The Paul Butterfield Blues Band | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 1965 | |||
Recorded | September 1965 | |||
Genre | Blues [1] | |||
Length | 38:15 | |||
Label | Elektra | |||
Producer | Paul Rothchild, Mark Abramson | |||
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Sputnikmusic | [2] |
The Penguin Guide to Blues Recordings | [3] |
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band is the self-titled debut album by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, released in 1965 on Elektra Records. It peaked at number 123 on the Billboard albums chart. In 2012, the album was ranked number 453 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". [4] It is also ranked at number 11 on Down Beat magazine's list of the top 50 blues albums. [5]
In late 1964, Joe Boyd, an aspiring producer and friend of Elektra house producer Paul Rothchild, told Rothchild 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 – again, at the suggestion of Joe Boyd – and saw guitarist Mike Bloomfield with a different band. [6] According to Rothchild, it was at his impetus that Paul Butterfield hired Bloomfield as his second guitar alongside Elvin Bishop; Joe Boyd says that it was his idea. [7] 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 remained dissatisfied, and the band went into the studio in September 1965 in an attempt to record the album for the third time. [8] 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. [9]
The album presents band originals and songs in the style of electric Chicago blues. On October 29, 2001, a reissue of this album remastered by Bob Irwin at Sundazed Studios and coupled with East-West appeared on Rhino WEA UK for the European market.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Born in Chicago" | Nick Gravenites | 2:55 |
2. | "Shake Your Money-Maker" | Elmore James | 2:27 |
3. | "Blues with a Feeling" | Walter Jacobs | 4:20 |
4. | "Thank You Mr. Poobah" | Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Mark Naftalin | 4:05 |
5. | "I Got My Mojo Working" | Preston Foster | 3:30 |
6. | "Mellow Down Easy" | Willie Dixon | 2:48 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Screamin'" | Mike Bloomfield | 4:30 |
2. | "Our Love Is Drifting" | Paul Butterfield, Elvin Bishop | 3:25 |
3. | "Mystery Train" | Junior Parker, Sam Phillips | 2:45 |
4. | "Last Night" | Walter Jacobs | 4:15 |
5. | "Look Over Yonders Wall" | James Clark | 2:23 |
The Doors is the debut studio album by American rock band the Doors, released on January 4, 1967, by Elektra Records. It was recorded in August 1966 at Sunset Sound Recorders, Hollywood, California, under the production of Paul A. Rothchild. The album features the extended version of the breakthrough single "Light My Fire" and the lengthy closer "The End" with its Oedipal spoken word section. Publications including BBC and Rolling Stone have considered it one of the greatest and most unique debut albums in recorded history.
Paul Vaughn Butterfield was an American blues harmonica player, singer and bandleader. After early training as a classical flautist, he developed an interest in blues harmonica. He explored the blues scene in his native Chicago, where he met Muddy Waters and other blues greats, who provided encouragement and opportunities for him to join in jam sessions. He soon began performing with fellow blues enthusiasts Nick Gravenites and Elvin Bishop.
Michael Bernard Bloomfield was an American guitarist and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, as he rarely sang before 1969. Respected for his guitar playing, Bloomfield knew and played with many of Chicago's blues musicians before achieving his own fame and was instrumental in popularizing blues music in the mid-1960s. In 1965, he played on Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited, including the single "Like a Rolling Stone", and performed with Dylan at that year's Newport Folk Festival.
Blues rock is a fusion genre and form of rock music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock. From its beginnings in the early to mid-1960s, blues rock has gone through several stylistic shifts and along the way it inspired and influenced hard rock, Southern rock, and early heavy metal.
Mark Naftalin is an American blues keyboardist, recording artist, composer, and record producer. He appears on the first five albums by Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the mid 1960s as a band member, and as such was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015. He later worked onstage with the late fellow Butterfield Band member Mike Bloomfield and has been active from his home in Marin County in the San Francisco Bay Area as a festival and radio producer for several decades.
Elvin Richard Bishop is an American blues and rock music singer, guitarist, bandleader, and songwriter. An original member of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of that group in 2015 and the Blues Hall of Fame in his own right in 2016.
Born Under a Bad Sign is the second compilation album by American blues musician Albert King, released in August 1967 by Stax Records. It features eleven electric blues songs that were recorded from March 1966 to June 1967, throughout five different sessions. King played with two in-house bands: Booker T. & the M.G.'s and the Memphis Horns. Although the album failed to reach any music chart, it did receive positive reviews from music critics and is often cited as one of the greatest blues albums ever made. Born Under a Bad Sign influenced many guitarists, including Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Jimi Hendrix, and Stevie Ray Vaughan. Born Under a Bad Sign has been recognized by several music institutions, and has been inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame, the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the National Recording Registry.
East-West is the second album by the Butterfield Blues Band led by Paul Butterfield, released in 1966 on the Elektra label. It peaked at #65 on the Billboard pop albums chart, and is regarded as highly influential by rock and blues music historians.
The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw is a 1967 album by the Butterfield Blues Band, their third release. Its name refers to Elvin Bishop, whose role shifted to lead guitarist after Mike Bloomfield departed to form the Electric Flag. The album marked a slight shift in the band's sound towards R&B and was the first Butterfield record to feature a horn section, which included a young David Sanborn on alto saxophone.
Let It Flow is a solo album by rock musician Elvin Bishop, released in 1974. The album was recorded at Capricorn Studios in Macon, Georgia, several years after he left The Butterfield Blues Band. Guest musicians include Charlie Daniels, Dickey Betts, Toy Caldwell, Vassar Clements, and Sly Stone.
What's Shakin' is a compilation album released by Elektra Records in May 1966. It features the earliest studio recordings by the Lovin' Spoonful and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, as well as the only released recordings by the ad hoc studio group Eric Clapton and the Powerhouse, until they were reissued years later.
It's Not Killing Me is the debut solo album by American blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield. It was released in 1969 through Columbia Records. Following his success with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, The Electric Flag, and in the Super Session recordings with Al Kooper, Bloomfield teamed up with former colleagues to record this largely self-written album.
"Mary, Mary" is a song written by Michael Nesmith and first recorded by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band for their 1966 album East-West. Nesmith's band, the Monkees, later recorded it for More of the Monkees (1967). Hip hop group Run–D.M.C. revived the song in the late 1980s, with an adaptation that appeared in the U.S. record charts.
Paul Nelson is a Grammy award winning American blues and rock guitarist, record producer, and songwriter. He has played and or recorded alongside artists such as Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, and members of the Allman Brothers Band. He was the hand picked guitarist to join Johnny Winter's band in 2010, performing on and producing several of Winter's albums, including the Grammy Award-nominated I'm a Blues Man, Roots, and Step Back, which won the Grammy Award for Best Blues Album, debuted at #1 on the Billboard chart for Blues Albums, and Independent Albums, and debuted at #16 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, marking the highest spot in Winter's career. Nelson is also a Blues Music Award recipient for Best Rock Blues Album, and has been inducted into the New York Blues Hall of Fame and is a recipient of the KBA award from the Blues Foundation. He received a Grammy nomination for his work as producer and performer on Joe Louis Walker's, Everybody Wants a Piece.
"Look on Yonder Wall" is a blues song first recorded in 1945 by James "Beale Street" Clark. Clark, also known as "Memphis Jimmy", was a blues pianist from Memphis, Tennessee. During the 1940s, he appeared on recordings by Jazz Gillum, Red Nelson, and an early Muddy Waters session, as well as several singles in his own name.
Mourning In the Morning is an album by the American blues singer and guitarist Otis Rush, released in 1969. Characterized as his first album, Rush had been cutting singles since 1955. The album fuses Rush's deep blues sound with soul and rock. The album was panned by many critics, but has since developed a cult following.
In My Own Dream is a 1968 album by The Butterfield Blues Band. It continued the trend of its predecessor The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw in moving towards a more soul-oriented sound, supported by a first rate horn section,, but was not so well-received either by critics or the public as its predecessor.
Fathers and Sons is the seventh studio album by the American blues musician Muddy Waters, released as a double LP by Chess Records in August 1969.
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band was an American blues rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in the summer of 1963, the group originally featured eponymous vocalist and harmonicist Paul Butterfield, guitarist Elvin Bishop, bassist Jerome Arnold and drummer Sam Lay.
"Born in Chicago" is a blues song written by Nick Gravenites. It was the opening track on the self-titled debut album by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in 1965 and has since become a blues standard.