The Butterfield Blues Band, "East-West" (Elektra, 1966)
Two albums that were released in 1966 really set the course for rock guitar playing. We addressed one yesterday with Eric Clapton's work on John Mayall's "Blues Breakers."
On the other side of the Atlantic, the Butterfield Blues Band had become a top club attraction with its distinctive brand of Chicago-influenced blues. The six-piece band was chock full of good musicians: Paul Butterfield on harp, Elvin Bishop on guitar, Mark Naftalin on keyboards, Jerome Arnold on bass and Billy Davenport on drums.
But what really set this band apart from its contemporaries was the other guitarist, Mike Bloomfield. In fact, a photo on the album's back cover is symbolic of the group dynamic: It shows five of the guys grouped together, seemingly running in one direction, while Bloomfield is on the other side of the picture, appearing to be headed off the other way.
See, no one had played the guitar quite like him before. Some of the blues players had displayed a rapid-fire attack - Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones and Johnny "Guitar" Watson come to mind - but Bloomfield was exploring new sonic directions that quickly came to influence a whole new generation of axmen.
That's not to give Bishop short shrift. He's a strong player in his own right, and acquitted himself quite admirably when Bloomfield staked out on his own a few months after "East-West" hit the charts. But he never was quite as distinctive as his bandmate.
As for the album's content, it opens with Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues," an arrangement that sounds like an extension of the band's excellent debut, which mixed strong originals with blues standards. The Butterfield band helped cement Johnson's reputation, as the long-deceased bluesmen became one of the most popular sources of cover material in the late '60s.
Several other songs are in a similar vein, including Allen Touissant's "Get Out of My Life, Woman"; "Two Trains Running," a Muddy Waters-influence song recorded the same year by the Blues Project on its exceptional "Projections" album; and three traditional songs, one of which is sung by Bishop.
The band departs from straight blues with "Mary, Mary," a composition by a young guitarist named Michael Nesmith who became an overnight TV star later in '66. And it veers into jazz territory with a rousing version of Cannonball Adderley's "Work Song," on which Bishop verifies that he certainly can play.
But the highlight of "East-West" - and indeed, one of the highlights of '60s rock records in general - is the title track, 13-plus minutes of guitar-playing wizardry, the likes of which hadn't been heard before.
Bloomfield - who co-wrote the song with Nick Gravenites, later his collaborator in the Electric Flag - wanted to meld musical influences from different sides of the globe, thus the title. He particularly succeeds with the "East" part of the equation: His frenzied soloing against the rhythm section's modal drone formed a template for any number of bands that decided to explore "raga" elements later in the '60s. None of them came close to matching Bloomfield.
He settles down a bit for the "West" section, an easygoing, major-key jam that evokes images of the American past, alluding to such good-time numbers as "Alexander's Ragtime Band." He picks up the tempo, though, for a rousingly strident conclusion that leaves the listener saying, "Whoa!"
That certainly was the reaction when "East-West" hit the market, making Bloomfield a major star and prompting him to leave Butterfield for his own endeavors. His appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival with the band that would become the Electric Flag was one of the true highlights of the three-day extravaganza - and that's saying something, considering the legendary performances by Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Janis Joplin and The Who, among others.
Unfortunately, the Bloomfield story takes a wrong turn from there, with a series of sad chapters before the guitarist's death before age 40.
He's largely forgotten today, but Mike Bloomfield was a giant in his time. A listen to "East-West" shows why.
Two albums that were released in 1966 really set the course for rock guitar playing. We addressed one yesterday with Eric Clapton's work on John Mayall's "Blues Breakers."
On the other side of the Atlantic, the Butterfield Blues Band had become a top club attraction with its distinctive brand of Chicago-influenced blues. The six-piece band was chock full of good musicians: Paul Butterfield on harp, Elvin Bishop on guitar, Mark Naftalin on keyboards, Jerome Arnold on bass and Billy Davenport on drums.
But what really set this band apart from its contemporaries was the other guitarist, Mike Bloomfield. In fact, a photo on the album's back cover is symbolic of the group dynamic: It shows five of the guys grouped together, seemingly running in one direction, while Bloomfield is on the other side of the picture, appearing to be headed off the other way.
See, no one had played the guitar quite like him before. Some of the blues players had displayed a rapid-fire attack - Eddie "Guitar Slim" Jones and Johnny "Guitar" Watson come to mind - but Bloomfield was exploring new sonic directions that quickly came to influence a whole new generation of axmen.
That's not to give Bishop short shrift. He's a strong player in his own right, and acquitted himself quite admirably when Bloomfield staked out on his own a few months after "East-West" hit the charts. But he never was quite as distinctive as his bandmate.
As for the album's content, it opens with Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues," an arrangement that sounds like an extension of the band's excellent debut, which mixed strong originals with blues standards. The Butterfield band helped cement Johnson's reputation, as the long-deceased bluesmen became one of the most popular sources of cover material in the late '60s.
Several other songs are in a similar vein, including Allen Touissant's "Get Out of My Life, Woman"; "Two Trains Running," a Muddy Waters-influence song recorded the same year by the Blues Project on its exceptional "Projections" album; and three traditional songs, one of which is sung by Bishop.
The band departs from straight blues with "Mary, Mary," a composition by a young guitarist named Michael Nesmith who became an overnight TV star later in '66. And it veers into jazz territory with a rousing version of Cannonball Adderley's "Work Song," on which Bishop verifies that he certainly can play.
But the highlight of "East-West" - and indeed, one of the highlights of '60s rock records in general - is the title track, 13-plus minutes of guitar-playing wizardry, the likes of which hadn't been heard before.
Bloomfield - who co-wrote the song with Nick Gravenites, later his collaborator in the Electric Flag - wanted to meld musical influences from different sides of the globe, thus the title. He particularly succeeds with the "East" part of the equation: His frenzied soloing against the rhythm section's modal drone formed a template for any number of bands that decided to explore "raga" elements later in the '60s. None of them came close to matching Bloomfield.
He settles down a bit for the "West" section, an easygoing, major-key jam that evokes images of the American past, alluding to such good-time numbers as "Alexander's Ragtime Band." He picks up the tempo, though, for a rousingly strident conclusion that leaves the listener saying, "Whoa!"
That certainly was the reaction when "East-West" hit the market, making Bloomfield a major star and prompting him to leave Butterfield for his own endeavors. His appearance at the Monterey Pop Festival with the band that would become the Electric Flag was one of the true highlights of the three-day extravaganza - and that's saying something, considering the legendary performances by Jimi Hendrix, Otis Redding, Janis Joplin and The Who, among others.
Unfortunately, the Bloomfield story takes a wrong turn from there, with a series of sad chapters before the guitarist's death before age 40.
He's largely forgotten today, but Mike Bloomfield was a giant in his time. A listen to "East-West" shows why.
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