IN THIS ISSUEEditor’s Note“Lord, I feel the ocean swaying me/Washing away all my pain” NOT long before we started planning this Hendrix cover story, I found myself playing Running The Voodoo Down! Explorations In Psychrockfunksouljazz 1967–80, a great compilation from 2017 that explored black America’s response to the volume and possibilities of psychedelic rock. Along with George Clinton, Sly Stone and Miles Davis, Hendrix casts a sizable shadow over the proceedings – either in a very overt sense, like the way the Isley Brothers segue from CSNY’s “Ohio” into Hendrix’s “Machine Gun”, or else as a galvanising force, whose questing and progressive imperative encouraged others to follow his example. We visit some of the music Hendrix made in his final creative outpouring, as part of Peter Watts’ cover story that digs into his…2 min
IN THIS ISSUE“He was something special” JOHN MAYALL 1933–2024“JOHN Mayall was so important within the British blues movement,” says former Bluesbreakers producer Mike Vernon. “A lot of purists were uncertain about what John was doing. He was definitely working within the blues framework, but he created a sound that was his. John was something very special, a formidable character. He just had this air about him.” Serially referred to as the godfather of British blues, Mayall was a pioneering polymath: musician, singer, songwriter, producer, mentor, bandleader. His Bluesbreakers served as a hothouse for some of the most important figures to emerge from the British music scene in the 1960s, from Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Mick Taylor to the Fleetwood Mac triumvirate of Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood. In a moving and emotional tribute, Clapton thanked…6 min
IN THIS ISSUESTORY OF THE BLUESBLUES BREAKERS WITH ERIC CLAPTON (DECCA, 1966) Post-Yardbirds, Eric Clapton joins Mayall, John McVie and Hughie Flint on a blues boom classic, highlighted by Otis Rush’s scorching “All Your Love” and Mayall originals like “Have You Heard”. A HARD ROAD (DECCA, 1967) Twenty-year-old hotshot Peter Green takes up where Clapton let off, with another newcomer, Aynsley Dunbar, on drums. Mayall’s title track feeds into roadworn blues mythology, while Green excels on ravishing instrumental “The Supernatural”. CRUSADE (DECCA, 1967) Green had departed for Fleetwood Mac, but Mayall finds teenage wonderkid Mick Taylor to replace him, the pair dovetailing on co-write “Snowy Wood”. Elsewhere, Mayall salutes a hero on “The Death Of JB Lenoir”. BARE WIRES (DECCA, 1968) Mayall makes an incremental shift into jazz territory, enlisting Dick Heckstall-Smith, Tony Reeves and…2 min
IN THIS ISSUE“It’s going to be amazing”SAHRA HALGAN HER backstory is nuts. She’s a Somalian cultural activist who started singing at 13. During the Somalian civil war, she was a nurse on the frontline and only released her first album in her late thirties after becoming a refugee in France. To explain the music, it’s African psychrock with a strong female lead vocal. It’s a bit like Mdou Moctar mixed with King Gizzard – it’s got a real groove, but having a female lead singer really changes the feel. The album she just released, Hiddo Dhawr, is so good. WATER FROM YOUR EYES I wasn’t so sure until I saw them live, but they’re everything you want from a Brooklyn band: offbeat post-punk, distorted synth-pop, shoegaze textures… It’s very cool but they’re unique, and they’ve got…3 min
IN THIS ISSUERemember his nameCRITICALLY panned on release in 1971, David Crosby’s If I Could Only Remember My Name is now rightly acknowledged as a masterpiece, its hallucinatory psych-folk emblematic of the shifting West Coast spirit of the times. “I didn’t hear it until about 10 or 15 years ago,” admits The Waterboys’ Mike Scott. “But I loved its spontaneity. It captures a moment of freedom and stoned optimism.” This October, Scott will take his place alongside a number of artists – Hothouse Flowers’ Liam Ó Maonlaí, Kris Drever and The Staves – for the first ever live performance of Crosby’s signature solo album as part of Llais, Cardiff’s annual international arts festival. “If I Could Only Remember My Name holds a special place in my heart,” says musician and arranger Kate St John,…3 min