"The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield And Al Kooper" by MIKE BLOOMFIELD and AL KOOPER - February 1969 US 2LP set on Columbia Records CG 6 and CBS Records S 66216 in the UK – featuring John Kahn on Bass with Skip Prokop on Drums with Guests Roosevelt Gook on Keyboards, Elvin Bishop of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band and Carlos Santana of Santana on Guitars and an uncredited Paul Simon Backing Vocal on "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" (March 1997 UK Columbia/Legacy 2CD Reissue – Live From The Vaults Series – Bob Irwin and Vic Anesini Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

"...Hope Y'all Dig Some Blues!"

Recorded across three nights at Bill Graham's Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco on the 26th, 27th and 28th of September 1968 - this warts 'n' all Live 2LP set has been a touchpoint for Bloomfield fans for over five decades.

Mike did the Blues-Rock guitar-wielding business for the first two nights of mostly R&B cover versions by the likes of Ray Charles, Frank Wilson, Arthur Crudup, Sonny Boy Williamson and Albert King alongside contemporary versions of big tunes by The Band ("The Weight"), Traffic ("Dear Mr. Fantasy") and Jack Bruce of Cream writing a 1967 HMV UK 45 B-side with Paul Jones of Manfred Mann ("Sonny Boy Williamson").

But famously hospitalized due to insomnia, the mercurial axeman no-showed for gig-number three. So help was called in in the shape of Elvin Bishop (Guitarist and Vocalist in The Paul Butterfield Blues Band) and a young axe-slayer Bloomfield used to nickname Carlito - Carlos Santana. This was half a year before Carlos would enter the studios and record the "Santana" debut album and then slaughter all in his path at Woodstock in August 1969, a month before the debut hit the shops and virtually launched Latin-Rock across the world. Live Adventures is one of the very few occasions where you hear Carlos playing the Blues – though if you ask me, he wasn't very good at it on this night!

So you get a lot of cool axe wielding types here ably supported by John Kahn on Bass and Skip Prokop on Drums. Al Kooper sings and plays Hammond Organ and other keyboards and the singing is shared between both leads. Roosevelt Gook plays keyboards on the Frank Wilson cover "Together 'Til The End Of Time" and none-other than Paul Simon was said to have been so taken aback by their live cover of the Simon & Garfunkel hippy anthem "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" that he offered and laid down harmony vocals in the studio after the gigs – so PS is supposed to be on there, only uncredited as such. Which brings us to this reissue in Sony's 'Live From The Vaults' Series…

This Columbia/Legacy 2CD reissue from 1997 doesn’t unfortunately feature any juicy outtakes or rehearsals – but it has new and improved audio for the notoriously rough and rolling live double courtesy of two hugely talented Audio Engineers – BOB IRWIN and VIC ANESINI. Both of these men have handled huge swathes of Sony's catalogue – Elvis Presley, Santana, Simon and Garfunkel, Mott The Hoople, Nilsson, The Byrds and loads more.

UK released March 1997 - "The Live Adventures Of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper" by MIKE BLOOMFIELD and ALL KOOPER on Columbia/Legacy COL 485151 2 (Barcode 5099748515124) is a 2CD Reissue and Remaster in Columbia's Live From The Vaults Series and plays out as follows:

CD1 (44:23 minutes):

1. Opening Speech [Side 1]

2. The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)

3. I Wonder Who

4. Her Holy Modal Highness

5. The Weight [Side 2]

6. Mary Ann

7. Together 'Til The End Of Time

8. That's All Right

9. Green Onions

Track 2 is a Simon & Garfunkel cover, Tracks 3 and 6 are Ray Charles covers, Track 4 is a MB and AK song,

Track 5 is a Band cover, Track 7 is a Frank Wilson cover, Track 8 is an Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup cover

Track 9 is a Booker T & The MG's cover

Tracks 1, 3, 6 and 8 - Lead Vocals by Mike Bloomfield - Tracks 2 and 7 - Lead Vocals by AL KOOPER

Track 2 features an uncredited Backing Vocal from PAUL SIMON - Track 7 features ROOSEVELT GOOK on Keyboards

CD2 (40:55 minutes):

1. Opening Speech [Side 3]

2. Sonny Boy Williamson

3. No More Lonely Nights

4. Dear Mr. Fantasy [Side 4]

5. Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong

6. Finale - refugee

Track 2 is a Jack Bruce (of Cream) and Paul Jones (of Manfred Mann) cover

Track 3 is a Sonny Boy Williamson cover

Track 4 is a Traffic cover (Jim Capaldi, Steve Winwood and Chris Wood song)

Track 5 is an Albert King cover

Track 6 is an MB and AK song

Tracks 2 and 4 vocals by Al Kooper

Track 2 has Guest Guitarist CARLOS SANTANA

Track 3 has Guest Lead Vocals and Guitar by ELVIN BISHOP (of The Paul Butterfield Blues Band)

Track 5 has vocals by Mike Bloomfield

The double-album was released February 1969 in the USA on Columbia Records CG 6 and CBS Records S 66216 in the UK.

Although the double-sided six-leaf foldout inlay looks kind of nice, it's like the album itself, it gets on your nerves because you wish it would work better. There are recollections from Al Kooper that are good and the BOB IRWIN and VIC ANESINI Remasters make this rough and ready double sing. But therein lies the problem for me - so much of this live set feels self-indulgent and despite the covers and the big name guests - very little of it actually ignites in the way that you would have expected. On Side 3 and 4 although Elvin Bishop puts in gallant Slow Blues attempts on the 12:20 minutes of "No More Lonely Nights" - it feels awkward somehow and the Carlos Santana contribution the same - none of the fluidity needed and none of the stunning dexterity he would show only the following year on the debut and on into 1970's "Abraxsas".

The nine minutes of their song "Her Holy Modal Highness” is probably the album’s most trippy moment - Kooper’s oscillating keyboard solo setting up Bloomfield for some truly lovely touches on the fretboard. They launch into a cover of The Band classic "The Weight” – a keyboard driven instrumental take that feels like The Spencer Davis Group having a go. Its ragged glory is part of the charm I think and both boys play a blinder. The R&B shuffle of "Mary Ann” sees Bloomfield go B.B. King on a Ray Charles cover.

Bloomfield's absence from that 28th of September 1968 night (I was exactly 10 on that night) is acutely felt. Neither he nor Kooper have great voices but you can hear impressive Hammond organ stuff on the 10 minutes of the Albert King cover "Don't Throw Your Love On Me So Strong". Side 2's ending pair features Crudup's "That's All Right" make ordinary by Kooper's vocal - better is the Booker T "Green Onions" groove - both guitar and Hammond blasting away in their bar-band best unison.

Kooper would soon launch a solo career and Bloomfield descend into horrible addictions - but at least this raw slice of live indulgence is here for us to remember a time when you could make stuff like this and not give a fig...