Two new "concept" albums from John Mayall. The London disc is a further culling from tapes Mayall made of his Taylor/Tillman/Hartley 1967 Bluesbreakers at various "live" gigs in Europe, while the Polydor set is the result of Mayall's idea "to gather together all the major musicians who have played in the bands throughout my career." Both are noteworthy releases for reasons of their own and both further illumine the genius of this man Mayall who, much like Muddy Waters, has always attracted the best of (England's) bluesmen into his various bands over the past six or seven years.

The London album clearly delineates Mayall's debt to Sonny Boy Williamson II–two of the five musical cuts (totaling some 20 minutes) revolve around the SBW II "sound"–the first of these is an opus entitled "The Train" that is more than 13 minutes in length and packed with the lazy yet tense power that Williamson was a master at. The other cut is Mayall doing the SBW II tune "Help Me" that, likewise, is driven along by his Williamson-ish harmonica playing. The rest of this disc hinges around an instrumental framework–both "Blues in Bb" and "Crying Shame" are exercises in the tight, small-group blues excellence that Mayall is a specialist in–the jazz overtones on "Blues" and the super-charged guitar solos on "Crying" are particularly rewarding. The album as a whole is marred by sloppy recording that results in consistently buried vocals but the "classic" Mayall "livewire" sound is plainly there.

The Polydor album is better. Mayall's idea was a musically rewarding one veterans such as Eric Clapton, Harvey Mandel, Keef Hartley, Johnny Almond and Larry Taylor all turn in outstanding performances, but the album clincher is the cathartic presence of Sugarcane Harris on fully half of the album's 18 cuts. Harris has left Mayall to move out on his own. naturally, but his amplified violin playing is captured in all its fury and lyricism on this disc. He all but steals the show from the other luminaries on selections like "Prison On the Road," "Full Speed Ahead" and "Devil's Tricks." Besides the top-flight instrumental work (Clapton, Almond and Mandel are particularly fine) this record is supported by Mayall's still unique blues jazz-toned lyrics that vary from the outright mellow "My Children" and "Dream With Me" to the alert and topical "Accidental Suicide," "Mr. Censor Man" and the outrageous "Groupie Girl." An essential Mayall disc. I only hope there's enough left over from these sessions for another album at some future date. But there's no telling what Mayall will be up to in another six months or so. (RS 85)

GARY VON TERSCH