"…All These
Blues..."
Quite
possibly one of the best Blues-Rock CD Mini Box Sets I have in my fine
household (can’t tell the wife how many there are lest I suffer serious
physical injury – after the mental torture that is) – Paul Butterfield’s Blues
Band is a very definite jewel in the erratic crown of WEA's "Original
Album Series" reissue series.
When
the 5-disc sets began to appear in 2009
– 'some' of the first vanguard of 40 or so titles featured remasters
(many unfortunately didn’t). This beauty is one that did – and from the second
the opening track "Born In Chicago" on their incendiary debut LP hits
your speakers – it rocks like a madman on Blues Boogie acid and doesn’t let up.
And that’s only compounded by their equally wicked 1966 second-platter – the
wonderful "East-West" LP on Elektra Records – supplied to us here in
fabarooney Stereo. Here are the harmonica wails, guitar licks and chooglin’
white boys doing the blues…
UK
released March 2010 - "Original Album Series" by THE PAUL BUTTERFIELD
BLUES BAND on Elektra/Rhino 08122 79834 0 (Barcode 081227983406) is a 5CD Mini
Box Set. "East-West" is Disc 2 and plays out as follows (44:47
minutes):
Side
1:
1.
Walkin’ Blues
2.
Get Out Of My Life, Woman
3.
I Got A Mind To Give Up Everything
4.
All These Blues
5.
Work Song
Side
2:
6.
Mary, Mary
7.
Two Trains Running
8.
Never Say No
9.
East-West
Tracks
1 to 9 are the album "East-West" - released September 1966 in the USA
on Elektra EKL 315 (Mono) and Elektra EKS 7315 (Stereo) and December 1966 in
the UK with the same catalogue numbers. The STEREO mix is used for this CD.
Produced by BARRY FRIEDMAN - the album peaked at No. 65 on the US LP charts.
ARTWORK/PACKAGING:
The
five single card sleeves reflect the 'original' front and rear US LP artwork
(the gatefolds are unfortunately not reproduced). Also each front sleeve is now
'bordered' with a colour and the label on the CD then reflects that colour code
- Green for Disc 1, Light Blue for 2, Orange for 3, Dark Blue for 4 and Brown
for 5. It would have been more appropriate to have the original label colour
configurations - maybe even the Elektra inner bags (like they did on the Doors
albums in the Complete Studio Recordings box set), but alas... The track list
is to the left on the CD label with band members with recording credits listed
on the right (as there's no booklet nor site to download details from - as
there is on the Sony issues - this is some compensation to the lack of readable
details). It has to be said that the outer card box is lightweight and
therefore disappointingly flimsy (unlike the glossy hard-card Sony issues).
Having said that the card sleeves still look cool once out of the box and it's
nice to see the original artwork used. As you can see from the timings - there
are no bonus tracks.
SOUND:
The
music is incredibly bluesy and ballsy –truly stunning Paul Rothchild Sixties
Production values coming at you on every disc. The instrumental “Thank You Mr.
Poobah” for instance will probably have your speakers for breakfast. The
opening guitars on “Walkin’ Blues” are the same – back in the mix – but still
powerful. Don’t get me wrong – these CDs aren’t amped up for effect – they’re
just beautifully handled – and it’s sonically obvious that the original master
tapes are in tip-top condition. And throughout the records - you get
Butterfield’s deep and muscular harmonica slaying all in its path.
"East-West"
opens with a cover of Robert Johnson's "Walkin' Blues" - the mix
deep, dark and Bluesy. I love the sound this band made - reverential but never
po-faced - loose enough to make a noise recognisable as all their own. They
then give it some chugging Funk-Blues with a take on Allen Toussaint's
"Get Out Of My Life, Woman" - the piano and drums nicely to the fore.
But then I go to mush because 'even' outdoing Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac (and
I bow in humility to that holy outfit) - Butterfield's "I Got A Mind To
Give Up Living" is probably my absolute all-time 60ts Blues Rock craves.
The band had both Elvin Bishop and Mike Bloomfield as its guitarists - but it's
on "I Got A Mind To Give Up Living" that Butterfield suddenly seems
like some white boy genius on the axe. His Bluesy soloing throughout is the
stuff of hair-raising legend. Driving-Harmonica action comes roaring in on the
fantastic chugger "All These Blues" where our Paul urges his
listeners to don their 'travelling shoes' if they can't sleep at night because
she ain't treating you right (naughty woman). The remaster on this track too is
fabulous - full of presence and powerful. Side 1 ends on the seven-minute
instrumental cover of Nat Adderley's "Work Song" - Bloomfield letting
rip on the axe and playing so fast at times that he feels like he's going to
trip over his finger positions - while Butterfield just about manages to sneak
in a Harp solo over all that riffage (superb remastered sound again).
Side
2 opens with Rock-Blues - a weirdly brill take on Mike Nesmith's Monkees Pop
Classic "Mary, Mary" that completely grunge's up the original but
still retains that slightly nasty streak that runs through the 'leaving you'
lyrics. We get another boogie tune in their take on "Two Trains
Coming" - the twin guitar set on fire throughout while Mark Naftalin's
organ underpins the whole riotous thing. We slow right down to the wonderful
Blues of "Never Say No" where a funeral-paced high-hat is accompanied
by a pained organ note and guitar licks - while poor Mister Butterfield pleads
"...baby please stop being mean to me..." (I'm not sure she's
listening mate). And it finishes on the lengthy but brilliant title track
"East-West". Co-written by keyboardist Mark Naftalin and Nick
Gravenites (who would later join Janis Joplin's Big Brother & The Holding
Co.) - it's a 13-minute wig out on Guitar and Harmonica that even to this day
is mindblowingly good - ending a cracking album on a real high.
For
me Paul Butterfield's "East-West" LP is even better than the great
self-titled debut album of December 1965 (Disc 1 in this wicked 5CD Box Set)
and has always felt to me like an 'overlooked' masterpiece of the Blues-Rock
genre.
Complete
with its dinky little card sleeve repro – just get with the beat brother, crank
up that stereo and annoy the neighbours right away...Amen to that!
