Suddenly their US record label was demanding a follow-up to maintain the momentum. The band’s self-titled debut album in 1967 was the springboard that enabled them to leap from the UK to America. Ten Years After - Undead (Deram, 1968) (opens in new tab)Īfter 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. I’ve still got those words ringing in my ears.” By the way, who’s the fellow on guitar?’” Beck grimaced later. Record company execs, meanwhile, thought that Beck was actually Rod: “They said, ‘We always knew that Beck would make it. Willie Dixon’s You Shook Me and I Ain’t Superstitious are masterfully reinvented, even Broadway hit Ol’ Man River and the Henry VIII-authored Greensleeves are dragged into Beck’s musical vision. 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.Īudacious and experimental, it smashes genre conventions at every turn. 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. Jeff Beck - Truth (Epic, 1968) (opens in new tab)īy 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.
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 MGs. (Andy Fraser, let us not forget, was barely out of his school uniform at the time of the album recording.) Such is their authenticity, these songs sound like they were recorded by crusty old blues legends instead of raw new kids on the block. But in-between there are all-time blues rock classics such as Worry, Walk In My Shadow and I’m A Mover. Tons Of Sobs begins and ends deceptively with the pastoral sounds of Over The Green Hills (parts one and two).
Blues album ds 2434 genre free#
Rather, Free loped and grooved, driven by Kossoff’s aching guitar, Fraser’s throbbing bass and Rodgers’s sonorous voice. They didn’t pummel like Zeppelin, caress like Cream or strut like The Rolling Stones. Free was a formidable coming together of raw British blues rock talent.Īnd they didn’t disappoint, coming up with their own distinctive brand of blues on their debut. Vocalist Paul Rodgers arrived from the similar sounding Brown Sugar and bassist Andy Fraser had been a Bluesbreaker. Guitarist Paul Kossoff and drummer Simon Kirke came from a blues combo called Black Cat Bones. Completely mesmerising.įree - Tons Of Sobs (Island, 1968) (opens in new tab)įree’s blues heritage is undeniable. Love That Burns highlights Peter Green’s breathtaking playing – one second incisive and biting, the next soft and exquisitely delicate. Lazy Poker Blues is in a similar vein and adds the kind of doubleentendre lyrics you might expect from a song title with the word poker in it.Įlsewhere, Need Your Love Tonight is an already fine blues ballad given a velvet coating with the surprisingly effective addition of an orchestra.
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. 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 magic moments.
Blues album ds 2434 genre mac#
Fleetwood Mac - Mr Wonderful (Blue Horizon, 1968) (opens in new tab)įor 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.