Today we begin Eric Clapton and his many bands. Clapton is widely considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time with Rolling Stone ranking him second on their list of 100 best guitarists. Along with David Bowie, he is one of the most famous rock musicians to start out in the sixties that I haven't gone through yet. Clapton began his historic music career with the Yardbirds, whom I've already done the discography of, but left when the band began to move in a more commercial and pop direction. He then joined John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, with whom he recorded one album (the one reviewed below). He then left to form Cream, largely considered to be the first rock supergroup ever, in 1966. After recording four critically acclaimed studio albums with Cream and having his major commercial breakthrough, he left the band and formed Blind Faith, with whom he recorded one album, in 1969. In between this and his next band, he recorded his first solo album. Lastly, he formed the band Derek and the Dominos and recorded one of his most widely celebrated works Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs in 1970. After this, he focused on his solo career which has been going strong since. As you can see, we will be covering a lot of albums from Clapton's crazy career so buckle in because it might be hard to follow. We will go at least up to his second solo album 461 Ocean Boulevard, which would be eight albums reviewed. Let's get into him!
Today we have John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers' first studio album Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton. Released in 1966, the album sold well upon release and is often viewed well critically, with it being ranked as 195th on Rolling Stones 500 greatest albums of all time list in 2003 and 2012 edition. The band consisted of band leader, lead singer, and blues enthusiast John Mayall, lead guitarist Eric Clapton, bass guitarist John MicVie (who became the long-time bassist of Fleetwood Mac), and drummer Hughie Flint. As already stated, Eric Clapton only recorded one album with the band and thus we will only cover this album from the band. Clapton was replaced by Peter Green, who later helped to form Fleetwood Mac and became their first lead guitarist. (We'll check out the Bluesbreakers' second studio album before we start Fleetwood Mac.)
John Mayall sounds like a worse Roger Daltrey. I'm not going to say he for sure needs to switch singing styles but only on the opener "All Your Love" does he comfortably hit a high note and only on the slower song "Parchman Farm" does he not consistently irritate me. Despite this, Clapton's lead vocal on "Ramblin' on My Mind" is barely an relief because his overwhelming timidness when singing makes him only slightly preferred to Mayall at the mike. However, the band's playing is excellent, inspired, and constantly engaging. Clapton is clearly carrying the band every second of every song yet Mayall and McVie find a way to impress on organ (or piano) and bass respectively throughout. The band tries to get Flint to shine as well with a drum solo on "What I'd Say" and it sounds fine--but it's drum solo. B
