Customer Reviews

Wake Up Call

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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As a Mayall fan of the original albums, I added John Mayall's albums back into the fold after 'Sense of Place' and I have every one since. 'Wake up call' is memorable for many reasons not the least for the guitar of Coco Montoya and Mick Taylor. The stand out tracks include 'Nature Disappearing' a rework of an earlier Mayall track which features the magical playing of Coco Montoya and 'Not at home' a great song featuring Mick Taylor. Also check out the live album 'Life in the jungle' as possibly the best Mayall album.

The best reason to buy this cd is to hear the guitar playing of Coco Montoya, Mayall's fabulous lead guitarist. Check out the soloing in songs like Maydell. Montoya is as smooth and fast as Eric Clapton playing the blues. A great addition to any blues collection.

I believe John Mayall's "Wake up call" (1993) is the best blues album I have ever heard. Compared to his "Blues for the lost days" (1997) or "Padlock on the blues" (1999), this album is superior in every way. The songs are quite unique and there's plenty of variation even it is blues all the way. Ever since Mayall released "Wake up call", he has gradually got worse and what used to be something thrilling have become just boring and not above mediocre standard at all. The follow up "Spinning coin" (1995) includes a couple of good songs like "When the devil starts crying" and "Ain't no brakeman", but on more recent releases you won't find any songs of the same calibre as "Mail order mystics", "Maydell", "Wake up call", "Undercover agent for the blues" or "Loaded dice". John Mayall's "Wake up call" is in some way comparable to Gary Moore's "Still got the blues", and if you like that one, I'm almost certain you'll like this one.

His Best "later years" one was the 'comeback' album, titled "Chicago Line" featuring BOTH Coco Montoya , AND Walter Trout .. who trade off nicely ..This has a nice re-working of a great earlier tune featured on the USA Union album the track 'Natures Disappearing' is nicely re-done here, plus a nice Tony Joe White cover 'Undercover Agent' Production is clean and fat sounding .. great Cd . There is a nice collection of his work on this label (Silvertone )' but Natures Disappearing is not on there, which is a shame as it's a worthy example of his best work, and deserves to be on there. You can't win em 'all .I agree that after this release, the quality control deteriorated somewhat ..Sometimes I feel that John needs to try something a bit different, but as he in his mid 70's why bother! I always liked his acoustic stuff , and another Cd like that would be nice . The Harvey Mandel , Larry Taylor , Don Sugarcane Harris Combo was unique.His "Back To The Roots" release was always a favorite too ..He seems hell bent on rockin' hard indefinitely .

This was the first John Mayall CD I bought and I'm glad I did! Coco Montoya plays great guitar. If you like Mayall I think you'll enjoy this album.

While not actually a 'blues' album, the roots are not far away. What makes this album special is the versatility of both Mayall and his sidemen. Montoya shines as does Mick Taylor. All the songs are enjoyable, very listenable without being too commercial.
If you are looking for a sample of John Mayall for your first listen...buy this CD!