John Mayall
's debut album, recorded live in December 1964, is a little unjustly overlooked, as it was recorded shortly before the first of the famous guitarists schooled in
the Bluesbreakers
(
Eric Clapton
) joined the band. With
Roger Dean
on guitar (and the rhythm section who'd play on the
Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton
album, bassist
John McVie
and drummer
Hughie Flint
), it has more of a
rock
/
R&B
feel, rather like the early
Rolling Stones
, than the purer bluesier material
Mayall
would usually stick to in his subsequent recordings. The record doesn't suffer for this, however, moving along quite powerfully, and -- unusually for a British
blues
band of the time -- featuring almost nothing but original material, all penned by
.
Nigel Stanger
's saxophone adds interesting touches to a few tracks, the songs are quite good, and while
Dean
's guitar and
's vocals aren't on the same level as the best instrumentalists and singers in the
British blues-rock
movement, they're satisfactory. [The 2006 U.K. expanded CD edition added five enjoyable cuts that round up everything else recorded by the pre-
version of
, including the 1964 single
"Crawling Up a Hill"
"Mr. James"
; the early 1965 single
"Crocodile Walk"
"Blues City Shakedown"
; and the February 1965 outtake
"My Baby Is Sweeter,"
which first showed up on the early-'70s British compilation
Thru the Years
and
also appear on the original
John Mayall Plays John Mayall
album in live performances, but the bonus track versions are entirely different studio recordings done for those non-LP singles, and are pretty good as well.] ~ Richie Unterberger