In The Producers Chair: Breaking the Blues with Eric Clapton

Jimmy Page is universally known around the world for his work as a guitarist, however few people are aware of his contributions as a musical producer. Jimmy spent many years working in recording studios and picked up from watching and listening the techniques needed to create a good sound in a recording environment. Jimmy produced many bands and artists through the years, most have never been heard from and remain forgotten, however there are a few that made a deep impact on the world of music and in pop culture at large. In today's "Pageia Obscura" were are going to discuss a band of major note that Jimmy had a hand in producing.

"Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton; also known as "The Beano Album"

Among guitarist there are few albums as seminal as John Mayall's "Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton". His use of a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard played through an overdriven Marshall JTM 45 amplifier is almost the standard for electric guitarists today. Indeed after the release of this album, graffiti began popping up all across London decrying the phrase "Clapton is God".

During this period, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton were actually quite close and would dine together on a semi-frequent basis. Page described their friendship in an interview later "We'd meet and go out to dinner, we talked about various subjects, education - both having attended art schools - music, films, books, just about everything." Jimmy notice two things that intrigued him about Clapton, the first being his use of Gibson guitars equipped with humbucking pickups "I thought he played brilliantly then, really brilliantly. That was very stirring stuff. You get a Marshall with a Gibson and it's fantastic, a perfect match". Jimmy also seemed to take notice of Eric's girlfriend, Charlotte Martin, who he would go on to marry eventually and father a child with.

Eric Clapton with two objects of Jimmy's affection a Gibson Les Paul & Charlotte Martin

Eric had been recruited to play in John Mayall's band The Bluesbreakers after quitting the Yardbirds when they got too commercial for his tastes. The group hooked up with the manager of The Rolling Stones, Andrew Loog Oldham and set off for the studio to record. Oldham who knew Jimmy Page and had used him before both as a session guitarists and studio technician asked him to lend a hand in producing the band. Jimmy talked about his work with the Bluesbreakers in an installment of "On this day" from his website:

"Today sees the release of the single 'I'm Your Witch Doctor' and 'Telephone Blues' on Immediate Records, where I was a producer. It was recorded at Pye Studios with jazzer Hughie Flint on drums, John McVie on bass, John Mayall on keyboards and vocals and Eric Clapton on guitar. It was recorded in June of 1965. When 'Witch Doctor' came to be overdubbed, Eric had this idea to put this feedback wail over the top. I was with him in the studio as he set this up, then I got back into the control room and told the engineer to record the overdub. About two thirds of the way through, he pulled the faders down and said: "This guitarist is impossible to record". I guess his technical ethics were compromised by the signal that was putting the meters into the red. I suggested that he got on with his job and leave that decision to me! Eric's solo on 'Telephone Blues' was just superb. I would like to have seen Ainsley Dunbar on drums in the studio for 'Witch Doctor'. I also produced 'Sitting On Top of the World', showing John Mayall's blues to Top 20 ambitions, and 'Double Crossing Time', an ironic title as the next time I heard of them they were in the very capable hands of Mike Vernon - famed blues producer. It was a good move: Eric left The Yardbirds because they had Top 20 aspirations!"

The impact this album, and the singles released during Clapton's stint in the band had on music cannot be overestimated. Thousands of guitarists cite this work as a huge influence on them as both a body of work, and from the signature sound Eric Clapton was able to coax from his gear. Joe Bonamassa, for one was very much influenced by this Clapton's Bluesbreaker sound. Indeed Marshall has manufactured a re-issue model of the JTM 45 combo amplifier that Eric Clapton used to record this album and subsequently named it the Bluesbreaker (sidenote, I actually owned one of these reissues for a while, it is an awesome amp!). It is a shame therefore that for how much it is lauded and how much influence it has had on people and musicians, that Jimmy Page's efforts in creating and harnessing that sound have either been dismissed or forgotten altogether.

Page and Clapton working together again at the ARMS Festival in the 1980's

Jimmy and Eric would go on to have something of a falling out shortly after the Bluesbreakers sessions. Clapton had visited Jimmy's home in Epsom and the two jammed privately together and Jimmy recorded the sessions on a little Simon tape recorded he had laying around. Page let Andrew Loog Oldham know about the existence of these tapes and they were confiscated from him per contractual obligations on the part of both Clapton and Page. The tapes were later released over Jimmy's objections; "I argued they couldn't put them out." Eric grew cold toward Jimmy after this incident and their relationship has been pretty distant ever since.