John Mayall New Year New Band

Road Show Blues [Bluesbreaker] was John Mayall's third album for the U.K.'s DJM Records, following Bottom Line and No More Interviews. At this time, his backup band included guitarist/singer James Quill Smith, bassist Kevin McCormick, drummer Soko Richardson, and singer Maggie Parker. Two cuts, Jimmy Reed's "Baby, What You Want Me to Do" and Mayall's "Mexico City," were recorded live. The band is a tight unit in support of the leader, who sings and plays fiercely. By the time that this album, the last in Mayall's DJM contract, was recorded, his career was in decline, and the disc was not released in the U.S. at the time. It would be another five years before he made another.

Road Show Blues [Bluesbreaker] was John Mayall's third album for the U.K.'s DJM Records, following Bottom Line and No More Interviews. At this time, his backup band included guitarist/singer James Quill Smith, bassist Kevin McCormick, drummer Soko Richardson, and singer Maggie Parker. Two cuts, Jimmy Reed's "Baby, What You Want Me to Do" and Mayall's "Mexico City," were recorded live. The band is a tight unit in support of the leader, who sings and plays fiercely. By the time that this album, the last in Mayall's DJM contract, was recorded, his career was in decline, and the disc was not released in the U.S. at the time. It would be another five years before he made another.

John Mayall, the pioneering octogenarian British bluesman, has been on a late-career tear. Last year's A Special Life received wide approval from fans and critics alike, while its supporting tour found him playing well-attended shows. Find a Way to Care, his second date for Forty Below Records, is again produced by Eric Corne and features the same band that's been with Mayall for years: guitarist Rocky Athas, bassist Greg Rzab, and drummer Jay Davenport. A horn section also augments select tracks. The material, as usual, is divided between originals and covers. This is a Mayall album that - uncharacteristically - focuses on his keyboard skills: he manhandles B-3, Wurlitzer, piano, and clavinet (and also plays harmonica and some guitar)…

This two-disc, 32-track compilation brings together highlights from Mayall's output for ABC Records in the 1970s, pulling from the albums New Year, New Band, New Company; Notice to Appear; Lots of People; A Banquet of Blues; A Hard Core Package; and Last of the British Blues. These cherry-picked tracks do a nice job of highlighting Mayall's estimable writing skills as well. Highlights include "Seven Days Too Long," "Old Time Blues," "You Can't Put Me Down," "Sitting on the Outside," "My Train Time," and the title track. As a special bonus, there's the second-disc inclusion of four live tracks from a 1982 Bluesbreaker reunion gig, featuring John McVie back at his original post on bass and Mick Taylor on lead guitar providing the fireworks.

Like many black American blues and R&B artists, New Orleans singer and pianist Champion Jack Dupree found more respect and recognition in Europe than he did in his homeland, and he relocated to Europe in 1959, only rarely returning to the U.S. He cut several albums there, including the two included in this double-disc set from Beat Goes On, From New Orleans to Chicago, recorded in London in 1966, and Champion Jack Dupree and His Blues Band, tracked in the same city a year later (both were originally released on London Decca). Of the two, the latter release is the stronger (thanks in no small part to guitarist Mickey Baker), although From New Orleans is probably better known, mainly for the presence of Eric Clapton and John Mayall at the sessions…

Like many black American blues and R&B artists, New Orleans singer and pianist Champion Jack Dupree found more respect and recognition in Europe than he did in his homeland, and he relocated to Europe in 1959, only rarely returning to the U.S. He cut several albums there, including the two included in this double-disc set from Beat Goes On, From New Orleans to Chicago, recorded in London in 1966, and Champion Jack Dupree and His Blues Band, tracked in the same city a year later (both were originally released on London Decca). Of the two, the latter release is the stronger (thanks in no small part to guitarist Mickey Baker), although From New Orleans is probably better known, mainly for the presence of Eric Clapton and John Mayall at the sessions…