Back to the Roots (John Mayall album)

Back To The Roots
Studio album by John Mayall
Released	March 1971
Recorded	November 15-25, 1970
Genre	Blues
Label	Polydor
Producer	John Mayall
John Mayall chronology
USA Union (1970) Back To The Roots (1971) Memories (1971)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

Back to the Roots is a 1971 double album by John Mayall released on Polydor.^[2] Recording sessions took place both in California and London where Mayall invited some former members of his band, notably guitarists Eric Clapton and Mick Taylor. At the end of the 1980s Mayall remixed some tracks and issued them along with some of the older material as Archive to the Eighties. An expanded two-CD version of Back to the Roots now includes both the original and later remixed versions of the tracks.

Besides Mayall, who sang and played piano and guitar, the musicians who recorded the original tracks were:

• Eric Clapton, Mick Taylor, Harvey Mandel and Jerry McGee on guitars;
• Larry Taylor and Steven Thompson on bass;
• Keef Hartley and Paul Lagos on drums;
• Johnny Almond on saxophone and flute.

For Archive to the Eighties Mayall recorded new bass and drums tracks played by Bobby Haynes and Joe Yuele.

Track listing

All tracks written by John Mayall.

Disc one, side one

1. "Prisons on the Road" * – 4:18
2. "My Children" ' – 5:10
3. "Accidental Suicide" * – 6:17
4. "Groupie Girl" – 3:53
5. "Blue Fox" ' – 3:43

Disc one, side two

1. "Home Again" * – 4:56
2. "Television Eye" * – 7:32
3. "Marriage Madness" ' – 3:36
4. "Looking at Tomorrow" * – 6:57

Disc two, side one

1. "Dream With Me" ' – 5:21
2. "Full Speed Ahead" – 5:21
3. "Mr. Censor Man" * – 4:44
4. "Force of Nature" * – 6:34
5. "Boogie Albert" * – 2:15

Disc two, side two

1. "Goodbye December" – 5:24
2. "Unanswered Questions" – 4:42
3. "Devil's Tricks" ' – 7:45
4. "Travelling" – 4:42

The 2001 expanded version has 26 tracks, 8 of them remixes marked here with*; original tracks included in Archive to the Eighties are marked here with '.

Source: John Mayall "Back To The Roots" album cover

Personnel

• John Almond – bass flute, saxophone, tenor saxophone
• Eric Clapton – guitar
• Keef Hartley – drums
• Paul Lagos – drums
• Harvey Mandel – guitar
• John Mayall – guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboards, vocals
• Jerry McGee – guitar
• Larry Taylor – bass, guitar
• Mick Taylor – guitar
• Steve Thompson – bass
• Joe Yuele – drums
• Don "Sugarcane" Harris – violin

References

External links

• "John Mayall - Back To The Roots (2xLP, Album) at Discogs". www.discogs.com. Retrieved 2010-06-16.