(THEY CALL IT) STORMY MONDAY (1966) by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers live w/Eric Clapton

One of the rare recordings of Eric Clapton playing live with Mayall's Bluesbreakers. It was recorded at the Flamingo Club London on 17 March 1966. The other players were Mayall on organ, Hughie Flint on drums, and future Cream bandmate, Jack Bruce on electric bass.
Clapton rips it up on his Les Paul and Vox AC30 amp. On the Beano album, he was better known for using a Marshall amp, a combination that influenced countless guitarists everywhere. His playing during this period was also influential, with guitarists such as Eddie Van Halen and Sting stating that they learned guitar copying the studio Bluesbreakers album with Clapton. I have to say I did too, and I learned more guitar off that record than any other.
Eric Clapton told Guitar Player magazine that the 1960 Les Paul Standard he played on Blues Breakers was "the best Les Paul I ever had... just a regular sunburst Les Paul that I bought in one of the shops in London right after I'd seen Freddie King's album cover of Let's Hide Away And Dance Away, where he's playing a gold-top. It had humbuckers and was almost brand new -- original case with that lovely purple velvet lining. Just magnificent. I never really found one as good as that. I do miss that one." According to Clapton lore, his sacred 1960 was purchased in Lew Davis' guitar shop on Charing Cross Road in London in 1965.
This is my third video of Mayall/Clapton (see Steppin Out and Hideaway on my channel). Comments are invited.

[@guyincascade]

A guitar, a cable, Amp, and talent. No effects boxes at all. Love it

[@Ozpeter]

Raw blues, which was what John Mayall was all about. RIP and thank you

[@dave68gtcs]

I was 5 years old in '66. My parents were still into Elvis

[@Glicksman1]

To those obsessed with pedals, effects, and fancy rigs, etc., this was done with a good guitar into a good amp and a genius on the other end.

[@Dagger_323]

Right on. And that's all you need. Always makes me chuckle when I see those guys at Andertons trying to emulate this kind of sound with a plethora of effects pedals and modern crummy amps, not to mention not having the chops in the first place...

[@Glicksman1]

@@Dagger_323 Not only there, but on other sites as well. The problem is that no one has yet made a Talent Pedal.

[@slownoman]

A '59 Les Paul into a Vox amp. No pedals. No tricks. Just a young man and his guitar. Skip the pedals. Learn to play.

[@Glicksman1]

@@slownoman I'm pretty sure that Clapton was using a Marshall JTM-45 combo amp in that band as the vid shows. He wasn't a Vox guy then or after. Absolutely right right about "No pedals. No tricks. Just a young man and his guitar. Skip the pedals. Learn to play."

[@slownoman]

@@Glicksman1 You are so right, and I am so old! I saw Clapton on Cream's first tour, and he was still playing a Marshall, only bigger. The tone he got on that "Beano" album is as good as it gets. It's why my first electric guitar was a Les Paul '59 sunburst (not a reissue- this was 1972). Beatles did Vox. Duh.

[@imamadityaeffendi3578]

No one played the electric guitar like he did in '65. He sang the guitar. Have been listening to this masterpiece for more than half a century and it still give me the shivers.

[@davidmilfred3809]

Mike bloomfield. Otis rush.. earl hooker..wayne bennett all

[@Dagger_323]

@@davidmilfred3809 None of them played or sounded like this.

[@mikebarnard2689]

Freddie King , you will find, was often note for note copied by Clapton.. irrefutable fact. Another fact is that UK music fans had virtually zero access to Freddie Kings music thereby making comparison with Clapton impossible at the time. Anyway, who cares, Clapton and King are great blues guitarists… another fact.

[@edge1289]

@@mikebarnard2689absolutely right, you can hear Freddy’s influence all throughout Clapton’s career and heavily in the Stormy Monday clip here.

[@dr.krinkleweldon5934]

Black bluesmen from the USA created this music. Clapton learned it well. He channelled the brothers.

[@meltonin8837]

A friend of mine (now passed) went to see the Bluesbreakers with Clapton around this time at The Toby Jug, in Tolworth, Surrey. After their set he was stood next to Clapton at the bar and said "How the hell do you play like that, Eric?". "I dunno" (says Eric)...can I get you a beer?" Awesome!

[@Lee-ss6uz]

Just about anyone can develop technical ability, but this is beyond technique. Like you said the creativity and feel is off the chart. 60 years later and most slow blues solos won’t touch this. Very gifted musician

[@amni35]

Best beer he ever had, I'll bet.

[@tuckedup]

your comment also reveals Erics great talent for short sentences within his lyric writing

[@royvoeller8762]

“Tears In My Eyes” - I’ll forever have you and your music family with me! RIP my man!

[@ajmartins720]

RIP John Mayall... Thank you.

[@neils4886]

Sunday nights at the Boat Club, Nottingham, watching Bluesbreakers. No one had ever heard the guitar played like that in 1966. At that moment in time, Clapton WAS God.

[@Doug-mc3dd]

Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy, Johnny Guitar Watson and others were playing those blues riffs since the 1950s.

[@Newcastle423]

​@@Doug-mc3ddno they weren't bro

[@stewartd.7340]

Yep, 1966 and Nottingham was buzzing. I was 18 and waiting to go to Uni in the autumn. The nights in the Boat club, (and next door), will stay with me forever. The music was incredible and there was stacks of crumpet!

[@petersmith9530]

Yeah right up until Hendrix walked thru the door.Game over.

[@Newcastle423]

@@petersmith9530 Jimi Hendrix came to England just for Eric Clapton that's all you need to no kid

[@oldbluzguy]

The classic of all classics! Clapton is on fire! I wore this out in my youth!

[@williamgeorge2433]

Clapton playing the way I want to hear him play.

[@Rich6Brew]

Then just listen to this and you're golden.

[@quangnguyen4140]

Cause you just know the man.

[@pabloperez4063]

Without reverb?

[@MC-MellMell]

This aint Clapton. Its T-Bone Walker

[@williamgeorge2433]

@@MC-MellMell yes right

[@edwinmoreton2136]

The best Clapton ever played - gut-wrenching and spontaneous emotional brilliance!

[@Xeyedjohn]

that's a pretty accurate description

[@edwinmoreton2136]

@@Xeyedjohn Clapton said he got those licks from saxophone players - if you listen to Dick Heckstall-Smith on the Bluesbreakers album, on tracks such as 'Have You Heard About My Baby? - there it is!

[@petermaunder8357]

I used to see Eric a lot with John Mayalls’s Bluesbreakers in the small clubs in North London,way back in the mid sixties.I can tell you it was mind blowing.My ears are still ringing to this day.Great memories.

[@basiliofurest2647]

Jealous!! I'm too young for that.. Lol

[@imamadityaeffendi3578]

Lucky man

[@dr.krinkleweldon5934]

What was his gear? Guitars, amps, and pedals?

[@dr.krinkleweldon5934]

You can prove that?

[@Leo-uc8zv]

I highly doubt they ring to this day

[@dijonthecat]

His work on Bluesbreakers,Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos (with Duane Allman) are some of the greatest guitar work I've ever heard.

Those first four notes into Have You Ever Loved A Woman on Layla, etc, still get me every time.

[@dr.krinkleweldon5934]

Don’t forget his great work with George Harrison.

[@orion3511]

And the London Howlin Wolf Sessions..

[@claptonfan54]

Eric's playing on the Dominos In Concert album is incredible. As is his playing on this song.

[@jefferyroy2566]

And what has "Slowhand" done since 1970? Slowed to a crawl as a guitarist. Listen to this intensity and recommend something since 471 Ocean Boulevard that comes within a lightyear of this. Now Clapton is just a crotchety anti-vaxxer with a five-year record of greatness and decades of lassitude.

[@romancultist6089]

Imagine walking into some club on an ordinary evening and hearing this.

[@ninjavigilante5311]

It brings to tears my eyes

[@ttswan]

Closest I've been to this was seeing Buddy Guy at Theresa's Club (Chicago's Southside) at 3AM on a Sat. night just wailing from deep inside the blues - magnificent!!

[@LCNSilveri]

only the lucky ones

[@teddyboysdontknit810]

I did!

[@chrishutchison4875]

I used to every week when I lived in London 66/68. Loved the Marquee!!

[@paulrhodesquinn]

That’s ridiculously good. So much creativity and imagination in his phrasing, note choice, rhythm and articulation. Brilliant!

[@BaconTomatoCheese]

Amazing! RIP, John Mayall, and Jack Bruce💔💔🎸🎸

[@donaldcastillo2408]

awesom guitar by Clapton , I actually did not discover John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers till after Cream , no youtube internet back then made it difficult sometimes to be aware of all the different bands ... RIP Mr Mayall

[@johnskelley6710]

Me too, I got the John Mayall with Eric Clapton after being a Cream fan

[@TheTroubledSounds]

the best eric clapton solo ever!

[@billc6087]

I was a teenager when I bought the first Bluebreakers album in 1966 at Tower Records in Sacramento. I still have it. I'm amazed it's not worn flat, it still brings tears to my eyes.

[@lindacorwin9066]

Watt & El Camino?

[@richardbaird4352]

never, ever has there been better guitar playing and tone. period. Can't be duplicated, he is forever the original who even says he can't duplicate what he did in the 60's. Totally amazing 56 years later

[@lgoler]

Bullshit. Hendrix put him out to pasture, on blues too, but especially on rhythm playing where Eric could never venture. And eric knew it and admitted all of this many times.

[@jvsloan]

I am going to politely disagree and ensure you’re familiar with Albert Collins: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oIO8aHSCet6kf9Esi=o9VtpKzTG12hsu9r

[@mybluesguitar]

It sounds awesome today. Imagine hearing it in 1965/66!

[@kevinobrien1259]

Some of us did hear it live back in 65/66 along with Hendrix, Beck, Greeny, and all the other fabulous bands and musicians.

[@pabloperez4063]

That was why everybody was blown away

[@RickyLandi]

@@kevinobrien1259 Hendrix, Green and Beck weren't even around in the business in 65.

[@kevinobrien1259]

FAO Ricardo Landi, Dear Mr.Landi, obviously you weren't around in 65/66....…, To say Jeff Beck wasn't around back then is Ludicrous, have you never heard the records he made with The Yardbirds in 1965? Peter Green was known on the London scene with several bands and yes Jimi didn't reach these shore until 1967 when I saw him live three times all in London, but he was making records long before he came to the U.K, maybe spend a little time on google/Wikipedia to research these iconic artists., and incidentally I saw Eric Clapton live many times with the Yardbirds, John Mayalls and Cream and he was a formidable guitarist back then.

[@RickyLandi]

@@kevinobrien1259 None of them, neither Beck, Greenie or Townshend or George Harrison, did play like Clapton in '65. That's all.

[@anthem3560]

still a guitar benchmark to this day

[@weekendwet1]

Grandaddy John, taking the Blues to heaven. RIP

[@univibe23]

I'm always amazed on hearing these very early Clapton recordings at how good his technique was to be so young and not having played that long---all the more so given there was no one to teach him other than listening to records---no tabs, no videos, and probably no one teaching guitar in England who could really play this stuff. He was just blessed with a special talent obviously.

[@LiberTBo]

+univibe23 Thats true, but a couple of years later a dude named James Marshall Hendrix came to London and taught Eric a lesson in playing the blues.....a compostion called "Killing Floor" by Robert Johnson...legend has it that God smoked a few cigarettes whilst learning that one...

[@DucksDeLucks]

+univibe23 Clapton was known to spend a whole day practicing a single phrase. He also pioneered that thick tone which has evolved into today's standard overdrive sound.

[@univibe23]

Yes indeed. That 'tone'. That tone on the Beno Album.....all these yrs later that is still, for me at least, THE TONE to die for!

[@DucksDeLucks]

***** Often imitated, never equaled!

[@AndreasEustathopoulos]

+univibe23 spot on.

[@janiemorris2086]

this is my favourite bit of guitar playing EVER.....he was out of this world.....!!

[@christophernewman5027]

Haha, yeah; me, too. I used to listen to this track over and over in the late sixties, dreaming of becoming a guitarist.

[@scottgeorge6375]

To me this doesn’t compare to Duane’s Stormy Monday solo on At Fillmore East. It’s great but in comparison, it lacks the genius melody’s Duane strings together. Then add in Duane’s fire and Wow!

[@jukkatolonen2957]

Thank You! ❤

[@davecarmen5221]

There was no precident for this.Truly original and very much admired by the bluesman he loved, and to whom he always gave credit.

[@stevewoan6]

Eric was all of 21, and he was just ripping it up on his Les Paul. Youthful exhuberance, and lotsa talent!!

[@johnnyhmash]

20 actually ...but who's counting.!

[@bobcabo4509]

He was 20 when this was recorded. Nov. 1965

[@ae3898]

Ah, yes--the sound of an almost-starving 21 year-old upstart inventing blues-rock guitar in some hole in the wall club. Immortality.

[@alexgramm5170]

YES!! First heard it myself about 35 years ago and still love it, cannot beat it , except I would throw Peter Green in there as well. Of course then there's Mike Bloomfield but I better quit while I'm ahead.

[@chrisclassical7]

i wish i had said that, no, wait i really wish i said that

[@romancultist6089]

Alex Gramm I wouldn't say he invented blues rock guitar. But I would say he made it into something awesome and timeless.

[@alexgramm5170]

@@romancultist6089 That was Mr. Macallan who used the word invent. I find it hard to dispute. Who then? Link Wray..Lonnie Mack? Neither Page nor Beck were cranking Les Paul thru Marshall before Eric.. as far as I know..not trying to be argumentative just sayin'

[@romancultist6089]

Alex Gramm Is a cranked Les Paul with humbuckers through a Marshall what makes blues rock guitar though? Not imo. I could list quite a few blues rock songs that predate the Beano album. Hideaway was a Freddy King song, and to this day you can't get much more blues rock than that. The heavy wood humbucking guitar paired with a pushed high powered amplifier was a cosmic discovery, no doubt. But musically, blues rock existed years before that magnificent combination. The music was there, Clapton would tell you as much. He discovered blues rock's most profound iteration, but imo he didn't "invent" blues rock, just like Elvis isn't "The King" of rock.

[@peteraustin370]

Got lucky..living in Singapore 64 to 67..this kind of music wasn't allowed on Singapore radio..!!!!..Some Navy guy off a visiting UK ship brought the Beano album up to our club...we blasted it..!!...Bought the album returning to UK 67....Cliff Richard turned up for concerts in Singapore around 66...and was REFUSED permission to perform...because the Authorities said....His hair was too long...!!!.....Believe....!!!!!!!!..I was there...!!!!!

[@johnknottenbelt2502]

This was surely one of 'The PEAKS', in Eric's playing.... Setting FIRE to those strings ! Much as he did on the track "Have You Heard" !

[@erikrundgren902]

Claptons solo on Have you heard and Stormy Monday are the peaks in his playing.

[@squeakeththewheel]

So, all downhill from there?

[@taragreenetarotastro]

This is wonderful. I met Eric Clapton in Toronto in June 6, 1968 when he was playing with Cream but I had been listening to his records with John Mayall since the 60's because I was a big blues music fan listening to Robert Johnson and women blues singers. I went to visit Eric at the Royal York Hotel and we watched Bobbe Kennedy's murder aftermath on TV together. He was very soft spoken and polite and told me about starting to play guitar late, he was interested in art. He drew a doddle while we talked and he smoked cigarettes and gave it to me with his autograph. He was a gentleman and one of the nicest rock stars I have met.

[@thenameless3271]

Oh hey, what's the doodle of? Sounds cool

[@ennbee2051]

Are you a groupie?

[@Cream1968]

Great story mate….

[@kea9809]

Oh, I'm sure he doodled your noodle.

[@guytansbariva2295]

FAKE. Verify that please 🥺

[@bluethunder6801]

One of the world's greatest guitarists

[@andysedgley]

This is the finest, the best, blues that was ever played. Not just the incredible guitar, but the organ, bass and drums - it all came together on this night in April. Maybe the stars were aligned. Who knows. Listen to every single note and be amazed!

[@Allan-et5ig]

Andy great taste. It's amazing my ex, Michelle and I were struck by THIS song and not others with PRECISELY the same thoughts. And it's doubly amazing that folks around the world react the same way to this. Love to time travel to 66' to see this. (66' and not the more famous 67' was THE ace year.) I've always said if guitar never evolved beyond this; gods came from the planet M21 and said "no more guitar," that would be fine. With all due respect to Hendrix this is FAR more important. And I'm certain Jimi would agree.

[@andysedgley]

@@Allan-et5ig Anyone who plays an instrument will know the feeling of "being in the zone" where the instrument seems almost to be playing itself, and you're flying along for the ride. Clapton was in that zone, I'm certain, and so were John Mayall, Hughie Flint and John McVie. Where technical ability is at such a level that he's not playing notes, he's expressing emotion.

[@Allan-et5ig]

@@andysedgley Agreed. It must be nice. Probably had the feeling once in my guitar playing life!

[@andysedgley]

@@Allan-et5ig And only a couple of times for me in my entire time playing keyboards, when you just know you can't put a note wrong! It is interesting though, as you said, to find someone else had the same reaction to this piece of music history!

[@wmialil]

@@andysedgley was in a studio once wondering who the hell was playing that and it was me. One of my best moments ever

[@VegetabIeMan]

Extremely aggressive and powerful in time. Yes there are mistakes, for being his age, his talent is fucking fantastic and I love the rawness of this. It's beautiful in every way and he is one of the best ever. Bless this man.

[@DucksDeLucks]

Where's a mistake?

[@Dagger_323]

Those "mistakes" are what playing the blues truly is. All the greatest players made "mistakes". That's where so many players go wrong nowadays when trying to emulate the blues. It was never meant to be a perfectly clean, extremely articulate style. There's rawness and edginess and that's what gives it character. Somewhere along the way players tried to be too perfect and focused too much on technique rather than expression and feel...

[@graaveyard1]

every mistake is a road to a new dimension.

[@BrianCarnevaleB26]

for 1966 it was revolutionary. He sets the bar right here.

[@patriciaschoemaker9348]

Millennial Monty there are no mistakes

[@YesYesYessYes]

I remember trying to learn this guitar part as a young kid, and just being blown away by his phasing.

[@thorvaldurthorsson5652]

I remember my brother bought this album(J M Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton. We used to love listening to it. I still have this LP and got all his 32 John Mayall records when he passed away long time ago

[@chrisriches4688]

This song wasn’t on the UK released version. Was it in the USA one?

[@neils4886]

Bluesbreakers used to regularly perform at the Boat Clubs by the River Trent in Nottingham. Spent many a Sunday watching Bluesbreakers and Clapton. IMO he has never played better than those days. Grown men used to be in tears listening to a guitar played like they’d never heard before. He even wore the fur coat he’s pictured in on the Beano album.

[@c.p.1589]

I've had this recording since 1973 when I was 13 and it's still the greatest ever blues guitar solo in my book. I love the involuntary sheep noises Mayall starts making at 1.07.

[@lauraalexander9027]

Cool I must check it out TY

[@wmialil]

Agree with you every time I hear it. Fire coming out of Clapton's guitar.

[@omazerati]

Passion in its purest, rawest form.

[@delphinbringsby6768]

I think this and the early Cream Klooks Kleek version of "Steppin Out" are quintessential Clapton. Thank you to whoever recorded those.

[@edcolins5498]

What a tone ! The godfather of electric guitar !

[@tonyb2337]

Some of EC's greatest work.

[@finneguitarplayer9825]

Eric Clapton at his Best. My Guitar Hero

[@soliddrake11]

Sure there was other great guitarists before Clapton, but he was the first guitar hero. Every guitarist of the 60s spent the latter half of the decade playing catch up with Clapton. You can thank him for every hard rock solo you've ever heard.

[@pabloperez4063]

1st guitar heroe in the history of the planet

[@AreMullets4AustraliansOnly]

@@pabloperez4063Robert Johnson. Muddy Waters. B.B King. You can thank them for Eric Clapton.

[@dr.krinkleweldon5934]

Johnny Winter, Hendrix, Rory Gallagher, and Duane Allman never had to catch up. EC couldn’t start to attain their skills.

[@Newcastle423]

@@dr.krinkleweldon5934 hahaha everyone of them listened to this bro

[@dr.krinkleweldon5934]

@@Newcastle423 they listened to Elvis singing Heartbreak Hotel. They listened to a lot of songs. It doesn't mean my statement is diminished.

[@ianmcdougall1654]

There is a fabulous sound of British blues in the sixties and early seventies that is just unique!

[@danieljacob732]

Heard this blues first time on Mayall's Looking Back Lp in 1969. His best recorded blues performance ever.

[@andythomas706]

Is Have You Heard on the Beanp album! At least it was. You need to hear the two blues breakers ‘67 live doubles with Peter green. Quite soon I’d say! Green is just awesome…..every night!

[@danieljacob732]

@@andythomas706 Stormy Monday was not on Canadian version of the Beano Lp. It came out a little later on the Looking Back album of early stuff. I know the Peter Green live Bluesbreakers.

[@johnnyfreedom3437]

I never got to see john, I came into the music around the Allman Brothers Hay Day! There was some damn fine music in those years! RIP John

[@ezerlab1]

This blistering Les Paul sound…!

[@Rich6Brew]

More the sound of the amplifier.

[@ninjavigilante5311]

@@Rich6Brew the old les Paul through the Marshall amp.

[@nigelbrown555]

Bloody amazing Eric. Thats how you do it ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[@vayabroder729]

Slowhand definitely had that youthful fire at this time.

[@horiarizea8258]

Eric Clapton is something else omfg this is so good I can't breathe

[@pckennedy11]

I never get tired of listening to this. I first heard it on the Looking Back album in 1969. Brilliant!

[@enterprise1954]

Same here.

[@clivehazell3672]

Clapton at his very best.

[@ttswan]

That DARK TONE!! The Bark, the Bite, the Pain, the Aries Mindset, the Great Passion - everything fused and driven thru a great guitar and great amp! Thunder & Lightning from the 2nd magnitude, rarely has this ever happened.

[@bengerson7064]

Beautifully said.

[@davidmerrill5429]

But why? What was he trying to say?

[@dr.krinkleweldon5934]

Aries has nothing to do with it. That stuff is bs.

[@stephenoneill1805]

I love the older Clapton back when he was young and raw. Can't be beat. I remember when the John Mayall with Eric came out, blue us all away.

[@MrSlowhandmac]

Nope, this was recorded in March 1966 at the Flamingo, London. It was one of the very few times Clapton and Bruce played together before they formed Cream a couple of months later. I saw Clapton with Mayall many times in 1965/66 and his development between November 1965, when he rejoined Mayall, and Spring 1966, when this was taped, was just astonishing.

[@cryptohalloffame]

thanks for the share

[@chriscampbell9191]

Would you have happened to have seen this particular show, where this track was taped? Just curious.

[@OostrangeBrewoO]

Superb insight.

[@bobcabo4509]

Jack Bruce was not in the band at any time during 1966. This was recorded Nov. '65. He was with Manfred Mann from late Nov '65 until July '66.

[@MrSlowhandmac]

@@bobcabo4509 Yes you're right. I since learned it was recorded at the Flamingo on 7th November 1965, just after Clapton rejoined the Bluesbreakers.

[@graham6681]

This man should have been knighted years ago, for what its worth. has developed logically through his life, never afraid to try something different. Wont see his like again, thank god that hes still here!

[@pabloperez4063]

And SINGING

[@lena967414]

I was born 30 years after the recording, heard about JM&EC and immensly enjoy the music they play...

[@pabloperez4063]

+Milena Dimitrijevic The same thing happened to me. It changed my life. The early years of EC are legendary. I would tell you to read his autobiography...his book is even better than his playing or his singing,such is his funny way to tell things :-)

[@Cinnamongirl1951]

Damn Eric!

[@lorainem2056]

RIP and thank you John Mayall

[@mikeyeates8737]

This was on a cheap LP entitled "The Blues World of Eric Clapton" which I treasure to this day! I think it went under the logo, Music For Pleasure. What an introduction to Clapton!

[@InzaneProfane]

OMG..... yes me too. Forgot about that. Sold by the first wife as revenge together with my other 3000 vinyls - moral? Never cross a Scorpio woman :-(

[@ronnieguitar99]

Kris Magi Moral? Never cross any woman, never mind the sign. It don't matter if you cross them or not. They'll cross you and then fuck you up. No matter how evil and lying and deceitful she is, it's all your fault. Found out the hard way there's somethings you just can't get when I fell in love with a woman I wish I'd never met. Lots of people talking, few of them know, that the soul of a woman was created below. Literally, women are forged in the fires of hell.

[@torstrasburg8289]

ronnieguitar99 That's why there’s blues (and music as a whole).

[@dustinduczek4509]

+Mike Yeates hell yeah my my mom picked that record up for me ayear ago from some record shop and it was the first time i heard this recording. and strictly because of this fantastic performacnce features on the record it is one of my most treasured vinyls

[@robinwilson1433]

What a brilliant purchase!

[@Dang...]

Thanks!!!!!!

[@DucksDeLucks]

His Gibson tone was unique and thrilling but everyone started copying it and meanwhile he was moving in other directions. I have to say he sounds pretty good on a Strat too! It's a thinner more fluid sound, more adaptable to a variety of styles. I guess you can't keep playing Beano and Cream forever, great as that was.

[@erasmusomnius]

gadzooks I love when John Mayall played the organ back in the days.

[@blackdiamond51]

June 14, 2019 ... didn't know if John Mayall was still alive or not. Happened to be in Seattle when he was playing at Jazz Alley. Blew me away, at 85 as good as I remember him fifty years ago!

[@kaminoriki]

この頃のクラプトンの上手さが光る。 絶妙なトーンコントロール。 絶妙なビブラート。

[@EnglishVeteran]

RIP John

[@MrSlowhandmac]

Absolutely right! And just think what treasures were lost when Mayall's Laurel Canyon house burned down - he used to tape most of his performances so some priceless archive material of Clapton, Green, Taylor went up in smoke. Thankfully some of this material has survived.

[@thewoodys_surf_instrumental]

This definitely shows how Paul Kossoff got his style.

[@pabloperez4063]

And millones

[@raychappell8940]

Loved the pics.

[@ivannio5836]

It is TOO good :) Wow! love it

[@ibrasoetandyo728]

Man the toneeee

[@TheFlameTop]

It's an expression of pure anger on the part of Eric here . An angry young man was he ! I'm grateful for his efforts throughout entirely from then until now ! Thank's for posting !

[@airbloomamplifiers]

His sound was equally important as the notes and passion.

[@sethberrett523]

So much better than tears in heaven.

[@anthonywilson65]

Love the tone - pure 'nasal sound you can only from Les Paul Standard & Marshall amp'

[@madtuned5150]

This is SRV before Stevie Ray Vaughan... EPIC

[@slowhand8301]

Totally different styles srv played Texas style blues

[@connor_selby]

@@slowhand8301 ironically if you listened to early recordings of SRV from the early 70s he played a lot of clapton licks

[@patriciaschoemaker9348]

That is stunning from the heart .

[@pabloperez4063]

I would die for more songs of this gig... It is such a pity Blues breakers were so little famous at 65 and early 66 that nobody recorded anything, not even bootlegs

[@kevinobrien1259]

Well they weren't little known in the UK Pablo, they were a big club act

[@guille2772]

In the primal solos album by mayall there are another 5 songs from this gig!

[@pabloperez4063]

@@guille2772 what is the name of the album you mention? Are the songs worth?

[@pabloperez4063]

@@kevinobrien1259 OK... But not enough so that anybody wanted to record them, sadly...

[@guille2772]

@@pabloperez4063 its called Primal Solos, the first five songs feature Clapton, they are cool but the audio quality is not great

[@qg3726]

Jesus Christ!! I'm 67 and NEVER heard THIS style of E.C before.....RAW/TIGHT/BLUES all the way....Man those Brits REALLY Worshipped the Delta Blues......

[@guyincascade]

Should be careful how you call up that name. He is Lord

[@michaelhaydn3493]

this Stormy Monday ( John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers ) with the Eric Clapton solo is clean, groundbreaking blues, and it helped a generation of new blues lovers, aficionados, myself included. I think Eric with Jack Bruce/Pete Brown compositions ( AND Ginger Baker DRUMS ) is just beyond words SUPER GREAT!!!!!!

[@lauraalexander9027]

I prefer #1 Allmans live and #2 SRV and Albert King but i could be wrong...will give that a chane right now

[@chrismacintosh2934]

Let's not forget that it is Jack Bruce on bass here

[@andythomas706]

Although it was recorded on 66 no one got to hear it until three years later. By the time it was released in 1969 it was of historical interest only. Hendrix had happened by then…so had the first two Zeppelin albums!

[@christophernewman5027]

Still sounds pretty damned good to me even after all these years.

[@flamencoprof]

First heard Cream in '68. My 17yo self would have creamed to hear this then! But to be there.....!

[@jeffwalker3006]

Best blues ever!

[@billrogers6863]

I've been listening to the Allman Brothers version of this for 35+ years. And I think this version is EVERY BIT as good as any the ABB has done. Just my opinion.

[@lauraalexander9027]

Totally agree and SRV and Albert King are no 2

[@woutervuijk6796]

Makes me reckon you folks don't know the original by T-Bone Walker....

[@tenorsfan7492]

no

[@EliasButler70]

And let's not forget the great Bobby Bland.

[@floor993]

This is so gooooood!!

[@timswift3433]

Jimmy Witherspoon back in 1974 way down in los Angeles had a beautiful radio show of his own on KMET 94.7 F.M. -he came on live and pitching fireballs every Sunday night at 11:00 P.M.........he was outright progressive (,) he played this particular version of Stormy Monday Blues -and bless his heart (,) -Old Spoon endorsed this Mayall, Clapton,Bruce, Flint version as "A Tough Blues" Forever and Forever

[@johnwilson1997]

This and the Beano album were historical recordings I think. EC at his best for me.

[@myoung48281]

Def. Clapton at his best.

[@CompleteCretin]

+mark y To be fair - although incredible as this was I think the 90s were his peak. So much brilliance during that period.

[@myoung48281]

CompleteCretin Not Cream and Blind Faith?

[@andythomas706]

+CompleteCretin Clapton's peak for me is on the Wheels Of Fire Live set. Crossroads is extraordinary, given that he sings it as well. And the 15m Spoonful is just priceless. I still think its one of the best live improvisations ever. And before anyone says 'What about Coltrane's 'My Favourite Things' from the '62 Stockholm concert', yes, its as good as that. The interplay is stunning and lets not forget Clapton had to play continuously! The section just before it switches to double time is awesome. Baker is playing half and double speed at the same time before finally hitting the snare and taking the reigns off. Good job Bruce was always there suggesting new riffs and directions. Over the intervening years EC refined the process. From The Cradle is an stunning album but not as good as the Live Bootleg 'Kind Of Blues' which was recorded on the Cradle tour in New York.

[@CompleteCretin]

Andy Thomas Thanks, Andy. Not often one gets to discuss these things on YT in a civilised manner :D 'Kind Of Blues' is great, although I prefer the recordings of the very last night of the '94 tour (Irving Plaza 28th Nov). I think the first boot' was 'Club Full Of Blues' but I have a better recording, probably from a differently named boot'. I'm going to check out Wheels Of Fire again too. Cheers!

[@andythomas706]

+CompleteCretin Before you go back to Wheels Of Fire, check out the Grande Ballroom '67 Bootleg. Its easily the best of the Cream bootleg. It captures the band on top of their game. The Intro to Sitting On Top Of The World is to die for! There's a lick in it he's obviously just mastered. A lovely fluid thing. It appears in the solo of the same song on Goodbye Cream. In fact he plays it twice in quick succession on that version. Also the extended Spoonful is interesting because you can hear them working up various ideas that would eventually all come together on the Wheels recording. The Grande Ballroom set also features Clapton's fattest and meanest tones! Just Awesome. The Fall '67 US. Tour was the one! Having missed their last Marquee gig at the end of May (tickets were like gold dust) I did manage to see them at the National Jazz And Blues Festival at the end of August and at the Spalding Tulip Bulb Auction Hall with Hendrix! The following January I caught them at St. Marys College in Twickenham. Then that was it until the farewell concert. By then I was working in records in London and managed to get a couple of tickets for the early show. It was a night of very mixed emotions. Incidentally, Taste and Yes were great support acts that night. Didn't see him again until the Blind Faith Hyde Park bash! I always liked the idea of Winwood and Clapton. So much so, that when I was at school and Winwood left Spencer Davis to form Traffic, I wrote a letter to Melody Maker suggesting that Winwood should join Cream! What's more, they printed it on the back page! So it goes eh?! Oh! I forgot one weird time I saw him. It was at The National Jazz And Blues Festival in 1968 (now moved to Sunbury). He was scheduled to play but Ginger had arranged a drum battle on stage with his hero Phil Seaman. Ten minutes into it, a helicopter appeared to fly over and land in the backstage area. a few minutes later a figure appeared stage left and played a long single wailing sustained note. Instantly, those of us that could tell, knew it was Clapton and bang....off he went. The audience went berserk. So much so that when they left the stage, the corrugated roofing over a long bicycle shelter that people had been standing on to get a better view collapsed. Next thing you know people are being ferried to hospital in ambulances! It was the weirdest of nights! PS. The other outstanding performance that night was The Jeff Beck Group. Some Band! Some template!

[@PL-ev2mw]

This was the album that hooked me from 16 years of age; into Clapton, Yard birds, Peter Green and eventually Led Zeppelin. God bless them all.

[@stevecomins7837]

You can't deny having Jack Bruce and John Mayall backing up when you solo is a factor. Give it up.

[@seanstark7369]

Thats the coolest clapton playing ive ever heard, now I understand why people were calling him god

[@lauraalexander9027]

I stopped calling him god at 10....Jimi and Page are gods

[@TheTechAndScience]

Laura Alexander Clapton even inspired Hendrix. Clapton was cranking Marshalls, utilizing feedback, and aggressively playing long before Hendrix and Hendrix even loved the Beano album.

[@Dagger_323]

Page was nowhere near the guitarist that Clapton and Hendrix were, despite what everyone thinks...

[@TheTechAndScience]

Dagger 323 That's debatable, Page obviously got sloppy but in the late 60s and early 70s he was right up there with Hendrix and Clapton. Just watch the RAH 1970 performance and that should say it all.

[@Dagger_323]

Gaming Guitar Player Page wrote some great riffs and songs but his lead playing was always inferior to Clapton and Hendrix in my eyes. He was one of the first guitarists that chose speed over feel and it showed. His lead playing never had the same effect on me as what I consider superior players like Paul Kossoff or Peter Green.

[@tuxguys]

This is a recording, never released as a single, faded into in mid-performance, released in America on a compilation LP, that changed guitar-playing forever. (Try to tear your ears away, for a moment, from Clapton's precocious virtuosity, and try to appreciate how good the band, as a BAND, is.) (Happy 70th, EC: You were 21 here... Keep on Keepin' on.)

[@goodjuju5301]

Very nice but it was difficult to take in the sound of the band because EC's performance was completely on your face.

[@lauraalexander9027]

uh Jimi inadvertantly scared Clapton offstage becuz he upstaged hin in 2 secs flat and it was Killin Floor

[@lauraalexander9027]

Only cuz Jimi is dead

[@lauraalexander9027]

to you good juju also he is no Page ,Jeff Beck,BB,etc .....

[@1blastman]

Whoa! Some of Clapton's best early work here.

[@c.p.1589]

That slide from 4.12 to 4.13 is the sound of the universe being torn a new one.

[@bigfloydfan]

I think, anyone who slags off Claptons playing, are not guitar players.

[@lauraalexander9027]

You mean such as DOG Clapton??

[@Hendrix67297]

Laura Alexander Good job 0

[@alexgramm5170]

I'm with you mister white...

[@alexgramm5170]

I agree with you Mr. White,... Are you kidding me? So lets be genre specific then. Even 50 plus years later this is more than SUPERB electric blues guitar playing. And yes I play as well.😁

[@thejimmymeister]

It doesn't matter what kind of music you play. You can still appreciate other genres. If the flamenco player had good taste, he'd be blown away just like how Clapton would be blown away by a great flamenco player. Don't limit yourself.

[@dirtysoles]

That’s one of greatest slow blues progressions ever!!!!!

[@buswick95]

Kenny Vaughan said after about the time Eric left Cream, he never sounded the same, never sounded like THIS again... He was right about that.

[@violetflame23]

I agree buswick95. I've said that for years. Who knows why? Did Mayall inspire him to the heighth of his playing, did his son's death take the life out of him, or was it something else.

[@roberthanson579]

This is great. Thanks!