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*1/2 John Mayall & Friends

ALONG FOR THE RIDE

(Eagle)

“Asleep at the Wheel” might have been a better title for this disappointing all-star session. The shame is that the album has so much promise. At 67, the British blues pioneer is still an exciting performer, and he’s teamed with his former Bluesbreakers bandmates Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Mick Taylor, plus Steve Cropper, Otis Rush, Billy Gibbons, Billy Preston, Steve Miller, and Gary Moore. But the edgy vitality that’s been the hallmark of Mayall’s singing is missing. In fact, there’s so little energy in these tracks that a decent vocal turn from the Arista label’s teenage blues puppet Shannon Curfman makes “Testify” a standout.

The best contributions come from Rush, who lights a firecracker with passionate moaning on his classic “So Many Roads,” and Moore, who squeezes dark, slow, sensitive notes out of his Les Paul on “If I Don’t Get Home.” The other star players are as anonymous as hired hands. Even the ebullient Gibbons, who has made a career of being over the top, can’t muster the gumption to drop a single one of his trademark harmonic squeals or low, gargling runs into “Put It Right Back.” Which is what you should do if you nd yourself in a store with this disc in your hand.

— Ted Drozdowski