1. Crawling Up A Hill, 2. Mr. James, 3. Crocodile Walk, 4. Blues City Shakedown, 5. I’m Your Witchdoctor, 6. Telephone Blues, 7. On Top Of The World, 8. Lonely Years, 9. Bernard Jenkins, 10. Parchman Farm, 11. Key To Love, 12. Looking Back, 13. So Many Roads, 14. Sitting In The Rain, 15. Out Of Reach, 16. Curly, 17. Rubber Duck, 18. Double Trouble, 19. It Hurts Me Too, 20. Suspicious Pt.1, 21. Suspicious Pt.2, 22. Jenny, 23. Picture On The Wall.

Although credited to Empress Valley on the back cover, this new release is from Mid Valley, according to what is printed on the disc. Mid Valley is a label specialized on Eric Clapton, presents John Mayall original mono singles from 1964 through 1968, however the set includes also tracks with Peter Green and Mick Taylor whose guitar works really shines. According to the liner notes: “All selections appear in their original monoaural mixes as prepared shortly after the sessions. The majority were later remixed to stereo, with the exception of tracks 1,2,5,6,7,8,9 which only exist in mono. The mastering on all of these tracks differs considerably from the official remasters. The authentic original sound is presented here for the first time on CD”. There is a very detailed booklet inside the sleeve, from which Prof. Stoned the maker wrote: “This project started in 2011 when I first made the blueprint for this collection and recorded what I had on hand I have been researching and looking to upgrade the sound quality of certain tracks ever since, and bought a good number of original UK 45s in the process. It was a difficult project to complete because most of the purchases failed to deliver the audio quality I’d hoped for due to wear to the grooves. But now, nearly to years later, I believe that all of the tracks here are presented in their best- or at least in their most authentic- possible sound quality. For the record: everything here was taken from vinyl and no tracks were taken from fake stereo sources. One might think that the best place to ear any of these tracks would be original UK 45s. However, a few years back I stumbled upon a vinyl album called So Many Roads from 1967 in clean condition. It was compiled specifically for the Dutch market in close association with Mayall himself. He provided the detailed liner notes too. This disc collects about half of the tracks here in true mono and also in slightly better quality than the original 45s (because it lacked some of the compression that was added before the disc cutting). A great find and without it I wouldn’t even have thought about trying this. The last UK singles No Reply/She’s Too Young and The Bear/2401 are omitted from this compilation because they were not mixed to mono, but rather are fold downs from the stereo album mixes. Also not include is the EP with Paul Butterfield because it was not a single. My goal with this compilation was to preserve the sound as it was originally on the records, or better yet, in the studio. Naturally, there are differences in tonality since these tracks are from different sessions, but with the exceptions of three tracks nothing here stood as poorly balanced”.