John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers: Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton (180g) [PROPER]

Why you'll love it

This 180g mono pressing presents the record that made Eric Clapton a guitar hero. It reached No. 6 on the UK albums chart and Rolling Stone placed it at No. 195 on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

This edition

• 180g vinyl
• Mono mix

About the album

Everyone calls it the Beano album, after the cover photo of Eric Clapton reading the British children's comic; he later admitted he did it to be uncooperative during the shoot. Fresh out of the Yardbirds, he joined John Mayall, bassist John McVie and drummer Hughie Flint at Decca Studios in West Hampstead in May 1966, with Mike Vernon producing and Gus Dudgeon engineering.

Clapton played a sunburst Gibson Les Paul through an overdriven Marshall, and that combination set the template for a generation of rock guitarists. Otis Rush's "All Your Love" opens the set, Freddie King's instrumental "Hideaway" is a showcase, "Steppin' Out" gets a horn section added afterwards, and Robert Johnson's "Ramblin' On My Mind" is Clapton's first lead vocal on record. Mayall handles vocals, piano, organ and harmonica throughout, keeping the band rooted in Chicago blues.

Colin Larkin later placed it in his All Time Top 1000 Albums. That Les Paul was stolen later in 1966 and has never turned up. Somewhere out there is a very lucky shelf.

Also at Kops: more John Mayall on vinyl · browse Blues

Tracklist

Listen

On Decca (cat# UMCLP068), a reissue of the 1966 album.