Quote:
Originally Posted by TheCellarTapes
John Mayall - John Mayall Plays John Mayall
This marvellous live debut has some great numbers on it, beginning with an enthralling live version of Crawling up a Hill and finishing wonderfully with Chicago Line. Also for a bit more interest, The Bluesbreakers are joined on stage a few times during the set by saxophonist Nigel Stanger, for me his finest moment is on R&B Time, vibrant stuff.
As with many albums in the Cellar, this album has been reissued over the years, and now includes some extra stuff, including a couple of stunners most noticeably the singles from late 64'/early 65'; Crawling up a Hill and Crocodile Walk. Clearly John Mayall would release a few follow ups to this debut which would heavily overshadow it. But before Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor stepped into the Bluesbreaker revolving door, John Mayall recorded one of the finest live albums from the 1960’s here and surely not a bad debut overall.
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Ah! My
second favourite album recorded at Klooks Kleek! It's even got Mayall's cover of Katie Melua's song, 'Crawling Up a Hill' on it!
Not my favourite John Mayall album by any means but there's some great stuff on it. Stanger's saxamophone on Hoot Owl is worth the price of admission alone never mind some of the between song banter - "fine young chicks" sounds so anachronistic I can't tell whether it's acceptable in post-modern recon-deconstructed new man ironic way. I'm sure those kohl-eyed ladies lapped it up at the time though. I bet whoever Doreen was wasn't so pleased though. The cheeky organ on 'What's the Matter With You?' is great too.
It's such a shame that this kind of stuff wasn't taken more seriously at the time. When you see footage such as the Look North Granada Blues programme, it's unbelievably sad that more of this music wasn't caught on camera at the time.
Again, this is someone else that garners very lop-sided respect and credit. The amount of times I've come across people (over) hyping the Beano album but haven't heard anything else Mayall did, which is a shame as he's done some stuff that far surpasses 'the Clapton album' in my opinion.