John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers - Jammin' With the Blues Greats
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Albert King, Buddy Guy, Etta James, John Mayall, Mick TaylorDVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 90 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-01-25
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Hybrid Recordings
Movie Reviews of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers - Jammin' With the Blues Greats
Movie Review: Get This For The Best Albert King Sound Available
Summary: 5 Stars
This DVD is now available again after years of being out-of-print. Originally it was VHS tape that was available in the Mid-Eighties. That version did not contain the Jam at the end or Albert King's "Born Under A Bad Sign". During the 90s it reappeared as a full-lenght VHS tape with all tracks present, however, if you live in Australia as I do, it was in NTSC and not available in PAL (I paid $50 in 1997 to get it changed over!Before the technology revolution in TVs). I was able to get the first DVD copy of this work from the UK in 2001 and it is now deleted. This copy is a treasure and what a price!!!!! You should buy two just in case one gets worn out playing Albert King's segment!
OK, the previous reviews are great and I agree with most of what they say. John Mayall was and is a great promoter of the Blues. This concert was in a way a Jam Session (as the name implies) and a chance to give the Blues a kick start in the days just prior to the emergence of the dynamic SRV. It was 1982 and most Blues acts were stagnant-most people were listening to the 1980s New British Pop-Soul Invasion, Billy Joel and so on, enough said.
This set has its ups and downs but the HIGHLIGHT is Albert King. As I have said in my many reviews of his work, material on him is very scarce. Even now, this is much better than the DVD released last year "Live In Sweden"- the sound is better, his guitar has no 1970s phaser on it, the guitar is mixed up front, his singing is at its best and he's not grumpy!!! The other DVD of Albert is "Godfather of the Blues". He has a good sound, but he's 69 years old and the band is very mediocre (Except "Dave Jefferson" on drums). The very rare "Maintenance Shop Blues" tape (can you still get it at all??) he has a good band with horns, it's in this period around the middle 1980s, but his guitar is super phaser driven and not out front.
If they ever release "A Blues Session" (well they just re-released "A Rockabilly Session" with Carl Perkins in the same series!!!) Albert has his second best video exposure, with SRV and Paul Butterfield doing "The Sky Is Crying").
Now to be able to get this DVD with Albert in top form and bassist Frank Dunbar, who played with Albert through the mid-1980s until he got a newer band with the fabluous Jimmy King on second guitar, for only ten bucks is the all time Albert King bargain available- I now own two of the tapes and four of the DVDs!!
About the players. The Bluesbreakers with Mick Taylor and John McVie are great. Taylor's big Marshall sound and great slide playing prevail. I think the best tunes are Buddy Guy's "My Time After A While" and "The Dark Side of Midnight" with Taylor's great playing with a Wah-wah and a Les Paul. Sippie Wallace is super for 83 (she died the year after this concert) you may want to see a younger Sippie caught in the American Folk Blues Festival (Vol. 1) worth seeing! Buddy and Junior Wells are their usual selves. Although Buddy is really not up to scratch with the old Guild he played between Stratocasters. His sound is pretty thin and does not suit his fast playing. This mix is also not the best. Etta James is Etta James, a great Blues singer, but she should have done different material-she did Jimmy Reed's "Baby What You Want Me To Do" (A curious song that actually never refers to the title-Reed was drunk at the time (as usual) and couldn't name the tune he had written with his wife and Eddie Taylor). Etta performed this on about every TV performance she did in the 1980s.(eg-B.B.King, Joe Walsh's special, etc.)
Overall this show belongs to the late great Albert King. Albert never got the credit or recognition he deserved in his lifetime, except from guitar players and die hard blues lovers. Perhaps the re-release of this material will spark some well overdue interest in Mr King. Most guitar players who play blues have to include some of B.B. King's style in their lick dictionary (Guy, Little Milton, Freddie King, Clapton, etc.). However, Albert King never did, once!!! He is the most original blues guitar stylist. Hear him on this DVD. He is the best, the King of soulful bending!
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