|  | | | Customer Reviews: | | | Average Customer Review:
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
 Born In Chicago Sep 02, 2009
A few years ago, I caught the Chicago Blues Reunion tour with Nick Gravenites, Sam Lay, Barry Goldberg, Tracy Nelson, Corky Siegel and Harvey Mandel. I was there as a Tracy fan, I gotta admit, but I had lots and lots of respect for the guys in the band too, most living legends of the "Fathers and Sons" era.
That revue band often opened their shows w/ Nick Graventites "Born In Chicago," which I knew sounded awfully familiar, but I was struggling to place it. I figured I must have heard Nick the Greek do it in some earlier incarnation.
But actually, of course, it was from the classic 1965 debut album by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. I stumbled across that record and its follow up EAST/WEST a few years later, and was the proud owner of both for a while (who knows where they disappeared to, it was the 60s after all).
So why didn't I remember the song. Well, it's a pretty good blues tune--a bit heavy on the bravado, lyrically, but really OK--but I gotta admit that while I had more than passing interest in urban blues, I was really much more impressed with the more obvious experimentalism of EAST-WEST (which I actually may have heard first, come to think of it).
Yeah, I preferred Cream to John Mayall too.
But that was then. Now I find myself listening to this and some of the other earnest efforts by young white bluesmen of the era and hearing it all w/ new ears as it were. This straightforward Chicago style blues sounds awfully good to me now. And even though EAST-WEST was a relatively bold experiment, there's a something to be said for sticking to your roots (but, of course, in those heady times no one was: there was just too much to check out, to explore and to absorb).
You know the original liner notes (included here) have all the pretensions of the times (more verbiage spent than even I'm wont to do). But the gist of Pete Welding's commentary is actually dead-on accurate and true. By embracing contemporary URBAN blues, Butterfield and co. avoided the traps and trappings that undercut other white blues singers who were embracing acoustic, country blues. They didn't have to deal quite so much with the authenticity question.
Urban kids, of whatever race, doing urban blues made sense. The reason "Born In Chicago" SHOULD have stuck in my mind better is that in Butterfield's case, it just happened to be the truth. Yeah, the breezy machismo of the tune can be a bit irritating, but it makes its statement. These guys were from the streets of Chicago. The grit was real, and the playing was damn good.
 A Classic May 05, 2009
In my opinion, this is one of the greatest blues CDs ever made.
There aren't many recordings that sound fresh after forty-some years, but this is one of them. The Butterfield Blues Band lineup on this CD played with authority and conviction.
Mike Bloomfield is at his peak here. I believe he's playing a Fender Telecaster guitar. Mike's solos are fluid and tasteful. And the same can be said for the other soloists, most specifically Paul Butterfield, master of the blues harp.
The songs are all excellent and something new and interesting can be detected in every listening.
Chicago Blues Masterpiece Aug 20, 2008
Along with Earl Hooker's "The Moon Is Rising", this album is a Chicago Blues masterpiece. Though the lead singer and harmonica player is white, his singing is more than credible and his harmonica playing is excellent. Guitarist Michael Bloomfield plays some incendiary lead guitar, and was taken from us much too early. His death is a tragedy in the truest sense of the world. I recently viewed a video of him at one of the many folk festivals during the 1960s, perhaps Newport, talking about how his father is rich, his family is Jewish, he had a Bar Mitzvah, and how he'll never be able to play or sing like Son House. His admiration for the great Son House was more than obvious. Recently, rock guitar magazines have started to talk more about Bloomfield and his wonderful talents, which is a great thing. He deserves to be ranked up there with Clapton and Allman in terms of white guys who play Blues and/or Blues-Rock. Every track on this album is fun, full of energy and masterfully played. I highly recommend this album to anybody interested in Chicago Blues, especially those coming to the Blues from a Classic Rock or Clapton-related background. My personal favorite on the album is the band's cover of Elmore James' "Shake Your Moneymaker", which is a great deal different than the original, but in a good way.
PLAY LOUD! Apr 28, 2008
This was an amazing album when it was released in 1965, and it is now.
While the vinyl seems superior to the CD [I have 2 copies of the vinyl]
they are both amazing and full of energy. There is a note on the back of the original album cover advising to play loud for maximum effect. That is just as true now as it was then....These are the guys that played with Dylan at times. That is, Sam Lay, Jerome Arnold, Mike Bloofield.
Don't believe the "East/West" hype--get this one instead. Jan 21, 2008
The general critical consensus seems to be that the PBBB's second album, "East/West," is the one to get, but I disagree. I own both, and I find that this, the band's first release, is much better than album #2. The songs here are played with more intensity and focus (the band is "tighter," as musicians say), and the vocals and harp are tough, gritty and "authentic," in a blues sense. In contrast, the band seems to be trying too hard to sound like great blues on "East/West." On this album, everything feels organic and unforced. Mike Bloomfield, of course, is excellent on every track, and that makes a significant difference between this and any other "white boy blues," or whatever you want to call it, that was around at the same time. Here, and on Dylan albums, he's really the difference between "good" and "great." Get this one--it sounds fresh, almost contemporary, despite its age.
|
| |
|
![Up (4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51V%2Beipy8-L._SL75_.jpg "Up (4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD) [Blu-ray]")
![Across the Universe [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51T24FuHPEL._SL75_.jpg "Across the Universe [Blu-ray]")
![Underworld Trilogy (Underworld / Underworld: Evolution / Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51F27VzUl%2BL._SL75_.jpg "Underworld Trilogy (Underworld / Underworld: Evolution / Underworld: Rise of the Lycans) [Blu-ray]")
![Shakira: Oral Fixation Tour [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51RQUEopdlL._SL75_.jpg "Shakira: Oral Fixation Tour [Blu-ray]")
