The Turning Point (John Mayall album)
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''The Turning Point'' is a
live album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
by
John Mayall John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, musician and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among it ...
, featuring British
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
music recorded at a concert at Bill Graham's Fillmore East on 12 July 1969.


Background

When John Mayall was starting another band after the break-up of the Bluesbreakers in May 1969,Christopher Hjort, ''Strange Brew : Eric Clapton & the British Blues Boom, 1965-1970'', Jawbone Press, 2007, 352 pp. he decided to have a band that would play "low volume music" – or music without "heavy lead guitar and drums".


Musicians

The performers on the album were Mayall on vocals,
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
, a
slide Slide or Slides may refer to: Places * Slide, California, former name of Fortuna, California Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Slide'' (Lisa Germano album), 1998 * ''Slide'' (George Clanton album), 2018 *''Slide'', by Patrick Glees ...
and a Fender Telecaster guitar, a tambourine, and mouth percussion,
Jon Mark Jon Mark (born John Michael Burchell; 8 May 1943 – 10 February 2021) was an English singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his recordings with Marianne Faithfull, Sweet Thursday, John Mayall and Mark-Almond. Mark, who received a ...
on
acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...
, Steve Thompson on
bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...
, and
Johnny Almond Johnny Almond (20 July 1946 – 18 November 2009) was a British saxophonist, who is best known for his recordings with the Alan Price Set, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall and Mark-Almond. Biography Johnny Almond was born in Enfield, Middlesex, Engla ...
on tenor and
alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...
s,
flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...
s, and mouth percussion. All the songs on the album were written or co-written by John Mayall. Thompson co-wrote "California", "Thoughts About Roxanne" and "Don't Waste My Time". Another track, "I'm Gonna Fight For You, J.B.", is a tribute to the American blues guitarist
J. B. Lenoir J. B. Lenoir ( '; March 5, 1929 – April 29, 1967) was an American blues guitarist and singer-songwriter, active in the Chicago blues scene in the 1950s and 1960s. Life and career Lenoir was born in Monticello, Mississippi. His full given n ...
who died in 1967 and who had a deep influence on Mayall (this was Mayall's second such tribute to the musician; "The Death of J.B. Lenoir" appeared on his earlier ''
Crusade The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were i ...
'' album). Two concerts took place, on 11 and 12 July. All tracks are from the second gig.


Production

The album was
produced Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
by John Mayall, who also designed the packaging and was the album's
art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
. The
recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...
was Eddie Kramer, who had engineered
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
and Led Zeppelin, among others.


Reissues

In 2001, a remastered CD reissue included three additional tracks from the same performance. Earlier recordings of the same material, live from June 1969 in England, were released in 1999 on the first CD of the two-CD set ''The Masters'' (the second disc contains mostly interviews). A concert at the Marquee on June 30, 1969, featuring a similar playlist, has been issued. The music from the two CD's of ''The Masters'' and the performance at the Marquee were released in 2004 as a 2-CD package, ''The Turning Point Soundtrack,'' credited to John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. Portions of these earlier rehearsals and performances had been filmed, and were released as a 25-minute black-and-white 1996 BBC TV documentary ''The Turning Point.'' (They were included, as well, on a 2003 DVD, ''Godfather of British Blues/The Turning Point.'').


Track listing

All songs written by John Mayall, except where indicated.


Side one

# "The Laws Must Change" – 7:21 # "Saw Mill Gulch Road" – 4:39 # "I'm Gonna Fight for You J.B." – 5:27 # "So Hard To Share" – 7:05


Side two

  1. "California" (Mayall, Steve Thompson) – 9:30
  2. "Thoughts About Roxanne" (Mayall, Thompson) – 8:20
  3. "Room to Move" – 5:03
Bonus tracks (2001 reissue)
  1. "Sleeping By Her Side" – 5.10
  2. "Don't Waste My Time" (Mayall, Thompson) – 4.54
  3. "Can't Sleep This Night" – 6.19
Other recordings of the same material: * ''Live at The Marquee '69 ''= tracks 8, 4, 9, 3, 1, 5, 5. * ''The Masters''= tracks 9, 8, 7, 2, 10, 6, 3,3 (CD1); 2, 5, 9, 6, Parchman farm (CD2) * ''The Turning Point Soundtrack''=''The Masters''+''Live at The Marquee '69 ''


Personnel

* John Almond – flute, saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, mouth percussion *
Jon Mark Jon Mark (born John Michael Burchell; 8 May 1943 – 10 February 2021) was an English singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his recordings with Marianne Faithfull, Sweet Thursday, John Mayall and Mark-Almond. Mark, who received a ...
– acoustic guitar *
John Mayall John Mayall, OBE (born 29 November 1933) is an English blues singer, musician and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among it ...
– guitar,
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
,
keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...
, tambourine, vocals,
slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...
, mouth percussion * Steve Thompson – bass guitar


Production

* Bob Gordon – photography * Suha Gur – mastering * Eddie Kramer – engineer, audio engineer * Bill Levenson – reissue producer * John Mayall – liner notes, artwork, art direction, design, photography, audio production, telecaster * Monique McGuffin – production coordination * Neil Slaven – liner notes * Tapani Tapanainen – photography * Chris Welch – liner notes * Barry Wentzell – photography * Zill – photography


References


External links


The Turning Point
by Mike Neely * {{DEFAULTSORT:Turning Point, The John Mayall albums Live at the Fillmore East albums 1969 live albums Albums produced by John Mayall Polydor Records live albums Live blues albums