{"history":[],"article":{"id":"1369534d-803c-40ae-a820-f27003a0bf89","title":"Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton","slug":"blues-breakers-with-eric-clapton","content":":::summary\n![Album cover with band members. L-R John Mayall, Eric Clapton, John McVie and Hughie Flint](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ab/Bluesbreakers///John///Mayall///with///Eric///Clapton.jpg)\n**Name:** Blues Breakers \n**Type:** studio \n**Artist:** [John Mayall](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mayall) with [Eric Clapton](https://bliptext.com/articles/eric-clapton) \n**Released:** July 22, 1966 \n**Recorded:** May 1966 \n**Studio:** [Decca](https://bliptext.com/articles/decca-studios), London \n**Genre:** [Blues rock](https://bliptext.com/articles/[blues](https://bliptext.com/articles/blues)-rock) · [blues](https://bliptext.com/articles/blues) \n**Length:** 37:39 \n**Label:** [Decca](https://bliptext.com/articles/decca-records) \n**Producer:** [Mike Vernon](https://bliptext.com/articles/mike-vernon-producer) \n**Chronology:** [John Mayall](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mayall) \n**Prev Title:** [John Mayall Plays John Mayall](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mayall-plays-john-mayall) \n**Prev Year:** 1965 \n**Next Title:** [A Hard Road](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-hard-road) \n**Next Year:** 1967 \n:::\n\n# \n**Blues Breakers**, colloquially known as **The Beano Album**, is the debut studio album by the English [blues rock](https://bliptext.com/articles/blues-rock) band [John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mayall-the-bluesbreakers), originally credited to **John Mayall with Eric Clapton**.\nProduced by [Mike Vernon](https://bliptext.com/articles/mike-vernon-producer) and released in 1966 by [Decca Records](https://bliptext.com/articles/decca-records) (UK) and [London Records](https://bliptext.com/articles/london-records) (US), it pioneered a guitar-dominated blues-rock sound.\nThe album was commercially successful and most critics viewed it positively.\nIn 2003 and 2012, [Rolling Stone](https://bliptext.com/articles/rolling-stone) ranked it number 195 on its list of the \"[500 Greatest Albums of All Time](https://bliptext.com/articles/rolling-stone-s-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time)\".\nIt was voted number 391 in [Colin Larkin](https://bliptext.com/articles/colin-larkin)'s [All Time Top 1000 Albums](https://bliptext.com/articles/all-time-top-1000-albums) (2000).\n\n# Background\nAfter the release of Mayall's first album, the live [John Mayall Plays John Mayall](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mayall-plays-john-mayall), [Eric Clapton](https://bliptext.com/articles/eric-clapton) joined the group as the lead guitarist.\nMayall originally intended for his second album to also be a live one in order to capture the guitar solos performed by Clapton.\nA set was recorded at the [Flamingo Club](https://bliptext.com/articles/flamingo-club-london), with [Jack Bruce](https://bliptext.com/articles/jack-bruce) (who Clapton would subsequently work with in [Cream](https://bliptext.com/articles/cream-band)) on bass.\nThe recordings, however, were of bad/poor quality and were not used, although one song, \"[Stormy Monday](https://bliptext.com/articles/stormy-monday)\" was included on Mayall's retrospective [Looking Back](https://bliptext.com/articles/looking-back-john-mayall-album) (1969).\n\n# Recording\nWith the original plan of a live album now discarded, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers recorded Blues Breakers at [Decca Studios](https://bliptext.com/articles/decca-studios), [West Hampstead](https://bliptext.com/articles/west-hampstead), London in May 1966.\nThe guitar that Eric Clapton used during these sessions was a sunburst 1960 [Gibson Les Paul](https://bliptext.com/articles/gibson-les-paul) Standard with two [PAF](https://bliptext.com/articles/paf-pickup) humbucking [pickups](https://bliptext.com/articles/pickup-music-technology).\nThis guitar was stolen in 1966; its whereabouts remain unknown.\nHowever, blues-rock guitarist [Joe Bonamassa](https://bliptext.com/articles/joe-bonamassa) claims to have been told the guitar is in a private collection in the eastern United States.\nBonamassa also asserts that the guitar is a 1959 rather than 1960 model.\nThe guitar became known as the \"Blues Breaker\" or \"Beano\" Les Paul and a replica was issued by Gibson in 2012.\nCritics consider Clapton's guitar tone and playing on this album to be influential in the artistic and commercial development of rock-styled guitar playing.\nThe band on this album includes Mayall on piano, Hammond organ, harmonica, and most vocals; bassist [John McVie](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mcvie); drummer [Hughie Flint](https://bliptext.com/articles/hughie-flint); and Clapton.\nAugmenting the band on this album was a horn section added during post-production, with [Alan Skidmore](https://bliptext.com/articles/alan-skidmore), [Johnny Almond](https://bliptext.com/articles/johnny-almond), and Derek Healey.\n\n# Musical style\nThe album consists of [blues standards](https://bliptext.com/articles/blues-standard) by well-known artists, such as [Otis Rush](https://bliptext.com/articles/otis-rush), [Freddie King](https://bliptext.com/articles/freddie-king) and [Robert Johnson](https://bliptext.com/articles/robert-johnson), as well as a few originals penned by Mayall and Clapton.\nMost tracks serve as a showcase for Clapton's playing.\nAlthough he provided some co- and backing vocals with his former group, [the Yardbirds](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-yardbirds), \"[Ramblin' on My Mind](https://bliptext.com/articles/ramblin-on-my-mind)\" is Clapton's first solo lead vocal to be recorded.\n\n# Artwork\nThe album is often called [The Beano](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-beano) Album by fans because of its cover photograph showing Eric Clapton reading [The Beano](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-beano), a British children's comic.\nClapton stated in his autobiography that he was reading The Beano on the cover because he felt like being \"uncooperative\" during the photo shoot.\nDavid Wedgbury took the photograph near the [Old Kent Road](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-kent-road).\n\n# Reception\nIt was voted number 391 in the third edition of [Colin Larkin](https://bliptext.com/articles/colin-larkin)'s [All Time Top 1000 Albums](https://bliptext.com/articles/all-time-top-1000-albums) (2000).\nIn 2003 the album was ranked number 195 on [Rolling Stone](https://bliptext.com/articles/rolling-stone) magazine's list of [The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time](https://bliptext.com/articles/rolling-stone-s-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time), maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list.\nRobert Dimery included the album in his book [1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die](https://bliptext.com/articles/1001-albums-you-must-hear-before-you-die).\nApart from being one of the most influential blues albums, it also started the now-iconic combination of a [Gibson Les Paul](https://bliptext.com/articles/gibson-les-paul) guitar through a [overdriven](https://bliptext.com/articles/distortion-music) [Marshall Bluesbreaker](https://bliptext.com/articles/marshall-bluesbreaker) amplifier.\n\n# Track listing\n\n## Original album\nDetails taken from the original [London Records](https://bliptext.com/articles/london-records) (US) [LP record](https://bliptext.com/articles/lp-record) album (the Decca (UK) album does not list running times); other releases may show different information.\n\n## 1998 remastered European reissue on the Deram label\nIncludes all tracks in both mono and stereo: 1–12 as above in mono, 13–24 as 1–12 above in stereo.\nAlso issued by Universal Japan, on the Decca label, in 2001.\n\n## 2001 American reissue on the Deram label\nAlso includes two bonus tracks from a 1966 UK single on Purdah Records:\n

\"Lonely Years\" (Mayall) – 3:21

\"Bernard Jenkins\" (Clapton) – 3:48

\n\n## 40th anniversary Deluxe Edition (Decca) (2006)\n

\"Crawling up a Hill\" (Mayall) – 2:08\n

\"Crocodile Walk\" (Mayall) – 2:23\n

\"Bye Bye Bird\" ([Sonny Boy Willamson](https://bliptext.com/articles/sonny-boy-williamson-ii), [Willie Dixon](https://bliptext.com/articles/willie-dixon)) – 2:49\n

\"[I'm Your Witchdoctor](https://bliptext.com/articles/i-m-your-witchdoctor)\" (Mayall) – 2:11\n

\"Telephone Blues\" (Mayall) – 3:57\n

\"Bernard Jenkins\" (Clapton) – 3:49\n

\"Lonely Years\" (Mayall) – 3:19\n

\"Cheatin' Woman\" (Mayall) – 2:03\n

\"Nowhere to Turn\" (Mayall) – 1:42\n

\"I'm Your Witchdoctor\" (Mayall) – 2:10\n

\"On Top of the World (Stereo [mix](https://bliptext.com/articles/audio-mixing-recorded-music))\" (Mayall) – 2:34\n

\"Key to Love\" (Mayall) – 2:02\n

\"On Top of the World\" (Mayall) – 2:34\n

\"[They Call It Stormy Monday](https://bliptext.com/articles/stormy-monday)\" ([T-Bone Walker](https://bliptext.com/articles/t-bone-walker)) – 4:35\n

\"(Intro) Maudie\" ([John Lee Hooker](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-lee-hooker), Mayall) – 2:27\n

\"It Hurts to Be in Love\" (Dixon, Toombs) – 3:22\n

\"[Have You Ever Loved a Woman](https://bliptext.com/articles/have-you-ever-loved-a-woman)\" (Myles) – 6:44\n

\"Bye Bye Bird\" (Williamson, Dixon) – 3:51\n

\"[Hoochie Coochie Man](https://bliptext.com/articles/hoochie-coochie-man)\" (Dixon) – 3:53\n\n\n# Personnel\n**Blues Breakers**\n**Horn section** on tracks 7, 9, 11\n**Additional musicians**\n**Production**\n\n# Charts\n\n# Certifications\n\n# Sources","current_revision":null,"created_by":"kACnuQmH5k9Nr5VNVEpVeg7XpvUmMctD","created_at":"2025-01-25T22:26:36.595Z","updated_at":"2025-01-25T22:26:36.595Z","search_vector":"'blue':1 'breaker':2 'clapton':5 'eric':4","search_content":" \n \n**Name:** Blues Breakers \n**Type:** studio \n**Artist:** [John Mayall](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mayall) with [Eric Clapton](https://bliptext.com/articles/eric-clapton) \n**Released:** July 22, 1966 \n**Recorded:** May 1966 \n**Studio:** [Decca](https://bliptext.com/articles/decca-studios), London \n**Genre:** [Blues rock](https://bliptext.com/articles/[blues](https://bliptext.com/articles/blues)-rock) · [blues](https://bliptext.com/articles/blues) \n**Length:** 37:39 \n**Label:** [Decca](https://bliptext.com/articles/decca-records) \n**Producer:** [Mike Vernon](https://bliptext.com/articles/mike-vernon-producer) \n**Chronology:** [John Mayall](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mayall) \n**Prev Title:** [John Mayall Plays John Mayall](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mayall-plays-john-mayall) \n**Prev Year:** 1965 \n**Next Title:** [A Hard Road](https://bliptext.com/articles/a-hard-road) \n**Next Year:** 1967 \n \n\n# \n**Blues Breakers**, colloquially known as **The Beano Album**, is the debut studio album by the English [blues rock](https://bliptext.com/articles/blues-rock) band [John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mayall-the-bluesbreakers), originally credited to **John Mayall with Eric Clapton**.\nProduced by [Mike Vernon](https://bliptext.com/articles/mike-vernon-producer) and released in 1966 by [Decca Records](https://bliptext.com/articles/decca-records) (UK) and [London Records](https://bliptext.com/articles/london-records) (US), it pioneered a guitar-dominated blues-rock sound.\nThe album was commercially successful and most critics viewed it positively.\nIn 2003 and 2012, [Rolling Stone](https://bliptext.com/articles/rolling-stone) ranked it number 195 on its list of the \"[500 Greatest Albums of All Time](https://bliptext.com/articles/rolling-stone-s-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time)\".\nIt was voted number 391 in [Colin Larkin](https://bliptext.com/articles/colin-larkin)'s [All Time Top 1000 Albums](https://bliptext.com/articles/all-time-top-1000-albums) (2000).\n\n# Background\nAfter the release of Mayall's first album, the live [John Mayall Plays John Mayall](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mayall-plays-john-mayall), [Eric Clapton](https://bliptext.com/articles/eric-clapton) joined the group as the lead guitarist.\nMayall originally intended for his second album to also be a live one in order to capture the guitar solos performed by Clapton.\nA set was recorded at the [Flamingo Club](https://bliptext.com/articles/flamingo-club-london), with [Jack Bruce](https://bliptext.com/articles/jack-bruce) (who Clapton would subsequently work with in [Cream](https://bliptext.com/articles/cream-band)) on bass.\nThe recordings, however, were of bad/poor quality and were not used, although one song, \"[Stormy Monday](https://bliptext.com/articles/stormy-monday)\" was included on Mayall's retrospective [Looking Back](https://bliptext.com/articles/looking-back-john-mayall-album) (1969).\n\n# Recording\nWith the original plan of a live album now discarded, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers recorded Blues Breakers at [Decca Studios](https://bliptext.com/articles/decca-studios), [West Hampstead](https://bliptext.com/articles/west-hampstead), London in May 1966.\nThe guitar that Eric Clapton used during these sessions was a sunburst 1960 [Gibson Les Paul](https://bliptext.com/articles/gibson-les-paul) Standard with two [PAF](https://bliptext.com/articles/paf-pickup) humbucking [pickups](https://bliptext.com/articles/pickup-music-technology).\nThis guitar was stolen in 1966; its whereabouts remain unknown.\nHowever, blues-rock guitarist [Joe Bonamassa](https://bliptext.com/articles/joe-bonamassa) claims to have been told the guitar is in a private collection in the eastern United States.\nBonamassa also asserts that the guitar is a 1959 rather than 1960 model.\nThe guitar became known as the \"Blues Breaker\" or \"Beano\" Les Paul and a replica was issued by Gibson in 2012.\nCritics consider Clapton's guitar tone and playing on this album to be influential in the artistic and commercial development of rock-styled guitar playing.\nThe band on this album includes Mayall on piano, Hammond organ, harmonica, and most vocals; bassist [John McVie](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-mcvie); drummer [Hughie Flint](https://bliptext.com/articles/hughie-flint); and Clapton.\nAugmenting the band on this album was a horn section added during post-production, with [Alan Skidmore](https://bliptext.com/articles/alan-skidmore), [Johnny Almond](https://bliptext.com/articles/johnny-almond), and Derek Healey.\n\n# Musical style\nThe album consists of [blues standards](https://bliptext.com/articles/blues-standard) by well-known artists, such as [Otis Rush](https://bliptext.com/articles/otis-rush), [Freddie King](https://bliptext.com/articles/freddie-king) and [Robert Johnson](https://bliptext.com/articles/robert-johnson), as well as a few originals penned by Mayall and Clapton.\nMost tracks serve as a showcase for Clapton's playing.\nAlthough he provided some co- and backing vocals with his former group, [the Yardbirds](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-yardbirds), \"[Ramblin' on My Mind](https://bliptext.com/articles/ramblin-on-my-mind)\" is Clapton's first solo lead vocal to be recorded.\n\n# Artwork\nThe album is often called [The Beano](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-beano) Album by fans because of its cover photograph showing Eric Clapton reading [The Beano](https://bliptext.com/articles/the-beano), a British children's comic.\nClapton stated in his autobiography that he was reading The Beano on the cover because he felt like being \"uncooperative\" during the photo shoot.\nDavid Wedgbury took the photograph near the [Old Kent Road](https://bliptext.com/articles/old-kent-road).\n\n# Reception\nIt was voted number 391 in the third edition of [Colin Larkin](https://bliptext.com/articles/colin-larkin)'s [All Time Top 1000 Albums](https://bliptext.com/articles/all-time-top-1000-albums) (2000).\nIn 2003 the album was ranked number 195 on [Rolling Stone](https://bliptext.com/articles/rolling-stone) magazine's list of [The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time](https://bliptext.com/articles/rolling-stone-s-500-greatest-albums-of-all-time), maintaining the rating in a 2012 revised list.\nRobert Dimery included the album in his book [1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die](https://bliptext.com/articles/1001-albums-you-must-hear-before-you-die).\nApart from being one of the most influential blues albums, it also started the now-iconic combination of a [Gibson Les Paul](https://bliptext.com/articles/gibson-les-paul) guitar through a [overdriven](https://bliptext.com/articles/distortion-music) [Marshall Bluesbreaker](https://bliptext.com/articles/marshall-bluesbreaker) amplifier.\n\n# Track listing\n\n## Original album\nDetails taken from the original [London Records](https://bliptext.com/articles/london-records) (US) [LP record](https://bliptext.com/articles/lp-record) album (the Decca (UK) album does not list running times); other releases may show different information.\n\n## 1998 remastered European reissue on the Deram label\nIncludes all tracks in both mono and stereo: 1–12 as above in mono, 13–24 as 1–12 above in stereo.\nAlso issued by Universal Japan, on the Decca label, in 2001.\n\n## 2001 American reissue on the Deram label\nAlso includes two bonus tracks from a 1966 UK single on Purdah Records:\n \"Lonely Years\" (Mayall) – 3:21 \n \"Bernard Jenkins\" (Clapton) – 3:48 \n\n## 40th anniversary Deluxe Edition (Decca) (2006)\n \"Crawling up a Hill\" (Mayall) – 2:08\n \"Crocodile Walk\" (Mayall) – 2:23\n \"Bye Bye Bird\" ([Sonny Boy Willamson](https://bliptext.com/articles/sonny-boy-williamson-ii), [Willie Dixon](https://bliptext.com/articles/willie-dixon)) – 2:49\n \"[I'm Your Witchdoctor](https://bliptext.com/articles/i-m-your-witchdoctor)\" (Mayall) – 2:11\n \"Telephone Blues\" (Mayall) – 3:57\n \"Bernard Jenkins\" (Clapton) – 3:49\n \"Lonely Years\" (Mayall) – 3:19\n \"Cheatin' Woman\" (Mayall) – 2:03\n \"Nowhere to Turn\" (Mayall) – 1:42\n \"I'm Your Witchdoctor\" (Mayall) – 2:10\n \"On Top of the World (Stereo [mix](https://bliptext.com/articles/audio-mixing-recorded-music))\" (Mayall) – 2:34\n \"Key to Love\" (Mayall) – 2:02\n \"On Top of the World\" (Mayall) – 2:34\n \"[They Call It Stormy Monday](https://bliptext.com/articles/stormy-monday)\" ([T-Bone Walker](https://bliptext.com/articles/t-bone-walker)) – 4:35\n \"(Intro) Maudie\" ([John Lee Hooker](https://bliptext.com/articles/john-lee-hooker), Mayall) – 2:27\n \"It Hurts to Be in Love\" (Dixon, Toombs) – 3:22\n \"[Have You Ever Loved a Woman](https://bliptext.com/articles/have-you-ever-loved-a-woman)\" (Myles) – 6:44\n \"Bye Bye Bird\" (Williamson, Dixon) – 3:51\n \"[Hoochie Coochie Man](https://bliptext.com/articles/hoochie-coochie-man)\" (Dixon) – 3:53\n \n\n# Personnel\n**Blues Breakers**\n**Horn section** on tracks 7, 9, 11\n**Additional musicians**\n**Production**\n\n# Charts\n\n# Certifications\n\n# Sources","revisionCount":0},"hasMore":false,"nextCursor":null}

History