John Mayall — Blues Breakers

For the longest time, I just paid no attention to John Mayall. My British blues was mostly filtered through The Animals and the like – that particularly British turn on R&B. For my blues, I had American artists, the Chicago blues especially. and I had a certain antipathy toward most things associated with Eric Clapton, mostly to do with the fans and the hype (although Cream was a serious exception to that antipathy – I loved The Cream). I knew of John Mayall and the serious roster of Brigtish blues talent that rolled through his organization, including (yes) Clapton and Jack Bruce, the core of Fleetwood Mac, Mick Taylor, Aynsley Dunbar, but never felt the need to get any of their albums.

In addition, they never did much business in the US, so the used record bins weren’t really filled with Blues Breakers product. I do remember seeing their records from time to time, but never having heard any of it (they didn’t get radio play), I was never curious enough to give it a try.

Slow forward a few decades from my initial record collecting, and having had the benefit of the digital age when samplers of all music are available somewhere for free, it was evident that Mayall’s blues was very squarely within my area of interest, and these lovely reissues were coming out. This wasn’t the first one I got – in fact, I backed into Mayall with a used copy of 1974’s “The Latest Edition,” but finally picked up this quality reissue of Blues Breakers (originally released in 1966) in 2021, when the pandemic was easing enough that Forever Changes was able to start the popup shop again. It’s a super solid British blues record, and one I wouldn’t have regretted having for several decades prior. I tend to play it, and all the other Mayall records, along with the incredible collection “History of the British Blues, Vol. 1,” and it’s never a disappointment.