Customer Reviews

Along for the Ride

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a John Mayall fan since 1970 and it seems impossible that in all these years and the many albums he has put out that I have yet to be dissapointed. The latest album is no exception. Critics claim that John is not an accomplished musician, vocalist or songwriter and that his talented sidemen often eclipse him. I tend to disagree and I buy his product because of HIM and not who is currently in his band or has been in his band in years gone buy. Along For The Ride is an extension of his illustrious career. My favorite track is "If I Don't Get Home" which features Gary Moore on guitar. It is a very meaningful song, full of emotive feeling and the lyrics hit home with anyone who has had to leave a loved one for any period of time. "So Many Roads" is another great song and Buddy Whittington's guitar playing is excellant throughout. One critic's review stated it was a shame that the writer, Otis Rush, got only a vocal part and no guitar solo. My thought is with the great solo Buddy plays-so what! The great tune "California" is resurrected from John's Turning Point LP. This time different, but Red Holloway takes an excellant solo outing on sax can't and it can't help but remind one of Johnny Almond. In closing the entire album is terrific and is an testimant to the respect John Mayall is afforded by other musicians. Again I must say that even with all of these wonderful musicians taking part I love the album because I get to here the man himself, JOHN MAYALL, play his harp, piano, guitar, and sing his wonderful brand of blues. Long live John Mayall!!!

I am usually leery of all-star albums as so many turn out to be all hype and very little substance. But John Mayall has a reputation for assembling great bands for whatever the project at hand so I didn't hesitate buying this for one second. On this CD, Mayall has recorded each song with a different set of all-stars. Not only that, with the exception of the masterfully redone California, none of the compositions are his. Compositionally and musically, Mayall here sits back and allows his invited guests to shine. The only Mayall regulars present on most cuts are guitarist Buddy Whittington and drummer Joe Yuele. There are an impressive number of greybeards joining Mayall here: Mick Fleetwood, Peter Green, John McVie, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Billy F Gibbons, Otis Rush, and many others. But one of Mayall's strengths is to recognize talent wherever it may be and so he has brought in a few young blues musicians like Jonny Lang and Shannon Curfman to add chronological diversity to his music. I like every song here but my favorites are the intense rocking blues of A World of Hurt, Put it Right Back featuring Billy Gibbons on lead guitar, the mournful So Many Roads with Otis Rush on vocals, and California with an outstanding sax solo by Red Holloway. This is a CD which deserves to be in every rock fan's and every blues fan's collection, so get on the bandwagon now and come along for the ride.

I've got to admit up front, I am prejudiced. I love this kind of music. This new release is like a Saturday night jam session with some of the oldest and newest but always greatest artists stopping in to play with an established veteran of good music. Music you can tap your foot to based in blues, gospel, funk, and rock. How can you argue with soloists like Gary Moore, who somehow has made guitar notes exploding like the 4th of July his mantra, to Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top fame, to Stevie Rae Vaughn's rhythm section, to Steve Miller, or the many Fleetwood Mac vets including original guitartist and forever great Peter Green, and the ripping Johnny Lang, to even the young but extremely powerful teenaged Shannon Curfman whose simply amazing vocal talent and lilting but emotion squeezed guitar gives me total faith for the future. Not every cut is my favorite, but some are absolutely fabulous, and all are right there. Hey, it's a jam session. Thank you, John Mayall, for having such great friends and for inviting a mix ranging from Otis Rush and Billy Preston to Shannon Curfman and Johnny Lang. I really really like this CD and recommend it without reservation.

I had the good fortune of being in St. Louis, Missouri in May, 2001. John Mayal and the Bluesbreakers were scheduled to play at Chuck Berry's Blueberry Hill's "Duck Room". I, frankly had not heard anything from John Mayall since the 70's/80's. I had to see what he is all about in the new century.

What a performance! Buddy Whittington plays lead guitar as well as anyone. He also has the perfect blues voice. Joe Yuele is an accomplished drummer. Greg Rzab's bass perfectly complemented Buddy's guitar. Tom Canning on Hammond organ was excellent. And, of course, there was the Godfather of British Blues, John Mayall - keyboards, harmonica, vocals and just having a darn good time.

This album rekindled my interest in Mayall's music. So, I bought "Along for the Ride". What a ride it is. If you like good hard driving, guitar laced rock and blues,

DO NOT HESITATE.

Go directly to the cash register and buy it. You will not be sorry.

John also has an informative website.

In a world of overprocessed and overrated CD's Mayall truly deserves all 5 stars for this top notch, first take, CD.

Mayall cellabrates 40 years in the business by reuniting with several musicians that in one way or another were associated with Mayall's past, including several former Blues Breakers.

Tracks include "Yo Yo Man" which reunites the original Fleetwood Mac lineup of Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie--Gary Moore's slow blues number, "If I Don't Get Home"--Jeff Healy's rousing number "A World Of Hurt"--Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top)on the texas blues number "Put It Right Back"--Jonny Lang on a midtempo number "That's Why I love You So"--and 15 year old Shannon Curfman's amazing vocals and lead guitar work on "Testify". Not a bad tune on the entire CD. Buy it today!

great collection of songs, done by his long-time backup band with guest artists. The songs are good to great, the guests provide a bit of extra life, and the sound quality is top-notch,
worth the price of admission. While I haven't heard the "birth
day party" disc, this one stands on its own, near the top of my list for his long, fantastic career.

What a great Blues-Rock album! The best I've heard in years. You should crank this up as loud as you can, and party to it. The raw emotion and exhilaration of 'That's Why I love You So', and 'World of Hurt' make me want to dance my tail off - and that's what good rock is supposed to do.
I saw Mayall at Slim's in San Francisco a couple of years ago, and I was knocked out at his high-energy, fun, dancable, rock and roll, and the great guitar-playing of Buddy Whittington. I've searched in vain for a Mayall album that captured the vitality of that live performance. This finally does it justice. Mayall's singing will turn off some, since he's not a strong vocalist. But if the listener is willing to get past that, and appreciate the music, it won't disappoint.

More than happy to see Macclesfield lad John Mayall team up with a bunch of top-notch artists to put out an extraordinary collection of quality tracks. 'Along for the Ride' certainly has a compilation feel to it, and you don't do any harm for the artistic value of the album if you switch your CD player to random play.

Without listening to 'Along for the Ride', one might think that the main thing is the gathering of all these great names on one album. But after listening to the album one surely finds out what's most important - it's the great music John Mayall & Friends have made for this album.

The blues is not a serious musical artform: it's a happy thing and that is what's made clear by John and his mates on 'Along for the Ride'. If one doesn't want to limit his/her own thinking with excessive criticism i.e. decrease his/her musical enjoyment, the power of this album really catches on.

Songwise, the album has many highlights. 'A World of Hurt', 'Along for the Ride', 'That's Why I Love You so', 'Testify' and 'She Don't Play by the Rules' are powerful. 'Yo Yo Man' and 'World War Blues' represent the more acoustic and intense type of blues whereas 'California' has an exciting jazzy feel.

As far as (visitor) musicians are concerned, Gary Moore's guitar on 'If I Don't Get Home' is superb. Jonny Lang is also outstanding on 'That's Why I Love You so', as is Peter Green with his slide guitar on 'Yo Yo Man' - despite of his not-so-good overall shape. John Mayall has educated many top guitarists in his Bluesbreakers and the present one, Buddy Whittington, is definitely one of them.

'Along for the Ride' by John Mayall & Friends is easily the Album of the Year for me. I was also lucky enough to see both John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and Peter Green play live in Finland this summer.

The Father of British Blues never got old. But he certainly got better. Just how good can you get?

My brother Bob and I were lucky enough to be "Blues Breakers" for a day.
We were in the studio when Billy Gibbons laid down his wicked tone on "Put it Right Back", and if that weren't enough. We were asked to play on the song by brother Steve and I wrote, "If I don't get home", featuring Gary Moore on guitar. Not a bad day. It was truly an honor to perform, and have our music featured on such a great John Mayall Record..... ..Hey John, Let's do it again!

I was in my local music store looking for some blues - very small selection of blues in my area. I was getting frustated when I happened onto this CD in the wrong bin. I decided to give it a try because of Mayall's track record, and with the awesome talent assembled here I thought that some of it would be OK (plus it was a dual layer SACD disc as well).I always knew Mayall was an excellent band leader, but he does an amazing job keeping this level of talent focused. The song writing and material selection for each artist is right on target. This is a must have CD for any progressive blues fan - maybe any rock fan !!! I would put this in the top 20 of my favorite prog blues albums of all time. Buy this CD !!!! - you will not be sorry.