Best of British blues
D. West | Pittsburgh, PA. | 08/06/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The Father of British blues? Arguably so. In my opinion, John Mayall's career has been nothing less than spectacular. This album is an excellent overview. Joining John on this record is of course, his bluesbreakers band. Superb musicians in every way, especially guitar player Buddy Whittington. But, the guest musicians Buddy Guy, Mavis Staples, CoCo Montoya and x-Stones guitarist Mick Taylor make this album a great listening experience. I love guitar players and what they can do. The 4 who play on this record convinced me that they know what their doing. It seems a lot of listeners equate speed playing with technical prowess. While I do like fast leads and runs, I am more impressed with a players restraint. Shredding 9 thousand notes a minute does not mean you are a good player, too much like overkill and after time it annoys me. These players are clean and concise. Buddy Whittington is an incredible guitarist. He more than holds his own with the likes of Buddy Guy ,Montoya and Taylor. John Mayall has over the years incorporated some tremendous musicians into his bands. Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Andy Frasier(bass player for Free)just to name a few. Eric Clapton, who now is steeped in banality is probably John's most famous protege. To get a real good idea of this mans blues prowess pick up the DVD 70th birthday party for John Mayall. I have friends my age (50) who could'nt do for five minutes what Mayall does for over two hours in this concert. You can get both the cd and dvd here at Amazon. If you truly love the blues, both of these are MUST HAVES."