JOHN MAYALL Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton UK Decca Mono LP LK 4804 1966

$

32

PLEASE READ AND CONSIDER THIS IMPORTANT SHIPPING INFORMATION BEFORE YOU READ ABOUT THIS RECORD:
Ebay does not let me specify a greater shipping amount than $4 for US shipping in the listing, but I am in Canada and shipping a record to you in the US costs $12, not $4, so kindly disregard the listed shipping price and follow the shipping charges below. I will send you an invoice with the correct shipping amount shortly after the end of the auction. If you jump the gun and submit a payment with just $4 shipping I will send you a paypal invoice to cover the remaining $8, so it's better to wait for my invoice.
By bidding on my auction you are acknowledging that you have read and understood my shipping terms.

SHIPPING PRICES ARE AS FOLLOWS

Within North America:
1 record: $12, 2 records: $17, 3 records: $22, 4 records: $25, 5, 6 or 7 records: $28

Outside North America:
1 record: $18, 2 records: $30, 3, 4 or 5 records: $50, 6 records: $75

Over a period of several years I am slowly listing a remarkable record collection for auction on ebay. This collection belonged to my friend Brian, one of the most discerning record collectors I have ever known. Brian started buying records in 1966 when he was a teenager. His infatuation for vinyl developed into a career and he eventually ended up working for RCA records and CBS/Sony records as a disc mastering engineer from 1977 to 1989. Brian’s not with us anymore, and I’m making good on my promise to him to sell his records in lovingly-prepared auctions which reflect the love he had for his vast collection. The proceeds go to his family.

Brian’s collection is the kind that rarely comes up for sale. He had great taste in music and collected vinyl seriously for 40 years, taking superb care of his collection. To see all of Brian’s records that I currently have listed, click here.

I grade records conservatively to ensure your satisfaction as the buyer. All LPs will be shipped promptly in reinforced record-mailing boxes. Because of the size of this collection, I will be listing these records in sections, so you might want to bookmark my listings page and keep checking back. Also, if you want to be notified when a new block of records is listed, drop me a line with your email.

This month I'm offering for your consideration Brian's Johan Mayall, Eric Clapton, Cream, Jack Bruce and related LPs.

Artist: John Mayall

Title: Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton

Country of Issue: UK

Date of Issue: July 22nd, 1966

Catalogue Number: LK 4804 (mono) Red Decca unboxed labels.

Matrix side one: 7297-1A

Matrix side two: 7298-1A

Condition of sleeve: The sleeve is a strong VG+. The laminated front is near perfect with some mild creasing at the edges. The unlaminated back cover shows some very minor ring-wear and some small brown spots.

Hey there, I'm just interrupting in the middle of the crucial record condition descriptions to make sure you saw the important information about shipping that is at the start and end of this listing, and why shipping on this LP is NOT $4. It's incredible how many people fail to read this, or worse: choose to ignore this important information! Thanks!

Condition of record: The record shows enough wear visually for a VG grading, but these Decca pressings were phenomenally hardy and this record plays beautifully despite its appearance. It has lovely clarity and just some mild distortion and inoffensive surface noise with the occasional pop. Far from perfect but this record maintains all of its integrity and the music bursts form the speakers.

Further Notes:

This was the first studio album and the second overall credited to John Mayall, who teamed up for the first time in a studio release with ex-Yardbird Eric Clapton (their next and last time will be for six tracks of 1971's double LP Back to the Roots). It is also known as Beano because of its cover photograph showing Clapton reading The Beano, a British children's comic. Clapton stated in his autobiography that he was reading Beano on the cover as he felt like being "uncooperative" during the photo shoot.

John Mayall is known as the white king of black blues. His way of singing, his harmonica playing and his typical Hammond organ sound reigned supreme in the realm of the blues during the sixties and seventies. “I never made commercial compromises; everything I did, I did for myself and nobody else”, Mayall confessed – words that are as honest and credible as his music. His singing, which he himself described as “rough but bursting with energy”, just can’t be imitated and the solo passages prove how the man grooves for himself alone, nobody else.

The sound on this recording clearly carries the stamp of the young Eric Clapton who plays here on the side line, as it were. His short sojourn with the Bluesbreakers was a training camp for the guitarist who not many years later was idolized by his fans everywhere. The original release of this debut album is a highly sought-after and expensive collectors item whose artistic level has, according to the specialists, never been surpassed.

Originally, John Mayall intended for his second album to be also a live one in order to capture the guitar solos performed by Eric Clapton. A set was recorded at the Flamingo Club, with Jack Bruce (with whom Clapton would subsequently work in Cream) on bass. The recordings of the concert, however, were of bad quality and were scrapped.

With the original plan of a live album now discarded, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers recorded Blues Breakers at Decca Studios, West Hampstead, London in March 1966. The guitar that Eric Clapton used during these sessions was a sunburst 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard with two PAF humbucking pickups. This guitar (whose current whereabouts remains unknown since being stolen in 1966) is also called the "Blues Breaker" or "Beano" Les Paul and a replica of which was reissued by Gibson in 2012. Critics consider Clapton's guitar tone and playing on this album to be influential in the artistic and commercial development of rock-styled guitar playing.

The band on this album includes Mayall on piano, Hammond organ, harmonica and most vocals; bassist John McVie; drummer Hughie Flint; and Clapton. Augmenting the band on this album was a horn section added during post-production, with Alan Skidmore, Johnny Almond, and Derek Healey (misrepresented on the sleeve as 'Dennis Healey' which was unfortunate as Dennis Healey was a British Labour party politician with famously bushy eyebrows!). The album was engineered by a young Gus Dudgeon.

The album consists of blues standards by long-established artists such as Otis Rush, Freddie King and Robert Johnson, as well as a few originals penned by Mayall and Clapton. Most tracks serve as a showcase for the young Clapton's playing. Although he sang on several Yardbirds' recordings, "Ramblin' on My Mind" was Clapton's first recorded solo lead vocal performance, which Eric had been reluctant to record.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 195 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[10]

Apart from being one of the most influential blues albums, it also started the now-legendary combination of a Gibson Les Paul guitar through an overdriven Marshall Bluesbreaker amplifier.

Tracklist:

Side one:
"All Your Love" (Otis Rush) – 3:38
"Hideaway" (Freddie King/Sonny Thompson; interpolating "The Walk" by Jimmy McCracklin) – 3:17
"Little Girl" (Mayall) – 2:36
"Another Man" (Mayall) – 1:47
"Double Crossing Time" (Clapton/Mayall) – 3:04
"What'd I Say" (Ray Charles; interpolating "Day Tripper" by John Lennon/Paul McCartney) – 4:28

Side two
"Key to Love" (Mayall) – 2:08
"Parchman Farm" (Mose Allison) – 2:22
"Have You Heard" (Mayall) – 5:56
"Ramblin' On My Mind" (Robert Johnson/Traditional) – 3:08
"Steppin' Out" (L. C. Frazier) – 2:30
"It Ain't Right" (Little Walter) – 2:45

I only accept paypal. If you wish to pay by any other means, please contact me prior to bidding.

IMPORTANT SHIPPING NOTE (in case you missed it above):
Ebay does not let me specify a greater shipping amount than $4 for US shipping in the listing, but I am in Canada and shipping a record to you in the US costs $12, not $4, so kindly disregard the listed shipping price and follow the shipping charges below. I will send you an invoice with the correct shipping amount shortly after the end of the auction. If you jump the gun and submit a payment with just $4 shipping I will send you a paypal invoice to cover the remaining $8, so it's better to wait for my invoice.
By bidding on my auction you are acknowledging that you have read and understood my shipping terms.

SHIPPING PRICES ARE AS FOLLOWS

Within North America:
1 record: $12, 2 records: $17, 3 records: $22, 4 records: $25, 5, 6 or 7 records: $28

Outside North America:
1 record: $18, 2 records: $30, 3, 4 or 5 records: $50, 6 records: $75