Expanded "A hard road"?

wetcamelfood · #1 08-06-2003, 07:01 PM

(I've posted this in the "Pre Rumours" ledgeboard as well)

Just saw in the new ICE magazine (September 2003, issue number 198) that on September 23rd in the US there's a listing for a release of a John Mayall CD titled "A hard road - Blues Breakers with Peter Green" AND it says "two CD's" to be released on Polydor/UME.

I'm not going to get too excited about this as I know the more famous "Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton" album was reissued recently as a 2 CD set but the second disc only included I think the mono mix of the album along with 2 bonus tracks of "Lonely years" and "Bernard Jenkins" which are hardly rare tracks for those who collect Mayall's works (considering they've already shown up on numerous Mayall related comps etc.) but if anyone knows any further details on this "...Hard road..." re-release then please do post them here as I can't find a tracklisting anywhere for this new version of this release. Thanks in advance.

John

jwd · #2 09-11-2003, 04:49 PM

Expanded Two-CD Edition of '60s Blues Rock Classic A HARD ROAD From John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers Adds Non-LP Tracks With Legendary Guitarist Peter Green

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- For the first time the vast majority of the recordings by John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers with guitarist Peter Green, some of the most accomplished and influential electric blues ever issued, has been collected in one package. The two-CD A HARD ROAD - EXPANDED EDITION (Deram/UMe), released September 23, 2003, combines the classic 1967 album, newly transferred from analog to digital and remastered, with 22 other tracks featuring Green with Mayall and/or The Bluesbreakers.

Green replaced Eric Clapton in the band and overcame fans' skepticism by conveying a broad range of emotion with a minimum of showy pyrotechnics. A year later, he would exit to found Fleetwood Mac. In the meantime, the 14-selection A HARD ROAD was a masterpiece, noteworthy for its title track, rambunctious "Leaping Christine," cover of Freddie King's "Someday After A While (You'll Be Sorry)" and Green's "The Super-Natural."

The EXPANDED EDITION adds 15 tracks previously on the Mayall compilations LOOKING BACK (1969) and THRU THE YEARS (1971). Included are album session outtakes "Alabama Blues" (a solo Green) and "Mama, Talk To Your Daughter" (both by J.B. Lenoir), "Please Don't Tell" and Sonny Boy Williamson's "Your Funeral And My Trial"; non-LP singles of Otis Rush's "Double Trouble" (with Mick Fleetwood on drums), "Looking Back," "So Many Roads," "Sitting In The Rain," "It Hurts Me Too" and Green's "Out Of Reach," and non-Mayall numbers cut by The Bluesbreakers (Green, bassist John McVie and drummer Aynsley Dunbar), including "Greeny," "Curly," Green's "Missing You" and the Green-Dunbar "Rubber Duck," which makes its CD debut.

Green's "Evil Woman Blues" (a duet with Mayall from the HARD ROAD sessions) would appear on 1967's RAW BLUES. Four other tunes were cut for that year's EP JOHN MAYALL'S BLUESBREAKERS WITH PAUL BUTTERFIELD: "All Of My Life," "Ridin' On The L&N," "Little By Little" and "Eagle Eye." A trio of songs from Mayall and Green after the latter's departure are both sides of a 1968 single that briefly reunited the pair -- the ballad "Jenny" and country-blues "Picture On The Wall" -- and "First Time Alone" from Mayall's BLUES FROM LAUREL CANYON that year, with Green guesting with a Bluesbreakers lineup that included his replacement, future Rolling Stone Mick Taylor.

Green then took McVie and Fleetwood (who replaced Dunbar) with him to form Fleetwood Mac. He would lead that band's psychedelic blues rock through the end of the '60s, when drug-induced mental illness led him to withdraw for nearly a decade. His recordings in the '80s were erratic but leading the Peter Green Splinter Group beginning in the late '90s he reasserted his stature. Even as Mayall remains the elder statesman of blues rock, Peter Green remains one of its greatest guitarists.

SOURCE Deram/UMe

CO: Deram/UMe

ST: California

SU: PDT

http://www.prnewswire.com

09/11/2003 10:00 EDT

chiliD · #3 09-11-2003, 05:28 PM

WOO-HOOOOOO!! Even MORE extras than I was expecting!! Well done!!!

wetcamelfood · #4 09-11-2003, 07:06 PM

Great news! Thanks a bunch jwd!

It's hard to say if this will make the "Thru the years" and "Looking back" CD's redundant for us now as they don't list all of the tracks from those here (of importance to us anyways). I just had a thought, even if they include all of the Mayall tracks with Peter on disc 2, I doubt they'll include the tracks that John McVie was on that Peter wasn't (from the "John Mayall Plays John Mayall" days (i.e. "Mr. James" & "Blues city shakedown" from LB & "Crawling up a hill" & "Crocodile walk" from TTY etc.) so we'd still need to hang on to both LB & TTY for stuff like than but that's OK as FINALLY all 4 tracks from the Mayall & Butterfield EP 45 are included on CD (as I've only come across 3 of them on disc previously) and "Rubber duck" first time on CD too, KEWL.

It's funny, I had e mailed the John Mayall website about this (if the Butterfield tracks & RD coming out on CD) and Mayall seemed to think the Butterfield stuff was tied up in legal issues (but obviously not if they've got them all on here) and interestingly, he said even if RD was going to be put on a Mayall comp, he "would've objected to it, as he's not on it" (but he obviously wasn't bothered about "Curly" being on the TTY CD and he wasn't on that track either, so whatever).

Anyways, this disc will be needed for those "first time on CD" tracks if nothing else, so thanks again for the news. I gotta go preorder now.

John

greenfire · #5 11-16-2003, 05:53 PM

I know I'm a little late but was just reading through the discussion about this new expanded John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers cd "A HARD ROAD". I'm will admit flatout that I'm a greenhorn when it comes to the Bluesbreakers. I might have heard some of their songs but only recall one occasion when I actually heard one positively...one of his songs made one of those top 500 rock countdowns. I do'nt remember which one or where it placed, only that it was John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers.

I was kind of curious what you guys thought of this cd? I understand most of the songs are from other albums and there's nothing that has'nt already been previously released. I'm guessing that many who bought this already had all these songs but this one was unique in that it totally covered Peter Green's songs with the Bluesbreakers. I was curious, how many songs here does Green sing lead vocals on. I'm not really sure what Mayall's singing was like? Does anyone prefer Green over Mayall's vocals or vice versa, or were they both quite good? I was also curious how any of these songs compare to the style that Green developed with FM. Are there any songs similar to "Closing My Eyes", "Sugar Mama"or "Showbiz Blues". I was reading that Green and Mick Fleetwood only perform together on two of the tracks. How long was Mick Fleetwood in the Bluesbreakers?

Well, just curious if anyone had any thoughts or comments about this cd?

"The Earth is good, why do we abuse it?"....Ray Thomas

wetcamelfood · #6 11-18-2003, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by greenfire
how many songs here does Green sing lead vocals on

"You don't love me" & "The same way" on the regular album and "Evil woman blues", "Out of reach", "Alabama blues" & "Missing you" from the bonus tracks but there's also a hand full of instrumentals that well feature PG's various guitar stylings.

Quote:

Originally posted by greenfire
I'm not really sure what Mayall's singing was like?

Have a listen to Jeremy "taking the Micky" out of Mayall on "Man of action" from "The vaudeville years..." CD and that'll give you an idea (I do like Mayall's singing though, seriously).

Quote:

Originally posted by greenfire
Does anyone prefer Green over Mayall's vocals or vice versa, or were they both quite good?

Well, I personally prefer Green's, though compared to what they both sound like today, I'd dare say that it seems as though Mayall's voice has stayed strong over the years, unlike Peter's, but I suppose that PG had been out of action for so long that I think anyone's voice would've left them if they hadn't sung for as long and Mayall had been singing pretty much all the way through the years. The PGSG material suits Peter's voice in their low key backing style anyways so who knows though, Peter might get there again but that is JMHO on this issue after all though. I'll be interested to see what others have to say on this.

Quote:

Originally posted by greenfire
I was also curious how any of these songs compare to the style that Green developed with FM. Are there any songs similar to "Closing My Eyes", "Sugar Mama"or "Showbiz Blues".?

Oh boy, that's a great question, I think I'll wait to see what ChiliD has to say on this as that's a tough mountain to start out on with the climibing gear I have.

Quote:

Originally posted by greenfire
I was reading that Green and Mick Fleetwood only perform together on two of the tracks. How long was Mick Fleetwood in the Bluesbreakers?

Yeah, he was only there for the one single. I think it was from April to June 1967 but I'll have to doublecheck that.

John