Bare Wires – JOHN MAYALL***

Bare Wires/Where Did I Belong/I Started Walking/Open A New Door/Fire/I Know Now/Look In The Mirror/I’m A Stranger/No Reply/Hartley Quits/Killing Time/She’s Too Young/Sandy

British blues legend John Mayall, assisted by his Bluesbreakers featuring Mick Taylor, here attempts a concept album, as demonstrated by the Bare Wires Suite, which comprises side one. (US:59 UK:3)

"An interesting album from Mayall and his Bluesbreakers. Here they experiment, if not wildly, at least imaginatively. The whole of the first side is dedicated to the Bare Wires Suite. This is essentially a sequence of songs evoking different moods and featuring a variety of solos: a nice guitar solo from Mr Taylor, two sax solos, drums, and even bass. It's a courageous attempt at something different and deserves recognition and applause. Side two has a jumble of songs of various styles. Interesting, but not the easiest, nor the most rewarding album, to listen to."

"Pretty good, but not great, Bare Wires gives us Mick Taylor as Mayall's latest guitar slinger, and he shows his stuff pretty well. Trouble is he'd show it even better if he had stronger material to work with. This album has Mayall in transition, and as often happens, the vision is more seed than fruit. The side long Bare Wires Suite isn't a suite at all, but I'm sure at the time it looked good on the album to call it that. To me though, it's a bunch of individual tunes strung together without any central theme to justify being a suite. But at least the songs are pretty good."

"My favourite Mayall album. There is the feel of a suite here. Moody and more poetic than usual. The songs seem to breathe (inhale tension, exhale relax, and repeat). I would point out specific songs, but it seems that in doing so implies unevenness, and that's not the case here. This is a great album from beginning to end. One of those rare albums in which I find myself wanting to sing along. I'm glad the lyrics are included inside the cover. Highly recommended."

"Despite a gradual lack of consistency in the second half, this album is a winner due to a majority of uptempo tracks, strong, bluesy melodies and interesting instrumentations. Mayall’s willingness to enrich his music with some soundexperiments and a bit of complexity keeps his output interesting, and makes Bare Wires a mainly compelling listening experience. It was to be the last appearance of The Bluesbreakers on a John Mayall record, and they went out as a great acid-blues big band."