Wednesday, September 30, 2015

John Mayall’s Live In 1967 on Vinyl!

John Mayall's Live In 1967

Good news, everybody! Released earlier this year, the critically acclaimed, long lost live album by John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Live In 1967, will see release on glorious ebony-black vinyl on October 2nd, 2015 courtesy of our good friends at Forty Below Records. Mayall’s Live In 1967 will be a double-album pressed on 140-gram vinyl with a gatefold cover that includes large photos inside of Mayall and his Bluesbreakers line-up at the time – guitarist Peter Green, bassist John McVie, and drummer Mick Fleetwood.

Mayall’s Live in 1967 is a rare live recording by one of the best of the many Bluesbreakers line-ups. Although the band of Mayall, Green, McVie, and Fleetwood were together a mere three months, they made some mighty fine music together before the three guys that weren’t Mayall flew the coop to form Fleetwood Mac. This special live recording was made available by a hardcore Mayall fan from Holland by the name of Tom Huissen, who concealed a one-channel reel-to-reel tape recorder on his person as he attended shows at a handful of London clubs (including the legendary Marquee) in early 1967, recording the band’s performance each night.

The tapes Huissen made of these shows remained unheard and unreleased until they were acquired by Mayall who, working with Forty Below’s Eric Corne, restored them to releasable condition. “While the source recording was very rough and the final result is certainly not hi-fidelity, it does succeed in allowing us to hear how spectacular these performances are,” Corne said in a press release for the album. The resulting historical document is a diamond in the rough, soliciting rave reviews from just about every critic, including the Reverend, my review of the album stating that “Live In 1967 proves that his legacy and the long shadow Mayall casts across the British blues tradition is based on more than just that one single album” (referring to Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton).

Live in 1967 walked away with honors as both the best “Live Blues Album” and best “Historical/Vintage Album” at the recent Blues Blast Music Awards, held in Chicago by Blues Blast Magazine. Now fans can get this gem of an album on vinyl, just like it would have been released almost 50 years ago!

Related Content: John Mayall's Live In 1967 CD review

Buy the vinyl from Amazon.com: John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - Live in '67

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