Tough

I really like this album. I have been a John Mayall fan for decades but this is the first new album in a while that I listen to a lot. I heard the band live at the North Atlantic Blues Festival in Rockland Maine and was very impressed with the great instrumental virtuosity of all the players. The bassest is totally solid, able to play great grooves and can even do some cool solo work. The guitar player rocks and really knows his stuff. I heard that he studied with Stevie Ray Vaughn and I think he plays as well as SRV. The keyboardist (not John) is hot and adds a lot to the sound without making it muddy. John is still the master of the Blues harp as far as I am concerned and also doubles well on the keyboards. John's voice is sounding well worn but he still has the rythem and can belt them out. Throw in a very good drummer and you have an exceptionally tight band. I love the songs too with more modern selections that have great beats and poignant lyrice. I also like that the songs are not downers and leave me feeling good. Way to go John!

How long will John Mayall keep cranking out great albums? Here he is, in his mid-70s, with an excellent new group of musicians, pumping out the music as though he were fifty years younger. Tough is Mayall's first one in a couple of years and the first with an entirely new band in a long time.Whether you prefer rock, a blues shuffle, or slow-smoking blues, there is something for you here. To me, the best cuts on the album are the jaunty An Eye For An Eye and its shuffling equal The Sum of Something, but I also thrill to the crisp, driving rock of Nothing To Do With Love and Train to My Heart as well as to the smoky blues of Slow Train to Nowhere and Tough Times Ahead.Since I bought Tough, I've played it for a lot of friends and everyone of them found themselves fired up by its energy.If you are one of those who thinks John Mayall is a relic of the sixties, think again. After a mid-career rough patch he has released nothing but quality albums followed by more quality albums. Listen to Tough and hear what I mean!

I've been a Mayall fan since the late 60s. Yeah, I'm old. Age notwithstanding, this album is very little changed in concept from many others he's done going back to Turning Point. Mayall writes songs about what he knows: his life. He wrote about his previous loves including the mysterious Nancy T, his visits to California an relocation there, his involvement with Canned Heat and Frank Zappa in the Canyons of the LA basin.Sometimes it's almost painful to hear such openness about a person's life, but that's his style. And it hasn't changed a bit in "Tough." Several of the songs relate to his recovery from alcoholism (and I can relate to that), others about the current state of affairs in the world...the same basic stuff he wrote about relating to his service in Korea. And while it's sometimes brutally honest, there isn't a bad song on the album, I'd be hard pressed to say which is the best or rank them; they're all good. I can't say that about too many albums by any performer.I think Mayall deserves 4 stars for putting an album that has brand new music (or brand new covers), not just a "greatest hits." Yeah, some songs are recycled, but they're done well. And I give him the 5th star for being able to put forth a high-energy release like this at the age of 75.The only thing I could wish for would be Larry Taylor on bass. But Greg Rzab does a good job, if not quite as technical as Taylor. (I'm a bassist and find Taylor to be a demigod with 4 strings.)To be honest, I wasn't overjoyed with it when I first heard it, but as another reviewer said, it grows on you. But it's much better than fungus which will do the same thing.

I own all Mayall's records and DVDs. Tough is the best in a decade if not more and can easily compete with his best albums from late 60's early 70s'. It sounds modern, but is measured. Paradoxically, with age Mayall's singing got even better. Somehow the mood of the album and the singing remind me Bring 'Em In, another classic from a seasoned bluesmen.Definitely recommended, not only for Mayall's fans.

Great music!

Loved the musis

New band,new music by the legend that is Mayall. Like a fine wine,h ages well.

One of his best in latter years.