Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton - Deluxe Edition

1966年，吉他大师Eric Clapton为了继续施展在布鲁斯方面的抱负，离开了先前的乐队，跑到伦敦找到John Mayall的Bluesbreakers一起合作，仅仅数月之后，Clapton就离开了Bluesbreakers，组建了Cream。然而，就是在这样一次短暂的合作期间，却诞生了一张伟大的专辑，这张专辑从一开始就以Clapton的吉他为卖点，在伦敦引发了对Clapton的崇拜热潮，有fans打出了“Clapton是神！”的标语，吉他之神从此也就成了Clapton的绰号。 这张专辑在布鲁斯摇滚历史上的地位可谓十分显赫，被认为在很多方面创立了布鲁斯摇滚的标准。专辑在该年度进入UK专辑排行榜的前十。 这张专辑在滚石杂志选出的500张历代最强专辑中排名第195位。 Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton was Eric Clapton's first fully realized album as a blues guitarist — more than that, it was a seminal blues album of the 1960s, perhaps the best British blues album ever cut, and the best LP ever recorded by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Standing midway between Clapton's stint with the Yardbirds and the formation of Cream, this album featured the new guitar hero on a series of stripped-down blues standards, Mayall pieces, and one Mayall/Clapton composition, all of which had him stretching out in the idiom for the first time in the studio. This album was the culmination of a very successful year of playing with John Mayall, a fully realized blues creation, featuring sounds very close to the group's stage performances, and with no compromises. Credit has to go to producer Mike Vernon for the purity and simplicity of the record; most British producers of that era wouldn't have been able to get it recorded this way, much less released. One can hear the very direct influence of Buddy Guy and a handful of other American bluesmen in the playing. And lest anyone forget the rest of the quartet: future pop/rock superstar John McVie and drummer Hughie Flint provide a rock-hard rhythm section, and Mayall's organ playing, vocalizing, and second guitar are all of a piece with Clapton's work. His guitar naturally dominates most of this record, and he can also be heard taking his first lead vocal, but McVie and Flint are just as intense and give the tracks an extra level of steel-strung tension and power, none of which have diminished across several decades. [In 1998, Polygram Records issued a remastered version of this album on CD, featuring both the stereo and mono mixes of the original tracks and new notes.]