The British Blues Explosion was the second great tidal wave of UK music to cross the Atlantic after the Beatles and their contemporaries, known as the 'British Invasion'. Many more were to come, of course, from Glam to Heavy Metal, Britipop to Triphop, the UK would always have a masive influence on the US
The Blues Explosion was particurly paradoxical, with Eric, Paul Butterfield, Rory Gallagher etal. selling the blues back to it's home town in rock and roll form
Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton (1966) is the most influential album of the blues-rock phenomenon.Before this, no one had heard a Gibson Les Paul thru an overdriven Marshall amp, a sound that inspired the graffiti in London: 'Clapton is God".
It's also known as 'the Beano album' because Eric is reading the Beano comic bok on the cover.
What a historical line-up: John Mayall on harmonica and vocals, John McVie on bass (ie: Fleetwood MacVie) plus "God".
Much of the album was composed of blues standards by Otis Rush, Freddie King and Robert Johnson, Mose Allison plus Ray Charles, with a few originals thrown in. Most are vehicles for Eric's guitar work
This album is ranked fairly low down the top 500 by Rolling Stone (number 195); perhaps they could swop it with Pet Sounds which is way to high up in the top 5 ?!
Image: Decca
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