Friday, April 9, 2010

A cure for the blues

Woke up this morning
Had the blues on my mind
Searched through my 'M' pile
Now I'm feelin' fine...

M, as in Mayall ... as in Mmmmmmm good. Our first exposure to smoking British blues came when an older friend returned from a tour of Vietnam and started putting John Mayall's Turning Point album on the turntable.  How had we missed that?

You never know when the Blues Breakers bug is gonna strike. We couldn't find Turning Point this morning but we did locate another gem:  Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton.  It's in the player now and will be guiding us down North Avenue this morning.

Clapton came into our headphones first during his short but memorable time with the Yardbirds.  His stint with Mayall was also brief, but provided ear-popping evidence of his greatness as a blues guitarist. Mayall had a knack for finding great guitarists and giving them some ground-breaking exposure. Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor all spent time in the Blues Breakers. There have been many others, but right now we don't care to venture past Clapton's truly amazing covers of "What'd I Say" and "Ramblin' On My Mind." 

That Mayall harmonica ain't too shabby, either.

3 comments:

  1. Great record. And great minds think alike, sort of - this morning I was listening to the Howlin' Wolf London sessions with Clapton on guitar.

    Peter Green - Kiln House. Boy Fleetwood Mac was a different band in those days.

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  2. Mmmmmm good is oh, so right... "I never knew what I was missing..."

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  3. Well you know how I feel about Eric Clapton....Love the guy!!!!!!!
    I still can't believe he is coming to Summerfest.His last concert I heard that he said it was to be his last, and he comes back.......Sweet. Wish I was going.

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