Hard Road, A [Remastered] - John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers

...around lastfm.com, I discovered “A Hard Road”, which was their third album, released in 1967. I haven’t listened to any of them properly yet, but thought, I need to pick and album and stick to it.

'''The Band'''

Not knowing anything about the band, I decide that it would be prudent to research them, so a journey to Wikipedia was scheduled. Simply put, they say:

_”John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are a pioneering ...
.../>
=== The Hard Road ===

Released in 1969, at this point, Clapton had left, and the band was now John Mayall (guitar / vocals / piano), Peter Green (lead guitar), John McVie (bass) and Aysnsley Dunbar (drums).

'''A Hard Road'''

Starting off we blend into something typically blues, it is exactly what I expected from the genre (tune wise). There is a strong drum beat, and guitars and piano mixed in the ... more

I was recently set a challenge. You see plod951 had complained to me, that while my music good, he never knows any of the bands I review. So, I took it upon myself to do a review that he would be able to read and know what I was talking about, and thought the best way to do this, was to get him to suggest who I need to review.

His suggestion was John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.

Next, I had the difficult decision to decide what album I should review, a quick search around lastfm.com, I discovered “A Hard Road”, which was their third album, released in 1967. I haven’t listened to any of them properly yet, but thought, I need to pick and album and stick to it.

The Band

Not knowing anything about the band, I decide that it would be prudent to research them, so a journey to Wikipedia was scheduled. Simply put, they say:

”John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are a pioneering English blues band, led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall, OBE”

Sounds interesting, I think I have heard of that guy before, but then some of the other band members struck me, namely, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie – three of the founding members of Fleetwood Mac, and then Eric Clapton.

So far so good, while blues isn’t a genre of music I am majorly fond of, I tend to like the older music, and with those members having been in the band, they have immediately gained some credence. To date, the band have released over 50 albums (so I really did have quite a few to choose from) and the members have evolved ridiculously, with Wikipedia listing about 25 ex-band members.

So who is this John Mayall guy?

Born in 1933 and still going… not too bad, considering my Nan is on her second new hip now.. Mayall doesn’t just play the guitar, he is also a pianist and plays the harmonica and in 2005 was given an OBE, the other piece of important info I found, was that he used to live in a Tree House in his Mum’s garden…

The Hard Road

Released in 1969, at this point, Clapton had left, and the band was now John Mayall (guitar / vocals / piano), Peter Green (lead guitar), John McVie (bass) and Aysnsley Dunbar (drums).

A Hard Road

Starting off we blend into something typically blues, it is exactly what I expected from the genre (tune wise). There is a strong drum beat, and guitars and piano mixed in the background, and the vocals have that long sound to them. On my first few listenings, this song doesn’t present anything special, it sounds like a rather typical, average blues song.

It’s Over

This one comes in with a bit of some jazz instrument (horns or something), and has a slightly faster beat to it. Still possessing the components of blues, but this time, no piano, we have some harmonica instead. It’s got a toe tapping rhythm going on, and the harmonica tune is rather catchy. I’m sure that this would be a perfect track to be driving on a summer’s day to; it just has that light, airy feeling to it.

You Don’t Love Me

This was written by Willie Cobbs, and is a cover. Again it holds a good rhythm, but starts rather less catchy that ‘It’s Over’ however it does develop a tune which I think will be in my head for quite a while. The guitar is more noticeable in this one, which is a bonus, since I really like the bluesy sounds of them.

The Stumble

Now this starts nicely, a sweet guitar riff, with a faint hiss of the drums to the right, the piano coming in on the left. The song is originally a Freddie King track, which I suppose would explain the difference in style to some of the other songs, and it is an instrumental too. It is actually an awesome track, the guitaring is neat, and styled. Smooth notes, great sound, and coming in just under 3 minutes, which is rather unfortunate – I could easily listen to hours of stuff like that.

Another Kinda Love

Jumping straight in with the vocals, and a gentle, quieter backing music this time, with a more dominant bass line that the previous songs. So far, there haven’t been two tracks that have sounded the same – always a positive thing. This feels like a much more commercial song, with the strongly sung lyrics of “oh little baby” and so on, it even has just what I was after – a nice guitar solo. More articulate than in ‘The Stumble’, I’m guessing this would be Green working on his own.

Hit the Highway

Opening with a plonky piano, it sounded a little like a seaside attraction before the rest of the music and lyrics came in. Here we have some dual vocals, one coming from each speaker, again, this features a nice little guitar breakdown, but in a much more bluesy style. The piano really grabs attention, and goes so perfectly with the guitar work, which I didn’t expect to sound quite so melodic.

Leaping Christine

It sounded like it was going to erupt into some sort of Ska song to start with, with some horns and harmonica beginning it off in a very jazzy style. As the rest of the music comes in, accompanied by the vocals, we again have a somewhat more commercial sounding song, it has the feel of something that might have done well in the charts. Leading this song, is the sax (I assume) in the middle and the organ sounds, which don’t feature in any of the music I normally listen to, there is a climactic building to the music, with a really bluesy ending.

Dust my Blues

Another cover, this time of Elmore James, who was affectionately known as the “King of Slide Guitar”, according to wiki, this song is “the blues standard”. It buzzes in with some strumming, and then some beautiful slide guitar. The vocals sound a bit distant, with more onus being on the music, which works fine with me. There is a great little repeat of the opening chords, and then a sweet solo piece which sounds great. The song has a much more distinct blues sound to it, and sounds remarkably 1950’s, if I close my eyes I can just see some little café thingy like there is in grease…

There’s Always Work

Sounding quite like it’s just a random jam session accidentally left on the tape, with some harmonica work and then some random sounds of someone going “ahhhhh ah ahhhh” in the background, all reverbed and whatnot. At first I was wandering where it was going, but towards the middle fo this 93 second song, there is some more random sounds, which reminds me of Pink Floyd’s “Several Species of Small Fury Animals gathered together in a Cave grooving with a Pick”, which has some strange noises too. In whole, it’s a much more experimental sounding song, and I would have let it run on to proper song length, had they chucked in a little bit more guitar work then it would have been a sterling track.

The Same Way

It begins with yet another catchy little assortment of guitar chords, and then a very 50’s feeling stumming for a while, before returning to the opening chords. The song flows nicely, with the refrain melting softly over the music, Green then brings in a bit of excellent guitar work, creating another short but sweet riff, that would have sounded better a little longer. It ends rather abruptly, so much so I thought I had been struck suddenly deaf for some random reason.

The Super-Natural

Now if there was a song on this album that opened promisingly then it is this! A sweet, spaced guitar piece with some long notes switching from left to right, a gentle background sound is barely audible, except the drums which are played at just the right volume letting the guitar work it’s magic. It is of course, another instrumental, written exclusively by Peter Green, and it is excellent, immediately joining my list of top guitar pieces.

Top of the Hill

Possessing a very blues feel once again, it holds a strong piano piece as the main backing, and benefits from a nice little guitar solo in the middle too. The overall sound is perhaps a little too old feeling. Really, really, incontrovertibly 50’s sounding, and incredibly boring with it. This is the first track I am actually disappointed with, it just seems so, common.

Someday after a While (you’ll be sorry)

Another great opening here, with some nice guitar notes flowing in, and a gentle piano piece in the back, as the vocals start, some jazzy brass instrument flows in the back too. The song is held with a good steady drumbeat, and the guitar is permitted another nice solo, possibly one of the better ones than in other tracks. Musically, it works really well, blending a wall of sound mixed perfectly, which is the sort of thing I really like in my Pink Floyd and Brand New.

Living Alone

Musically, it opens a bit like someone playing an out of tune guitar, but in a very tuned way. Bent notes and generally experimental sounding chords, you can really hear the bass line of this track too, which is different from most of the others where it seems much more hidden. The drums form a gentle beat in the background, and the lyrics are delivered nicely overtop. At some points it reminds me of The Eagles.

All of the tears
You’ve been shedding for me
So much sorrow
It never should be
Never to find
Peace in my mind
I’m living alone with my blues

So what do I think?

I have never really given blues a proper listen before, only briefly giving a listen to some Pink Anderson and Floyd Council (people should know why those two..) and had always had sort of connotations of quite boring music and if anyone asked me “do you like the blues?”, I would probably have said “erm, no, not really”.

That has now changed. While there are a couple of weak tracks on this album, namely ‘The Top of The Hill’, which like I said, just sounds too old, and boring, like its something I have heard a million times over. But the album really makes up for that, with some great guitar work from Green, which sounds so melodic with its deep blues infusion that it is purely amazing, if I had to pick the best track from the album, then hands down the winner would be ‘The Supernatural’.

Overall, I would definitely say it is a good album, now I can’t compare it to any of there other work, since I haven’t heard any, but that is something I intend to change – yup I am a convert, and will be seeking out some more of this and even buying this album so I can stick it onto my iPod. It has also made me want to give a listen to some of the earlier Fleetwood Mac, to see more of Green’s work.

The blues sound really works for me, I am definitely a fan of the way the music is mixed, with all the different components individually dominant, but blending into a block of perfect sound. The main thing I liked about a lot of this music, was the use of stereo. In many of the songs, you have the drums coming from one speaker, and the piano from another, then the guitar comes from the one with the drums, but the harmonica comes centrally, creating a really pleasant vibe, and when I do have it deeply plugged into my ears via my iPod, it will be much more noticeable. They have used this on nearly all the tracks, and they have definitely all benefitted from it, notably ‘There’s always Work’.

One criticism I do have however, is that sometimes things felt too short. Songs ended abruptly, and on at least one occasion that made the song feel disjointed, had they perhaps given more time to ‘There’s always work’ they could have created a far more interesting experimental track, and it was made the same year that Pink Floyd were working on ‘Ummagumma’, the studio part of the album was arguably their weirdest stint of music.

The other thing they left too short was the guitar solos and little pieces like that, I am a huge fan of guitar (unfortunately I suck at playing it), and love long solos, wholly instrumental tracks and in general the sounds a guitar can make. The decent use of solos and intricate guitar work really added to the tracks it featured on, but on a couple of the songs, just another 30 seconds would have made the overall sound of the track better, and possibly, throw in a good guitar backing into ‘Top of the Hill’ then we might have had a pretty floorless album.

You can get this album for just £7.99 from hmv.co.uk, or listen to it free at lastfm.com. I am definitely going to try and get this on CD, (and now I think about it, would sound ace on vinyl too…) and it has introduced me to a new genre of music which I had previously left untouched, so sincere thanks to plod951 for that!

 

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