The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (180g, Music On Vinyl, Orange Vinyl, Limited Edition)

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band's The Paul Butterfield Blues Band arrived in 1965 as a fierce statement of electric Chicago blues, made by a racially integrated group at a time when American pop charts were still sharply divided. With Paul Butterfield on harmonica and vocals, alongside Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop on guitar, the album helped bring the sound and spirit of Butterfield's Chicago heroes to a wider white rock audience without sanding off the grit.

What still hits is how direct and physical it feels. Producer Paul Rothchild kept the sound close and forceful, and the band answers with a set that moves easily between hard-driving rave-ups and slower, more devotional blues. The Nick Gravenites-written opener “Born in Chicago” became an early calling card, while versions of “Blues With a Feeling” and “Mellow Down Easy” show how deeply the group understood the material they were drawing from.

That mix of raw attack and genuine feel is what gives the record its staying power. Butterfield's harp leads from the front, but the album is just as memorable for the twin-guitar push of Bloomfield and Bishop and the muscular rhythm section behind them. If you want the debut that set up the band's later leap into East-West, this is the place to start.

Features

• 180g, Music On Vinyl, Orange Vinyl, Limited Numbered Edition of 1000 copies
• Directly produced by Paul Rothchild

Reviews

• a wonderfully messy and boisterous display of American-styled blues - AllMusic.com

Genre: Blues