A Hard Road – JOHN MAYALL****

A Hard Road/Its Over/You Don’t Love Me/The Stumble/Another Kinda Love/Hit The Highway/Leaping Christine/ Dust My Blues/There’s Always Work/The Same Way/The Supernatural/Top Of The Hill/Some Day After A While(You’ll Be Sorry)/Living Alone

Many of Britain's most celebrated guitarists did a stint in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. For A Hard Road Eric Clapton was replaced by Peter Green who featured on the album’s best track The Supernatural. (UK:10)

"This is just an awesome blues album. Every song is a perfect highlight, but above all is the instrumental song The Supernatural where Peter Green is, well, supernaturally great. Four of the songs are covers and those are wonderful too. I can't find a bad thing to say about A Hard Road. Just plain perfect British blues."

"This is a fine album with one track that is amongst the absolute best ever - if you know the album then you will be aware of Peter Green's The Supernatural - a guitar instrumental which is Green's calling card. The rest of the album is very good."

"As John Mayall's only early album that can stand toe-to-toe with Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton, A Hard Road is an essential for blues rock and British blues fans alike. Left up to me, A Hard Road not only trumps its predecessor, it does so convincingly and is one of John Mayall's best works."

"With Eric Clapton out, Mayall brings guitarist Peter Green into the mix, a woefully under appreciated guitarist (at least in the States). Green's sound on A Hard Road at times mirrors Clapton's, but more often, he adds his own touch to The Bluesbreakers. This is most clearly seen on the album's finest track, The Supernatural, an instrumental making heavy use of sustained guitar notes and thundering vibrato."

"An exceptionally classy blues record - the instrumentals elevate it to amazing heights - particularly The Supernatural. Could have done with more Green vocals though, no offence to the amazing Mr Mayall."

"This album is somewhat inconsistent in its material, but the devastating track Supernatural, will make up for any deficiencies. The use of feedback on this song is totally different from say, Hendrix and it's really 'worth the price of admission' as they say."