John Mayall...
It seems to be a Mayall kinda day, given as how I heard a track from him on XM's Deep Tracks station while I was out and about running errands earlier and then this after I got home and sat my old ass out on the verandah for Happy Hour.
People go on (and ON) about the Lamestream Media, with good reason, but the folks that do most o' the bitching do so about the news. Me? I'm down on the RADIO portion o' the Lamestream Media, specifically those stations that flog that "Classic Rock" playlist. I never fail to thank The Deity At Hand for streaming radio... like Pandora, meTunes, and RP, to name just three... as the alternative to lame, lame, lame mainstream radio. Rock 'n' roll has such a colorful history, with literally thousands of artists whose work never sees the light o' day on those Classic Rock stations. Nope, it's all "Stairway to Heaven" and "Freebird," all the fucking time. A pox on them.
Mayall deserves a LOT more airplay than the man gets, mainly because o' the fact he served as a "rock incubator," for lack of a better term. By that I mean this (from The Wiki's article on Mayall):
Full disclosure: we heard Mr. Mayall while listening to meTune's Peter Green station. There be blues there... and lots of it.
It seems to be a Mayall kinda day, given as how I heard a track from him on XM's Deep Tracks station while I was out and about running errands earlier and then this after I got home and sat my old ass out on the verandah for Happy Hour.
People go on (and ON) about the Lamestream Media, with good reason, but the folks that do most o' the bitching do so about the news. Me? I'm down on the RADIO portion o' the Lamestream Media, specifically those stations that flog that "Classic Rock" playlist. I never fail to thank The Deity At Hand for streaming radio... like Pandora, meTunes, and RP, to name just three... as the alternative to lame, lame, lame mainstream radio. Rock 'n' roll has such a colorful history, with literally thousands of artists whose work never sees the light o' day on those Classic Rock stations. Nope, it's all "Stairway to Heaven" and "Freebird," all the fucking time. A pox on them.
Mayall deserves a LOT more airplay than the man gets, mainly because o' the fact he served as a "rock incubator," for lack of a better term. By that I mean this (from The Wiki's article on Mayall):
Now that's a veritable list of "Who's Who" in rock and roll. You can NOT name another band who's featured more and better artists than Mr. Mayall. He's a freakin' INSTITUTION. But the best part? No matter what period you care to choose, Mr. Mayall fielded superb blues bands with consistently high quality musicianship. Shorter: it don't get much better'n that.John Mayall's sidemen
A comprehensive list of musicians who have recorded and/or toured with John Mayall.
A few notable names
- Guitar: Eric Clapton, Roger Dean, Peter Green, Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel, Freddy Robinson, Jimmy McCulloch, Kal David, Walter Trout, Coco Montoya, Randy Resnick, Sonny Landreth, Buddy Whittington, Eric Steckel, Robben Ford
- Bass: Jack Bruce, John McVie, Steven Thompson[disambiguation needed], Larry Taylor, Tony Reeves, Hank Van Sickle
- Drums: Hughie Flint, Keef Hartley, Aynsley Dunbar, Soko Richardson, Jon Hiseman, Colin Allen, Mick Fleetwood.
- Keyboards: Dr. John
- Vocals/Harmonica: Paul Butterfield
Full disclosure: we heard Mr. Mayall while listening to meTune's Peter Green station. There be blues there... and lots of it.
Boy you're SO right about the musical radio desert. Only ans for the car is bring your own or xmsirius--and even xmsirius is less than totally sat. THANK GOD for the streaming internet sources (to incl college radio--lets not forget that, either.) And yes, I've got MORE than my share of British vinyl with Mayall on it!
ReplyDeleteYup, I shoulda mentioned college radio. But you know we listen to that, so I'd be preaching to the choir. I really like XM. I packed up about a dozen or more of my favorite CDs for my trip back east this past summer and didn't listen to a single one the whole time I was gone... it was all XM, all the time. The variety is awfully damned good and there's always NPR when you're in the mood for something really different, or news.
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