Comments on: John Mayall “Blues From Laurel Canyon”

By: Simon S

Simon S — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 18:55:13 +0000

Love this album,just listening to it now for the first time in ages…was introduced to it as a teenager and loved the way it was like a sonic diary, and it really gave me a taste of what it would’ve been like in LA in the 60’s! Listening to it now being in my 30’s it DOES sound a little like an older man ogling all the young hippy chicks and then catching himself sound kind of mild STD,and by the end realising that these girls dont subscribe to his old-fashioned views of monogamy, but that doesnt take away from the incredible ambience of a track like “first time alone”,the excitement of being somewhere new having just stepped off a plane (“walking on sunset”),and the slow hypnotic build of “fly tomorrow” which features in my opinion some of Mick Taylor’s best playing…My first visit to Laurel Canyon was always gonna make me think of this album, and like the best music,it transports me to a time that i wasnt even present in!

By: TimB

TimB — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 07:21:50 +0000

I bought this album after hearing Mayall’s Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton. Laurel Canyon is very underrated, yet shows a side of the sixties that too few people are aware of. One question – the album begins with the sound of an aircraft, as does The Beatles White Album, so who was the first to do this? (The Beatles – I was hoping it was Mayall). Anyway, it’s great to see this album on the shelves of the more mainstream record shops. Medicine Man interludes the album really well, and Fly Tomorrow concludes it brilliantly especially with the way the tablas merge into rock, then back to tablas again.

By: Lad Litter

Lad Litter — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:46:05 +0000

Thanks for the heads up on Laurel Canyon’s personnel, Len! It’s been a while since I pulled out the vinyl. Whittington must be something else. I’ve got the Mayall 70th DVD on my Amazon Wish List and it’s getting near the top. Looking forward to it, now on your recommendation as well.

As for Brian Jones, check out the 2005 biopic Stoned on DVD to solve the mystery once and for all. If only he’d joined up with Keith Relf after leaving the Stones they might both still be with us.

Jones WIkipedia entry is fair to all concerned, particularly about his musical legacy. Unfortunately, I don’t look a bit like him nor do I have a skerrick of his charisma or musical ability.

By: Len Liechti

Len Liechti — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 09:22:35 +0000

Nice gig review, Lad me lad, except that John McVie didn’t play on Laurel Canyon – he’d left to form Fleetwood Mac a few months earlier. He had been replaced by the unknown 18-year-old Steven Thompson. I’ve seen Mayall live a few times over the years and he’s never disappointed, although the drumless band from The Turning Point era (including Thompson) was probably the weakest. I saw him at The Colston Hall in Bristol, UK, five or six years ago when he was touring supported by Peter Green’s Splinter Group (sadly they didn’t play together). Mayall was 67 at the time and gave a performance whose enthusiasm and physicality would have shamed many teenage bands. At the start of the set he rode on stage on a mountain bike, and at its end he jumped off the five-foot-high stage to shake hands with the audience, and then sprang back on it again! Mick Taylor turned up at Mayall’s 70th birthday gig in Liverpool, when Mayall was also reunited with Clapton for the first time since 1965 – great show, catch it on telly or DVD. Yes, all those fine guitarists, but I’d say that big Buddy Whittington, the current seatholder, is probably the best yet – amazing player. PS: Steve Thompson is now playing upright bass with various modern jazz outfits in the UK. PPS: are you really a Brian Jones clone?

By: Lad Litter

Lad Litter — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 07:01:42 +0000

Thanks for the post. This was my first Mayall purchase, and only because Mick Taylor was on it. What followed was an appreciation of the guy that goes beyond who his guitar-players were. On my Mayall favourites list I’d put this at Number 3 behind A Hard Road and Bluesbreakers.

Click here for a review of a 1982 Melbourne Bluesbreakers gig with the same lineup as the Lauel Canyon album:

http://ladlitter.blogspot.com/search?q=Great+Gigs+I%3A+John+Mayall+and+the+Bluesbreakers%3B+the+Chevron%3B+1982

By: Jason

Jason — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:12:15 +0000

Len,

Good heads up, this is really a terrific record by an unsung blues hero. I remember buying this when I was about 18 years old only to sell it back to one of the local record stores – I was disappointed, at the time I didn’t understand the whole British Blues movement. I bought the recent cd reissue a little while back and think it’s a superb album – boy I was stupid it to sell it that first time around. Most people mention the Clapton record as being Mayall’s classic but this album is almost as good or the equal of that record. Really a great psychedelic blues lp – good, thought provoking review too! Not really blues but another outstanding record is the Groundhog’s Split – they began as a straight up British Blues Group but by Split they were a garage progressive monster.

By: dk

dk — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 21:12:56 +0000

A great album. This one really sets the late-60’s, Laurel Canyon mood…