John Mayall - Primal Solos (Japan 2008)

This archival album of previously unreleased material comes from three sources: Side One is a live date at the Flamingo Club in London recorded in April, 1966, and featuring an edition of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton on guitar, Jack Bruce on bass, and Hughie Flint on drums. Two songs on Side Two were recorded in Brighton, England, in May, 1968, and feature a seven-piece Bluesbreakers with "the lovely Mickey Taylor on guitar." And the final song comes from a Swedish gig in December, 1968, by which time Mayall had revamped the band and turned it back into a quartet, retaining Taylor. Sound quality is iffy, the song selection is given over to blues classics ("I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man") on Side One and Mayall originals on Side Two, and on the whole this album seems to represent the bottom of the barrel in terms of digging up old Mayall/Clapton tracks.