What does it sound like?:
A bootleg, really, but who cares. This is the live performance reported by Junior Wells recently – a fan tape of the never recorded Bluesbreakers lineup featuring future Fleetwood Mac members Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood with Mayall in Holland. First, sound quality. Well, not bad actually. Quite clear and dry, no “back of the room under a greatcoat” about it. The band is remarkably balanced sounding, and the full range is there – you can hear the bass, drums etc all in balance with the vocals, guitars and organ. Then the performances – well, this just adds another underline to the view that Peter Green , here at his peak, was one of the greatest ever blues guitarists. This is pure blues – none of the eclecticism which crept in later with songs like “Man of the world” or “Oh well”. His playing on “San Ho Zay” is quite astonishing – cheeky, lyrical and innovative all in one. Only Jeff Beck usually gets away with this stuff. On the numbers we know from the Beano album he kinda reflects Clapton’s groundbreaking playing, whilst adding a distinctly Green tinge to the phrasing. Those familiar with his playing will have a heart stopping moment where you hear that distinct and unique vibrato thing he does coming through the decades. A word too for the future F Mac rhythm section – swinging like bastards and certainly a mile better than they were on Beano with Hughie Flint. Mayall is Mayall – personally I like him, but the full range of criticisms of his voice etc are available to critics – let’s respect him for having this band in the first place!
What does it all *mean*?
Not much really. It says Peter Green was fantastic – we knew that, or if you are of the “boring blues fretwank” fraternity this won’t convince you as you are already beyond hope.
Goes well with…
I can’t imagine anything it wouldn’t go with. Huge hearted, fiery and dripping with emotion and atmosphere. Already reissue of the year I suspect.
Release Date:
Might suit people who like…
Da blues, maaan.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Thanks Twang; another sliver of living space lost to blues oblivion. Love to hear Green in his heyday.
Twang says
You won’t be disappointed VV.
Colin H says
Sounds sensational Twang – I’ll be getting a copy!
aging hippy says
Seems that line-up had a bit of a revolving drum stool around that time. I saw them with Aynsley Dunbar on sticks and I believe Keef Hartley’s residency was with that trio as well. I saw John Mayall many times back in the day, each with a different line-up.
Junior Wells says
Nice review Twang
Johnny Concheroo says
Yes, good review.
Isn’t it great how recordings once considered inferior or illegal even, cross over and become historically important.
Good thing, too.
Johnny Concheroo says
Got my copy of this CD today and it’s spinning as I write.
As Twang says, the sound is of bootleg quality, but acceptable, loud and strong without distortion or any of the boominess we’ve come to expect from audience recordings over the years. It’s certainly as good as, if not better than, Mayall’s own two volume Diary Of A Band released officially on Decca in 1968.
Of course it’s Peter Green we’ve come to hear and he doesn’t disappoint. Considering he’d only done a few minor recordings before joining the Bluesbreakers, he arrived in Mayall’s band fully formed and firing on all cylinders.
It’s strange to hear Green playing Clapton’s guitar parts on All Your Love the lead track from The Beano Album but with all the confidence of a 20 year-old guitar slinger he grabs the song by the scruff of the neck and turns it inside out.
There’s a great story of how, after Clapton went on an unscheduled walkabout in 1966 leaving Mayall in the lurch for a few weeks, Green approached the stage at a Bluesbreakers’ gig and said “I can play better than that”, indicating Eric’s temporary stand-in. He got up and proved exactly that, prompting Mayall to hire him on the spot. Green lost the job on Clapton’s return, but Mayall kept his number and after Eric split to form Cream, Peter Green got the gig permanently.
Although Green excels throughout, it’s on the slow blues of Double Trouble, Have You Ever Loved A Woman, I Can’t Quit You Baby and Stormy Monday where he really shines. Joe Bonamassa has dined out on his version of the minor key blues So Many Roads for years in tribute to Green but, sound quality notwithstanding, the version here tops the Hard Road original for passion and drive.
Green’s showcase version of Freddy King’s The Stumble has become legendary of course and the storming version all but tears the roof off the Marquee club. Guitarists will note a few small but significant changes Green throws into the mix here.
Technically speaking we’ve travelled light years since these 1967 recordings were made, but if the delicious sound Peter Green got from just his Les Paul plugged directly into a Marshall amp can be reproduced today without a raft of modern effects pedals, I’d like to hear it.
Another Freddy King instrumental, the driving tour de force San-Ho-Zay is perhaps the highlight of the entire set. As Twang says, Green’s playing is extraordinary here. He uses every trick in the book, from delicate B.B.King style vibrato, to muscular heavy rock with almost Hendrix overtones.
A word here for Mick Fleetwood. I can’t say I’ve ever been particularly aware of his playing with the snoozesome Buckingham Nicks line-up of Fleetwood Mac, but with Mayall he was a solid and powerful drummer and it’s easy to see why Green took him along when he absconded from the Bluesbreakers.
I saw the Bluesbreakers with Peter Green at Matlock Bath Pavilion in spring 1967 (at exactly the time of these London club recordings) and while my memory tells me it was Aynsley Dunbar on drums, the dates indicate it could have well been Mick Fleetwood. Although speaking to the band afterwards I don’t recall a 6′ 7″ figure looming at the stage door.
You’ll not be surprised to hear this is the best thing I’ve heard all year so far.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Heaven help us all.
Johnny Concheroo says
Sorry, I’ll try and knock up a Mumford and Sons review for you later to make up for this travesty.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Leave the Mumfords ALOOOOOOONE!
Johnny Concheroo says
And just a slight correction to Twang’s OP. Although the fan who recorded the shows was from Holland, the actual recordings were made at 5 clubs in and around London in the spring of 1967 (Klooks Kleek, Marquee, Ram Jam Club etc)
minibreakfast says
Missed this great review first time round. Am on an economy drive at the moment, but have added it to the list.
Johnny Concheroo says
Bravo mini! I’m sure there are, cough, places you could find to, cough, download it on the steam-driven internet we hear so much about these days.
minibreakfast says
Looks like there’s a second volume out soon http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01C6M3RD6?keywords=Bluesbreakers%20live&qid=1457599612&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
Johnny Concheroo says
Hmm, could be the weaker leftovers, but even so count me in