John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers - Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton [Deluxe Edition] (CD)

All Music Guide

The 40th anniversary deluxe edition of John Mayall's classic Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton album, issued in the U.K. in 2006, is a twoCD, 43song affair, even though the original LP had just 12 tracks. While the many extras aren't nearly as essential as the original LP itself, this reissue neatly packages everything the Clapton lineup of the Bluesbreakers recorded, while still making the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton album the centerpiece. Disc one presents both the mono and stereo mixes of the record, which was not just Mayall's best, but also a cornerstone of both British blues and bluesrock, as well as being the first to showcase Clapton's talents in full bloom (and in a purer blues context than anytime before or since). In common with many such monostereo packages for CD reissues, most listeners won't find the differences drastic, but sometimes they're noticeable in mono, Mayall's vocal on "All Your Love" has a much hollower, echoing feel, and "Parchman Farm" has keyboards that... are inaudible in the stereo mix (which, in turn, has a longer harmonica intro for the same song).Clapton lineup recorded in 1965 and 1966 that didn't appear on the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton album. This includes the 1965 "I'm Your Witch Doctor"/"Telephone Blues" single, the Aside of which is not only one of the Bluesbreakers' greatest recordings, but one of the great rock nonhit singles of the '60s by anyone, with searing futuristic distorted guitar. Also on hand is the fine late1965 soulpopflavored studio recording "On Top of the World," and the less impressive, more traditional blues of the obscure "Bernard Jenkins"/"Lonely Years" single. Then there are eight previously unreleased 19651966 BBC recordings, only one of them ("Key to Love") of a song that appeared on the Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton record; the other tracks include radio versions of "I'm Your Witchdoctor," "On Top of the World," the early Mayall single "Crawling Up a Hill"/"Crocodile Walk," and three cool numbers the Bluesbreakers never put on their '60s studio records ("Cheating Woman," "Bye Bye Bird," and "Nowhere to Turn"). Rounding out the disc are the halfdozen 1966 live recordings (with both Clapton and Jack Bruce in the band) that have appeared on compilations (five of them on Primal Solos, and the sixth, "They Call It Stormy Monday," on the Looking Back collection). The sound on the BBC cuts is decent, though the performances not as full and cutting as the Clapton lineup's studio work; the live material is in fuzzier sound, though listenable. Despite the uneven nature of the second disc, however, it's great to have all of this MayallClapton material in one place, and impossible to imagine a more definitive collection of the MayallClapton Bluesbreakers recordings. [The Deluxe Edition contains live and unreleased versions.] - Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide Read more Less