John Mayall/ The Sun Is Shining Down

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR 

John Mayall/ The Sun Is Shining Down

Genre: Blues

Label: Self-released 

Rating: ****

Even as music fans were talking of The Zealot Gene, the first Jethro Tull album in over 18 years (reviewed earlier), another major album was out. John Mayall, Godfather of the British Blues, released The Sun Is Shining Down at the age of 88.

Besides his virtuosity and sheer passion for the genre, Mayall is known for having worked with the cream of musicians, including guitarists Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor, and bassist Jack Bruce, in the 1960s.

Here too, he works with a bunch of hugely talented musicians. The roll call ranges from the brilliant Mike Campbell, who played with Tom Petty, and Chicago blues master Melvin Taylor to 25-year-old star Marcus King and violinist Scarlet Rivera.

Mayall's voice retains the magnetism, and he's written a few numbers himself.  The horn-backed 'Hungry And Ready' with guitarist Melvin Taylor also has him on harmonica solos. This perfect tempo setter is followed by Marcus King's wizardry on 'Can't Take No More'.

On the Bobby Rush-penned 'I'm As Good As Gone', featuring Tennessee musician Buddy Miller, the words are "I'm leaving you baby, yeah I'm tired of you doing me wrong". Violinist Rivera's soulful playing is heard on the melancholic 'Got To Find A Better Way' and the country-blues number 'Deep Blue Sea'.

The under-rated genius Mike Campbell's incredible fretwork adorns 'Chills And Thrills' whereas Jake Shimabukuro dazzles on electric ukulele on 'One Special Lady', which talks of a man's search for the ideal woman.

'A Quitter Never Wins' is the only song here without a guest star, as Mayall sings, "It seems like nowadays, nothing was ever meant to last, one day you got it all, then it disappears so fast, and it seems our love, you know our love is always on and off again". Some breathtaking harmonica seeps in and out of the song.

Appropriately, the concluding title track has the lines, "It's been a long, long journey, and I ain't got no time to quit" and "The sun is shining down, got my special friends around". Carolyn Wonderland's guitaring is like a blues masterclass on this, subtly caressing the backdrop for most part and coming into its own on a supple solo.

Mayall, who performed at Mumbai's Mahindra Blues Festival four years ago, has never ceased to amaze over the past six decades. It's amazing how he continues to shine even now.




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