In the pantheon of British blues music, few have had as much influence as John Mayall. As the leader of The Bluesbreakers in the '60s and '70s (and through to today), he's sought out and nurtured talented musicians who'd go on to become as legendary as Mayall himself. Indeed, the roster of future legends that passed through the ranks of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers is immense. John McVie, Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Paul Butterfield, Aynsley Dunbar, Mick Taylor, Keef Hartley, and Jack Bruce all
The fourth and final core album by Cream, 1969's Goodbye (sometimes referred to as Goodbye Cream), followed the structure of the previous year's Wheels of Fire. Whereas that album featured one disc of live recordings and one disc of studio tracks, the taut Goodbye had one live side and one studio side. Despite its short running time of just six songs, Goodbye packed considerable power from the triumvirate of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker. It reached the top of the Albums Chart in
Eric Clapton once described Rory Gallagher as "the man who got me back into the blues." Though he never reached the same "household name" fame as Clapton or other contemporaries, Irish guitar legend Gallagher led a movement back to blues roots that began with his band Taste and continued on throughout his solo career from 1971 to 1994. To commemorate 50 years since Gallagher began his recording, UMC has released a new collection that mines the vaults of the celebrated singer and instrumentalist
Later this month, Cherry Red's Turtle Records is turning back the clock almost 50 years for the first official release of two 1969 concerts from longtime friends and collaborators Michael Gibbs and Gary Burton. Festival '69, due September 28, is a 3-CD set of performances from Gibbs at Lancaster University (February 1969) and Burton with Gibbs at Whitla Hall in Belfast (November 20, 1969) primarily featuring Gibbs' own compositions. Students of Herb Pomeroy, trombonist Gibbs and vibraphonist
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! George Harrison, The Vinyl Collection (Apple/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) George Harrison - The Vinyl Collection includes newly-remastered editions of 13 albums, from Wonderwall Music (1968) to the posthumously released Brainwashed (2002). Each album has been remastered at Capitol Studios from the original tapes and pressed onto 180-gram vinyl. The albums are all packaged in replica sleeves, and the entire set comes in one
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Elvis Costello, Unfaithful Music & Soundtrack Album (UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Elvis Costello has compiled a 2-CD companion release to his recently-released, utterly engrossing memoir Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink. Featuring songs that "offer the deepest emotional connection to the themes and stories in his book," Unfaithful Music & Soundtrack Album non-chronologically spans the onetime Angry Young Man and latter-day
Dusty Springfield, Faithful (Real Gone Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Faithful assembles for the first time on one CD all of the masters produced by Jeff Barry ("Chapel of Love," "Leader of the Pack," "Sugar, Sugar") for Dusty Springfield in 1971. From his home base at New York's Century Sound, Barry produced thirteen songs for Dusty - twelve intended for album release and one for a non-LP single. Four songs were released on two 45s, but when Dusty departed Atlantic Records, the