Wednesday, April 30, 2008

No. 476: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band


Band: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Album: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Why Rolling Stone gets it right: The white-man blues genre was largely birthed from Chicago-born Paul Butterfield and his band. The uptempo craziness and harmonica took from the Stones and influenced later music.
Why Rolling Stone gets it wrong: This white guy blues rock is nice, but it wasn't popular and it wasn't groundbreaking. In fact, it's not really much of anything.
Best song: "Last Night" isn't bad.
Worst song: Their version of "Mellow Down Easy" is crappy.
Is it awesome?: Nope.

This, John Mayall and Blood, Sweat and Tears? Come on.

I see that the these records are the bridge between American blues and the rock of the 1960s, but that's also the role of, I don't know, Cream, the Stones, Hendrix, etc. About a million bands helped bridge that gap.

Perhaps it's me being a curmudgeon, perhaps it's music that I don't understand. But, all in all, the only good coming from it is Mike Bloomfield's debut on an album.

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