terça-feira, 1 de abril de 2008

John Mayall's Bluesbreakers - Bare Wires (UK Blues Rock Jazz Fusion 1968)

MAIS UM DISCO SENSACIONAL DESTE GRANDE BLUESEIRO BRANCO! ESTE DISCO A BANDA AINDA É OS BLUESBREAKERS, QUE ENTRE OUTROS, JÁ FOI INTEGRANTES ERIC CLAPTON E MICK TAYLOR! ALIÁS, ESTE ÚLTIMO AINDA PARTICIPA DESTE DISCO! BLUES, PSICODELIA, JAZZ E MUITA EXPERIMENTAÇÃO FAZEM DESTE DISCO UMA OBRA PRIMA DO ROCK SETENTISTA!!



Bare Wires was the first Bluesbreakers album of new studio material since A Hard Road, released 16 months before. In that time, the band had turned over entirely, expanding to become a septet.

Mayall's musical conception had also expanded — the album began with a 23-minute "Bare Wires Suite," which included more jazz influences than usual and featured introspective lyrics. In retrospect, all of this is a bit indulgent, but at the time it helped Mayall out of what had come to seem a blues straitjacket (although he would eventually return to a strict blues approach). It isn't surprising that he dropped the "Bluesbreakers" name after this release. The album was Mayall's most successful ever in the U.K., hitting number three.

Late at night in a hipster Jazz-bar; or a blues cellar; or even a sixties beat-club. This album fits into all those places and deservedly stands as one of Mayall’s most popular outings.
After more of the usual quick replacements of the personnel in his ever-changing Bluesbreakers, the band was strongly committed to breaking away from the often very narrow structure-boundaries of the blues. Bandleader Mayall assembled a classy line-up of jazz musicians and blues-rockers, including the extremely talented and very young Mick Taylor, to realise his vision of the ultimate blues-rock-jazz fusion. Congrats, because the experiment works out decidedly well.

To stress the ambitiousness surrounding this project, Mayall also jumps the bandwagon of the then still infant prog-rock, by means of creating a ‘Suite’ as the defining element of the record.The terminology might sound more like Colosseum or EL&P, but the music is still a far cry from all the self-indulgent progressive monsters. In the end, Barewires is still a true electric blues album at its core. The title-track is lengthy (taking up the entire A-side), but not thoroughly composed in epic dimensions or overtly elaborate. It is just a very decent succession of seven little songs, creating a solid sequence and featuring prominent organ playing by John and a swinging brass section. The formulaic stiffness of average blues-rock is largely avoided, though, and one can easily spot the growing influence of hippiedom on these tracks. Due to the strong musicianship and inspired tunes, one listens to this ‘Suite’ happily anticipating the next part to come.The section “Fire”, for instance, is a bit of a spaced-out drum jam, and the bit entitled “Open a new door” is especially catchy.

The second half of Barewires is made up of a worthwhile collection of individual songs, most notably the laidback wah-wah groove of “No Reply” and Mayall’s up-tempo scandal about his love to a sixteen year old schoolgirl (“She’s too young”).

Despite a gradual lack of consistency in the second half, this album is a winner due to a majority of up-tempo tracks, strong, bluesy melodies and interesting instrumentations. Mayall’s willingness to enrich his music with some sound-experiments and a bit of complexity keeps his output interesting and makes Barewires a mainly compelling listening experience.It was to be the last appearance of the Bluesbreakers on a John Mayall record, and they went out as a great acid-blues big band! [Source Unknown]

01. Bare Wires - Suite: Bare Wires, Where Did I Belong, Start Walking, Open a New Door, Fire, I Know You, Look in the Mirror
02. I'm a Stranger
03. No Reply
04. Hartley Quits
05. Killing Time
06. She's Too Young
07. Sandy
08. Picture On The Wall [Single 1968]
09. Jenny [Single 1968]
10. Knocker´s Step Forward [Recorded 1968]
11. Hide And Seek [Recorded 1968]
12. Look At The Girl [Recorded Live 1968]
13. Start Walkin' [Recorded Live 1968]

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