In the age of the single download, Jeff Harford rediscovers the album.
''And you need to be a student for one, a human being for the other.''
A student of the blues from an early age, Clapton bristled at the prospect of his breakthrough band the Yardbirds broadening its palette to include more pop-oriented material. In early 1965 he quit, his state of mind firmly fixed on following the example of bluesman Robert Johnson, whom he considered the master of this compelling form.
John Mayall was similarly inclined. With his loose collective the Bluesbreakers, he had been at the forefront of the British blues scene and on hand to back such greats as John Lee Hooker, Sonny Boy Williamson and T-Bone Walker on their first English club tours.
He was quick to offer Clapton a spot in the line-up when he learned of the young guitarist's availability.
Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966), a mix of Chicago blues standards and Mayall compositions, captures Clapton's coming of age as a blues guitarist. At just 21, he plays with a fluidity and expressiveness that acknowledges the legacy of his heroes without mimicking their style. Freed from the need to colour his breaks with rock or pop tones, he finds his voice in the simmering heat of a 1960 Gibson Les Paul standard run through a Marshall amp.
The Bluesbreakers rhythm unit comprising future Fleetwood Mac bassist John McVie and drummer Hughie Flint locks things down, while Mayall fleshes out the background with choogling keyboard lines and harmonica breaks, singing with limited range but earnest intent. (Clapton outshines him in his sole vocal lead, Ramblin' On My Mind).
For the most part, these songs serve mainly as a launching pad for the searing solos that would inspire the ''Clapton is God'' graffiti campaign.
All a bit embarrassing for a guitarist who considered himself very much mortal, and very much still a student.
