''Empty Rooms'' is a studio album by English blues musician John Mayall, released in March 1970 on

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States ...

. It is a follow-up to the live album '' The Turning Point'', released earlier in the year with the same musicians:

Jon Mark Jon Mark (born John Michael Burchell; 8 May 1943 – 10 February 2021) was an English singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his recordings with Marianne Faithfull, Sweet Thursday, John Mayall and Mark-Almond. Mark, who received a ...

on acoustic guitar,

Johnny Almond Johnny Almond (20 July 1946 – 18 November 2009) was a British saxophonist, who is best known for his recordings with the Alan Price Set, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall and Mark-Almond. Biography Johnny Almond was born in Enfield, Middlesex, Engla ...

on saxophones and flute, and Stephen Thompson on bass. John Mayall sings, plays harmonica, guitars and keyboards (including a Moog synthesizer). Former

Canned Heat Canned Heat is an American band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. The group is noted for its efforts to promote interest in blues music and its original artists and rock music. It was founded by two blues enthusiasts Alan Wilson and Bob ...

bassist

Larry Taylor Samuel Lawrence Taylor (June 26, 1942 – August 19, 2019) was an American bass guitarist, best known for his work as a member of Canned Heat from 1967. Before joining Canned Heat he had been a session bassist for The Monkees and Jerry Lee L ...

guests as second bass player on one track, "To a Princess," improvising with Thompson on an unusual bass duet. The absence of a drummer leaves the rhythm rather fluid and the resulting sound is unusual, even for a John Mayall album. The songs, all written by Mayall, mostly addressed his romance with photographer Nancy Throckmorton, a theme he would pursue further on '' USA Union''. The album is dedicated to her. ''Empty Rooms'' was the only known set of studio recordings by the ''Turning Point'' lineup, which broke up shortly after the album was recorded. Larry Taylor, however, would join Mayall as one of three American musicians (electric guitarist

Harvey Mandel Harvey Mandel (born March 11, 1945) is an American guitarist best known as a member of Canned Heat. He also played with Charlie Musselwhite and John Mayall as well as maintaining a solo career. Early life Mandel was born in Detroit, Michigan, ...

, also a former member of Canned Heat; and, electric violinist Sugarcane Harris would complete the new lineup) to join him for '' USA Union''.

Track listing

All songs written by John Mayall, except where indicated. #"Don't Waste My Time" (Steve Thompson, Mayall) - 3:10 #"Plan Your Revolution" - 2:38 #"Don't Pick a Flower" (Jon Mark, Mayall) - 3:53 #"Something New" (Jon Mark, Mayall) - 4:40 #"People Cling Together" - 2:53 #"Waiting for the Right Time" (Jon Mark, Mayall) - 5:36 #"Thinking of My Woman" - 2:29 #"Counting the Days" - 5:33 #"When I Go" - 4:46 #"Many Miles Apart" - 2:56 #"To a Princess" - 3:34 #"Lying in My Bed" - 4:21

Charts

Personnel

* John Mayall -

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

, harmonica, lead and 12-string

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

s, bass Moog synthesizer *

- finger-style and 12-string guitar *

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, flute *

- bass * Steve Thompson - bass ;Technical *Barry Ainsworth,

Eddie Kramer Edwin H. Kramer (born 19 April 1942) is a British recording producer and engineer. He has collaborated with several artists now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin ...

Eddy Offord Eddy Offord (born 20 February 1943) is a retired English record producer and audio engineer who gained prominence in the 1970s for his work on albums by the progressive rock bands Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes. Life and career Offord studied phys ...

, John Judnich - engineer *Bob Gordon, Kevin McCarthy - photography Jon Mark and Johnny Almond would leave the group just after the recording of this album, to form the duo

Mark-Almond Mark–Almond was a jazz-influenced English pop group of the 1970s and early 1980s, sometimes also called The Mark-Almond Band. The core members were Jon Mark, who sang lead and played guitar, percussion, and harmonica and Johnny Almond who p ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1970 albums John Mayall albums Polydor Records albums Albums produced by John Mayall