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Out of Reach - John Mayall's Bluesbreakers




In the sixties, John Mayall was the John the Baptist of the British blues scene, giving one rock Messiah after another the crucial dunking in the Thameside music scene.


Sometime in 1965 Eric Clapton returned to the Bluesbreakers, having taken a break to tour Greece with the band Glands, and for a few gigs played in a line-up that included bass player Jack Bruce, before the latter left to join Manfred Mann. As a result, a year later, when forming Cream with ginger Baker, Clapton insisted Bruce join the band as bassist and vocalist.


Annoyingly for Mayall, when it was time to record the follow-up to the very successful "Beano Album" (see last post). Clapton was still away in Greece. When the the recording engineer said "Where’s Eric Clapton?" Mayall famously replied: "He’s not with us anymore, but don’t worry, we’ve got someone better". That "someone" was the nineteen year old Peter Green, who, playing gigs with the Bluesbreakers since Eric's departure, had effectively, silenced complaining Clapton devotees with his virtuosity.


The album "A Hard Road", released in 1966, all but matched its predecessor for success, reaching number 10 in the UK albums chart. Like Clapton before him, Green's period with Mayall provided inspiration for a whole style of rock guitar playing, spawning a generation of disciples, not least amongst whom was Carlos Santana (see previous post https://www.unclestylus.com/single-post/2020/07/30/the-supernatural-john-mayall-and-the-bluesbreakersreviousm).


The following year Green left Mayall to form Fleetwood Mac, enlisting Bluesbreakers Mick Fleetwood on drums and (eventually) John McVie on bass, making Mayall yet again an unwitting midwife to the birth of one of the major bands of the rock epoch.


Here Green shows, on "Out of Reach", a track recorded at the same time as "A Hard Road" and later collected on "Thru the Years", why he became know as "the Green God" - a reference to the oft chalked graffiti and tee-shirt slogan "Clapton is God" of the time - with a scorching guitar solo which exemplifies what I can only call his unique tone of intimacy which is simultaneously suffused with generosity. Not to mention his laconic, yet angst ridden vocals, more like the voice of God than Clapton's ever were.



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