Jimi Hendrix, in a rare appearance with a twelve string guitar… and what a superb blues performance. Hendrix plays one of his standards, Hear My Train a Comin’ for a film crew, and in an acoustic finger-picking country blues style. And what a treat.
Peter Green started his own band, Fleetwood Mac, after serving his blues-rock apprenticeship in John Mayalls Bluesbreakers; his haunting and desperately sad blues guitar style was merely a reflection of his own troubled personality, and by 1970 he had left the band. This short period in the bands history is often referred to as Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, but it is a period of superb blues music, phenominal guitar playing, and a world away from the music that was to follow on.
Full title - Very Best Of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac. 20 tracks assembled here on this excellent retrospective which also adds 'I'd Rather Go Blind' by future Mac member Christine McVie's band, Chicken Shack, and Chris Coco's 2002 remake of 'Albatross' featuring Peter Green. Slipcase. Columbia. 2002.
John Mayalls Bluesbreakers was the finishing school for Brtish blues rock guitarists. They worked hard touring their version of the blues extensively in the UK and worldwide, gaining great acclaim in the process, but rarely the mass attention that many of these names would be attracting a year after leaving the band. But this was of course the aim; to play pure blues, for blues’ sake. This is the best decade of the bluesbreakers, and this compilation contains some of the best musicianship of the period. Unless you have the original albums, this compilation is a must
2010 four CD anthology from the British Blues legend. John Mayall's band, The Bluesbreakers ,were undoubtedly a hot-house for the British Blues scene in the late '60s and early `70s and it's quite staggering when you examine the roll call of floating members who served their apprenticeship with John Mayall including Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood, Peter Green, Keef Hartley, John McVie, Mick Taylor and Steve Winwood. This lavish box set contains 74 tracks, all newly remastered from the original master tapes, including five tracks released in Europe on CD for the first time. The 40-page booklet features sleevenotes by Mark Powell with rare and previously unseen photographs. Universal.
Black Merda are one of those bands that don’t fit neatly into any bag… they are soul, but not only soul. They are blues, but not only blues. They are rock, but not only rock. Black Merda mixed up a whole lot of what was going on in late sixties and early seventies America; folk, funk, blues-rock, psychedelia, with a heavy dose of social reality. And the result is electrifying.
The first reissue of legendary funkateers Black Merda, out of print since its Chess Records release in the ‘70s. Too late for the Hendrix generation and too early for the Parliament/Funkadelic generation, this group defines ‘70s psychedelic folk-rock-funk!
From one supergroup to the next; with bassist Jack Bruce as the common link. This great blues rock performance from 1969 features, amongst others, the legendary Chicago bluesman, Buddy Guy on guitar, with Jack Bruce (Graham Bond Organistaion, Cream) on bass, Buddy Miles on Drums and Dick Heckstall-Smith (John Mayall’s bluesbreakers, Colosseum) on sax.
What a track! Sit back and enjoy this funky late sixties blues jam. Fantastic musicianship, and a superb vocal performance from Buddy Guy. The entire show (also featuring Eric Clapton, and others) is available now on DVD.
There are not many bands that can lay claim to have invented a genre, but Cream are one such band. All had served British blues apprenticeships: Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker with the Graham Bond Organisation, and Eric Clapton with the Yardbirds and John Mayalls Bluesbreakers. And then they got together to form Cream. A blues rock supergroup that would create some of the finest music of the 1960s.
Cream:Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce playing “Sunshine of Your Love” live circa 1968. What a performance too. Great musicianship. Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton were obviously two very influential musicians, and sales of the Gibson EB3 bass and Gibson SG Standard peaked in the late 1960s. “Sunshine of Your Love” hails from the absolute classic album Disraeli Gears (along with “Strange Brew” and “Tales of Brave Ulysees”).
Video Rating: 4 / 5
Fresh Cream, the album that introduced this seminal super-blues trio to America, was perhaps a bit too blues-based to do the advance hype ("Clapton is God!") justice. Two of its three best-known tracks, after all, were blues covers. It was Disraeli Gears that turned Cream into a "supergroup." Here they pursue the psychedelic ideals of the era with total abandon (the LP cover art still stands as one of the 1960s' most striking designs), merging these ideals with their take on the blues and adorning the amalgamation with some superb pop craftsmanship. Of the eleven originals here, four--"Tales of Brave Ulysses," "SWLABR," "Strange Brew," and "Sunshine of Your Love"--earned major airplay. This, their excess-free greatest moment, does the Cream legend proud. --Bill Holdship
Jimi Hendrix is synonymous with blues rock. Whilst his psychedelic rock guitar playing is well known, his more subtle blues work perhaps doesn’t get the attention it deserves.
Jimi played a lot of blues, both live and on record. Songs such as Red House and Voodoo Chile graced his albums; but he also performed numerous covers live and in the studio. This collection features a range of tracks, played in different blues styles. There are some outstanding takes here – blues rock guitar playing at it’s best.
Hendrix plays the blues in this recording that spans his legendary career and features eight previously-unreleased performances.
Another great collection of Blues Rock classics – definately on the rock side of blues rock. It gets heavy at times, with some of the very best British rock bands of the 1960s and 1970s getting down and bluesey.
This 90 min DVD features 16 songs, by 16 different artists, including the Moody Blues, Wishbone Ash, Uriah Heep, Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher, Robin Trower. Opening up with Free’s Mr Big, the scene is set immediately, and doesn’t stop for a full 90 minutes. Every track is killer, with some superb guitar playing throughout.
Unfortunately, this DVD is not that widely available. Buy it if you can find it!
BLUES ROCK:ANTHOLOGY - DVD Movie
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A great collection of blues rock music. There’s rocky blues, and bluesy rock. This is definately the latter; a collection of British and American rock acts attempting the blues – and pulling it off superbly. Click through to Amazon to check the soundclips. If you want to explore the bluesiness of 1960s rock, here would be a great place to start. From well-known classics by the likes of The Animals and Procul Harum, to lesser known (but just as good) nuggets by Savoy Brown, Traffic and the Electric Flag.
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