Year: 1969 (CD 1991)
Label: Sequel Records (UK), nex cd 160
Style: Blues, Blues Rock
Country: Chicago, Illinois, U.S. (December 25, 1941 - January 22, 2025)
Time: 63:00
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 400 MbBarry
Goldberg's discography of rock jamming, recorded back when Phish and
other participants in the jam band scene weren't even twinkles in
anyone's eye, is an incoherent jumble of repackagings, reissues, and
albums with similar titles. There may not be a single one of these
albums that actually has correct credits for the instrumentalists
involved; Mike Bloomfield, for example, often hides behind a pseudonym
because of this or that piece of paper he signed. A simple rule may help
in the location of the best of this material. If there are not that
many songs, and the individual tracks are quite long, that's a good
sign. If there are lots of titles, and lots of blues titles, then don't
bother with it. Which brings us to this album, which from the look of
its original cover was simply dumped on the market without much care or
consideration. A contest between two album cover designers over who can
finish an entire layout, including credits, before the coffee gets cold
may have been behind the cover. The name of the bassist is left out in
the process. Or is Bloomfield playing bass while Harvey Mandel is
soloing, and the other way around? There are five songs in the program,
two of them not much over four minutes and the rest at some kind of jam
length, especially the 12-and-a-half-minute "I Got to Love My Woman."
The shorties are straight blues, and are the low points of the set. The
beat is not happening on the opening "Sweet Home Chicago"; it might be
worth suggesting that the organist check out some records of Chicago
blues to see how it should sound, but such a comment would be totally
obnoxious. Surely Goldberg has listened to more records of that type of
music than any music critic.
The jamming is where things really take
off. Goldberg has a sound of his own on the organ and is always going
somewhere interesting in his solos, provided he can keep the eager
guitarists out of his way. As in his work with the Paul Butterfield
Blues Band, Bloomfield uses the jams as a chance to stretch away from
his B.B. King style, which is also on display, complete with bent-string
elaborations that are practically byzantine. Mandel has much more
personality in his playing, and is something of a master in terms of
unusual tone colorings. Nonetheless, drummer "Fast" Eddie Hoh completely
steals the long jam with a solo that hints at the mystery of why there
are so many people in the music business with the nickname of "Fast
Eddie," sounding like at least three of them are on-stage playing the
drums. "Mess 'a da' Blues" is another long jam, a stock slow blues
feature in which the guitarists get to chop at each other. Tracks such
as this do have an appeal, but it is blues in name only; the track has
no real emotional content the way an actual blues song would, and
because of the athletic guitar calisthenics becomes not much more than a
display of technique. The original release had no songwriting credits
for any of the material.
(allmusic.com/album/barry-goldberg-friends-mw0000080080)
Album recorded and mixed in the analog domain - AAD. That is, a minimum of digital processing.
A=Analog.
D=digital. The first letter stands for how the music was recorded. The
second letter for how it was mixed. The third letter stands for the
format (all CD's will have D as the last letter).
01. That's Allright Mama (02:47)
02. Maxwell Street Shuffle (02:28)
03. Hole In My Pocket (02:52)
04. It Hurts Me Too (04:15)
05. You're Still My Baby (03:21)
06. On The Road Again (01:59)
07. Sittin' In The Circles (03:43)
08. Capricorn Blues (01:56)
09. A Lighter Blue (02:41)
10. Twice A Man (04:30)
11. Fool On A Hill (03:21)
12. Sugar Coated Love (02:38)
13. Strung And Young (03:18)
14. The Answers In Your Head (03:27)
15. I Think I'm Gonna Cry (03:22)
16. Jimi The Fox (02:30)
17. Another Day (03:29)
18. Blues For Barry And ... (10:14)
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