Label: Winner Records (US), WINNER 447
Style: Psychedelic Rock, Blues Rock, Instrumental
Country: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Time: 56:47
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 222 Mb
Rock
& roll prophets without honor, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band --
in its original incarnation with ace guitarist Mike Bloomfield -- made
its greatest musical strides from 1965 to 1967, caught in the matrix of
the Top 40 pop revolution and the quantum leap of psychedelia. But in
that time, the mighty Butterfield lineup with Bloomfield and second
guitarist Elvin Bishop laid the cornerstone for blues rock and then
upped the ante by incorporating extended improvisation influenced by
modal jazz and Indian classical music.
The best example of that
vision and fiery virtuosity is the 1966 album "East-West"; on the
13-minute title track, the Butterfield band combined elements of John
Coltrane, Ravi Shankar, the Yardbirds and the Byrds' "Eight Miles High"
into an audacious, spiraling jam. Tales of the group's high-voltage live
explorations of "East-West" have circulated for years; the three takes
on "East-West Live," recorded onstage in clubland low-fi and collated by
Butterfield keyboard player Mark Naftalin, confirm the legend. The
performances -- one from early 1967 and two from 1966 -- bristle with
the excitement of a band sailing headfirst into uncharted waters.
Bloomfield,
who died in 1981, is the unquestioned star of the record. Lacing bluesy
lines through Eastern-flavored permutations, he sets up a series of
rough-hewed melodies that form a road map for the rest of the band,
particularly the passionate blowing of Butterfield on harmonica.
Bloomfield may not have played with the gutsy finesse of Eric Clapton or
the sonic invention of Jimi Hendrix, but he was a bold musician with
both facility and imagination.
The 1966 tapes mix the spark of
discovery with the hesitancy of the new. By the time of the 1967
recording -- a 28-minute monster recorded just before Bloomfield quit
the group to form the Electric Flag -- the Butterfield band had mastered
the tune and its potential, adding new motifs in a suitelike form. You
can hear the genesis of the jam aesthetic that stretches from the early
Allman Brothers Band to Blues Traveler and beyond. One of the finest
archival projects of the year, "East-West Live" fills in a crucial gap
in the histories of a great American band, an underappreciated
instrumentalist and even rock itself (RS748).
(bluespower.com/447rev.htm)
01. East-West Live Version 1 (12:41)
02. East-West Live Version 2 (15:59)
03. East-West Live Version 3 (28:06)
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