Doing a John Mayall voice was a necessary accomplishment back at Art School. My favourite albums; Bare Wires, Laurel Canyon, Turning Point. Mojo Working keeps his Bluesbreakers album in a shrine, candle burning eternally.
I wonder who’s going to get the Quite Interesting klaxon here?
Meagre Mayall vinyl on my shelf, but a large number of other titles in other formats. Obviously a huge and profound influence, but in my book only ever a quite interesting artist in his own right.
He’s earned a break. First saw him and the Bluesbreakers backing John Lee Hooker at the Flamingo in 1964, the band desperately trying to keep up with those 9- and 13-bar blues. He was a regular at the Cricketers in Sarfend over the next few years with the Clapton, Green and Taylor versions of the Bluesbreakers and so was I. Like Junior I was never wholly convinced of his voice, but what a band!
While only ever owned one of his albums (Empty Rooms), my shelves are filled with countless releases by musicians whose talent he spotted and potential he nurtured,
Saw him live twice. Once with Peter Green, Aynsley Dunbar etc. and once with Mick Taylor and a little brass section. Both times at the long-gone Railway Hotel in Wealdstone.
I had all of John Mayall’s albums on vinyl, up to “Turning Point” I think. All now long gone among several house moves and I never saw much need to replace them, apart from “A Hard Road” which I have on CD and the Beano Album which I have in digital form.
He was a truly awful singer (IMO) and a merely decent pianist & guitarist, but his blues scholarship and dedication to the stuff was absolutely solid and he had a knack for spotting up-and-coming musicians.
No. It’s something that everybody* knows about John Mayall that has nothing to do with music. If you’re talking about him in a pub or bus queue someone** always mentions this.
8353 GRANDVIEW DRIVE
Musician lost rock diaries
spanning 25-year period
Rock-blues singer John Mayall’s three-story home was nicknamed “The Brain Damage Club,” because of the great parties thrown there. A private movie-viewing room and swimming pool built into the side of the hill made the house ideal for barbecues and parties.
Mayall and a few friends were watching a movie in the house when the blaze started. They were able to escape, but the house with a film library of 2,000 hours of video-taped movies, many valuable 16th century antiques, a pornography collection dating back to the 1800s and rock’n’roll diaries spanning 25 years, was destroyed.
All that remained was a charred foundation and a hand-painted swimming pool, littered with soot and ash. Two cars, including a restored 1958 Volvo belonging to Mayall’s son Jason, melted completely in the fire.
“We used to have some great barbecues here,” said a blond in clog shoes and shorts, as she looked down on the remains of the Mayall home. “People used to jump out of the third story into the swimmingpool,” she added, looking at a bedroom fireplace, the only remnant of the third floor. Neighbors said he had not yet decided whether to rebuild on the property.
I saw him live once, in the late 90s I think – but strangely, I can recall almost nothing about it except a beardy little fat man on a mission, ploughing his way through the crowd after with a huge bag of albums, presumably wanting them all signed.
Long since ditched everything, aside from two CDs: a 1964-69 comp. (mainly 45s) and ‘The Blues Alone’… neatly, with that second one, avoiding – I think – the klaxon issue.
In 1964, Mick Jagger said something like “I can’t understand anyone wanting to listen to us doing ‘I’m A King Bee’, when they can listen to Slim Harpo doing it” – modestly underplaying the sheer energy and joy of his own combo’s early efforts.
However, with every act from about the mid-60s onwards, including John Mayall, I do rather subscribe to that point of view. Hey, maybe that’s the klaxon?
Otis Rush or the Bluesbreakers? Otis Rush, please. I suspect that’s what John Mayall would have wanted.
I have. Seen Otis Rush – playing at Buddy Guy’s in Chicago. Played for hours. I have a lot of his records but he is a bit samey. I reckon I’d rather have seen the Bluesbreakers.
Everyone (ok, Mojo Working) always claims this, with every justification, as the most important album Mayall made in terms of influence (first with Les Paul guitar ectect), but I reckon Peter Green’s “The Supernatural” from Mayall’s next line-up was almost as influential, providing a blueprint for Carlos Santana’s entire career:
Big fan here. I bought The World of John Mayall second hand in about 1975 which was a compilation of his early albums therefore full of Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor. As a sprog guitarist this was a brilliant resource and I knew every note. I bought all the early albums, and FWIW I like his voice. There was a local connection too, he came from Macclesfield and went to school with my mate’s dad (the same school Cheshire Cat and I went to). His mum lived next door to one of my first girlfriends.
He was a great band leader, and also quite innovative, moving away from guitar hero blues having created the genre, added horns to a blues band and endlessly experimented with guitar tuning and even numbers of strings on instruments he would cut bits off to make more unique and then hand decorate. It’s a shame he’s gone but he leaves a tremendous legacy.
He was also an accomplished graphic designer/letterer. A lot of musicians try their hand (and our patience) with their own efforts in this field but he was the real deal.
Strangely, I never did get to see him, although I probably saw all of the musicians that went through those early Bluesbreakers lineups.
A vote here for Crusade and Blues from Laurel Canyon, and of course A Hard Road and the Beano album are terrific too. I struggle with Bare Wires and some of the jazzier outings. I know what people mean about his voice, and I don’t think time has been kind to listening to him, but in those early days it was the material that was interesting and sent us down rabbit holes of discovery.
He was clearly a hugely inspirational and influential figure and music wouldn’t have been the same without him.
Here is a less than glowing estimate of the man from a guy with first hand experience.
…he was, quite uniquely in my experience of opening for artists of any kind of stature, a prick.
When I went out to the merch table at the end of the gig to see if I could get some petrol money with a sale or two from the departing audience. The table the venue had set up was really long, at least ten metres end to end. I’m right down the far end from the venue’s exit door with two CD titles.Mayall comes all the way down to the end where I was, starts selling his stuff, all the while elbowing me as hard as he could, shoving me repeatedly in the ribs with his elbow – like he was trying to literally shove me off the table. A table which he could’ve stood at the other end of, closer to where the punters were walking out.
My buddywas there helping me, and as this is happening I’m saying to him “Am I just imagining this or is this really happening? He’s actually shoving me with his elbow isn’t he?”We’re both laughing about it because it was so ridiculous and my friend said “Yes he did the same thing to me in the break between your set and his. He hadn’t even played yet and there he was standing out here selling merchandise before his gig and shoving me in the ribs with his elbow like he’s doing to you right now, at the very far end of this massive long table!
He could hear this discussion and continued doing his sale-and-shove routine without looking up.
What a weirdo.
But, ya know, he has his place in the pantheon for those couple of early records with Clapton and Peter Green. The Blues Alone record is pretty good too.
Doing a John Mayall voice was a necessary accomplishment back at Art School. My favourite albums; Bare Wires, Laurel Canyon, Turning Point. Mojo Working keeps his Bluesbreakers album in a shrine, candle burning eternally.
I wonder who’s going to get the Quite Interesting klaxon here?
Sound that klaxon immediately.
Meagre Mayall vinyl on my shelf, but a large number of other titles in other formats. Obviously a huge and profound influence, but in my book only ever a quite interesting artist in his own right.
No klaxon for you, matey!
He’s earned a break. First saw him and the Bluesbreakers backing John Lee Hooker at the Flamingo in 1964, the band desperately trying to keep up with those 9- and 13-bar blues. He was a regular at the Cricketers in Sarfend over the next few years with the Clapton, Green and Taylor versions of the Bluesbreakers and so was I. Like Junior I was never wholly convinced of his voice, but what a band!
My envy consumes me Thep.
Slowhand let me play a few notes on his Les Paul – not plugged in, sadly.
We are, truly, not worthy.
While only ever owned one of his albums (Empty Rooms), my shelves are filled with countless releases by musicians whose talent he spotted and potential he nurtured,
RIP Mr. Mayall
The stuff he did with the jazz blokes – Blue Mitchell etc was pretty good.
Saw him live twice. Once with Peter Green, Aynsley Dunbar etc. and once with Mick Taylor and a little brass section. Both times at the long-gone Railway Hotel in Wealdstone.
I had all of John Mayall’s albums on vinyl, up to “Turning Point” I think. All now long gone among several house moves and I never saw much need to replace them, apart from “A Hard Road” which I have on CD and the Beano Album which I have in digital form.
He was a truly awful singer (IMO) and a merely decent pianist & guitarist, but his blues scholarship and dedication to the stuff was absolutely solid and he had a knack for spotting up-and-coming musicians.
No klaxon yet …
I’d oblige, HP – but I’m not sure what you’re looking for…
I’ve never knowingly heard any of his stuff ever. Was he the very tall predatory one or was that Long John Baldry?
Do I qualify for the klaxon?
No. It’s something that everybody* knows about John Mayall that has nothing to do with music. If you’re talking about him in a pub or bus queue someone** always mentions this.
*only me, apparently
**no-one, apparently
Sir! Sir! Was it that he used to live in a tree house?
He had a vast collection of pornography going back to the middle ages which was destroyed when his house burned down.
*pornography*
ARRROOGAH!!!! ARRROOGAH!!!! ARRROOGAH!!!!
I think he termed his collection as being made up of “erotica”
Didn’t it as go up in a fire about 30 years ago.
Whoever would have guessed the friction generated by skin rubbing on skin could be so dangerous?
8353 GRANDVIEW DRIVE
Musician lost rock diaries
spanning 25-year period
Rock-blues singer John Mayall’s three-story home was nicknamed “The Brain Damage Club,” because of the great parties thrown there. A private movie-viewing room and swimming pool built into the side of the hill made the house ideal for barbecues and parties.
Mayall and a few friends were watching a movie in the house when the blaze started. They were able to escape, but the house with a film library of 2,000 hours of video-taped movies, many valuable 16th century antiques, a pornography collection dating back to the 1800s and rock’n’roll diaries spanning 25 years, was destroyed.
All that remained was a charred foundation and a hand-painted swimming pool, littered with soot and ash. Two cars, including a restored 1958 Volvo belonging to Mayall’s son Jason, melted completely in the fire.
“We used to have some great barbecues here,” said a blond in clog shoes and shorts, as she looked down on the remains of the Mayall home. “People used to jump out of the third story into the swimmingpool,” she added, looking at a bedroom fireplace, the only remnant of the third floor. Neighbors said he had not yet decided whether to rebuild on the property.
SOURCE: THE INTERNET
I saw him live once, in the late 90s I think – but strangely, I can recall almost nothing about it except a beardy little fat man on a mission, ploughing his way through the crowd after with a huge bag of albums, presumably wanting them all signed.
Ricky Gervais?
Long since ditched everything, aside from two CDs: a 1964-69 comp. (mainly 45s) and ‘The Blues Alone’… neatly, with that second one, avoiding – I think – the klaxon issue.
In 1964, Mick Jagger said something like “I can’t understand anyone wanting to listen to us doing ‘I’m A King Bee’, when they can listen to Slim Harpo doing it” – modestly underplaying the sheer energy and joy of his own combo’s early efforts.
However, with every act from about the mid-60s onwards, including John Mayall, I do rather subscribe to that point of view. Hey, maybe that’s the klaxon?
Otis Rush or the Bluesbreakers? Otis Rush, please. I suspect that’s what John Mayall would have wanted.
I have. Seen Otis Rush – playing at Buddy Guy’s in Chicago. Played for hours. I have a lot of his records but he is a bit samey. I reckon I’d rather have seen the Bluesbreakers.
The Beano was issue 1242 (7th May 1966)
Everyone (ok, Mojo Working) always claims this, with every justification, as the most important album Mayall made in terms of influence (first with Les Paul guitar ectect), but I reckon Peter Green’s “The Supernatural” from Mayall’s next line-up was almost as influential, providing a blueprint for Carlos Santana’s entire career:
Mojo/Concheroo may be the SME – but I think ‘A Hard Road’ was the better album of the two, influential or not…
Big fan here. I bought The World of John Mayall second hand in about 1975 which was a compilation of his early albums therefore full of Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor. As a sprog guitarist this was a brilliant resource and I knew every note. I bought all the early albums, and FWIW I like his voice. There was a local connection too, he came from Macclesfield and went to school with my mate’s dad (the same school Cheshire Cat and I went to). His mum lived next door to one of my first girlfriends.
He was a great band leader, and also quite innovative, moving away from guitar hero blues having created the genre, added horns to a blues band and endlessly experimented with guitar tuning and even numbers of strings on instruments he would cut bits off to make more unique and then hand decorate. It’s a shame he’s gone but he leaves a tremendous legacy.
He was also an accomplished graphic designer/letterer. A lot of musicians try their hand (and our patience) with their own efforts in this field but he was the real deal.
Agreed
Nice tributeTwang
Strangely, I never did get to see him, although I probably saw all of the musicians that went through those early Bluesbreakers lineups.
A vote here for Crusade and Blues from Laurel Canyon, and of course A Hard Road and the Beano album are terrific too. I struggle with Bare Wires and some of the jazzier outings. I know what people mean about his voice, and I don’t think time has been kind to listening to him, but in those early days it was the material that was interesting and sent us down rabbit holes of discovery.
He was clearly a hugely inspirational and influential figure and music wouldn’t have been the same without him.
Thanks John.
Big fan here too. Only saw him once, late 60s. Duster Bennett was support
Could not be said better. Well done, Clappo.
“A bit of chikka-chikka” – always surprises me how fast this is!
That’s a great album. The bass line on “California” is what I always play when I pick up a bass. That sax solo! Fab.
Here is a less than glowing estimate of the man from a guy with first hand experience.
…he was, quite uniquely in my experience of opening for artists of any kind of stature, a prick.
When I went out to the merch table at the end of the gig to see if I could get some petrol money with a sale or two from the departing audience. The table the venue had set up was really long, at least ten metres end to end. I’m right down the far end from the venue’s exit door with two CD titles.Mayall comes all the way down to the end where I was, starts selling his stuff, all the while elbowing me as hard as he could, shoving me repeatedly in the ribs with his elbow – like he was trying to literally shove me off the table. A table which he could’ve stood at the other end of, closer to where the punters were walking out.
My buddywas there helping me, and as this is happening I’m saying to him “Am I just imagining this or is this really happening? He’s actually shoving me with his elbow isn’t he?”We’re both laughing about it because it was so ridiculous and my friend said “Yes he did the same thing to me in the break between your set and his. He hadn’t even played yet and there he was standing out here selling merchandise before his gig and shoving me in the ribs with his elbow like he’s doing to you right now, at the very far end of this massive long table!
He could hear this discussion and continued doing his sale-and-shove routine without looking up.
What a weirdo.
But, ya know, he has his place in the pantheon for those couple of early records with Clapton and Peter Green. The Blues Alone record is pretty good too.
I expect there’s a similar “this man is an arsehole” story for every rock musician who ever made a buck out of the music business.
Dunno about “every” but “plenty” , sure.
If we’re including “elbowing people out of the way” as an arsehole indicator then we’ll be as close to “every” as makes no difference.
Woody Woodmansey continued to beat on cubicle door after fan repeatedly told him it was occupied. “What an arsehole.”
Marc Almond took Scotch Egg from fan’s buffet plate. “What an arsehole.”
Lloyd Cole sat in bus seat reserved for disabled. “What an arsehole.”
That is a misrepresentation of the anecdote.