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Wednesday, June 20, 2018

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Selftitled (1st Album US 1965) + Bonus


Size: 97.9 MB
Bitrate: 320
mp3
Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Artwork Included
Source: Japan 2018 SHM-CD Remaster

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band is the debut album by Paul Butterfield, released in 1965 on Elektra Records, EKS 7294 in stereo, EKL 294 in mono. It peaked at #123 on the Billboard pop albums chart. In 2003, the album was ranked number 476 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, moving up to number 468 in the revised 2012 list, and also is ranked at #11 on Down Beat magazine's list of the top 50 blues albums.


In late 1964, a friend of Elektra house producer Paul Rothchild told him that the "best band in the world was on stage at a blues bar in Chicago." Rothchild took a plane to Chicago to see the Butterfield quartet, and later the same night went to a different club and saw guitarist Mike Bloomfield with a different band.

According to Rothchild, it was at his impetus that Paul Butterfield hired Bloomfield as his second guitar alongside Elvin Bishop. The Butterfield rhythm section of Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay had been hired away from Howlin' Wolf.

Sessions were arranged for December, 1964, but these were abandoned for live recordings from the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City after the band's appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. The earlier studio recordings were eventually released on The Original Lost Elektra Sessions in 1995. Upon hearing the live tapes, Rothchild still remained dissatisfied, and the band went into the studio in September 1965 in an attempt to record the album for the third time. The guitar solos were all played by Bloomfield, Bishop relegated to rhythm guitar. Keyboardist Mark Naftalin was drafted in at the September sessions and asked to join the band by Butterfield, expanding it to a sextet.

The album presents band originals and songs in the style of electric Chicago blues. It is one of the first blues albums recorded in America featuring a white singer, trailing a few years behind the British blues movement where white singers and musicians had been performing and recording blues since the late 1950s.

Even after his death, Paul Butterfield's music didn't receive the accolades that were so deserved. Outputting styles adopted from Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters among other blues greats, Butterfield became one of the first white singers to rekindle blues music through the course of the mid-'60s. 

His debut album, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, saw him teaming up with guitarists Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield, with Jerome Arnold on bass, Sam Lay on drums, and Mark Naftalin playing organ. The result was a wonderfully messy and boisterous display of American-styled blues, with intensity and pure passion derived from every bent note. 

In front of all these instruments is Butterfield's harmonica, beautifully dictating a mood and a genuine feel that is no longer existent, even in today's blues music. Each song captures the essence of Chicago blues in a different way, from the back-alley feel of "Born in Chicago" to the melting ease of Willie Dixon's "Mellow Down Easy" to the authentic devotion that emanates from Bishop and Butterfield's "Our Love Is Drifting." 

"Shake Your Money Maker," "Blues With a Feeling," and "I Got My Mojo Working" (with Lay on vocals) are all equally moving pieces performed with a raw adoration for blues music. Best of all, the music that pours from this album is unfiltered...blared, clamored, and let loose, like blues music is supposed to be released. A year later, 1966's East West carried on with the same type of brash blues sound partnered with a jazzier feel, giving greater to attention to Bishop's and Bloomfield's instrumental talents.

Personnel:
Paul Butterfield – lead vocals (all but 4, 5, 7), harmonica
 Mike Bloomfield – guitars
 Elvin Bishop – guitars
 Mark Naftalin – organ (3, 4, 7-10)
 Jerome Arnold – bass
 Sam Lay – drums, lead vocals (5)

01. "Born in Chicago"  Nick Gravenites  02:55
02. "Shake Your Money-Maker"  Elmore James  02:27
03. "Blues with a Feeling"  Walter Jacobs  04:20
04. "Thank You Mr. Poobah" (instrumental)  Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Mark Naftalin  04:05
05. "I Got My Mojo Working"  Muddy Waters  03:30
06. "Mellow Down Easy"  Willie Dixon  02:48
07. "Screamin'" (instrumental)  Mike Bloomfield  04:30
08. "Our Love Is Drifting"  Paul Butterfield, Elvin Bishop  03:25
09. "Mystery Train"  Junior Parker, Sam Phillips  02:45
10. "Last Night"  Walter Jacobs  04:15
11. "Look Over Yonders Wall"  James Clark  02:23 

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The Original Lost Elektra Sessions (US 1964)


Size: 150 MB 
Bitrate: 320
mp3
Ripped by: ChrisGoesRock
Some Artwork Included


All but one of these 19 tracks were recorded in December, 1964, as Paul Butterfield Blues Band's projected first LP; the results were scrapped and replaced by their official self-titled debut, cut a few months later. With both Michael Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop already in tow, these sessions rank among the earliest blues-rock ever laid down. 

Extremely similar in feel to the first album, it's perhaps a bit rawer in production and performance, but not appreciably worse or different than what ended up on the actual debut LP. Dedicated primarily to electric Chicago blues standards, Butterfield fans will find this well worth acquiring, as most of the selections were never officially recorded by the first lineup (although different renditions of five tracks showed up on the first album and the What's Shakin' compilation). 

It's hard to believe that this album was scrapped. A lot of bands put out albums that were much worse than this. One has to wonder if Paul Rothschild should have just taken a few valiums and put this out at the time it was recorded, because this is very, very good.

This is a terrific document of a band of seriously dedicated guys playing the music they love, as authentically as they can. These guys weren't kidding; they paid their dues on the South Side of Chicago and were accepted as peers by none other than Muddy Waters. The performances here are raw but not sloppy, and the band is as tight as a tick. 


Most of the songs on here are played at a quick clip, but there's a lot of bite and venom in these performances, an air of urgency not dissimilar to something you hear on Buddy Guy's early recordings.

It's sad to think that the Yardbirds got so much praise (and still do) as being white interpreters of the blues, when this collection shows clearly that the Butterfield Blues Band was much, much better than anything the British blues movement would offer for several years. Why the Yardbirds got the press and historical props and the Butterfield Blues Band doesn't is a total mystery. 


Maybe they didn't wear enough paisley. There is no paisley or patchouli on this one. It's just hard, tough blues, nasty, with teeth in it. Forget that half the band was white guys and dump every preconception you have about hippies, white blues, etc., and listen to this for what it is; a seriously cool recording of a very hot band hitting their stride.

Finally, I want to add that the recording quality of this album is not "execrable." It sounds every bit as good as any other album recorded in 1964 
(! ) and a whole lot better than most. As a matter of fact, I think this is a much better produced record than anything the Yardbirds ever did. It's certainly much more authentic blues. A great document of an unjustly forgotten group. 

19 previously unreleased sides from the legendary blues-rock outfit! Features 1964 material recorded in New York (much of it originally intended for inclusion on his band’s first album), plus songs from the 1965 sessions that resulted in Butterfield’s first official release. Includes liner notes by Paul Rothchild.

Personnel:
Paul Butterfield (vocals, harmonica)
 Elvin Bishop (guitar)
 Mike Bloomfield, Mark Naftalin (keyboards)
 Jerome Arnold (bass)
 Sam Lay (drums)

01. Good Morning Little School Girl  02:23
02. Just To Be with You  03:23
03. Help Me  02:16
04. Hate To See You Go  04:34
05. Poor Boy  03:27
06. Nut Popper #1  02:25
07. Everything's Gonna Be All Right  02:58
08. Lovin' Cup  02:54
09. Rock Me  02:52
10. It Hurts Me Too  02:46
11. Our Love Is Driftin'  02:29
12. Take Me Back Baby  02:49
13. Mellow Down Easy  03:05
14. Ain't No Need To Go No Further  02:45
15. Love Her with a Feeling  02:59
16. Piney Brown Blues  02:14
17. Spoonful  03:20
18. That's All Right  03:14
19. Goin' Down Slow  06:02

Part 1: Butterfield 1965
Part 2: Butterfield 1965
or
Part 1: Butterfield 1965
Part 2: Butterfield 1965
or
Part 1: Butterfield 1965
Part 2: Butterfield 1965



1 comment:

imnokid said...

2 great recodings. thanx for sharing