not about a STI then please tell me what it is about, because that's really the only way I can read the lyrics. But musically, this is also one of the most interesting tracks (the piano intro is deceptive!). Very quiet and meditative, and although it's based on a normal blues form, there's something archaic about it. And John adds some truly beautiful harmonica playing, not dissimilar to that of Alan Wilson (Canned Heat) - we'll get to hear about that band again...
    Somebody's Acting Like a Child: The only track not so clearly linked to the Laurel Canyon episode, as it really just deals with normal relationship stuff. Interesting about it is the cool organ sound, the nifty drum pattern and the minor key harmonica (which makes me think of people like Little Walter and James Cotton) - again with some blow bends. Mick Taylor, who's been a bit absent in the preceding tracks, also gets a solo here. This song also appears in a completely different (and much longer) version on the 70th Birthday Concert, but again with Mick Taylor.
    The Bear: Side 2 of the LP opens with a really cool one-minute segment: A spiky, edgy electric guitar filling a large sonic space and playing a shuffle in the vein of Canned Heat's "On the Road Again". This turns out to only be the intro for the far more relaxed song "The Bear", one of the most distinctive tracks on here. The drums play a lazy beat, John shines on the piano and sounds like he just started singing after waking up. Very groovy, man! And of course it's a fond hommage to Canned Heat and Bob "The Bear" Hite in particular, who had John over as a guest. Very nice.
    Miss James: A jazzy track with really (!) great hammond organ playing to shake things up. The lyrics are... eh... I don't know. Lacking a certain sort of poetry, you know? Although I'm quite curious who this particular "Miss James" was. And we basically glide from one song into another, the transition is particularly well done.
    First Time Alone: This is another sex song, but less of a "I must now put my y in somebody's x" track and more romantic. Still, I find little to hold my interest here, just a little whisper-singing with some quiet organ backing. Peter Green's name might be a bait for people who expected him to play something in the vein of "A Hard Road", but he's barely audible and does so little that this "guest feature" is pretty wasted, in my opinion.
    Long Gone Midnight: Better, but somehow this album has become a bit lethargic. Mick Taylor is back with a good solo that cleverly turns up the intensity, and the organ gets more involved.
    Fly Tomorrow: The closing scene, although it's more like a closing epic at almost ten minutes! Quiet bongos and tremolo guitars create a trance-like atmosphere. You clearly get the impression he does NOT want to "fly tomorrow"! The track gradually builds up. After the vocal part, Mick Taylor gets the chance to shine on a long solo which eventually blends back into John's tremolo-laden guitar soundscape. It's not quite the amazing closer as it's described in the liner notes, but still a daring experiment.

    I know that John holds this album in very high regard, and so do many fans. So why am I so lukewarm about it? Maybe it's because the second half seems to tail off a bit. Of course, you have to respect Mayall for writing an entire album like this. And there are several songs on this I like. It's just that I don't find it all that consistent quality-wise, the songs that I don't like as much spoil it a bit for me. It's still a very solid album and a fascinating listen. Maybe lukewarm isn't the right word to describe my opinion, it's just that I'm not quite as mad about it. And as far as lyrics are concerned, Mayall's previous attempts weren't always even, but it's a bit magnified in this case because they're printed in the booklet (I assume adapted from the original LP sleeve).

    The remaster sounds good to me (in fact the dynamic contrasts are still quite large), there is less bonus content here than on previous reissues though, only these two bonus tracks...

    2401 (single version): The only difference to the album version is the absence of the crossfades at the beginning and end. (Shouldn't there be more unfaded single versions like that?)
    Wish You Were Mine (Live in Sweden): This is inexplicably listed as "Wish You Were Here" on both the CD back as well as in the booklet listing, but the liner notes get it right. This has nothing whatsoever to do with Pink Floyd! It's a live recording from the Laurel Canyon line-up but if that gets you excited, let me say that it's nothing to get excited about. Aside from the indifferent recording quality (once again made on Mayall's real-to-reel machine), it's just not interesting. There's some drums in the background, but this mostly is a solo piece with John on vocals, harmonica and organ. I suppose any other live material recorded on John's real-to-reel tape recorder was probably destroyed in the Laurel Canyon fire, so this is all we've got from this band. Not that it amounts to much, honestly... for once, the bonus material does not sweep me off my feet.
     
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  10. qwerty

    qwerty A resident of the SH_Forums.

    I'm very familiar with two of these tracks, as they are on The World of John Mayall, one of the first LPs I bought as a young teenager. And both tracks were both favourites on the album. I always enjoyed the groove and piercing guitar counterpointing with the vocals in "The Bear".

    And the album finished with "Walking on Sunset". But there was a problem with that track - the needle would jump on that track (which I later realised was due to a blunt sapphire styli in the very heavy tracking ceramic cart in the portable record player I had at the time). The needle jump really annoyed me, so I tried to fix it by making the groove deeper with a dressmaker's pin. Needless to say, this was a failed experiment, making the jump worse and also gouging out the music from a half-revolution of the grooves. Which only made a problem with a great track worse. I never tried to fix a record in this way again, and 12yrs later was able to afford a replacement of the album. And of course, I would never admit to having committed a vinyl audiophile sin to anyone! But to this day, whenever I hear this song, I anticipate the noise of the groove damage and the jump.
     
  11. John Fell

    John Fell Forum Survivor

    Location:
    Undisclosed
    My favorite of his albums with Mick Taylor.
     
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  12. kollektionist

    kollektionist Forum Resident

    Location:
    EU
    Excellent album ! In my top-5 of Mayall's albums and yeah, his best with Mick Taylor.
     
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  13. kollektionist

    kollektionist Forum Resident

    Location:
    EU
    Re: Wish you were mine, bonus track on Blues from Laurel Canyon.
    Definitely have to disagree with JulesRules review of this track.Not that it's such an outstanding song, but I do like it. Quite enjoyable. I find it rather fits in nicely with what he was doing on The Turning Point, in particular with what turned out to be one of his most popular singles Room To Move.
     
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  14. jvs52

    jvs52 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    I always liked Diary Of A Band and hoped they would sometime release something like "The complete Diary Of A Band Tapes".
     
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  15. vudicus

    vudicus Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    The "Moon" character in the song is Frank Zappa's daughter, not the late great Keith Moon.

    The song is about the time a crazy guy calling himself "The Raven" turned up at the Zappa house with a gun.
    Zappa is the hero in the song because he managed to talk The Raven into giving him the gun and then got him to leave.
    It's a pretty shocking story that Zappa talks about in his "Real Frank Zappa" book.
    Pauline Butcher (Zappa's secretary) also writes about it in her book about her time with the Zappa's.
     
    Last edited: Oct 9, 2019
  16. vudicus

    vudicus Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    John had a huge archive of tapes that got destroyed in a house fire in 1979.
    It's highly likely that the complete Diary tapes no longer exist.
     
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  17. bluesfan

    bluesfan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    You described and analyzed the album well. I don’t agree with your conclusions, though.

    For me “Blues from Laurel Canyon” is a masterpiece. As you say: This is not an attempt to play what the Chicago Blues masters did anymore. It’s the first album where John Mayall really has found his own style as Blues musician.

    It is a concept album, one that works at that. The concept is original. It mirrors the personal world of John Mayall but transcends it in some of the songs. It is sophisticated and has an atmosphere of its own. You really can take part in John’s discovery of a new world (don't forget the color photographs). Part of the accolade must go to Mick Taylor who supports John’s ideas very well with some original playing.

    I don’t see how the production is rougher than on “Crusade”. On the contrary: I think the production is more sophisticated.

    “Walking on Sunset”: It has a cinematic quality that puts you in the middle of that scene. The “70th Birthday Concert” version is more like a generic Blues and the horns are rather disruptive IMO.

    “2401”: “Where did Moon go?” doesn’t reference Keith Moon but Frank Zappas’s Daughter of that name. “Better call a GTO” - The GTOs were an all-girl group from the Los Angeles area produced by Frank Zappa whose members doubled as babysitters for the Zappa family - took me a long time to find that out, now it’s Wikipedia-easy. “Pam is planning where to go” and “Miss Christine cooking” = both GTOs.
     
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  18. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug

    Location:
    Germany
    Caught with egg on my face! To my excuse, I think I picked that up from the booklet of the remaster. And if that turns out to be another wrong information... well, I'm sorry! :oops: Although it's a mistake I could've seen coming, because although I know little about Zappa, I did know he had a daughter of that name, just forgot about it.
    That's fine. In fact, given the reputation this album has, I expected reactions like this. And I do like the album, but something about it as a whole just doesn't "click" with me. I guess that's also something highly personal.
    Don't disagree here.
    I probably meant sound quality more than production. It just doesn't sound as pleasing to my ears, especially when drum sounds and reverbs are concerned. You're right in that it's more adventurously put together.
    My preference surely has a lot to do with the fact that the live version was the only version of the song I heard for roughly ten years, so it's become very ingrained in my mind, and the horns became part of the overall texture in my mind. I feel differently about "Somebody's Acting Like a Child" because that song takes on a completely different face in the re-arrangement, and I can more easily adjust to the original version because it's so different (paradoxical?) - and probably better too.
     
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  19. RiRiIII

    RiRiIII Forum Resident

    Location:
    Athens, Greece
    OT but worth it . The Mayall biography has been just released:

    [​IMG]
     
  20. mark winstanley

    mark winstanley Certified dinosaur, who likes physical product

    I am a bit lost as to where we are here but I have obviously The Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, and it certainly deserves its fame.
    I also have The Turning Point which I like even more. Such a great acoustic jam type album, a great feel and a great listen.
    I was lucky enough to see John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers at the Perth Concert Hall in 1986, a very great show. I believe the two guitarists he had at this concert used to be in Canned Heat, but I couldn't sign an affidavit about it, it was long ago and far away.
     
  21. JulesRules

    JulesRules Weaponized, Deranged Warthog Thug

    Location:
    Germany
    Quite possible. I'll have to look it up but the biography by Dinu Logoz includes a listing of virtually all his bands.

    Next album should be The Turning Point - unless we count Looking Back, a compilation of non-LP songs?

    So, an actual autobiography (with a writer)... I'll keep an eye on this.
     
    mark winstanley likes this.
  22. NumberEight

    NumberEight Came too late and stayed too long

    I think we should count Looking Back, as the material hasn’t otherwise been covered.

    Unlike, curiously, the German double LP version, which, despite a similar sleeve design to the regular release, was more of a ‘best of’ (and a rather good one at that):

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Zeki, All Down The Line and bluesfan like this.
  23. John Fell

    John Fell Forum Survivor

    Location:
    Undisclosed
    I like this one.
     
    NumberEight likes this.
  24. PsychGuy

    PsychGuy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
    "The Turning Point" a natural transition from "Laurel Canyon."

    And "Bare Wires" is a masterpiece, for me the best Mayall album.
     
    Goat, JulesRules and Matthew Tate like this.
  25. bluesfan

    bluesfan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Switzerland
    This is news to me! I have the German double LP version. I didn’t know about the regular LP. Of its eleven tracks only three (in italics) are on the German edition. Interestingly the title track is absent from the German! Here are the tracklists:


    Regular LP

    Mr. James

    Blues City Shakedown

    They Call It Stormy Monday

    So Many Roads

    Looking Back

    Sitting in the Rain

    It Hurts Me Too

    Double Trouble

    Suspicions (Part Two)

    Jenny

    Picture on the Wall


    German double LP (as seen on the picture of the back cover above)

    Third Degree

    Stormy Monday

    Jenny

    Picture on the Wall

    Chicago Line

    Steppin' Out

    Have You Heard

    Ramblin' on My Mind

    The Super-Natural

    Double Crossing Time

    Parchman Farm

    Dust My Blues

    You Don't Love Me

    Don't Kick Me

    Brown Sugar

    The Death of J.B. Lenoir

    Stand Back Baby

    Checkin' Up on My Baby

    I Can't Quit You Baby

    Sandy

    Blood on the Night
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2019
    luckyno13 and NumberEight like this.

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