#476 - The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Self-Titled

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band’s self-titled album came out in 1965. Today it strikes a person as just one more blues album, but given the racial tension of the 60’s the album’s mixture of ethnicities is staggering. Aside from being a jumpin’ album highlighting the guitar genius of Michael Bloomfield and Elvis Bishop, the album was able to take a genre of music primarily associated with black culture and introduce it to white surburbanites. Perhaps, what is most impressive, aside from the fact that Butterfield was one of the first white lead singer’s in African-American dominated blues, is that half of the group were underage city kids.

Paul Butterfield, the wealthy son of a Chicago lawyer, and college classmate Elvis Bishop began the early blueprint of what would become The Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 60’s, but it wasn’t until the two were introduced to Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay while mixing it up with such blues heroes as Muddy Waters that the band began to take shape. As the story goes, Michael Bloomfield was just a temporary musician playing alongside the band until Elektra Records (out of Cincinnati, OH) producer Paul Rothchild suggested the band hire Bloomfield as a full-time member. The rest is white-boy blues history. The band went on to play the Newport Folk Festival (some members even played alongside Bob Dylan during his famous electric set) in 1965.

The music itself is straightforward electric blues. Listening to it now, one likens it to countless other examples of the blues, but at its’ time the band brought a genre of music that maintained a spot in the American underground to the forefront of the nation’s culture. The album is easily listenable, providing a great road soundtrack, background music while cleaning the house, and of course providing toe-tapping gyrations of the body. If you’re looking to be blown away by a blues album during today’s current musical situation this is probably not the album for you. There are probably countless other blues musicians a person would pass Butterfield over for in the quickly diminishing record store, but I advise at least a listen. Tracks such as “Screamin’” provide the listener with impressive feats of fretwork and the horns of nearly every song are dance inducing numbers. “Our Love is Drifting” reminds me of some sad schmuck drowning his/her sorrows in a neon twilight, as is “Last Night.” My one complaint is that a few of the songs appear to be carbon copies of one another. For instance, “I Got My Mojo Working” and “Mystery Train” seem to have the same construction, but at different tempos.

Overall, I understand the album’s inclusion due to its’ historical significance, but I don’t see this as an album one would consistently put on for a listen. It contains monumental instrumentation, but lacks memorable tracks that stick in your brain. Unless you are a huge blues buff, this album will probably make a few rotations and then fall back into obscurity on your iTunes library. I know that is most likely its’ fate on mine.

This album’s cover is brought to you by this “star-studded” group. Check out the young man on guitar. Incredible.

-d.

The self-titled debut album from The Paul Butterfield Blues Band has proven difficult for me to review. It’s a solid collection with great musicians obliterating some typical blues numbers. The instrumental tracks are exemplary. But something just isn’t catching me. Maybe it’s the twenty-something white guy singing the blues, but I don’t feel much heart and soul in this. The songs are individually great and fun to listen to, but as a record I get lost halfway through. The whole thing keeps falling into the tiny space where I like an album but have no emotional interest in it.

I’ll start with my favorite song. "I Got My Mojo Working" is a great example of the uptempo dancehall style of Chicago blues that you probably know from the chase scenes in The Blues Brothers. Nonstop ride cymbal, chugging bass and guitar accents all come together to give the impression of a fast train, a quality I always enjoy in this type of music. Problem is, like most of the songs, the lyrics are completely forgettable. Even with my other favorite numbers like "Mellow Down Easy" or "Blues With Feeling" the lyrics seem plainly uninspired. It feels like some kid listened to a bunch of blues records and wrote his version of what he heard. Which is exactly what it is, same as early Rolling Stones. But to me that isn’t an excuse. Write about what you know. When you sing songs about a life you can’t really understand it’s going to be a failure every time.

Of course like I often do, I’m being hard on Paul. He was only 23 when this album came out. His musicianship, and that of the friends and session guys he brought together, can’t be besmirched. There’s so much talent on display here it’s shocking, and the extended instrumental sections have to be heard by anone who calls themselves music fans. Specifically the end of "Screamin’." Also," Our Love Is Drifting" is the exception that proves the rule. It’s full of passion. But throughout this album the stereotypical lyrics and, at times, detached delivery keep me from becoming invested in the music.

A double cover! People pretending to be one band while playing the music of another.