John Mayall & Bluesbreakers - Bare Wires (1968)

The 'Bluesbreakers With Eric Clapton' album of 1966 found pride of place in my LP collection in the '70s. I listened to it a lot in hopes of absorbing the fiery style of Clapton's playing, his finest ever.

By the time this was released, Clapton was already well on his way to becoming a guitar legend with Cream. The guitarist here, Mick Taylor, who replaced future Fleetwood Mac frontman Peter Green, isn't quite in the same league, and the album is a pretty subdued affair compared with previous Bluesbreakers releases. Still, many of the tracks are quite listenable.