Alexis Korner’s Breakdown Group - Blues From The Roundhouse

Groundbreaking British blues from half a century ago

Historic recordings encountered for the first time years after their impact almost always disappoint. While Blues From The Roundhouse isn’t exactly Robert Johnson’s collected works, it was the necessary late 50s forerunner to The Rolling Stones and company. The music may sound polite now, but the likes of Leadbelly’s Easy Rider, belted out by (presumably) Beryl Bryden, and the outstanding Streamline Train, with Cyril Davies’ harmonica in full effect, were undoubtedly cutting-edge in those pre-rock days. The fact that Streamline Train never actually made it onto the original disc is also quite mind-boggling.

The Roundhouse in question was not in London’s Chalk Farm but a pub in Soho where, in 1957, Alexis Korner and cohort Davies recorded the first of the three EPs compiled here under the first release’s title. These are augmented by no fewer than 14 bonus tracks on which Alexis and/or Cyril appeared as sidemen in Ken Colyer and Beryl Bryden’s groups, making this an even more valuable 29-track package topped off by Roger Dopson’s typically authoritative sleevenotes.

Great Voices Of The Century | GVC 1006

Reviewed by Michael Heatley
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