New John Mayall box set announced, highlighting Clapton, Green, and Taylor
John Mayall’s legacy as one of the most influential figures in blues and rock music will be celebrated with the release of Guitar Heroes: The Decca Years 1965–1967 on October 9.
The collection will be available as a four-LP all-analogue (AAA) vinyl box set and a four-SACD deluxe box set, bringing together four landmark albums recorded during Mayall’s influential years with the Bluesbreakers.
The box set includes John Mayall Plays John Mayall (Live at Klooks Kleek) (1965), Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (1966), A Hard Road (1967) and Crusade (1967). Together, the albums document the arrival of Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor, who each served as guitarist for the Bluesbreakers before going on to form Cream and Fleetwood Mac or join The Rolling Stones.
The release captures a pivotal period in British blues history, as Mayall’s Bluesbreakers helped transform American electric blues into a distinctly British sound that would become the foundation of the blues-rock movement.
The collection also features newly commissioned liner notes by music historian and author Harry Shapiro, examining the evolution of the Bluesbreakers, the succession of Clapton, Green and Taylor, and the band’s lasting influence on British blues and rock.
The vinyl edition has been newly mastered using an all-analogue signal path at Abbey Road Studios directly from the original Decca master tapes, preserving the original recordings without digital processing.
Both the vinyl and SACD editions include a 40-page hardcover book featuring an expanded essay on the lineage of the Bluesbreakers’ guitarists and their influence on popular music, along with a specially commissioned visual family tree tracing their connections to Cream, Fleetwood Mac and The Rolling Stones.
More than six decades after the recordings were originally made, Guitar Heroes: The Decca Years 1965–1967 revisits the formative years of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and the role the band played in shaping the future of British blues and blues-rock.
ERIC CLAPTON IS GOD!!!!🎸🎶🎶🎶
So how do I order a copy?
How much Australian will this box set cost?
Is it available in NZ?
I enjoy new and old blues
How many times is this going to be milked. First the deluxe editions. Then the Mayall first generation box Is there anything here we haven’t heard before😡
You aren’t being forced to buy it you know that correct ?
Turning Point and Barewires, and Back to the Roots were and still are my favorites. It shows John Mayall as intrical part of the blues at that time. Very influential in my growing up years and ability to enjoy multiple facets of The Blues.
Blues Breakers was good at that time, though many other bands were much more creative and entertaining.