Customer Reviews

Hard Road

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Saw the review below, & I must say that Peter Green sounds absolutely NOTHING like Clapton. You can say he influenced him, but the way Green uses his tone & dynamics... added with his singing.... you begin to wonder if Peter Green might not be the GREATEST blues guitarist from England. The old saying of "more is less" is the school he came from, & he really makes every note count. I don't think Clapton has/had the restraint that Green had...

This album is somewhat inconsistent in its material, but the devastating track "Supernatural", will make up for any inconsistencies. The use of feedback on this song is totally different from say.... Hendrix, & it's really... "worth the price of admission" as they say. Clapton's Bluesbreaker album is probably more consistent, but the high points on Hard Road eclipses the highpoints on the "beano" album. If you ever wondered where Santana got his style from......

This album NEEDS to be re-mastered!!! Recommended.

This album was the crucial follow up to the landmark Bluesbreaker record with Eric "slowhand" Clapton. On "A Hard Road" we see Peter Green carving his own niche as one of the most influential British blues guitarists. His tone makes the devil melt and on songs like "Someday after a while (you'll be sorry)", you hear some of the most gut wrenching sorrowful solos you could hope to hear. You will also hear Green's achingly poignant blues voice for the first time on recording. A true lost legend, this is Green coming into his own before forming Fleetwood Mac and outselling The Beatles in 1969. Mr. Mayall himself keeps shaking thing up with added instruments that would lead up to his eventual big band leaning ala B.B. King. A must have for Peter Green fans as well as Bluesbreaker fans.

I can still remember the chills that hit me when I heard John Mayall's piano and Peter Green's guitar on the opening track. Paul Butterfield's first album punched me in the gut and John Mayall's 'Hard Road' delivered the uppercut that hit me in the jaw and knocked me out to the blues ever since. I prefer this album over the Eric Clapton beano album (just) because it highlights John Mayall much more, showing how good he on harp, piano, organ and guitar. The other factor is Peter Green! His simplicity of style and playing demonstrates that you do not need to play notes at a million miles an hour. The feeling he gets on many tracks from a single note, particularly the 'supernatural' is unsurpassed. It was a great pleasure to hear Mayall redo 'A Hard Road' on his recent album 'Padlock on the Blues'.

I'm a fan of both Green and Mayall. And in both these senses my expectations were more than satisfied with "A Hard Road". There's a sense of professionalism in the album which I didn't notice even in "Beano"(maybe due to Green whose talents go beyond his guitar playing) and the sound is lean and mean - I think they did away with the horn section which used to be an integral part of the original Mayall sound. Mayall's vocals is in fine form and there is a conscious effort to take the music beyond the basic blues form. the opening track is a killer and so are the interpretations of the two blues standards - you dont love me and dust my blues. Green's guitar playing just flows (much more aggressive than his playing with fleetwood mac) and probably as a followup to "hideway" by clapton in beano, green electrifies with freddie king's the stumble. but the highlight of the album is his haunting instrumental "Supernatural" which is as moody and atmospheric as it gets in rock music (clapton had a very good feel for his guitar - such good responses! - but green had a better feeling for feeling, which is much more important in blues). Green has also sung one of the tracks in the album. Very good specimen of white boy blues, this.

4 Star record 5 Star playing by Peter Green. Like most Mayall recordings reviews revolve around the featured musician in the subject recording. Under the circumstances one is compelled to discuss Peter Green he makes Hard Road a real spooky soulful blues album. Had he not come in the wake of Clapton he would have reached at least the same status as his playing/writing/singing surpasses Clapton's. Just listen to the "Supernatural" and you can feel that Clapton and his imitators had a long way to go to match to Peter in 1966-67.

It seemed as though everyone was trying to outdo themselves back then. We knew the next Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Who, or Yardbirds record whould at least try,(and often succeed), to be different and better than their previous release. But who would have thought that Mayall could do that without Clapton? Enter Peter Green, after 37 years, still the greatest white electric blues lead guitarist -ever-, (apologies to Bloomfield, EC, and SRV fans).

So how could anyone have ever replaced a guitarist like Eric Clapton and still mantain their popularity? John Mayall did it by hooking up with an even better guitarist. His name: Peter Green.

A Hard Road is just another milestone for John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, and for the blues in general because it gave Britain at large their first look at the man the man they called "better than God", God being Eric Clapton.

There are obviously two men who dominate the recording; John Mayall and Greeny. (Though the rhythm section of John McVie and Aynsley Dunbar is exceptional) Without a doubt Mayall is the dominant figure here. He shows much more development and improvement as a musician than on the previous album. As for his vocals, well, what can you say about someone with a voice so soulful? This is a step backwards in terms of songwriting, but when you made such great songs on your previous albums it ain't gonna be easy to do better on 'em.

Then there's Greeny. He was good, but he could have been better. One thing that made the Beano album so great was that Clapton wasn't afraid to show off his abilities as a guitarist. Here, however, Green seems a little shy and content to keep the rhythm for Mayall. (With an exception in the Green-instrumental Supernatural, in which he plays with pure venom) Nevertheless he certainly shows his abilities as a songwriter, and his ability to make a normal blues songs great. When he formed Fleetwood Mac he would prove why he is a better guitarist than Clapton.

Bottom Line if you are looking for great British blues, or just great blues in general, then A Hard Road is a nice addition. While you're at it buy Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton, and an album by Cream or the Original Fleetwood Mac. If you're a blues album they'll be the sugar in your coffee.

Granted, John Mayall's vocals are just this side of terrible; it wasn't until his Silvertone releases that Mayall's voice became anywhere near convincing. But that's not what you should be buying this for. You should be buying this to listen to the excellent group playing, and of course Peter Green's guitar. Peter is a more subtle and more soulful player than Eric Clapton, and his instrumental here, "The Supernatural," is the blueprint from which Carlos Santana has built nearly every solo he's ever played. Even though this CD does contain one of the worst versions of "Dust My Broom" (here called "Dust My Blues") ever recorded, this CD is well worth having for fans of blues guitar, period. Peter Green is the man who B.B. King said gave him the chills, and he never said that about Eric Clapton - or any other guitarist for that matter.

This short-lived John Mayall band line-up includes Peter Green, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood, which are the original bandmembers, minus Jeremy Spencer (and later Danny Kirwan), of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. (To those who are unfamiliar with early Fleetwood Mac, this is the original line-up of a quitessential britis blues band, probably one of the best of its kind.) Although Mayall does the vocals and harmonica, and the album owes a certain adherence to forms taken by his early Bluesbreaker albums, I consider this to be perhaps the greatest Fleetwood Mac album; although considering their more famous pop output, that is a lot less of a compliment than it should be.

Want to hear the best blues guitarist ever at a seminal point in his development? Get this CD and listen to "The Supernatural", Peter Green's Scorpionic mid-sixties instrumental. Deep and expansive, this track is head and shoulders above the rest of the album. "Black Magic Woman" and many of Carlos Santana's guitar excursions are firmly based on this first-ever Green tune.
Peter Green has been mentioned alongside many guitarists. But, he truly stands alone. He had Hendrix's expansiveness and a depth that no other guitarist approached, white OR black. Yes, that sounds outrageous and the tracks on this LP won't substantiate that claim. But, that one track will show where this 19 year-old was about to go. By the time he quit at 24, he was somewhere very special. If you are into Clapton, Beck or Page, you probably won't understand what all the fuss is about this Peter Green guy. But, if you want to FEEL...there is no better guitarist to experience.

The rest of the album is very good to poor. Mayall can sound excellent, as on "Someday After Awhile" or terrible "A Hard Road". The rythm section is solid and Aynsley Dunbar was one of the most interesting drummers around. He sounded like a "lead" instrument at the kit. But, Green hated it. He thought it was too busy! The man was such an incredible stickler for FEELING.

Buy this if you're willing to separate the wheat from the chaff.