Customer Reviews

Primal Solos

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

 

 

As a Mayall/Clapton/Taylor junkie, this album (though poor sound quality) is an essential. It highlights the early live sound of the above. It features the pre-Cream combination of Jack Bruce and Clapton. It also shows the promise of a young Mick Taylor.

This is a very interesting Mayall album showcasing the talents of Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor under Mayall's mentorship. Their are a couple of tracks without any guitar leads as well.

If you are a student of 60s guitar playing you will want to hear this. Clapton plays a version of "Have You Ever Loved a Woman" that is chilling on this CD. You would swear that he has transformed himself into Freddie King for the gig. Mick Taylor stretches out for a very long solo and explores (probably invents) sitar like blues guitar.

The CD was recorded on some kind of bootleg equipment at blues clubs in the mid 60s and the sound quality suffers, but this is still one of my favorite CDs.

If you are a Brit Blues fan, buy it.

The Amazon editorial review couldn't be more mistaken. Far from this CD "representing the bottom of the barrel in terms of digging up old Mayall/Clapton tracks", this set of music is frequently brilliant in execution. Clapton's playing is at its peak of rawness and fluidity, and exhibits the transition from the Bluesbreakers CD to Cream. We also get a hint of the Clapton/Bruce collaborative skill on "Hoochie Coochie Man". The Mick Taylor contributions are no less stellar and show most clearly that his talent was wasted during his Stones years. It is true that the sound quality is not perfect, but considering that this is a semi-bootleg from the mid-sixties, the sound is better than might be expected. This is one of my favourite CDs of this period and I recommend it to all.

ONE OF MAYLLS'S BEST ALBUMS, EVERY TRACK IS GREAT, ESPECIALLY WITH THE AWESOME SHM AUDIO FORMAT. MUST HAVE FOR ANY CD COLLECTION, BUT DON'T PAY THESE RIDICULOUS OVER-INFLATED PRICES, I BOUGHT MINE FROM THE MUSIC SPECIALIST ON E BAY, THEY ALSO HAVE A STORE IN GEMM, ANTEATERMUSIC. SAVE YOURSELF A TON OF CASH.

CHEERS!

After the harmonica workout of "Bye, Bye Bird" from Mayall we get a marvelous "It hurts to be in love", where Clapton adds a just lovely lyrical slow bluesy solo to the track. Following up this is the superb `filler' "Maudie" which generates a lot of excitement. Clapton is just outstanding in piling on the guitar pressure on what is a straightforward blues shuffle His playing is very exciting. Next, "Have you ever loved a woman' is, arguably, Clapton's finest moment ever on record. The song is a variant on the "Have you heard?" style of blues from the Bluesbreakers first recording. Incredible blues playing with his luscious sounding Gibson. Beautiful tone and heart-breaking restraint and attack. Having heard many blues solos over the years, I think this is one of the very greatest solos and the greatest fills ever put down on tape. Any one wondering what the big deal is about Clapton should hear him on this track. "Hoochie-Coochie man" is also a very good cover of a classic blues. Jack Bruce is superb too on bass and his growling tone marvelously compliments the rest. The two last tracks featuring the larger, horn-equipped Bluesbreakers and Mick Taylor are not nearly so successful. They are interesting but a little dull, and Taylor does not come over very well.

The sound is pretty terrible throughout, and many find Mayall's singing voice distorted through the recording to be very weird. Personally, I hear `through it' to imagine the real sound that was coming out from this band on these very live nights and I am thankful that someone committed them to tape at all. For blues and Mayall fans the Clapton tracks are a must, for others this may not be for them. Any blues guitar fan should get it to hear a master at the top of his form.

It is also worth noting that the "Stormy Monday Blues" that appears on the Bluesbreakers' "Looking Back" album is from the same session as this. Clapton is astonishing on that track too.

For me,this cd is only a historical moment,that preceeded the great days of that great group,The Cream! The recorded quality was very poor,not emotionally work!It's only!