Unique versions of both well-loved and first-heard material
Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 05/03/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Given the BBC's unique archiving policy in previous decades, it is a very welcome surprise to discover that these early John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers sessions still exist at all, let alone in such pristine quality as found here. A lot of early BBC sessions have only survived on World Service transcription discs of programmes, and so have disc-jockey voice-overs on them, but these are free of such irritations.
Ken Garner's invaluable book In Session Tonight gives the date the original band passed their audition as July 1964, and their first session as 30 October 1965, so it was a complete surprise to me to find that the first three tracks here come from a Saturday Club session dated 26 April 1965. The three tracks included from this session comprise re-workings of the band's first two singles, Crawling Up A Hill and Crocodile Walk, as well as an unrecorded version of Sonny Boy Williamson's Bye Bye Bird. The singles, from 1964, featured Roger Dean on guitar, but the line-up of the Bluesbreakers was frequently changing and by the time of this session he had been replaced by Eric Clapton, so this disc affords a unique opportunity to hear what he brought to these John Mayall songs. His previous band, the Yardbirds, featured a number of Sonny Boy Williamson songs and even backed him onstage, so the third number may well have been his choice.
The second session, here dated 25 October 1965, conversely, is thought to feature Jeff Kribit from Dr K's Blues Band on guitar, standing in for Clapton who was away in Greece, and included I'm Your Witchdoctor in a version without his witchy-woo guitar effects, and two otherwise unrecorded Mayall originals.
The two titles from the 14 March 1966 session included another unrecorded original and a unique version of Key To Love without the horn section that graced the Beano album version (Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton) when it was recorded a month later.
By 23 January 1967 Eric Clapton had left, taking Jack Bruce with him. Peter Green and John McVie were of course to later follow the same path by forming Fleetwood Mac, but are here performing recent single Sitting In The Rain, Leaping Christine (from A Hard Road, where a horn section was again featured) and Ridin' On The L&N, which had featured on an EP that was a collaboration with harmonica player Paul Butterfield and sounds quite different here.
In Session Tonight then lists two sessions for John Peel's Top Gear show, each featuring Mick Taylor in place of Peter Green. Given the paltry playing time of 37 minutes on this CD, one can only presume that both of these sessions have been irredeemably lost, because the CD then jumps awkwardly to a very different band performing on Bob Harris's Old Grey Whistle Test programme on 21 October 1975 for the final two tracks. Despite Don "Sugarcane" Harris on violin and Dee McKinnie's lead vocals, it was a jump too far for this listener in this context. I do hope the intervening sessions turn up for a future re-issue, but in the meantime there is an excellent alternative history to be unearthed here.
"
Disappointing
Marcus Aurelius | PA USA | 06/02/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"The cuts that should have Clapton on don't, and the cuts that have Peter Green on don't feature him. Historic, if you're interested in the history of John Mayall. Disappointing if you loved the Bluesbreakers with Clapton and Green."
Good But Hardly Essential
Kurt Harding | Boerne TX | 04/12/2007
(3 out of 5 stars)
"My interest in the music of John Mayall goes way back and I'm a fool for almost anything that's issued in his name as long as its not another rearranged and repackaged compilation of songs I already have several times over. Recently, there have been a number of live albums of earlier material appear on the market. Some of these are very good, and some, like Live at the BBC are merely decent.
The songs on this compilation are mostly from some BBC sessions recorded in the mid-60s, with the last two from 1975. My favorites here are Crawling Up A Hill, Crocodile Walk, I'm Your Witchdoctor, Sitting In The Rain and Leaping Christine. While listening, note that Cheating Woman has a line that Cream later filches and which perhaps Mayall filched from elsewhere. Key to Love stands out as being very different from the version most Mayall fans are used to hearing. The two songs from the seventies are with a band that is one of my least favorite lineups and both are far too jivey a la Sly Stone for my taste.
Overall, Live at the BBC is good, but hardly essential. If you are a Mayall completist, then by all means you must have this. But if you are on a budget or merely discriminating, I would recommend Mayall Plays Mayall:Live at Klooks Kleek for a taste of the early days instead."
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1