By now, there may still be a few folks who do not realize that Fleetwood Mac began as a blues band, part of the lineage of John Mayall’s Blues Breakers that at one time included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Mick Taylor, and other soon-to-be-famous British guitarists. What many do not realize is that the units of Mayall, Peter Green, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood were only together for three months. Live in 1967 – Volume Three is the final installment of the 1967 series which began with Volume One issued in 2015. The tapes were made available to Mayall and his producer at Forty Below Records, Eric Corne, by a dedicated fan from Holland, Tom Huissen, who captured performances in several London clubs that year on a channel reel to reel tape recorder.
Corne and Mayall have done their best to restore the rough sound quality, but what appears here, as is true on the previous albums, is barely adequate. The cynical side of this writer questions the value of squeezing yet another edition out, especially when a version of every track has also appeared on one of the other volumes. Mayall, now nearing 90, no longer tours and may have delivered his last recording with the 2023 Grammy-nominated, guest-filled The Sun Is Shining Down. If nothing else, this keeps his name active. Nonetheless, diehards, collectors, and completists will likely dig into these eight tracks, sourced from four different venues. The major draw for most should be the late Peter Green, who many years later still stands tall in the pantheon of blues guitarists.
The album kicks off with Mayall’s “Brand New Start,” a shuffle featuring his harmonica, organ, and vocals with drummer Fleetwood’s steady beats prominent in the mix whereas Green’s searing guitar lines are buried a bit. “Tears in My Eyes” is a slow blues Mayall original that shows the best of Green’s inherent feel for the blues. Unlike some of his peers, Green had the ability to hit the right notes rather than engage in rapid-fire shredding. ‘Stand Back” is a brief Mayall shuffle, which bristles with the inspired energy of the foursome before Green’s instrumental “Greeny” puts him squarely back in the spotlight as Mayall on organ along with Fleetwood and McVie stay in the pocket, allowing the guitarist to soar, ceding to Mayall for organ and harmonica turns along the way.
The remaining four in the set owe to the masters – JB. Lenoir’s “Talk to Your Daughter,” Sonny Boy Williamson’s “Your Funeral and My Trial,” Freddie King’s “The Stumble,” and Otis Rush’s “Double Trouble.” The instrumental “The Stumble” has Green breathing more fire than perhaps any track while “Double Trouble,” which has long been a part of Clapton’s repertoire, as well as the inspiration for Stevie Ray Vaughan’s band name, has Green digging deep in the slow blues at which he excels. As raw as these tracks are, the power of the band comes through. It’s history, though a bit grainy, speaking very loudly.
