John Mayalls’ Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton album from 1966- to give it its correct name- was indeed a turning point for guitar rock and blues.
Hugely influential with Clapton’s 1960 Gibson Les Paul into a cranked Marshall 2 x12 combo and Dallas Rangemaster treble boost - this set up has taken its place in popular guitar lore as the birth of an aggressive guitar tone to propel the tunes.
Clapton was uncompromising and pushed the limits of recording technology at the time - pushing the tape , mics and the mixing board, with massive stage volume in the studio.
The tracks covered black blues artists such as Robert Johnson,Otis Rush , John Lee Hooker and the great Freddie King (whom Clapton revered).
However lets not forget Freddie King (and Buddy Guy) were indeed pushing the envelope in terms of distortion for blues tunes even earlier than 1966.
However this album brought the hard blues genre to the masses - and indeed Clapton would go on to form Cream later that year - a power trio that would bring a jazz virtuosity to the blues.
1966 was a pivotal year as Jimi Hendrix arrived in London that September -and the Jimi Hendrix Experience was another explosive power trio that one could argue, surpassed Clapton and Cream for ingenuity, breadth of material and enduring influence.
Anyway - go check out the “Beano’ album (named after the kids comic Clapton is reading to be rebellious at the photo shoot!).
Required listening for any guitar player or serious music lover - its a vibrant dynamic record and groundbreaking for its time.
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