Customer Reviews

Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton - Deluxe Edition

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This is a two-disc deluxe edition of the famous & influential "Beano" album. Disc one contains both the mono original release (1966) and the stereo version (1969) of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton album.

For a review of disc one, I would refer you to many existing reviews of the original release of this important album. I can add little to all that's been said before, other than to say listen carefully to Have You Heard and Stepping Out. And Ramblin' On My Mind features a young Eric on vocals in the style he came to develop in his solo career.

Disc two (the reason I bought the deluxe edition) contains 19 extra tracks, and is the interesting part if, like me, you already own the original version of the Bluesbreakers album on CD. Extra tracks 1-13 are both live and in the studio. For instance, there are some BBC radio live in the studio broadcasts from 1965 & early 1966 and some recording studio session tracks, which predated the album. Sound quality is quite good on tracks 1-13 and a couple of those tracks highlight (even at that early stage) Eric Clapton's playing in the style he is known for.

But best of all, extra tracks 14 to 19 were recorded live at the Flamingo Club in London in March & April 1966. Those recordings are often primitive, raw, muddy & distorted, but you'll hear some of Clapton's most fiery and fluid playing on the blues guitar standards 14.They Call It Stormy Monday, 17.Have You Ever Loved A Woman and 19.Hoochie Coochie Man. Stormy Monday is the same track that's on John Mayall's Looking Back, and tracks 17 & 19 (above), amongst others, are the same tracks that were released on John Mayall's Primal Solos. There are nevertheless 9 unreleased tracks on disc 2.

This album is from the era when Eric Clapton played a Gibson Les Paul and developed his reputation as "God". It's a must-have album for Eric Clapton fans, and this deluxe edition, packaging the original album, 19 extra tracks and a 20 page booklet, gives you the best comprehension of how it all happened. As they say, the rest is history.

.....and whilst I have praised Clapton as the musical giant he was to become, credit should be given to John Mayall for being an astute & influential band-leader, mentor to a young Eric and a catalyst of the London blues scene.

Another attempt to issue the definitive edition of the legendary Bluesbreakers album that falls slightly short of the mark. The mono and stereo mixes on disc 1 are excellently done but simply replicate the single disc issue featuring the same material released a few years ago. This, therefore, sheds no new light on this fertile period of the second British blues boom. Disc 2 features some BBC sessions along with the familiar Immediate and Purdah 45's and half a dozen live tracks, in poor sound quality, that have been available before.

This is a big disappointment and is a missed opportunity which could have been avoided if the compilers had made any attempt to research the easily available archive information from this time. John Mayall himself was known to have kept meticulous records of sessions, gigs, personnel and recording dates and I'm sure would have been more than happy to contribute his knowledge in order to preserve his legacy in the best possible manner.

Anyone expecting to hear more of Clapton's stunning guitar work from this time is in for a big disappointment. Many of the songs from the BBC sessions presented here have nothing more than rhythm guitar low in the mix. This is the case with the first three songs on disc 2 and despite the session date given being after the point where Clapton joined the band, I suspect it was actually recorded earlier with Roger Dean on guitar. The three songs from the October 25th session are from the time when Clapton had taken a sabbatical and had been replaced by Geoff Krivit. The third BBC session featured on the disc includes only two songs out of at least five, and possibly six, which are known to have been recorded with Clapton in the band, one of those missing being a rare live version of the instrumental, Hideaway. This session has been bootlegged in excellent sound quality and so it's omission from this set is inexcusable.

All in all the "Deluxe" edition does nothing to enhance the importance and excitement of this classic album and the poor selection of additional material on disc 2 turns what should have been a worthy project into a complete waste of time and money. Five stars for the original album - 1 star for this reissue

The Deluxe Edition is a must-have for any Clapton fan. This is my favorite Clapton album insofar as his inspired blues soloing is concerned. It's great to hear the differences between the stereo and mono mixes and, in my opinion, the mono is much more punchy and rocking, and it sounds better in my cars than does the stereo. It's also great to finally have all the leftover tracks without needing to buy the various British Blues compilations, which are difficult to track down and a pleasure to have in one place. An excellent release that deserves a place on any electric blues fan's shelf, the Deluxe Edition of John Mayall Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton is also the only CD version of this record to include the elusive mono mix. BACK TO MONO!

Few albums have had greater impact than John Mayall's 1966 landmark "Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton." Released by the Decca label in Britain on 22 July 1966, literally days after Clapton left the Bluesbreakers and just a week before Cream's debut, it went all the way to #6, a pretty mean feat, since Mayall's band had never had a hit single. This may have been a first in Britain.

Of course, this is the album that set the blues and guitar worlds aflame and established Eric Clapton's name worldwide as the most passionate of musical interpreters. If you haven't yet heard "Beano" -- as it is affectionately known, because Clapton is pictured reading a "Beano" comic book on its cover -- then you ain't heard nuthin' yet! This is the stuff of legends.

From the album's first notes, you realize that you're in guitar heaven, as "Slowhand" shows us the way electric guitar can and should be played. Clapton's virtuoso playing is white hot throughout. Playing with a maturity beyond his 21 years, the young Eric Clapton so influenced the guitar world that Gibson eventually reissued the Les Paul model -- out-of-production since 1960 -- which Clapton then played.

John Mayall's Bluesbreakers served -- and serves still today -- as a finishing school for great musicians and sidemen (Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya, John McVie, Jack Bruce, Aynsley Dunbar, Mick Fleetwood and others). Mayall's proselytizing the blues (he's 73 years old!), his songwriting skills, and his other musical talents should not be ignored nor taken lightly.

This album sparked the saying "Clapton is God" all over the U.K. This Album is where Clapton plugged a Gibson Les Paul into a marshall amp and changed rock music forever. This is my all time favorite blues album. Clapton plays guitar with a lot of fire. This collection is awesome.

A few months ago I saw John Mayall perform at a small club in Victoria, B.C. It was a great show; the man is 78 years old and he can still outperform musicians less than a third of his age.

During the show, Mayall played some of his 1960s material that I haven't listened to for years. It's great stuff so, since seeing that Mayall concert, I've been revisiting and rediscovering many of these classic 1960s British blues albums.

It's easy to forget what a masterful player John Mayall was, and still is. This 1966 album with Eric Clapton on lead guitar - often called the Beano album because Clapton is reading a copy of Beano magazine in the cover photo - is a groundbreaking and very influential album in blues history. Among other things, it was the first recording of Eric Clapton doing an all blues album. Clapton had recorded previously with The Yardbirds but The Yardbirds, while certainly influenced by the blues, weren't strictly a blues band; John Mayall's band was, without doubt, a blues band.

Shortly after this album was released, Eric Clapton left John Mayall's band to form Cream with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker.

Apart from Clapton's guitar playing, this was the first album to feature a track with Eric Clapton doing lead vocals.

It's worthwhile to give John Mayall's 1960s albums a listen or a re-listen. For those of you who haven't heard Mayall's 1960s material, you should check it out. This album and Mayall's 1967 "Hard Road" album with Peter Green on guitar are, in my opinion, the best of John Mayall's 1960s albums. I would go as far as to say they are both essential recordings for any blues fan. Both are certainly worth a listen. This is a very influential album in blues history.

This particular release has some extra tracks that are worth the extra money.

Ah, where to begin . . . I will just try to cover the items briefly.

How about Disc One? There are plenty of reviews about the music already, so I will be brief here. Even on the original 12, there are songs I do not like and skip when listening. The others are so great that I still give it five stars. "Have You Heard", "Ramblin'", "Hideaway", "Steppin' Out", and more, are absolutely essential.

Next, the sound. The mono mixes on Disc One are a revelation (although you may have them already on another issue). My impression: if you want to pick out Clapton solos note-for-note, the stereo mixes work better, and it seems like the stereo has a fuller guitar tone. I prefer the punch of the mono, and the mono has less of the organ - check out the difference on "Hideaway". I never liked the organ on the record so it's a big improvement for me.

The extras: I was sad that there was so little of raw Clapton, just three or four cuts. The sound is not great, but the guitar is fine on those cuts and that's what I wanted. There are the piano/guitar duets, and "Bernard Jenkins" is a great addition. I was not big on the rest of the extras.

I am not as knowledgeable about the history and previous issues. If there are more cuts that have been passed around, then I want them! Otherwise, despite some flaws, this is a great set.

Great album. I'll say it again, a GREAT ALBUM. Artists nowadays are more concerned with their cover art, and which cities to perform in rather than the music itself. This album will unfortunately, never be played on any local radio station. XM, probably not either. If you love great guitar play, music without any American Idol references, then put this in the player and enjoy.

... or so they say. Really, though, this was more a culmination of something that had been brewing and stewing in England for quite a few years already. And it is the album that spawned that anonymous person to write "Clapton Is God" on a subway wall somewhere in London.

By today's standards, this is pretty average. But for the day in which it was released, it was revolutionary. Clapton's sound was mature; John Mayall had a great band wrapped around it and it crystalized a moment in musical history.

I won't give you a blow by blow, but if you really want to have a good history of Blues collection, this is one you must have along with Fathers & Sons by Muddy Waters.

Yeah! I have some of their vinyls. I have the very first Bluesbreakers lp called John Mayall Plays John Mayall, and A Hard Road as imports. Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton as a domestic. I have a few Mayall singles that are domestic releases.
But, this to me is the John Mayall Epoch. I remember going into a record store on Chestnut Street in Philadelphia and going through all these import record lp's. I had already owned the lp Fresh Cream and then I saw Bluebreakers with Eric Clapton. Not realizing this lp was released, I thought to myself "What Happened?" "Cream split, already"? Then I was told that these sessions were finished before Cream was formed. Anyway, a great musical treasure of great blues music. From start to finish, it is the absolute bomb.