Polyphonic Press - Classic Album Reviews
1,000 essential albums. One random generator. Zero escape. Jeremy Boyd and Jon VanDyk take a deep dive into the records that shaped music history one randomly selected choice at a time. Whether it’s a 60s psychedelic masterpiece or a 90s alternative powerhouse, we break down the lore, drop 5 fast facts, and give you the tracks that actually matter so you can sound like the smartest person at the record store. New episodes every Tuesday.
Polyphonic Press - Classic Album Reviews
Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton by John Mayall: The Album That Invented the Modern Guitar Hero
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If you want to know exactly when the 1960s British Blues explosion caught fire, look no further than this 1966 landmark. Fresh off his departure from The Yardbirds, a young Eric Clapton teamed up with blues purist John Mayall to record what is widely considered the most influential guitar album of the decade. This week, the Random Album Generator gives us the legendary "Beano Album," the record that officially launched the "Clapton is God" era.
Inside This Episode:
- Side A Reaction: We are splitting this 12-track blues masterclass right down the middle. If you're spinning this with us, hit pause after track six, "Double Crossing Time." Jeremy and Jon react to that massive, aggressive guitar tone that changed rock music overnight and John Mayall's steady, authentic leadership.
- 5 Fast Facts: We uncover the story behind Clapton reading a comic book on the album cover, the exact amplifier combination that defined rock and roll, and the tragic mystery of the stolen "Beano Burst" guitar.
- Side B & Final Thoughts: We flip to Side B and discuss Clapton's vocal debut, the ferocious instrumental "Steppin' Out," and how this one album essentially laid the groundwork for Cream, Led Zeppelin, and heavy metal.
- The Verdict & Standout Tracks: Jeremy and Jon lock in their 3 essential tracks. Does this iconic blues record hold up against the test of time, or is it strictly for guitar nerds?
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This is Polyphonic Press. The podcast where two music fans pick a classic album completely at random.
SPEAKER_07Alright, hey, welcome to Polyphonic Press. I'm Jeremy Boyd.
SPEAKER_06And I'm John Van Dyke.
SPEAKER_07And uh let's not waste any time. We've got the patented random album generator right in front of us here. Uh so let's hit the button and see what album we're gonna be listening to this week. And the album we're gonna be listening to is John Mail with Eric Clapton, the Bluesbreakers.
SPEAKER_06Okay, that's cool.
SPEAKER_07Do know some songs on this album. I don't know if I know the whole thing. I've got her on CD. I don't have it on record. It is a pretty good album. Uh but here's a description of the album. It says released in 1966, Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton is a cornerstone of British blues and a defining moment in the evolution of electric blues rock. Led by John Mayle and featuring a young Eric Clapton fresh out of the Yardbirds, the album captures a raw yet refined fusion of Chicago blues tradition and British intensity. Often nicknamed the Beano album due to error due to Clapton reading a Beano comic book uh on the cover, the record or the comic, uh the record showcases his now legendary guitar tone, thick, warm, and overdriven, achieved with a Gibson Les Paul plugged plugged into a cranked martial amp. The sound would go on to define blues rock for generations. Clapton's playing is both technically dazzling and deeply expressive, blending fluid phrasing with emotional bite. Musically, the album leans heavily on classic American blues influences, reworking songs by artists like Freddie King and Robert Johnson, while also featuring strong originals from Mail. Tracks like All Your Love and Hideaway highlight the band's tight interplay with Mail's organ and harmonica, adding texture and depth behind Clapton's fiery leads. More than just a great blues album, blues breakers with Eric Clapton helped ignite the British British blues boom and establish established Clapton as a guitar hero, sparking the famous Clapton is God graffiti across London. It remains a vital electrifying listen that bridges American blues roots with the birth of modern rock guitar. Okay. Alright, so this album was released on uh July 22nd, 1966. Uh the genres are Blues, Rock, and Blues, um, released on Decca Records and produced by Mike Vernon. And there are 12 songs on the on the album, side one and side two uh split very evenly, six and six. Uh so if you're listening along, which we do encourage you to do, uh the album starts with All Your Love and ends with What I Say. So if you want to pause after uh What I Say uh to listen to the uh halfway discussion. Alright, here's the first song, uh, All Your Love. Alright, and uh one with the cover of Ray Charles, What Dai Say. Yeah, this is uh this is an amazing album so far. Um you know, and one of the things that stood out to me and what I like about it is yes, it features Eric Clapton, and he's an incredible guitar player, we all know that. But it's also it it's not just about his guitar playing. I mean, the these are really good songs, they're good arrangements of songs, and I feel like even though his name is on the on the album, it's not completely featuring him in every like he's not hogging the spotlight. Um it's it's it it feels like a band playing. It's not Eric Clapton, it's it's not like his time to show off. And yes, he's uh got some amazing parts in there, but it's not just about that. And that's what I'm noticing is these are actually really good players and they're really good songs, too.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. No, it's true, and uh honestly that, you know, is is something that actually sells Eric Clapton even better, is the fact that he doesn't feel like he has to be the only one in the room doing anything. Yeah, you got uh John McVie on bass, and you've got uh a guy named Huey Flint on drums who's more of a jazz drummer. You can tell that by the by the uh drum fill on what I say. He's he's definitely more of a a jazz pack um has more of a jazz background, but uh he you know, he's no slouch. I don't know I I wouldn't say he's a ginger baker, but he's p he's no slouch. And then of course you've got John Mayle on the organ and and and the vocals and and whatnot, and you know um John Mayle is not with us anymore, I don't think. Um I think he passed a little while ago. Um yeah, up until just even maybe about ten years ago, he was still touring, still basically doing a lot of his own roadie work even. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, he he died uh just uh like a almost two years ago, July of 2024. Oh wow. Uh yeah, I think uh Yeah, he's a he's a really good uh organ player. Um I mean that pulling off uh what I say, which you know, Ray Charles obviously is is an incredible piano player, keyboard player, whatever you want to call it, but to be able to keep up with him is a pretty pretty impressive thing. Um you know, uh because Ray Charles is he he's he's one of the best. And um and so I I I didn't feel like that cover of what I say if I'm being honest, I'd I I I I prefer Ray Charles version just because it's Ray Charles version, but this is I wouldn't I wouldn't turn this off if it came up, this version. Um you know.
SPEAKER_06I I think Ray Charles um especially in the intro party had more of he has a little bit of a better better feel to it. I mean it's his own song, so and he and he gets into it like that. Yeah, his this arrangement is yeah, Eric Clapton shines on this one, and uh again that drum solo in there is is is sort of a fun thing, and and I like how uh Eric Clapton puts a nod to uh Day Tripper.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, that was really cool, and it fit in really well. And it's it's it's cool because it's like, oh yeah, I know that, and it's like, oh, I see where you I I like it when guitar players do that. Uh they just sort of insert uh a known riff into the song that they're playing, into the jam.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_07Eric Clapton's uh guitar work on the the the first song, uh All Your Love and Hideaway. I mean, those were those were more featuring his his um his guitar playing. Um but then you had something like Another Man, which is just John Mayle and a harmonica singing, and you know, there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, that's like old blues.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, that goes way back. I don't think anybody knows who wrote that originally. Another man bungle, another man bungalow, another man bang, on the cow account of the home, on the count of all, the count of all Yeah, it's uh it's true, and uh the fact that you can you know, Eric Clapton was sort of the star at the time, like he was just came out of the yardbirds, and and in the the uh British um especially London scene, you know, he was the name on the on the record. And the fact that you could throw that in there and it and it fits. John John Mail had more of like the he was more of an established artist, but jo but Eric Clapton was the name that was buzzing up just out of the Yardbirds. And actually, uh this was the first this is the first album that actually really established himself as a really good guitar player. I mean he was decent in the Yardbirds, but he was still sort of a a novice at the time. And I think around 1965, when he left the Yardbirds, he spent about a year basically just getting his chops right. I think he was even staying with John Mayle and his wife, and he was sort of just you know establishing his chops, and by the time this record came out, he was one of the best guitar players in the world already.
SPEAKER_07And he I think he was only in his early twenties, so which is i incredible. And um I was just reading too, like it wasn't too long after this that uh he he put together Cream. Um like as if it this came out in July of 66, and the first cream album was in December, so it was like five months after this album came out that that cream was was uh was formed.
SPEAKER_06Well, Eric Clapton was sort of like this hungry artist, and he was sometimes a little bit hard to pin down, but like I think at one point, and this is also partly why he lost the guitar that he recorded on this, is because he just he would take off and then he would join another band and then you'd come back and everything like that. Like he was with the yard or with uh the brute losebreakers for the album and he did a uh a a bit of a you know some shows with them, and then he left to do something else. I can't remember exactly what it was. Um Peter Green filled in, and then Eric Clapton came back at one point, and then he left again to form cream. And I think this is around the time the album was actually coming out, he was already gone to form cream. Um like all this happened like really, really short period of time. Peter Green came in and and they did the uh the other album in '67, which is also another really good album. It's it's it's similar to this one. Just a different guitar player and another really, really, really good guitar player and another really good album.
SPEAKER_07And that that was sort of that album was kind of the origins of Fleetwood Mac, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, uh when uh I think the Blues Breakers I don't know if they sort of dissolved, but uh Peter Green did sort of, you know, take uh John McVee with him um to uh form Fleetwood Mac. I mean that's where John that's where Fleetwood Mac came from, is Mick Fleetwood and John McVee's name put together. And uh people would call the band you know, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, and I do too, to dis to differentiate the eras. But Peter Green himself was he he he didn't like too much spotlight on him. He would very much like to do he just wanted to be the guitar player, but he really was a star in his own right when he formed that band. But he but he intentionally didn't like to call it his band so much. He just felt like it was a band that he had put together.
SPEAKER_07Back to this. Well, I was gonna ask if you knew, because I don't know, what was the reason that Eric Clapton left the Yardbirds in the first place?
SPEAKER_06Uh I don't know. Just same similar reasons why he left this. He just wanted to uh I think there was like the Yardbirds wanted to expand on something like stuff like uh he wanted to go beyond just doing blues and stuff like that, and uh Eric Clapton was a little bit more of a purist at the time. But of course, by the time he was forming Cream, he'd wanted to go on and and sort of expand beyond blues and stuff like that. So I guess the Yardbirds were just kind of ahead of him at that point.
SPEAKER_07I and I guess I guess Eric Clapton was sort of a a nomad when it came to to bands.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, in in a lot of ways he kind of was, yeah, around this time. He was just a hungry young guitar player who wanted to really wanted to do his own thing and uh would sometimes have a little bit trouble uh staying within the parameters of you know being in a band sometimes.
SPEAKER_07He's he's he's a fascinating guy.
SPEAKER_06He's an interesting person, yes. The the more I know about him, the more I don't know how I feel about him all the time, but uh he he seems to be an interesting person anyway.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, he's uh yeah, he's kind of a dick sometimes. But then other times you kind of feel bad for him. Yeah, I don't know. He's he's a he's a weird guy. Um but you know, I know he had some some troubles with addiction uh in in throughout the 70s, and I think but um he established the the uh the crossroads foundation.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Which is not a bad legacy at all put together.
SPEAKER_07But uh I think well I you know, but I I think for him it can feel good, like the whole Clapton is God thing.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, which Clapton was never actually really on board with.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, well I can I was gonna say, like, I can see that one feeling good that people like your guitar playing, but two feeling the pressure to have to live up to something like that would be I I don't know if I can handle it.
SPEAKER_06Even if he could. And he could. Yeah, no, that I wouldn't like that either.
SPEAKER_07The yeah, because uh every b the expect expectations of you are so high, and even if you can deliver, there's still that that doubt as okay, am I gonna be able to play what these people want? I I can't even imagine having that kind of pressure put on you.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_07But uh I did uh find some uh pretty interesting facts about this album. Um Clapton's perfect tone uh was basically an accident and kind of a problem in the studio. Uh Clapton insisted on playing and on playing his amp at full volume to capture a live feel, which caused major recording issues in 1966. Producers had to turn the amp toward a wall, surrounded it with panels, and even drape a blanket over it just to control the sound. Ironically, this messy workaround helped create one of the most iconic guitar tones ever recorded, bleeding into multiple tracks and giving the album its raw, immersive sound. That is I mean, look, it's a great guitar tone. It would be a nightmare to try and mix that.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it's kind of everywhere in the mix, and he would do like two different takes, like on Double Crossing Time. He's he's playing like a rhythm section, and then of course recording lead over top of that. And in all of the different tracks is his guitar sort of bleeding through everywhere. Which sounds fantastic, but yeah, trying to to mix that with other instruments and stuff like that, you would almost have to record everybody separately, and then that kind of uh it takes away from the live feel to do that, but I don't think that's exactly what they did there. I think they did a lot of live off the floor for this album.
SPEAKER_07Well, I think there would have to, because in '66, I think uh this time you would still only have four tracks.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, this this particular studio, I can't remember how if it had four. I can't remember. Um I have heard it had no more than eight, for sure. Um but uh yeah, it uh yeah, it would have been tricky. And uh I'm getting flashes of other things. There's somebody posted something, and I can't remember what it was I was watching it on. Otherwise I would direct people to it. But uh they had actually toured the studio and then and underneath there's like uh reverb chambers for for adding like reverb onto stuff like t underneath the the studio itself. And uh they were used ultimately. Um I don't know how much they had to use it on um Ericlapton, like he's kind of reverberating in the room already.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, because the the reverb would take up a track. Um yeah, because you're just Well, that's what an echo chamber is. It's you basically put a microphone, a speaker and a microphone in a room that that reverberates. You put the signal of the recording through it, and you put a microphone, you record the reverb and sync it up with the uh the tape. That's how they did reverb back in the day. And then they did had plate reverb, which is like a metal plate that simulated the um space, and now you can just do it digitally, but back then you had they had to come up with all these uh all these different different things.
SPEAKER_06And they do sound different. Digitally never sounds quite right to my ear.
SPEAKER_07Um it's close, but not quite the same same thing. And there's all sorts of neat techn techniques you can do with drums and like you can put the drum signal through an amplifier and put another snare drum in front of the amplifier and put a mic on that to get a different drum drum tone. But uh anyways, I'm I'm digressing to different uh recording techniques. But the next uh fact is um the famous Beano cover was Clapton being deliberately difficult. The the album's nickname comes from the comic uh that Clapton was reading on the book, or on the cover, the Beano. Uh, but this wasn't a planned artistic choice. Clapton later admitted he brought it because he was feeling uncooperative during the photo shoot. What looks like a casual, cool moment is actually a small act of rebellion that became one of Rock's most iconic covers. I'm glad that the band just kind of went with it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06It does I mean it it looks good on the album cover. Where he's just sort of looking at the other thing where the other guys are sort of it it's that compromise where you don't want everybody looking straight at the camera sort of thing. Yeah, exactly. Um where that sometimes comes off as a little bit like true too try hard, and this doesn't. It just looks like it looks very candid, uh very uh um spur of the moment.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, it looks like you're they're just they're just kind of sitting on a on a bench somewhere and hanging out, and someone just snaps a photo of them. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06That's why Air Clapton was sort of hard to pin down sometimes, because he would be a little difficult sometimes.
SPEAKER_07Number three is uh Clapton's Les Paul used on the album was stolen and never recovered. Um alluding to earlier, the legendary guitar used on the record, a 1960 Gibson Les Paul, was stolen later in 1966 and has never uh been definitively found. Its mystique only grew over time and it became so influential that both the guitar and the amp setup are still referred to as the bluesbreaker or beano tone. Yep.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, if that guitar ever turns up, and and I think Joe Bonamasa, he claims to know who has it, but is sworn to secrecy. That that depends. I I don't know if that's if it if it's it or not. Like I it's like I'm just an outsider. I I I couldn't say definitively for what that is, but if that turns up, that might be that might turn up to be probably one of the most valuable Les Paul's uh for a guitar that's already really valuable for just because of what it is. Yeah this being the specific one for this album would it skyrocket. I think it would surpass uh uh Peter Green's.
SPEAKER_07Probably, yeah. Yeah. Uh and Kirk Hammett has Peter Green's. Yes. Uh yeah. And uh number four is one of the album's key tracks was partially recorded months earlier with a different basis. Uh double crossing time wasn't fully recorded during the main album sessions. An earlier version had been cut before Christmas nineteen sixty five with a different. Bassist. After Jack Bruce abruptly left the band, Clapton later overdubbed his solo for the album version. So even though the album feels cohesive, at least part of it is technically stitched together from different sessions.
SPEAKER_06That's interesting. I didn't know that. I didn't realize that was uh Jack Bruce on that. Another little tie-in there.
SPEAKER_07And uh number five, uh Eric uh Clapton had never sung lead on a record before this album. Ramblin' on my mind marked Clapton's first ever lead vocal recording. Even though uh even more interesting, the tri stripped down arrangement, just guitar and piano, wasn't typical of the band's live shows. It was recorded specifically for the album, making it a rare, intimate moment amid the otherwise full band blues track. Yep.
SPEAKER_06That's pretty cool. I did know that. Um Yeah, he he's he he got a little bit more confident in Cream, but yeah, before that. Uh I don't think there was ever a Yardbird track that he sang on, at least not one that was ever released. I've got a a compilation album. I think it's like a double album of stuff that he did between the Yardbird Derek and the Dominoes on record. And I and there is something on there that was him singing, and I can't remember what it was, but it was pretty early on. I don't know if it predates this or not.
SPEAKER_07Okay. Well, well, I guess yeah, I guess this was the first time that any anyone had ever heard him singing. Yeah, for sure. Um, so yeah, so those are some uh interesting facts about the album. But uh, I guess we'll get into the second side, and uh it starts with Key to Love. So here we go. And uh ending the album with It Ain't Right. Yeah, this is uh this is an incredible incredible album. Um I don't re I'm kind of speechless. It's it's uh it's just a uh a great blues rock album, whatever you want to call it. It's um yeah, it's it's just the whole band is great, it's got a great feel, and Eric Clapton's guitar tone is amazing. It's uh yeah, it's just uh it's just a great uh great album overall.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it's it's true. I as far as Eric Clapton's tone goes, I don't think he's his tone has ever sounded better than it is as on this album. This is like peak of his tone. He's come close. His playing, I don't know. I mean his playing's always been good. Um he's he's he's a fantastic player, but yeah, there's something about the magic of that guitar and that amp that just and in that studio, I guess, that just created this really full loud Les Paul sound.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Like I was uh listening to like um the opening of of uh Steppin' Out, and it's like Jesus. That's that's like for for 66, that's a huge guitar tone. Like you know, listen to like the Beatles or the Beach Boys or their guitar stuff, and I I I not a bet I'm not putting that that down, but their tones are not that thick.
SPEAKER_06No. No, you have to well I I think Eric Clapton was going for, he was trying to sound like uh um going for a tone similar to um Freddie King on some of his stuff from from the f 50s and stuff like that. So the tone did exist, but again, it took a it was it was an artist like Freddie King who who could lay down and he and he used Les Paul with P90s to get that tone.
SPEAKER_07But Freddie King, that's mostly all that's that's all in his fingers.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. It helps. They have having the Gibson in his hand helps. Yes. For sure. Yeah. But uh Yeah Freddie King, Albert King, those guys just uh, you know, they have an incredible they know how to squeeze emotion out of a single note. It's just uh what they do. And uh yeah, that that's sort of what they were what he was aiming for here. And I think he either pa hit it or maybe even surpassed it.
SPEAKER_07So Yeah, I mean like that that thick tone is is um like it is it really is something special. And like I was saying, like a lot of the tone is in the guitar player's fingers. Absolutely. And I think that's true of Eric Clapton, and and and yes, you know, you can get the the sound of of the Les Paul and the Marshall crank to to ten and and it creates a certain sound, but to be able to play with that sound and to control it is is what happens in the fingers. Uh not any guitar player can play with that setup. No, y it helps if you can really play, for sure. Yeah, it you know, uh say a lesser guitar player, but not a l I don't mean a lesser guitar player, I mean a different guitar player would not would could sound like absolute crap with that setup and and because and you know they have their own setup. So there is something that it is in the guitar, it is in it's the combination of the way he plays and the the the setup and that Les Paul and and the and the Marshall, and even when he switched to a strat, and I think he s switched to a strat just because it's lighter and it's easier on his back, um he still, even though it's a lighter sounding guitar with the single coil pickups, you can still tell that it's him playing it. So yeah, so it's it's there's just the combination of this the the amp, the lespal, and the way he plays just it it's just it's all all cylinders firing at the same time. Yeah. Um and you know, like we were saying, the like the whole band is is great here too. I mean, I don't want to I know Eric Clapton is featured, but and and we could talk for days about him, but I don't want to forget the band too. I mean uh like John McVee, uh we all we know John John McVee is is uh an amazing bass player. And uh he's playing really well with the drummer here. What's the drummer's name again? Uh Huey Flint. Huey Flint. They're playing really well together too. I mean, they're pretty tight.
SPEAKER_06And uh what's that have you heard where I don't think Eric Clapton plays on it at all. Um where I think it's just uh the the three of the others listening to that drummer. Holy crap. He really could play. Yeah.
SPEAKER_07No, he they they they are this band is is something special. It's it's it's too bad that they were only together for one album. Um that they didn't do other stuff. I I I I know the blues breakers existed in one form or another, but I mean these these this combination of them.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, this combination is is only one album. Um this combination minus Eric Clapton, but plus Peter Green lasted for another album.
SPEAKER_07Yeah.
SPEAKER_06So there's that. And like I said, it's another really good album.
SPEAKER_07So worth checking out as well, yeah. So this might be uh an impossible task, but uh what would be your three uh highlights on the album?
SPEAKER_06Well, I've sort of had time to think about it, and I think I'm gonna go with All Your Love. I've always loved that song. That's just a really good song. And the tone on that is spectacular. Um I like the key to love. I think uh that's another really good one. And again, aircraft and solo on that one is blistering. Um but uh yeah, I'm trying to pick between three for my final pick, and I think I'm gonna go with stepping out.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, those are my picks as well. Yeah, okay. Um I was either gonna go with A like Hideaway 2, I think is really good. But yeah, the other two, like uh Key to Love and and Steppin' Out. I mean Steppin' Out, God, like that that that is the sound. That's the sound that everybody's chasing. So yeah, there's that's that's like that's the for me, that's the highlight of the album.
SPEAKER_06Um and and it closes with It Ain't Right, which is also really the rhythm tone that he's got on this one that sounds really good too. But uh again, the whole band's just cooking on that song.
SPEAKER_07So I think I know the answer to this, but uh I'll ask it anyway, just uh for the show, is uh would you listen to this album again?
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I've like I've got a copy of it and I do put it on from time to time. It's up there on as one of my favorites.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. Me too. Um, yeah, I'm definitely gonna listen to this again. And uh yeah, absolutely, absolutely. It's uh it's a must listen, I think. Um yeah, so I guess we'll end the episode there. Uh, thank you so much for listening if you made it this far. Uh, we would love to hear from you if you want to check out uh polyphonicpress.com slash contact. You can get in contact with us and uh we might read one of your messages on on these episodes. And uh if you want to help us out, you can go to patreon.com slash polyphonic press. Uh join the uh this discussion there and and uh lots of ways you can um just join the community and and uh uh help us out if you want to. We can uh get these episodes the day before they go live, you can pick an album for us to review and uh get a shout out during these episodes. And if this is your first time listening, uh be sure to follow the show and leave a rating and review because it helps uh new listeners uh find us. And I think that just about does it. I'm Jeremy Boyd, and I'm John Van Day. Take it easy.