Back to the Roots (John Mayall album)

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Back to the Roots is a 1971 double album by John Mayall released on Polydor. 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 Archives to 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 Archives to Eighties Mayall recorded new bass and drums tracks played by Bobby Haynes and Joe Yuele.

Track listing

All tracks written by John Mayall.

Side A

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

Side B

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

Side C

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

Side D

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 CD bonus tracks included in Archives to 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 (on A1, A3, B1, B4, C4, D1)
• Keef Hartley – drums
• Paul Lagos – drums
• Harvey Mandel – guitar (on A2, A3, A4, B2, C1, C4, D1, D2)
• John Mayall – guitar (on A3, B2, B4, C1, D1, D4), harmonica, piano, keyboards, vocals
• Jerry McGee – guitar (on A5, D3)
• Larry Taylor – bass
• Mick Taylor – guitar (on A3, B3, C2, C3, C4, D3)
• Steve Thompson – bass (on C2)
• Don "Sugarcane" Harris – violin
• Joe Yuele – drums (on Archives to Eighties)
• Bobby Haynes – bass (on Archives to Eighties)