From My Collection: George Benson's Breezin'

By Richard K. Barry

Breezin' topped the Pop, Jazz, and R&B album charts in Billboard, and it contained two hit singles, the title track and "This Masquerade."

The album won multiple prizes at the 19th Grammy Awards in 1976, including Best Pop Instrumental Performance for George Benson and Best Engineered Album (Non-Classical) for Al Schmitt. "This Masquerade" won Record of the Year for Tommy LiPuma and Benson.

It's interesting that the only vocal track on the album, "This Masquerade," made George Benson a pop superstar, though it is, according to AllMusic, the least representative track on the album. On the cut, Benson scats along with a single-string guitar solo.

As Rovi at AllMusic writes:

Most of Breezin' is a softer-focused variation of Benson's R&B/jazz-flavored CTI work, his guitar as assured and fluid as ever with Claus Ogerman providing the suave orchestral backdrops and his crack then-working band (including Ronnie Foster on keyboards and sparkplug Phil Upchurch on rhythm guitar) pumping up the funk element.

The title track, "Breezin'," has become a smooth jazz standard, which for some people is, I suppose, a bad thing. I've always liked the tune. In fact, there is a lot of music in the smooth jazz category that I like. There, I said it.

The tracks are:

"Breezin'" (Bobby Womack)
"This Masquerade" (Leon Russell)
"Six to Four" (Phil Upchurch)
"Affirmation (Jose Feliciano)
"So This is Love?" (George Benson)
"Lady" (Ronnie Foster)

I guess I should say that some people like Gabor Szabo's 1971 recording of "Breezin'" with composer Bobby Womack even more than Benson's version. I'll post both. You can judge for yourself. (And about that judging part, I'm just joking. Both versions are very nice.)



(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

From My Collection: John Cougar's American Fool

By Richard K. Barry

American Fool was John Mellencamp's sixth album, released in 1982. He was calling himself John Cougar at the time, though this was the last album to be released under that stage name.

This was his big break, reaching #1 on the Billboard 200 chart that year.

As a single, "Jack and Diane" reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Hurts So Good" reached #2 and "Hand to Hold On To" got to #19.

Here's the Allmusic review of the album, for what it's worth:

John Cougar's first albums were so bereaved of strong material that the lean swagger of American Fool came as a shock. The difference is evident from the opening song, "Hurts So Good," a hard, Stonesy rocker with an irresistibly sleazy hook. Cougar never wrote anything as catchy as this before, nor had his romantic vision of small-town America resonated like it did on "Jack & Diane," a minor and remarkably affecting sketch of dead-end romance. These two songs are the only true keepers on American Fool, but the rest of the record works better than his previous material because his band is tighter than ever before, making his weaker moments convincing. Besides, songs like "Hand to Hold On To" and "China Girl," for all their faults, do indicate that his sense of craft is improving considerably.

I would take issue with the review only in the sense that "Jack and Diane" was not primarily a sketch of "dead-end romance," but a sketch of "dead-end life." I always thought "life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone" was one of the finest lines in rock and roll music. For me, it's right up there with Mellencamp's title track to the 1983 album Pink Houses.

Maybe I'm just partial to Mellencamp because he demanded John McCain's campaign stop using "Pink Houses" and "Our Country" at political events during the 2008 campaign. Mellencamp explained his support for the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. McCain's campaign stopped using the songs.

Mellencamp latter played "Pink Houses" at an Obama inaugural event in 2009 to drive home the point.

All songs on American Fool were written by John Mellencamp, except where noted: 

• Hurts So Good (Mellencamp, George M. Green) 
• Jack & Diane 
• Hand to Hold On To 
• Danger List (Mellencamp, Larry Crane) 
• Can You Take It 
• Thundering Hearts (Mellencamp, Green) 
• China Girl (Joe New, Jeff Silbar) 
• Close Enough 
• Weakest Moments 

Here's "Jack and Diane," and, because I may not get back to Mellencamp for a while, "Pink Houses" below that. I love both of these tunes.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

From My Collection: Davey Graham's Folk Blues And All Points In Between

By Richard K. Barry 

There are certain recording artists that you're a little afraid to say anything about because their fans are a bit different than other music fans. I'm not talking about people who really like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones and can tell you everything there to know about every cut on every album and every live performance. They're bad enough, but in a sense these bands belong to everyone and we all know a little something so each of us can feel okay claiming some ownership.

It's the artists who are a little more obscure, though great, that worry me. There are always a handful of people out there who so closely identify with said artist that to say anything that might not be perfect is to invite their derision as a poser. Even if you don't say anything wrong, it's just the idea that you are illegitimately placing yourself in proximity to the great one that rankles.

I find this attitude particularly alive among jazz fans.

British folk guitarist legend Davey Graham can also fall into this category. I once knew a guy who may have been Graham's biggest fan. He even went to England to track him down. I haven't seen this particular fan in years, but he's the type to which I refer.

Davey Graham was a legendary British guitarist in the genre of fingerstyle acoustic guitar, who came up in the sixties. People like John Martyn, Paul Simon, John Renbourne, Bert Jansch, and Matin Carthy were influenced by Graham, as were the folk rock bands Pentangle and Fairport Convention, and a lot of other people.

As an acoustic guitar player, I can appreciate the fact that Graham pioneered the DADGAD guitar tuning, which is a different way to tune the strings on a guitar, used extensively in Celtic music. It's not clear if he invented it but it is closely associated with him.

His best known song is a tune called Anji or Angi, which was recorded by Paul Simon and appears on Simon and Garfunkel's 1966 ablum Sounds of Silence.

I have always thought of Graham as a folk musician, but it is hard to deny that he could do magical things with blues and jazz and Middle Eastern music.

I count 19 albums if you include compilations and collaborations.

Graham famously battled drug abuse, but it was lung cancer that killed him in 2008.

The album I have on the turntable (you heard right) at the moment is called Folk Blues And All Points In Between.

According to the website Folk Blues & Beyond, this album was a re-release of previous material. Side one contains ten songs from the 1964 album Folk, Blues and Beyond. Side two features seven tracks from three albums he did in the late 1960s.

As Richie Unterberger writes:

The 1964 record was probably his most accomplished, as Graham handled blues, jazz, and Northern African music with aplomb. His other '60s recordings were more erratic, but the highlights gathered here matched his mid-1960s work, peaking with the original "No Preacher Blues," his folk-jazz cover of Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now," and the Indian-influenced "Blue Raga."

The track listing is as follows:

Side One
1. Leaving blues
2. Cocaine
3. Rock me baby
4. Moanin'
5. Skillet
6. Ain't nobody's business if I do
7. Maajun
8. I can't keep from crying sometimes
9. Going down slow
10. Better git it in your soul

Side Two
1. Freight train blues
2. Both sides now
3. No preacher blues
4. Bad boy blues
5. I'm ready
6. Hoochie coochie man
7. Blue raga

There, I hope I didn't offend any true fan. Here's a song from the album, originally recorded, as noted, in 1964 for Folk Blues and Beyond. It's a Graham original called "Maajun (A Taste of Tangier)." The Eastern influences are obvious, if the title didn't give it away.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

From My Collection - Seals & Crofts' I'll Play For You

By Richard K. Barry

I'll Play For You was Seals & Crofts' seventh studio album. The title track climbed to #18 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1975.

Seals & Crofts were a band that consisted of Jim Seals and Dash Crofts. Their music is typically categorized as soft rock, though I have always hated that term. Might as well say crappy rock. I prefer to call it music. If you're a saxophone and acoustic guitar playing folk music fan drawn to what we used to call folk-rock with an interest in jazz, Seals & Crofts actually make sense. They did for me.

They were fairly huge in the 1970s with hits like "Get Closer," "Summer Breeze," and "Diamond Girl."

This album, I'll Play For You, along with their Greatest Hits compilation were without a doubt my favourite albums while in high school. Acoustic guitars, mandolins, saxophones: how could that fail to be cool? Seriously, though, they were big at the time. As I recall, the theme song of my high school prom was "We Shall Never Pass This Way Again," from their 1973 album Diamond Girl. I know, typical high school navel gazing.

Tracks are (all songs written by Seals & Crofts, except where noted):

• I'll Play for You 
• Golden Rainbow (James Seals, Dash Crofts, Roger Johnson, Bobby Lichtig, Jim Varley) 
• Castles in the Sand 
• Blue Bonnet Nation 
• Ugly City 
• Wayland the Rabbit 
• Freaks Fret 
• Truth Is But a Woman 
• Fire and Vengeance 

This is the title track:

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

From My Collection - The McGarrigles' Dancer with Bruised Knees

By Richard K. Barry

Kate and Anna McGarrigle (The McGarrigles) were a pair of singer-songwriters from Quebec. They performed as a duo until Kate's death on January 18, 2010.

Having lived in Canada for many years and as part of the Canadian folk scene for much of it, I have a special appreciation for the McGarrigles. The term is overused, but they are a Canadian treasure. It's difficult to explain their music if you have never heard it. Terrifically original material, wonderful family harmonies, traditional styles and more - in both English and French language.

As the Wiki states:

Their songs have been covered by a variety of artists including Maria Mulduar, Nana Mouskouri, Linda Ronstadt, Emmylou Harris, Bill Bragg, Chloe Saint-Marie, Judy Collins, Anne Sofie von Otter, and others. The covers of their songs by well known artists led to the McGarrigles getting their first recording contract in 1974. They created ten albums from 1975 through 2008.

Like a lot of people, I first heard them in their performance of a version of Wade Hemsworth's song, "The Log Driver's Waltz," which was the famous soundtrack for a 1979 animated film by the Canadian National Film Board.

Dancer with Bruised Knees is a 1977 album by Kate and Anna McGarrigle (writing credits noted):

Side One
Dancer with Bruised Knees (Anna)
Southern Boys (Kate)
No Biscuit Blues (William Dumaresq/Galt MacDermott)
First Born (Kate)
Blanche comme la neige - traditional, arrangement by Kate and Anna
Perrine était servante - traditional, arrangement by Kate and Anna

Side Two
Be My Baby (Anna)
Walking Song (Kate)
Naufragée du tendre (Anna/Philippe Tatartcheff)

Hommage à Grungie (Kate)
Kitty Come Home (Anna)
Come a Long Way (Kate)

If you are going to be anywhere near Toronto on June 15, 2012, you may want to check out a special concert at Massey Hall, part of the annual Luminato Festival, which will features the songs of Kate McGarrigle performed by a very impressive line-up.

This is from the write-up on the website:

Following all-star salutes in London and New York, Luminato brings together singer-songwriter legend Kate McGarrigle’s family and friends to celebrate her inspiring life and work. Kate’s sisters, Anna and Jane, her children, Rufus and Martha Wainwright, and her niece and nephew, Lily and Sylvan Lanken, and Anna’s husband, Dane Lanken, will be joined by Emmylou Harris, Bruce Cockburn, Peggy Seeger, and more than a dozen others. Additional performers to be added, stay tuned to this web page for more details.

The title of the featured song, from the album, is called "Walking Song."

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

From My Collection - Dave Mason's Let It Flow

By Richard K. Barry


Let It Flow is a 1977 album by Dave Mason, English singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Some time ago I posted Joe Cocker doing a Mason composition, "Feelin' Alright," originally recorded by Traffic, which I would have to guess is Mason's best known song. In fact, Mason co-founded Traffic.

Let it Flow is Mason's best-selling and best-known album, containing, as it does, the hit "We Just Disagree," which I certainly rate as one of the best break-up songs of all time. It's a real "cry-in-your-beer" tune.

As one reviewer of the album put it:

It's a pinnacle of creamy-smooth, ultra-slick California soft rock on a par with the collected works of Linda Ronstadt. 

There's nothing here that rocks even as hard as his boogie classic "Feelin' Alright" from his days with Traffic, but that's no bad thing. Hear "Let it Flow" and know the meaning of mellow.

All true, but sometimes mellow is okay and there are some really great tunes on this album.

Side One:
So High (Rock Me Baby, Roll Me Away) - (M. Williams, J. Conrad)
We Just Disagree (J. Krueger)
Mystic Traveller (D. Mason)
Spend Your Life With Me (A. Gagliano)
Takin' The Time To Find (D. Mason)

Side Two:
Let It Go, Let It Flow (Dave Mason)
Then It's Alright (D. Mason)
Seasons (A. Gagliano)
We Just Have To Wait Now (D. Mason)
What Do We Got Here? (J. Krueger)

Another reviewer had this to say:

Let It Flow was the biggest selling album that Dave Mason had while on Columbia, as it contained his biggest hit, "We Just Disagree," as well as "Let It Go, Let It Flow." Everything here is similar in character to the latter song, though not all of it is as catchy or hook-driven. And there is a great deal else to recommend this record, including the horn-and-string ornamented "Mystic Traveler"; the soaring, soulful "Spend Your Life with Me"; the funky "Takin' the Time to Find"; and the soulful "What Do We Got Here?"

As I listen to the album again I recognize that it's definitely a period piece, though a good period for me. I remember it fondly.

Here's the biggest hit from Let it Flow, "We Just Disagree." It was written by Jim Krueger, was the second single released from the album, and reached number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1977.

If the song sounds more recent than that to you, it may be because it was later covered in 1993 by country singer Billy Dean. It was released in November 1993 as the fourth and final single from his album Fire in the Dark and was a Top Ten hit on the country music charts, peaking at #9.

Here are both versions.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

From My Collection: Dreamboat Annie

By Richard K. Barry

Dreamboat Annie was Heart's debut album with a release date of February 14, 1976. That pretty much puts it in the wheelhouse of my musical coming of age, which means I was 17 at the time. In my memory, Heart was what music was all about in the mid-70's.

The hard rock, heavy metal and folk influences were clear. It seems you had to be able to bounce between these genre to be popular among certain kinds of music fans. In my circle that meant faux cerebral, dorky kids. We all loved Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Rick Wakeman, The Alan Parson's Project, and Yes - groups like that. I always think of Yes and their song "And You and I" as a part of this with that incredible 12 string acoustic guitar riff before the hard rock part.

You can be fairly sure an album fits into this class if it has a "reprise" on it.

And if you don't believe there were folk influences in Heart's music, listen for the banjo part in the title track, "Dreamboat Annie." Don't you know? Banjo = folk music.

Heart had its origins around the Seattle area in the 60's and 70's. The only constant members of the group were sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. What I didn't realize was that, as a result of a band member going to Canada to avoid the draft, and others following, Heart had their first real success in Canada. This is what happens to bands deemed "Canadian" by the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). It basically means it's easier for them to get airplay on Canadian radio and maybe launch a career. It's called "Canadian content" - a long story, and somewhat controversial in Canadian cultural politics, but I can't go into it here. The link will tell you all about it, if you really need to know.

As far as I remember, Heart was always associated with the Wilson sisters, but there is a long and complicated band history, involving lots of other people, if you want to refer to the Wiki.

As I write these posts, I always have the album on in the background. It's a great recording. If you haven't dusted it off in a while, give it a whirl (or whatever the digitized equivalent would be).

Album tracks are:

Side One:
Magic Man (Ann and Nancy Wilson)
Dreamboat Annie - Fantasy Child (Ann and Nancy Wilson)
Crazy on You ( Ann and Nancy Wilson)
Soul of the Sea (Ann and Nancy Wilson)
Dreamboat Annie (Ann and Nancy Wilson)

Side Two:
White Lightening and Wine (Ann and Nancy Wilson)
I'll Be Your Song (Ann and Nancy Wilson)
Sing Child (Wilson, Wilson, Fossen and Fisher)
How Deep It Goes (Ann Wilson)
Dreamboat Annie - Reprise (Ann and Nancy Wilson)

Musician Credits:
Lead Vocals - Ann Wilson
Acoustic Guitar - Nancy Wilson
Flute - Ann Wilson
Piano - Rob Deans
Bass - Steve Fossen
Drums - Kat Hendrikse
Banjo - Geoff Foubert
Backing Vocals - Nancy Wilson, Geoff Foubert, Tessie Bensussen and Jim Hall
Orchestral Arrangements - Howard Leese and Rob Deans
Tympani - Mike Flicker

The title track is great, but I'm going with my favourite, "Magic Man."

 

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

From My Collection - Harry Belafonte: Jump Up Calypso

By Richard K. Barry

This is an album by Harry Belafonte, an American singer, songwriter, and actor. It was released in 1961.

Belafonte has also been a social activist of some significance for much of his life. I'm currently working my way through his autobiography, which came out last year. It's called My Song: A Memoir.

Besides covering his rise an an entertainer and his own struggles as a black man in the '50s and '60s dealing with racism in his profession, it also tells of his intimate involvement in the civil rights movement, including his association with Martin Luther King. It's a good read.

In the '50s, Belafonte was known as the "King of Calypso" for bringing the Caribbean style of music to a wider audience. Likely his best known song is "The Banana Boat Song," with the signature lyric "Day-O."

He was born in Harlem to a mother of Jamaican decent, and though he spent time in the Caribbean growing up, as he notes in his book, his status as an American citizen may have saved him from being deported at various times for his social activism. Though we don't have the time or space to cover much of his activism, it was significant, as was his success as a performer, which helped him bankroll many of his political and social interests over the years. All in all, a very interesting story.

While known best for Calypso music, he recorded in many styles, including blues, folk, show tunes, and American standards.

Jump Up Calypso reached number three on the Billboard Pop Album Chart. Tracks are:

Side One:

Sweetheart from Venezuela (Alexander, Gordon)

Go Down Emanuel Road (Irving Burgie)

The Baby Boy (Alexander, Claverly)

Gloria (Ryan)

Land of Sea and Son (Burgie)

Goin' Down Jordon (Burgie, Woods)

Side Two:

Jump in the Line (Bell)

Kingston Market (Burgie)

Monkey (Burgie, Span)

These are the Times (Burgie)

Bally Mena (Burgie, Robert de Cormier)

Angelina (Burgie)

If you've bothered to read this list carefully, you may be wondering who Irving Burgie is. Here's a part of the Songwriters Hall of Fame entry for him:

Irving Burgie has long been acknowledged as one of the greatest composers of Caribbean music. His songs to date have sold over 100 million records throughout the world. Irving's classic Caribbean standards include such familiar hits as "Day-O," "Jamaica Farewell," "Island In The Sun," "Angelina," and he was co-writer of "Mary's Boy Child."

Irving Burgie has written some 35 songs recorded by Harry Belafonte, including 8 of the 11 songs on Harry's 1956 album, Calypso (the first album in America to sell over one million copies). Irving penned songs for the Kingston Trio ("The Seine," "El Matador," and "The Wanderer") and for other groups. His song "Day-O" appears in the "We Are The World" video, and is featured in the hit film Beetlejuice.

Since we are talking about Calypso music, I thought it might be appropriate also to acknowledge Burgie. It is amazing that 35 songs of his were recorded by Harry Belafonte. "Day-O," as noted, was featured in the film Beetlejuice. Another song featured in that film is "Jump in the Line," which is actually on Jump Up Calypso, the album we are discussing here, both songs performed by Harry Belafonte in the movie.

Here's a clip of "Jump in the Line" as it appeared in Beetlejuice, a film directed by Tim Burton and starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, and Winona Ryder. Always loved this scene.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

From My Collection: Eric is Here: Eric Burdon & The Animals

By Richard K. Barry

Eric Burdon

This 1967 album was credited to Eric Burdon & The Animals, but the band with Burdon was actually the Horace Ott Orchestra. Interesting note about Horace Ott is that, though not formally credited, he was the writer of The Animals hit "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" and arranger of the Village People's hit YMCA. I guess, on the second one, a man's got to make a living.

The reason Ott was on Eric is Here is that it was released during a gap between the time the original configuration of The Animals broke up and a new one could be put together, hence the stand-in band.

The album features the work of various very serious songwriting talent of the day, with Burdon on vocals backed up by the orchestra. Tracks are as follows:

Side One

• In the Night (Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart)
• Mama Told Me Not To Come (Randy Newman)
• I Think It's Gonna Rain Today (Randy Newman)
• On This Side of Goodbye (Carole King and Gerry Goffin)
• That Ain't Where It's At (Martin Siegel)
• True Love (Comes Only Once In A Lifetime) (Bob Haley and Neval Nader)

Side Two

• Help Me Girl (Scott English and Lawrence Weiss)
• Wait Till Next Year (Randy Newman)
• Losin' Control (Carl D'Errico and Roger Atkins)
• It's Not Easy (Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil)
• The Biggest Bundle of Them All (Richie Cordell and Sal Trimachi)
• It's Been A Long Time Comin' (Joe Brooks and Jimmy Radcliffe)

It would take too long to go through all the music written by those named in the links above, but it would be worth the effort to have a look. Some you would know, others not so much.

Another interesting item is that Benny Golson, noted saxophone player, composer and arranger, was the arranger and conductor on Eric is Here. Huge talent. You could look that one up too.

My favourite cut is Newman's "Mama Told Me Not To Come," which a lot of folks will know from the Three Dog Night version, so I'll post both.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

From My Collection: Jefferson Airplane Takes Off

By Richard K. Barry 

(Ed. note: Almost exactly a year ago, as a big Jefferson Airplane fan, I blogged about Grace Slick's awesomeness. -- MJWS) 

The original Jefferson Airplane

Recently, I've taken to writing about my own music collection just for the hell of it, and maybe finding a YouTube clip in support.

Last week it was The Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton. This week I found Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, which was the first album by the group, released in September 1966. After this one came out, the female singer, Signe Toly Anderson, left the group to be replaced by Grace Slick, and the rest, as they say, is history.

This first album is undoubtedly more of a folk-rock thing rather than the harder edged psychedelic style for which the group later become famous with Slick on lead vocals. 

I got a bit of a kick out of some promotional language on the back cover, that the band had a "Jet Age Sound." Yeah, well, kind of sounds like Austin Powers helped write the liner notes. Yeah, baby!

Full listing of personnel for Jefferson Airplane Takes Off is:

Marty Balin: vocals, rhythm guitar
Signe Toly Anderson: vocals, percussion
Jorma Kaukonen: lead guitar

Paul Kantner: rhythm guitar, vocals
Jack Casady: bass
Skip Spence: drums
Spencer Dryden: drums

Marty Balin, who founded Jefferson Airplane and had earlier been a part of the folk-revival, was influenced by The Byrds and Simon & Garfunkel and the merging of folk and rock as he got things going with the band. He was even in a folk group once called the Town Criers. Can't get much folkier than that.

There's a really interesting version of Dino Valenti's "Get Together" on the album, always one of my favourite folk-rock songs. The album also contains John Loudermilk's "Tobacco Road," certainly more in the folk genre.

Other songs, mostly original, are "Blues from an Airplane" (Balin, Spence); "Let Me In" (Balin, Kantner); "Bringing Me Down" (Balin, Kantner); "It's No Secret" (Balin); "Come Up the Years" (Balin, Kantner); "Run Around" (Balin, Kantner); "Don't Slip Away" (Balin, Spence); "Chauffeur Blues" (Lester Melrose); and "I Like It" (Balin, Kaukonen).

It's a nice album, actually, that might provide a sense of bigger things to come for the group. I think it's easy to hear how the band might have developed in the direction they did with albums like Surrealistic Pillow, their second offering, this time with Grace Slick and songs like "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit." You still had Balin, Kaukonen, and Kantner on board, so no great surprise, but the difference is also pronounced.

One of the funnier bits of information I found about the first album had to do with record executives scrubbing lyrics to make them more mainstream:

RCA initially pressed only 15,000 copies, but it sold more than 10,000 in San Francisco alone, prompting the label to reprint it. For the re-pressing, the company deleted "Runnin' Round This World" (which had appeared on early mono pressings), because executives objected to the word "trip" in the lyrics. For similar reasons, RCA also substituted altered versions for two other tracks: "Let Me In", changing the line "you shut your door; you know where" to "you shut your door; now it ain't fair." In the same song, they also switched the lyric "Don't tell me you want money" to "Don't tell me it ain't funny." "Run Around" was also edited, changing the line "flowers that sway as you lay under me" to "flowers that sway as you stay here by me". The original pressings of the LP featuring "Runnin' 'Round The World" and the uncensored versions of "Let Me In" and "Run Around" are now worth thousands of dollars on the collectors' market.

Not to sound like an old crank, because I really don't care one way or the other, but given what gets released these days, that is pretty funny.

Here's "Let Me In," the uncensored version.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)

From My Collection: Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton

By Richard K. Barry

One of the best reasons to blog, or to write at all, is that it forces you to do a little research and maybe dig a bit deeper than you might otherwise into subject matter that interests you.

I love music and consider myself as much an expert as anyone who doesn't make a living at it. Not to be falsely modest because I play gigs around town in Toronto in a blues band and have a good working knowledge of a number of genre, but there just aren't that many hours in the day to know as much as I might like to know. So I write and pick up what I can along the way.

I don't mind getting things wrong from time to time, so, if I do, please feel free to correct me. Let's face it, most of the information I'm getting is coming from the internet, and we know how sketchy that can be. Books and liner notes provide some other stuff. Anyway, the point is that there is nothing malicious in any errors that might occur. It's just the start of a conversation if you want it to be.

As an exercise, I've decided to look through my own substantial music collection, see what's there, and maybe write a few lines about different recordings and post a relevant video more, again, as a learning exercise than anything else.

This morning I walked over to where I keep my vinyl and pulled out, completely at random, Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton. The album was released in the UK on July 22, 1966. Personnel on the record are John Mayall (vocals/piano/organ/harmonica); Eric Clapton (vocals/guitar); John McVie (bass/guitar); and Hughie Flint (drums).

(By the way, it seems that the Blues Breakers name sometimes appears as two words with a capitalized second word, and sometimes as one word. Imagine that, studio marketing departments being inconsistent).

One of the cooler things from my perspective is that a horn section was added to the recording with Alan Skidmore on tenor sax, John Almond on baritone sax and Dennis Healey on trumpet.

The Bluesbreakers was John Mayall's band, and are typically called John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. They went through a ton of band members over the years (complete list on the wiki) with Clapton being the most famous, as a member of the group in 1965-66. He had previously been with the Yardbirds and would form Cream with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker afterwords.

By the looks of things, this was the only album Clapton did with the Bluesbreakers.


Just because these things are never simple, Mayall used the name the Bluesbreakers from 1963 to 1967, dropped it for 15 years, and then started using it again in 1983 and has used it ever since. There appear to be just under 40 albums under that name but Mayall recorded with other configurations between 1967 to 1983, for what it's worth.

As the names suggest, the Bluesbreakers were a blues band.

The album in question here, Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton, is about as straight-ahead blues as you can get with several tunes in the pure Chicago style like Otis Rush's "All Your Love" and Freddie King's "Hide Away." Mayall wrote or arranged five of the songs. Notably, Clapton debuted as a lead vocalist on the album with Robert Johnson's "Ramblin' on My Mind."

Other offerings are: "Little Girl" (Mayall); "Another Man" (arr. Mayall); "Double Crossing Time" (Mayall/Clapton); "What'D I Say" (Charles); "Key To Love" (Mayall); "Parchman Farm" (Allison); "Have You Heard" (Mayall); "Steppin' Out" (L.C. Frazier); and "It Ain't Right" (Jacobs).

As for the legacy of the album, in 2003, it was ranked number 195 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time and has also no doubt been one of the most influential blues albums of all time.

Here's a clip of a reunion concert of some sort with Mayall and Clapton doing Hide Away.





(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)