1966 John Mayall - Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton

John Mayall & Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton - 'Steppin' Out', 1966.

Info: The one thing that always struck me when discovering great guitar bands from the 1960's and 1970's was how Eric Clapton seemed to keep cropping up in so many different places, and not only that, but the other great musicians who he would be playing with or would replace him in the same group. From the early days when he was in The Yardbirds from 1963-1965 (he would successively be replaced by Jeff Beck and his friend from the age of 15, Jimmy Page) at the tender age of 18, to his most successful group Cream (1966-1968), and on to Blind Faith (1969 with Steve Winwood), followed by Derek & The Dominos (when he wrote the hit epic 'Layla' made even more famous by Goodfellas) as well as playing with Keith Richards (Rolling Stones), John Lennon (The Beatles) and Mitch Mitchell (The Jimi Hendrix Exeprience) in super group The Dirty Mac in 1968. Clapton also recorded with famous blues guitarists Sonny Boy Williamson, B.B. King and contemporaries such as George Harrison, Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) and Roger Waters (Pink Floyd)., not to mention appearing on The Band's famous album, The Last Waltz, in 1978.

The first time Eric Clapton fully got to express his unique brand of blues guitar was with John Mayall's Blues Breakers on the above album in 1966. During this period graffiti began appearing around London, most infamously at the Underground station at Islington proclaiming "Clapton is God", something he was always uneasy with, but may be reflected on this record. The fact that Clapton was only 21 at this stage of his career is astounding, and a testament to his abilities that organist John Mayall asked him to join the Blues Breakers at such a young age. The stand-out tracks, with regard to the young virtuoso's guitar playing, are a long solo on 'Have You Heard', 'Steppin' Out' (above video), 'Ramblin' On My Mind', my personal favourite 'Little Girl' and finally, opener, 'All Your Love'. The album itself is short coming in at only 37 minutes, but there is no fat on it whatsoever, and it is a joy to listen to unbroken from start to finish. Although Clapton released some wonderful solo albums, in particular 1974's, 461 Ocean Boulevard, there is consensus that he never reached the same level of blues playing since this album was recorded. On a side note, if you enjoy the above album, I would also highly recommend John Mayall's other two albums, A Hard Road (1967) and The Turning Point (1969) - special thanks goes to old friend Bryan for introducing me to this album 12 years ago. 

Track Listing:

1. All Your Love

2. Hideaway

3. Little Girl

4. Another Man

5. Double Crossing Time

6. What'd I Say

7. Key To Love

8. Parchman Farm

9. Have You Heard

10. Ramblin' On My Mind

11. Steppin' Out

12. It Ain't Right

1965 Son House - Father of Folk Blues

Death Letter, Son House, 1967

Info: Eddie James "Son" House Jr. was born in Lyon, Mississippi in March, 1902, in the heart of the famous rivers Delta. A fervent Baptist preacher from the tender age of 15, and at one time pastor, in the early 20's he married an older woman, Carrie Martin, when he was only 19 years of age. The marriage was short-lived, however, as he felt he was just being used as a farm-hand on her fathers land, and so, he hit the road in search of alternative employment. Unusually, Son House did not pick up the guitar until he was 25, after seeing local bluesman Willie Wilson perform slide-guitar blues. Having worked hard jobs on plantations, steel factories and on a horse farm, he saw the blues as a way to escape that unrewarding life after making modest money at successive impromptu performances. Son House's new love of the Blues was a far cry from his early days as a devout Baptist, he once stated that he had considered even laying hands on a guitar a 'sinful act'. Inspired by Wilson and another local blues player, James McCoy, he bought himself a guitar, quickly mastered it and began playing juke joints with both men, on one such occasion a gunman entered the venue and shot House in the leg, House returned fire killing the man and ended up in prison for 2 years in 1928-9 for his troubles, his initial 15-year sentence reduced to two on grounds of self-defence upon appeal. This period of his life and the following years remain sketchy, with various music biographers unable to agree on the different stories, not helped by the fact that, due to illness in his later life, Son House's versions of events often contradicted each other. He did do some recording in the early 1930's for Paramount Records, but these were to be commercially unsuccessful, causing House to not record again until the mid-1960's. 

Folklorist Alan Lomax, who urged House to record for the Library of Congress in 1941, described his performances as follows in 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die; "With him the sorrow of the blues was not tentative, or retiring, or ironic. Son's whole body wept, as with his eyes closed, the tendons in his powerful neck standing out with the violence of his feeling...". Father of the Folk Blues certainly contains enough pain and anguish to reflect Lomax's description, from the opening track (in the above video) 'Death Letter', which recalls a man receiving a letter to say his wife has died, and at the funeral cries; "I didn't know I loved her, 'til they laid her in the ground" to 'Downhearted Blues', a song of regret and rejection where House ponders; "Got up this mornin', feeling sick and bad, thinkin' bout the good time, that I once have had..did you ever love, when they didn't love you? You know there wasn't satisfaction, didn't care what in the world you do". Outside of those two tracks, the purely vocal 'John The Revelator' and 'Empire State Express', where Son House plays guitar with the rhythm of a train, would be my personal favourites. This album is a nice introduction to good quality recorded blues and if you enjoy slide-guitar in particular, this is for you. 

Track Listing:

1. Death Letter

2. Pearline

3. Louise McGhee

4. John The Revelator

5. Empire State Express

6. Preachin' Blues

7. Grinnin' In Your Face

8. Sundown

9. Levee Camp Moan

10. Pony Blues

11. Downhearted Blues

1964 Jerry Lee Lewis - Live At The Star-Club, Hamburg

Jerry Lee Lewis, Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On, 1964

Info: Ranked at #4 in the album charts for 1964 on www.rateyourmusic.com, Jerry Lee Lewis' live album at the Star-Club in Hamburg is an explosion of rock n' roll energy that is sure to have the hairs standing on the back of your neck the whole way through. Lewis, aka, 'The Killer', was born in September, 1935, the son of Elmo and Mamie Lewis, in Ferriday, Louisiana. Though his parents were very poor, they decided to mortgage their farm in order to buy a piano for their home which Jerry took to like a duck to water from the age of ten. Over the following years Lewis learned the boogie-woogie playing style from his older cousin, Carl McVoy, coupled with time spent in his uncle's black only juke-joint across the tracks in Ferriday (Haney's Big House), he was well on his way to developing his own style, a mix of blues, gospel, country and rock n' roll. Both of Lewis' parents were Pentecostalists and his mother enrolled him in the Southwest Bible Institute in Waxahachie, Texas, hoping he would concentrate on gospel singing, however, not long after joining, he was expelled for playing boogie-woogie (African-American style of piano-blues) during hymn recitals, opening up the alternative route his musical career would follow. 

It was at the age of 21 that Lewis arrived at Sun Records studio following unsuccessful attempts to get a record deal from any of the Nashville companies. Even at such a young age he had experienced difficulties in his personal life, including two failed marriages and a spell in jail, but nothing compared to the scandal that erupted when, at the age of 22, he married his 13-year-old first cousin once-removed, Myra Gale Brown. The scandal resulted in a cancelled UK tour and Lewis being shunned by record companies and radio stations back in his homeland. This followed the beginning of a very successful career and three huge hits in succession, 'Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On' (banned on some radio stations for Lewis' sexually suggestive moves on tv), 'Great Balls of Fire' and 'Breathless' between 1957-58. It would be a long time before he would rebuild his career and reputation, amid struggles with alcoholism and pill addiction. Live At The Star Club in Hamburg was recorded during this exile, and it wasn't until the late 60's, when attitudes had become more open and through the hard work of his agent, that he would be accepted back into the mainstream on the back of a foray into country-western music. 

To the album itself, described by David Hutcheon of Mojo magazine as 'rock as it was meant to be: faster, more breathless and more possessed than anything the world would pay money to hear'. This is reflected in the anarchic performance of Lewis, it seems as if the band are constantly playing catch-up and trying to second-guess him as he rips through his set which includes many rock classics such as Little Richard's 'Long Tall Sally', Ray Charles' 'What'd I Say' as you've never heard it before, 'Hound Dog', 'Great Balls of Fire', 'Good Golly Miss Molly' and for me, finishing on the best performance on the album, 'Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On' which I have posted above (although the performance is from 1964, I don't think it's from the Hamburg show). The performance is all the more remarkable considering that, as far as Jerry Lee was concerned, his career was dead back home, and although his live shows were always full of energy, maybe he was losing himself through the piano and histrionics. If you are in the mood for some good old fifties rockabilly all in one place, this is the perfect album, and in some ways gives me the same feeling I had when I was small and saw Marty McFly play 'Johnny B. Goode' at the Enchantment Under The Sea dance for the first time, but that's just me. One other notable track is 'Money (That's What I Want)' which only a couple of months earlier was covered by The Beatles on their second album, With the Beatles.

Track Listing:

1. Mean Woman Blues

2. High School Confidential

3. Money (That's What I Want)

4. Matchbox

5. What'd I Say, pt.1

6. What'd I Say, pt.2

7. Great Balls of Fire

8. Good Golly Miss Molly

9. Lewis' Boogie

10. Your Cheatin' Heart

11. Hound Dog

12. Long Tall Sally

13. Whole Lot of Shakin' Going On