Singer/harmonica player/guitarist John Mayall was best known as a key figure in the '60s British blues boom, fronting a band containing future members of Cream, Fleetwood Mac, and Colosseum among others. However, after releasing a number of rock-edged electric blues albums, Mayall changed direction in 1969. Recorded live a New York's Fillmore East, THE TURNING POINT finds Mayall fronting an all-acoustic four-piece including guitarist Jon Mark and sax player Johnny Almond, who would later gain renown as the progressive rock outfit Mark-Almond.
With the new format allowing for a greater degree of subtlety, Mayall offers a blend of blues, folk, and jazz, seamlessly mixed into a new paradigm. Lest you forget that this was 1969, things open up with the pro-pot anthem "The Laws Must Change". The centerpiece of the album, and a Mayall concert staple thereafter, is "Room to Move", a breathless, frenetic number where Mayall shows off his harp chops and gets the audience worked up as only a real blues man can.
