Progressive Black Metal band ENSLAVED formed in 1991, just as the ‘second wave’ of Black Metal’ was forming in Norway. The so-called ‘first wave of Black Metal’ didn’t really have the defining characteristics of the genre that we have come to know today, so in many ways, the second wave was more important in shaping Black Metal. Consider this as well: at the time of formation, two of the members were just teenagers. Ivar and Grutle were 13 and 17, respectively. Teenagers? Indeed. Their first full-length was released in 1994, and they were very prolific early in their career, releasing eight more albums since their debut. ‘Mið’ is their 17th full-length album, and today, they are celebrated not only for being one of the early pioneers of the genre, but also for their energetic and punishing live performances. When commenting on the album, the band mentions simply this: On ‘Mið,’ the Old Norse word for ‘the center,’ or ‘the middle,’ we are reaching for the center of ourselves, a journey in all directions.
Two singles were released ahead of the album, and they are songs I would like to begin the review with. ‘Solar Will’ is first, and in addition to its deep aggressiveness, it also has those characteristic odd chord progressions that illuminate the band. It’s commanding as well, yet melodic, and reflective of the band’s unfettered attitude when it comes to their music. The lead breaks are done tastefully too, and the variation from clean to harsh vocals and back keeps the song alive. There is often a temptation to just run down the fretboard as fast as you can, but leads are more effective when they follow the melody line as they do. ‘Spirit Helper’ embraces some of the band’s folk style, something that isn’t heard that often. It features Kevin Kicking Woman on vocal chants (a Blackfoot), and it’s a traditional morning prayer song that formed the basis for the ENSLAVED song. Kevin notes, ‘songs are the Blackfoot way of knowing. Expressing relationship and responsibility, belonging and accountability. The purpose of this song is having the performative expression giving meaning to life. Connecting to the universes through the cosmos, earth beings, water beings and spirit beings.’
The leading song on the album is usually one of the best and it establishes the sound that the band wants you to hear. ‘Non-Being’ is that song. It’s a short, instrumental offering that echoes in the deep…it might be coming from the depths of an ocean, a wide mountain pass, or even outer space. A clean riff plays with melody, but there is darkness in the background. Segueing into ‘I Am Ice,’ this is quintessential ENSLAVED. Featuring artist Jonan Sara Jr., it’s a fast and bumpy ride over crushed skulls of the dead. Progressive chord structures are unusual, and Grutle’s signature vocals have a snarl to them that is immediately recognizable. It’s not all pedal to the metal; however, there are darker, ambient passages, and even some eerie keyboard notes. ‘Mountain’ enters with clean guitars and vocals that match. It’s slow and expansive at first, perhaps reflecting the majesty one feels when they come face to face with a towering spire. The second half of the song isn’t as melodic, however. They make a sharp transition to a low, rumbling riff that carries a lot of weight with it. It’s their use of different chords that make them stand out here, because they don’t follow a conventional structure or stick to places you might expect. Instead, they explore freely.
‘Parting’ is more in line with past works from the band if you are familiar with them. It may also be the best and most varied song on the album. An eight-minute opus, it’s part beauty, and part beast. Charming piano notes lead the song, and a feeling of something magnanimous accompanies them in the background. When the main riff drops, it’s a monster, and it’s both groovy and catchy. Clean vocals were the right choice at this point in the song, because it gives the band a chance to display more of their melodic side. Exploring these melodies, I find that they are refined, sophisticated, and elaborate. It’s a side of the band that is every bit as vital and their more intense and aggressive side. ‘Tale of Trees’ is a deep cut that has plenty of aggression, but also polished and mature melodies. They come busting through a closed door seemingly out of nowhere, and man do they soar. There are also some keyboard passages that add to the flavor.
‘I Miðju’ is the closing track, and in keeping with the title of the album, it translates to ‘in the middle’ or ‘in the center.’ If you don’t have your feel planted firmly on the ground, this song could sweep you up and carry you away with the wind. It explores every inch of the band’s varied and diverse style…wonderful melodies, naked aggression, and everything in between. One of the defining features of the band is their ability to create odd and unusual connections between passages that are polar. Meaning, making a cohesive sound out of spare parts, if you will, because some of these things feel like they don’t belong in the same song. Did they find their center on the album? Most definitely. Some of the songs are shorter, and more concise than past works, and that’s the dominant characteristic of the album. But a sense of exploration is still at the center of the band’s sound on ‘Mið.’ On their 17th album, they remain restless and unsatisfied with keeping the status quo and instead continue charting a path of discovery in the band’s long and storied career.
The British Blues Boom found its fullest expression in late 60s releases from the likes of The Yardbirds, Cream and the Rolling Stones, when the blues-fuelled energy of the mod clubs in the earlier part of the decade had drifted and all-night dancing had been replaced by a laid-back, dope-smoking vibe.
Key players such as John Mayall, Eric Clapton and Peter Green reached a crossroads in their careers, as the blues scene split between purists and those taking the path towards out-and-out rock. Meanwhile, the likes of Free, Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull took their first steps towards 70s greatness, and in doing so inspired a wave of American acts to follow suit.
From Spooky Tooth to Chicken Shack to Ten Years After and beyond, we look back at the British albums and bands that really left their mark.
Already hailed as one of the finest Scottish soul singers of the 70s, Frankie Miller was dispatched to San Francisco to record his third album with producer Elliot Mazer and a band that included guitarist Henry McCullough and keyboard player Mick Weaver from the Grease Band.
The Rock’s underlying Stax feel proved what a great singer/songwriter Miller was, with the Memphis Horns kicking (br)ass and the Edwin Hawkins Singers laying down backing vocals on the brilliant A Fool In Love.
Ain’t Got No Money was covered by Bob Seger and Cher, but Miller’s inability to hold on to his band for any period of longevity denied him the success he deserved
Formed by Peter Frampton and Steve Marriott in the wake of the Small Faces’ demise, Humble Pie were stuffed to the gills with promise that they never fulfilled.
But as their debut album shows, they could rock. Frampton and Marriott bend their guitar strings round each other with passion and sensitivity while bassist Greg Raidley and drummer Jerry Shirley do the same with the rhythm section.
And they took it in turns to add piano or organ overdubs. It’s a masterful blues rock workout. All it lacks is some decent melodies to go with the songs.
Unwisely hyped as the new Cream (they even supported them at the farewell Royal Albert Hall shows) just because they were a trio, Taste, featuring a youthful Rory Gallagher, had their own ideas and breathed fresh into the already hackneyed heavy blues scene.
On The Boards, their second album, adds some jazz influences, particularly when Gallagher plays a saxophone solo on It’s Happened Before, It’ll Happen Again. There’s also a folksy tinge to RailwayAnd Gun and If The Day Was Any Longer.
But rock is what they do best, as I’ll Remember, Eat My Words and the opening showstopper What’s Going On demonstrate.
It was Spooky Tooth’s misfortune to be sandwiched between Led Zeppelin and Free’s turbo-charged, all-pervasive ascents. A couple of years later, the band’s thoughtful but solid style would have found room to grow.
Keyboard player Gary Wright shares vocals with Mike Harrison, a strong, complementary pair of voices, and also writes most of the songs, including the memorably catchy Better By You Better Than Me, later rescued from oblivion by Judas Priest.
The tracks on their second album are an eclectic bunch, blending the blues with folk, country, gospel and even prog. And they sound better now than they did then.
Juicy Lucy took their name from a character – a prostitute, in case you were wondering – in Virgin Soldiers, Leslie Thomas’s novel about troops serving in the Far East. Formerly a psychedelic combo called The Misunderstood, the Juicy crew struck gold with the first single from their self-titled debut album.
Who Do You Love?, a crazed hard rock cover of a Bo Diddley song which got to No.14 in the UK, and stayed in the chart for three months.
These days their first album is remembered for another thing entirely: its cover, depicting a naked woman surrounded by fruit. Talk about squeeze my lemon, baby.
Whichever way you look at it, Chicken Shack guitarist Stan Webb is chronically under-appreciated. His band is always name-checked as the group that gave the world Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie (back when she was Christine Perfect), but Chicken Shack were at the cutting edge of British blues rock.
Stan’s intricate, understated blues lines – heavily influenced by Freddie King – complement his sometimes OTT vocal performance. Just check out his version of King’s The Letter on this debut Shack record.
Perfect gives hints of Mac to come with her laid-back When The TrainComes Back, the perfect antithesis to Webb’s frantic instrumental Webbed Feet.
Everyone knows the Manfred Mann hit parade. Less well known is their accomplished take on R&B that was neatly captured on their strangely hit-free debut album.
Keyboard player Manfred, sax/flute/guitar player Mike Vickers and drummer Mike Hugg had a jazz background in common, while singer/harmonica player Paul Jones and guitarist Tom McGuiness hailed from the blues scene.
The resulting fusion is sharp, intelligent and played with style – check out Muddy Waters’ Hoochie Coochie Man and Got My Mojo Working or Howlin Wolf’s Smokestack Lightning. They also come up with some sprightly songs of their own like I’m Your Kingpin and Don’t Ask Me What I Say.
Like Cream’s debut, this (the only) album from Eric Clapton and Ginger Baker’s post-Cream dream-teaming with Steve Winwood was never going to live up to the huge expectations. It’s patchy and inconsistent, certainly.
Alongside a pair of fine Winwood tunes in Had To Cry Today and Can’t Find My Way Home, there’s a sprightly cover of Buddy Holly’s Well Alright and the moody, slow-burning Sea Of Joy with Winwood’s soaring vocals bang on the money.
But the everyone-gets-a-solo Do What You Like is stretched paper-thin. The highlight is Clapton’s Presence Of The Lord, his guitar playing up there with the most spine-tingling in his catalogue.
Before the demons dragged Graham Bond down (and under a tube train in 1974), he piloted a musically inspired but personally fractious band that included Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, who would of course become two-thirds of Cream.
Catching their uncompromising and expressive brand of R&B in the studio was not easy, and this album is not among producer Robert Stigwood’s finest career achievements. But Bond’s passionate, wailing voice and Hammond are able to cut through the flat production, particularly on Walking In The Park. Bruce shows his innovative songwriting credentials with Hear Me Calling Your Name, while Baker previews Toad on Camels And Elephants.
The band guitarist Mick Abrahams quit Jethro Tull for after This Was, Blodwyn Pig was another quartet, this time pairing Abrahams with sax/flute/fiddle player Jack Lancaster.
But the contrast with Tull couldn’t be greater on their wildly diverse debut. There’s a freewheeling, rocking abandon of It’s Only Love and Sing Me A Song That I Know, the sweet, gentle Dear Jill, the laid-back blues of Up And Coming and the heavy metal of Ain’t Ya Comin’ Home Babe?
The only direct comparison comes on the jazzy, flute-driven Leave It With Me, taking over where Ian Anderson left off after Dharma For One.
Who would have thought that the “backroom” guitarist with the stately, keyboard-led Procol Harum would become one of the great blues rock guitarists. And it was the second of his power trio’s superb trilogy of back-to-back albums in the mid-70s that sealed his reputation.
From pounding opener, Day Of The Eagle, to closer Little Bit Of Sympathy, it’s a beautifully balanced, dynamic record filled with quality songs, masterful playing from Trower (Bridge Of Sighs, TooRolling Stoned) with his overdriven, reverb-drenched, swirling psychedelic sound and Hendrix inflexions, plus some outstanding performances (About To Begin, In This Place) from peerless blues rock vocalist Jimmy Dewar.
These Staffordshire blues terriers sounded a bit too much like John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers on their first album, but the follow-up, Plays On, branched out in several directions.
The addition of a mellotron to the mix brings a progressive dimension to the sound, notably on Mum’s The Word, based on Also Sprach Zarathustra (the 2001 theme). But there’s also Colin Cooper’s jazzy playing on the smoky instrumental Flight, the whiff of psychedelia on HeyBaby… and the Latino-tinged Cubano Chant.
And there’s still room for some solid blues on SoMany Roads and the rip-roaring Twenty Past Two/Temptation Rag.
Frequent restructuring blighted Savoy Brown’s career but founder/ guitarist Kim Simmonds got the blend right on their third album, Blue Matter, with solid, reliable guitarist “Lonesome” Dave Peverett and Chris Youlden whose distinctive voice was matched by his bowler hat and monocle.
The album is worth it for the slow-building opener, Train To Nowhere which is a classic of the era. A simple guitar riff over a bass line sets the scene for Youlden’s soulful vocal, picking up steam with drums and piano before the whistle blows.
Tolling Bells comes close but sadly Youlden isn’t featured on the live tracks on (what was) side two of the album.
Breaking out of an increasingly moribund blues scene at the end of the 60s, Tony McPhee swapped his mellow boogie for something heavier and came up with the semi-conceptual Thank Christ For The Bomb.
It seemed a risky move, but he had no trouble making the switch. The songs are briefer, but each one packs a punch, even when the emphasis is acoustic. And when the band stretches out on the title track, adding layers of sound after a slow start, McPhee rips out a solo that would not disgrace an MC5 album.
The reward for such bravado was the first of three Top 10 albums.
His mercurial nature makes is hard to choose the definitive Rory Gallagher album, but Tattoo comes close, mainly because after four solo albums he’s finally locked in tight with his band.
After grabbing you first by the heart with the evocative, medium-paced Tattoo’d Lady and then by the balls with the full-tilt Cradle Rock, Gallagher eases back and mixes things up a bit with a blend of Delta blues guitar and jazzy piano on 20⁄20 Vision or the impressively melodic, languid ballad, A Million Miles Away.
But the cornerstone is a pair of stretched-out, rocking blues, Sleep On A ClothesLine and Who’s That Coming?
Also known as The Angry Young Them, the debut album from Belfast’s rabble-rousers begins the way most albums end – with a hell-for-leather jam and the vocals only appearing over a minute into the song.
Van Morrison was contrary right from the start! From the same school as The Rolling Stones, the Morrison-fronted Them covered John Lee Hooker, aped Howlin’ Wolf, and with stonkers like Gloria, influenced hell-raising garage bands and pub-rockers everywhere.
If You And I Could Be As Two, meanwhile, could be the birth of Van’s lost-in-music, high-kicking, piano-shaking, soul man schtick.
Replacing Eric Clapton with Peter Green was John Mayall’s masterstroke. While the guitarist stayed less than a year, he left an indelible mark on A Hard Road with the instrumental The SuperNatural – exploring the sustained tone he’d use for Albatross in Fleetwood Mac – and The Same Way, which was an embryonic Man Of The World.
Mayall had moved on too. There’s an unexpected zest to Leaping Christine, and he jousts on bottleneck with Green on Elmore James’ Dust My Broom.
New drummer Aynsley Dunbar freshens up the rhythm section, but it’s Mayall’s blend of original songs and covers that gives the Bluesbreakers their own identity.
Bad Company had their fair share of detractors when they burst onto the scene in the mid-70s. Ex-Free men Paul Rodgers (vocals) and Simon Kirke (drums) were criticised for following a more commercial path, despite the fact that their former band had enjoyed several hits.
Completed by Mick Ralphs (guitar, ex-Mott The Hoople) and Boz Burrell (bass, ex-King Crimson and Snafu), Bad Company had Zeppelin’s Peter Grant as their manager – and the American market in their sights.
They struck the bullseye. Can’t Get Enough might have had a tasty Top 40 sheen, but it was expertly rendered blues rock to the core.
They wrote very little material themselves but the Animals reworked their covers so thoroughly they probably thought they had written them.
So while their debut consists mainly of the standard R&B repertoire – Chuck Berry, Ray Charles, Little Richard – you learn more about the Geordie band’s uninhibited character than many bands who wrote their own songs.
Eric Burdon in particular was prone to personalise any song he fancied and John Lee Hooker’s I’mMad Again becomes an extended grievance of his own. And The Story Of Bo Diddley is a glorious shaggy dog story that incorporates his skewed version of the history of R&B.
Credited as the inspiration behind John Mayall and The Rolling Stones, several of whom played with him, guitarist Alexis Korner began pioneering the blues in the mid-50s, often in tandem with revered harmonica player Cyril Davis.
R&B At The Marquee qualifies as the first British blues album, drawing on country blues and Chicago electric blues with a particular fondness for Willie Dixon songs.
Blues Incorporated’s approach is unpretentious but still academic compared to the young Turks who would soon consign Korner to yesterday’s man. But without him it’s arguable whether The Stones, Manfred Mann or even the Small Faces would have got started.
For many people, Fleetwood Mac’s second album was something of a disappointment after the marvellous debut that established the group as the best British blues band of the day, for which guitarist/ vocalist Peter Green can take most of the credit.
Mr Wonderful doesn’t have the strength in depth of its predecessor, and guitarist /vocalist Jeremy Spencer’s Elmore James fixation (Dust My Broom, Coming Home…) was one track away from sinking the ship with an overload of copycat slide playing, but its highlights include some of Mac’s most magical moments.
Shuffle opener Stop Messin’ Round is energetic, loose but controlled, featuring some tongue-curling licks from Green – as much fun as you can have with a guitar without getting arrested. Lazy Poker Blues is in a similar vein and adds the kind of double-entendre lyrics you might expect from a song title with the word poker in it.
Elsewhere, Need YourLove Tonight is an already fine blues ballad given a velvet coating with the surprisingly effective addition of an orchestra. Love That Burns highlights Peter Green’s breathtaking playing – one second incisive and biting, the next soft and exquisitely delicate. Completely mesmerising.
Free’s blues heritage is undeniable. Guitarist Paul Kossoff and drummer Simon Kirke came from a blues combo called Black Cat Bones. Vocalist Paul Rodgers arrived from the similar-sounding Brown Sugar, and bassist Andy Fraser had been a Bluesbreaker. Free was a formidable coming together of raw British blues rock talent.
And they didn’t disappoint, coming up with their own distinctive brand of blues on their debut. They didn’t pummel like Zeppelin, caress like Cream or strut like The Rolling Stones. Rather, Free loped and grooved, driven by Kossoff’s aching guitar, Fraser’s throbbing bass and Rodgers’s sonorous voice.
Tons Of Sobs begins and ends deceptively with the pastoral sounds of Over The Green Hills (parts one and two). But in between there are all-time blues rock classics such as Worry, Walk In My Shadow and I’m A Mover.
Such is their authenticity, these songs sound like they were recorded by crusty old blues legends instead of raw new kids on the block. (Andy Fraser, let us not forget, was barely out of his school uniform at the time of the album recording.)
The standout track on Tons Of Sobs is The Hunter, a swaggering version of the blues rock staple originally written for Booker T. and the M.G.’s.
By 1968, Jeff Beck had become a major pioneering force on the electric guitar, following Clapton in the Yardbirds, before clocking up two pop hits with Tallyman and Hi-Ho Silver Lining. By the time he was assembling the band for Truth (only later dubbed ‘The Jeff Beck Group’), he determined to make an album for himself.
With Ronnie Wood on bass, Rod Stewart on vocals and guests like Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Keith Moon popping up for guest spots on Beck’s Bolero, it was an album that not only helped establish the British blues rock sound, but featured many of its best exponents.
Audacious and experimental, it smashes genre conventions at every turn. Willie Dixon’s You Shook Me and I Ain’t Superstitious are masterfully reinvented, even Broadway hit Ol’ ManRiver and the Henry VIII-authored Greensleeves are dragged into Beck’s musical vision.
Record company execs, meanwhile, thought that Beck was actually Rod: “They said, ‘We always knew that Beck would make it. By the way, who’s the fellow on guitar?’” Beck grimaced later. “They actually said that. I’ve still got those words ringing in my ears.”
After the John Mayall/Eric Clapton’s Bluesbreakers album had catapulted producer Mike Vernon into Britain’s premier R&B scout, he spotted the potential of Ten Years After, spearheaded by the guitar pyrotechnics of Alvin Lee.
The band’s self-titled debut album in 1967 was the springboard that enabled them to leap from the UK to America. Suddenly their US record label was demanding a follow-up to maintain the momentum.
Hastily recorded at Klook’s Kleek in West Hampstead, conveniently next door to Decca’s recording studio, Undead catches the sweaty, small-club atmosphere and Ten Years After’s free-form approach to the blues with the jazzy, flashy I May Be Wrong But I Won’tBe Wrong Always and Woodchoppers Ball, and the moody blues of Spider In Your Web.
The encore was a youthful but already potent I’m Going Home that would become their defining anthem after it was featured in the Woodstock movie. “Basically, that album put it in a nutshell,” says Alvin Lee. “I was so happy with it. When I first heard it, I thought, ‘What are we going to do next?’”
In the mid-60s, live recording was struggling to reach embryonic status. The technology required had not yet been invented. But the Yardbirds were a hot live band that had failed to capture their vitality in the studio. And London’s Marquee Club, their regular gig, had a recording studio backstage. So they decided to give it a go.
You can get a flavour of the chaos that surrounded the recording of Five Live Yardbirds by the frantic, stumbled introductions by compere Hamish Grimes at the beginning of each side of the original album. Mercifully, the Yardbirds were unaffected by the mayhem and delivered their typical high-energy set.
With the exception of Eric Clapton on lead guitar, they were not the most proficient R&B band around. But they more than made up for it with their enthusiasm. And they had a secret weapon: the rave-up, where they sped up into a frenzy that drove the audience wild every time – on Howlin’ Wolf’s Smokestack Lightning, the Isley Brothers’ Respectable and Bo Diddley’s I’m A Man and Here Tis.
Clapton sets it all up with a blistering Too Much MonkeyBusiness, but Five Live Yardbirds is actually a team effort from Keith Relf’s wailing harmonica to Paul Samwell-Smith’s driving bass.
As Ronnie Wood commented to Classic Rock, “It was really Jimi Hendrix who invented that hard rock stuff”. Electric Ladyland tends to get all the plaudits but, with Foxy Lady, Manic Depression, Red House, Fire and the title track, Hendrix’s first album is like a greatest hits collection, with almost every track an instantly recognisable, timeless rock classic.
It would be nice to say that Are You Experienced? set the blueprint for rock as we know it – this was a year before Led Zeppelin, three years before In Rock, while Jimi’s tone, riffs and groove make Clapton and Jeff Beck seem like lumbering dinosaurs – but the truth is that few people have even come close to matching the blueprint.
Of the lesser-known tracks, Remember would be a straightforward R’n’B crotch-thruster if it wasn’t for Mitchell’s stuttering drumming.
May This Be Love trips out beautifully, Third Stone From The Sun bounds into the psychedelic jungle like a horny panther, while the title track comes on like a four-minute invitation to an orgy to remember. ‘Haveyou ever been experienced?’ asks Jimi. ‘I have. Let me prove it to you…’ And then he unleashes a solo that snaps and writhes like a wounded cobra.
Given the reputations of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, the feverishly anticipated debut album from this power trio was always going to struggle to live up to expectations. And even though it didn’t, it is still one of the most important albums in 60s blues rock, and its influence on what came afterwards is immense.
Fresh Cream is a melting pot of ideas, many of which would subsequently be developed and combined with flair and vision to some stunning effect in the following decade.
There’s the colourful, musically informed psychedelic pop of Dreaming; the stripped-down, energetic Rollin’ And Tumblin’ powered along by Bruce’s bluesy wailing vocal and honking harmonica; a bouncy reworking of Robert Johnson’s Four Until Late; and six and a half minutes of Willie Dixon’s Spoonful on which Cream give a taste of their improvisational skills and Clapton shows flashes of real brilliance.
The real rough diamond, though, is Sweet Wine, in which Clapton gradually builds a dense, swirling psychedelic cloud of feedback and sustain that remains as stunning today as it was original then.
Fresh Cream and Cream were the sparks that ignited the blues rock explosion, and without them, who knows how many of rock’s family jewels would not exist today.
It was a love of the blues and early American R&B that forged the friendship between a teenage Mick Jagger and Keith Richards down Dartford way, so it’s only fitting that the Rolling Stones’ second release continued to rely upon these building blocks.
Consequently, we’re treated to the fledgling Stones’ take on Chuck Berry’s You Can’t Catch Me, a fairly faithful rendering, but with Jagger’s decidedly English sneer and Richards’ rolling, ramshackle riffery adding to its original charm.
The Jagger/Richards songwriting partnership also gains momentum, with three composition credits to their name – Off The Hook with its Yardbird-esque guitar motif and relentless refrain; What A Shame is a bluesy bruiser and gives bassist Bill Wyman a moment to shine under Brian Jones’s sparse bottleneck, while Grown Up Wrong pays real homage to their hero Mr Berry.
But in terms of solid blues prowess, it’s the band’s interpretation of Muddy Waters’ I Can’t Be Satisfied that truly impresses – Brian Jones’s fluid slide playing on this track was seldom bettered.
No.2 was a monster hit in the UK, and deservedly so, as it convincingly straddled the bridge between the blues and rock’n’roll and set the blueprint for the relentless Rolling Stones march into the future.
There’s a great misconception about the first Led Zeppelin album. Many cloth-eared clowns and charlatans regard it as a heavy metal record. How very wrong they are.
Alright, so Robert Plant had the long, tousled hair and the silver-throated scream. Jimmy Page had the raw licks and the feral riffs. And John Bonham had a kit hewn out of solid granite.
But Zep I wasn’t metal. It was blues rock at its most epic, awesome and sprawling. It was full of power, passion and pride. It wasn’t just an exercise in vocal and guitar pyrotechnics, with liberal doses of gut-rumbling drum-work on the side.
When this album hit the streets in 1969 it left a crater a mile wide that reached down to Earth’s molten core. Zep I was less an isolated collection of tracks and more a searing segue of songs packed with brutal soul and uncompromising emotion.
No one had heard anything like it before… or had they? Zeppelin’s tactic of taking hoary old blues classics and mangling them into fearsome beasts of their own creation came in for fierce criticism. But really, the moans mainly came from blues purists.
After all, when Willie Dixon wrote I Can’t Quit You Baby, we’re pretty certain that he had absolutely no idea what he was about to unleash.
There isn’t a British blues rock guitarist around whose ears weren’t pinned to the wall the first time they heard Bluesbreakers.
John Mayall was already an established player on the British blues scene. Clapton had joined him a year earlier to find purist heaven, first by devouring Mayall’s unrivalled collection of blues albums and then by turning up his guitar and developing the coruscating style that had people scrawling ‘Clapton Is God’ on walls around London.
When the band entered Decca’s West Hampstead studios in April 1966, Clapton set up his gear the same way he did on stage, causing pandemonium in the control room. Producer Mike Vernon and engineer Gus Dudgeon (both of whom would become legendary studio figures) asked him to turn it down, but Clapton refused.
In what proved to be a landmark decision, Vernon and Dudgeon opted to cope with the distortion and adjust the other levels to try and get a balance. What they ended up with was the raw power that can still shock and awe 31 years later. From the opening note of Otis Rush’s All Your Love, Clapton’s Gibson Les Paul pierces at mic-shredding volume. After Bluesbreakers all British blues albums would be guitar-dominated.
It helps that Clapton is in white-hot form, blazing with the arrogant bravado of youth and self-belief, justifying his ‘God’-like status. After the slow/fast/slow cut and thrust of All Your Love he tears into Freddie King’s instrumental Hideaway with a mature fluidity and bleeds all over Mayall’s own Double Crossing Time with almost reckless abandon.
His vocal debut, on Robert Johnson’s Ramblin’ On My Mind, is timid compared to his guitar playing, but the song has remained a staple throughout Clapton’s career. And the short, sharp Steppin’ Out instrumental was turned into a 15-minute epic in the days of Cream.
But his pièce de résistance comes on the six-minute Have You Heard, another Mayall original where Clapton effectively redefines the slow blues guitar solo for the next decade. There are many who will argue that Clapton never played a better, more inspired solo.
Mayall’s contribution to Bluesbreakers should not be underestimated. He gives Clapton his head, but he’s still emphatically the band leader and a forceful character, whether he’s singing, playing keyboards or blowing harmonica, which he does on a couple of solo showcase tracks, Another Man and Parchman Farm.
And then there’s bassist John McVie, paying his dues before Fleetwood Mac and anchoring the rhythm alongside Hughie Flint (still playing in the Blues Band), a lighter drummer than most of his blues rock successors but more than good enough for the job. Producer Vernon believes that Mayall never bettered that album.
“The energy that was created by that band when Eric was with them was special,” he told writer John Pidgeon. “We were lucky. We captured it on that one record. The chemistry was right.”
Bluesbreakers was the first blues album to chart in the UK, reaching No.6 in the summer of 1966. By then Clapton had already left to form Cream. Things were moving fast.
When you talk about the Mount Rushmore of heavy metal, the conversation begins and ends with the Riff Lord himself, Tony Iommi. But when the undisputed master of doom decides to unleash a brand new sonic assault upon the world, the heavy music community collectively loses its mind. Enter From the Dark, the monumental new […]
Lonnie Mack’s legendary 1958 Gibson Flying V guitar, known as “Number 7,” has sold for $550,000 at Heritage Auctions.
The guitar, which Mack played throughout his influential career, was sold alongside his 1962 Magnatone Custom 440 amplifier during Heritage’s October 15 Vintage Guitars and Musical Instruments auction. The lot also included Mack’s recognizable stage strap.
Mack’s Flying V became one of the most recognizable instruments in blues rock history. The guitarist used “Number 7” throughout decades of recordings, live performances, and international tours, helping establish his distinctive sound that combined blues, rock, country, and soul.
A pioneer of blues rock guitar, Mack helped shape the direction of electric guitar playing in the 1960s. His instrumental hits “Memphis” and “Wham!” showcased his aggressive picking style and influenced generations of guitarists who followed.
The Flying V was closely associated with Mack throughout his career, appearing on album covers and becoming a familiar sight during his live performances.
The Flying V was one of the auction’s biggest sales, second only to a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard Sunburst that fetched $781,250. The Les Paul established a world auction record for a vintage guitar without celebrity provenance, surpassing the previous record of $611,000.
“To offer both this Les Paul and Lonnie Mack’s ‘Number 7’ in the same auction was extraordinary,” said Aaron Piscopo, Director of Vintage Guitars & Musical Instruments at Heritage Auctions. “One is a remarkably preserved example of Gibson’s Golden Era craftsmanship; the other helped shape the sound of modern electric guitar. Together, their results demonstrate the depth of collecting interest in great instruments and the musical history they carry.”
In total, the auction generated $2.15 million across 201 lots and attracted 848 international bidders.
Mack, who died in 2016 at the age of 74, remains an influential figure in the development of blues rock guitar. His combination of blues phrasing, rock and roll energy, and country-influenced picking helped establish a style that would influence generations of guitarists.
The $550,000 sale ensures that one of the most recognizable guitars in blues rock history remains a highly valued piece of music history.
When it comes to bands that refuse to stay in their lane, Glasgow’s djent-pop-metal powerhouse Sixth Wonder are currently leading the pack by a country mile. These Scottish alternative mavericks have spent the last few years systematically tearing up the heavy music rulebook, collecting a couple of Best Metal gongs at the Scottish Alternative Music […]
Julie London was one of the most recognizable female vocalists of the 1950s and 1960s, celebrated for her smoky, intimate singing style and her ability to bring extraordinary emotion to even the simplest melodies. Born Julie Peck on September 26, 1926, in Santa Rosa, California, London began her entertainment career as an actress before becoming a successful recording artist. Her understated vocal approach set her apart from many of the more powerful singers of her generation. London’s recording career took off in 1955 with her unforgettable version of “Cry Me a River,” written by Arthur Hamilton. The single reached number
The Pretty Reckless have released a video for About You (Bonus Version), a new version of a song that originally appeared on this year’s Dear God album, and singer Taylor Momsen has invited some friends along for the ride: Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and guitarist Pat Smear.
“About You is one of my favourite songs on the record, so I wanted to do something special,” says Momsen. “I called Dave and Pat and asked them if they’d lend their magic to it. It was an amazing time in the studio making music; there’s nothing better than jamming with friends. I couldn’t be happier with the result.”
The release comes as The Pretty Reckless prepare to embark on the European leg of their Dear God tour next month, which kicks off on November 9 in Madrid, Spain, and includes UK shows in Bristol, Wolverhampton, Manchester, London and Glasgow. Full dates below.
The tour will cap a busy period for The Pretty Reckless, who supported AC/DC on the North American leg of their Power Up tour, while Momsen played with Soundgarden at the halftime show during the Seattle Seahawks vs New England Patriots game last month. She also appeared at Tom Morello’s Power to the People Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, earlier this month.
The Pretty Reckless: Dear God Euopean Tour 2026
Nov 09: Madrid La Riviera, Spain Nov 10: Barcelona Razzmatazz, Spain Nov 14: Milan Fabrique, Italy Nov 16: Prague Forum Karlín, Czech Republic Nov 18: Berlin Huxleys Neue Welt, Germany Nov 21: Cologne Carlswerk Victoria, Germany Nov 23: Amsterdam AFAS Live, The Netherlands Nov 24: Paris Zéni, France Nov 26: Bristol The Prospect Building, UK Nov 27: Wolverhampton Civic Hall, UK Nov 29: Manchester O2 Victoria Warehouse, UK Dec 01: London O2 Academy Brixton, UK Dec 03: Glasgow Barrowland, UK
When you talk about the Mount Rushmore of heavy metal, the conversation begins and ends with the Riff Lord himself, Tony Iommi. But when the undisputed master of doom decides to unleash a brand new sonic assault upon the world, the heavy music community collectively loses its mind. Enter From the Dark, the monumental new […]
When it comes to bands that refuse to stay in their lane, Glasgow’s djent-pop-metal powerhouse Sixth Wonder are currently leading the pack by a country mile. These Scottish alternative mavericks have spent the last few years systematically tearing up the heavy music rulebook, collecting a couple of Best Metal gongs at the Scottish Alternative Music […]