Bare Wires

For the American band, see Matthew Melton.

Bare Wires
Studio album by
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers
Released21 June 1968[1]
Recorded3, 9, 24 and 30 April 1968
StudioDecca Studios, West Hampstead, London, England[2]
GenreBlues, blues-rock, jazz rock
Length45:20
LabelDecca
ProducerMike Vernon, John Mayall
John Mayall's Bluesbreakers chronology
Crusade
(1967) 		Bare Wires
(1968)
John Mayall chronology
Crusade
(1967) 		Bare Wires
(1968) 		Blues from Laurel Canyon
(1968)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Rolling Stone(negative)[3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[4]
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings[5]

Bare Wires is a studio album by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, featuring Mick Taylor on guitar, Chris Mercer and Dick Heckstall-Smith on saxophones, Jon Hiseman on drums, Henry Lowther on cornet and violin, and Tony Reeves on bass. It was released in 1968 on Decca Records.[6] The album was the last John Mayall studio album to feature the name "Bluesbreakers".[1] The album was also Mayall's first successful U.S. album reaching #59 on the Billboard 200.[7]

It was voted number 566 in the third edition of Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums (2000).[8]

Background and recording

Guitarist Peter Green left the Bluesbreakers to form Fleetwood Mac, and was replaced by Mick Taylor. Shortly before recording sessions for the album, bassist Andy Fraser, who would later join Free, also left the group, while drummer Keef Hartley was replaced by Jon Hiseman. Mayall asked if anyone knew someone who could play bass guitar, and Hiseman informed him that his friend Tony Reeves, who had played double bass for most of his career, had recently bought a bass guitar.[9] The album included more jazz influences than usual.

Reeves recalled of the album's making, "Rehearsals with John Mayall weren't really rehearsals; we didn't play very much, for a lot of the rehearsal time you sat around listening to what he wanted to do. He played records to demonstrate the feel or a style, or a sound that he was looking for. All of the things on the Bare Wires album were worked out in the studio – we must have done one or two rehearsals actually playing the music, but I can’t remember that. Seems to me, most of the work took place in the recording studio."[9]

Following the album, Mayall pared down the group from a seven-piece to a three-piece band and ultimately dropped the Bluesbreakers entirely.[9] Reeves, Hiseman and Dick Heckstall-Smith went on to form Colosseum.

Songs

The songs "No Reply" and "She's Too Young" were released as a single by Decca. The seven songs on the album's A-side ("Bare Wires", "Where Did I Belong", "I Started Walking", "Open Up a New Door", "Fire", "I Know Now" and "Look in the Mirror") are arranged into a medley. Some CD issues of Bare Wires combine these seven songs onto a single track with the title "Bare Wires Suite", seemingly inspired by the headline "Bare Wires: A Suite by John Mayall" which appears on the album's inner gatefold.

According to Reeves, the song "Hartley Quits" was titled after a front-page headline in Melody Maker about Keef Hartley's departure from the Bluesbreakers.[9]

Track listing

The individual track times are those printed on the original vinyl releases. Some CD issues of the album combine tracks 1-7 onto a single track under the title "Bare Wires Suite".

Original album

All tracks are written by John Mayall, except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Bare Wires"1:25
2."Where Did I Belong"3:05
3."I Started Walking"2:20
4."Open Up a New Door"3:00
5."Fire"3:45
6."I Know Now"5:35
7."Look in the Mirror"2:51
Side two
No.TitleLength
8."I'm a Stranger"5:14
9."No Reply" (Mayall, Mick Taylor)3:09
10."Hartley Quits" (Taylor)2:55
11."Killing Time"4:48
12."She's Too Young"2:22
13."Sandy"3:50
Reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleOriginal releaseLength
14."Picture on the Wall"B-side of Decca Single F12732[10]3:03
15."Jenny"A-side of Decca Single F127324:40
16."Knockers Step Forward"Thru the Years3:14
17."Hide and Seek"Thru the Years2:25
18."(Intro) Look at the Girl"Primal Solos6:47
19."Start Walkin'"Primal Solos8:23

Personnel

John Mayall's Bluesbreakers

on tracks 1 - 13 and 16 - 19:

on tracks 14 and 15:

Production[2]

Charts

Chart (1968) Peak
position
UK (The Official Charts Company)[11] 3
Norway (VG-lista)[12] 9
France (InfoDisc)[13] 1
US Billboard 200[7] 59

References

  1. ^ a b c William Ruhlmann (2010). "Bare Wires - John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  2. ^ a b "John Mayall's Bluesbreakers* - Bare Wires (Vinyl, LP, Album) at Discogs". Discogs. 2 March 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  3. ^ Nooger, Danny (12 October 1968). "Records". Rolling Stone.
  4. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0857125958.
  5. ^ Russell, Tony; Smith, Chris (2006). The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings. Penguin. p. 428. ISBN 978-0-140-51384-4.
  6. ^ "Discography". John Mayall. Archived from the original on 21 January 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  7. ^ a b "John Mayall > Billboard Albums". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  8. ^ Colin Larkin, ed. (2006). All Time Top 1000 Albums (3rd ed.). Virgin Books. p. 192. ISBN 0-7535-0493-6.
  9. ^ a b c d "Interview with Tony Reeves". Let it Rock. July 2003. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  10. ^ "Artists: J". 45-rpm.org.uk. 10 February 1910. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  11. ^ "John Mayall - Bare Wires". Official Charts Company. 20 July 1968. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  12. ^ Steffen Hung (21 June 1968). "John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers - Bare Wires". norwegiancharts.com. Archived from the original on 26 March 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  13. ^ "InfoDisc : Tout les Titres par Artiste". Infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 15 July 2015. Retrieved 15 January 2012.