Girish Mahajan (Editor)

The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper

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Released
  
1969

Length
  
85:19

Label
  
Columbia Records

Genres
  
Blues, Rock music

Recorded
  
September 26-28, 1968

Release date
  
1969

Producer
  
Al Kooper

The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb2

The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper (1969)
  
The Lost Concert (1969)

Artists
  
Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, Carlos Santana

Similar
  
Super Session, Kooper Session, I Stand Alone, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Easy Does It

The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper is a double album recorded at the Fillmore West venue; the album is a successor to the studio album Super Session, which included both Bloomfield and Kooper in addition to Stephen Stills, and had achieved commercial and critical success earlier in 1968.

Contents

The performances, recordings and production cannot be described as flawless; in his sleeve notes, Kooper describes the difficulties of finding rehearsal space, Bloomfield's insomnia, and the failure of a vocal microphone during "Dear Mr Fantasy"; the track "I Wonder Who" is faded during a Bloomfield solo for no apparent reason.

Nevertheless, the album remains an important, if raw, document of a live blues-rock performance of the period and, apart from its intrinsic qualities, is notable not only for one of the earliest live recordings by Carlos Santana but also for Bloomfield's debut as a vocalist. Whilst he is not historically noted in this role, in "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong", according to Kooper, "he displays consummate homage to the traditional guitar-voice trade-offs; a lesson in phrasing and understanding."

Live Adventures has since been re-released on CD but without any additional material beyond its initial release; the concerts took place over three nights, and according to Kooper, for two sets a night; this should have yielded several hours of recordings, of which the album provides just short of ninety minutes.

Bloomfield died in 1981 but this album is one of the major reasons for his reputation as a blues guitarist; Kooper now teaches songwriting and production, and still plays live concerts.

Side One

  1. "Opening Speech" (Mike Bloomfield) – 1:30
  1. "The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)" (Paul Simon) – 5:38
  2. "I Wonder Who" (Ray Charles) – 6:04
  3. "Her Holy Modal Highness" (Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield) – 9:08

Side Two

  1. "The Weight" (Robbie Robertson) – 4:00
  2. "Mary Ann" (Ray Charles) – 5:19
  3. "Together 'Til the End of Time" (Frank Wilson) – 4:15
  4. "That's All Right" (Arthur Crudup) – 3:28
  5. "Green Onions" (Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson, Jr., Lewie Steinberg) – 5:26

Side Three

  1. "Opening Speech" (Al Kooper) – 1:28
  2. "Sonny Boy Williamson" (Jack Bruce, Paul Jones) – 6:04
  3. "No More Lonely Nights" (Sonny Boy Williamson I) – 12:27

Side Four

  1. "Dear Mr. Fantasy" (Jim Capaldi, Stevie Winwood, Chris Wood) – 8:04
  2. "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong" (Albert King) – 10:56
  3. "Finale-Refugee" (Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield) – 2:04

Album cover

The gatefold sleeve features

  • on the front cover, a painting of Bloomfield and Kooper by Norman Rockwell.
  • on the rear cover, against a background of a montage of crowd scenes (not necessarily from the concert audience), superimposed photographs of the core band and a track listing.
  • on the interior, a more detailed track listing, text of Bloomfield's opening speech, and notes by Kooper, as well as other album credits.

    • According to Kooper, Rockwell's original artwork ended up on the wall of CBS Art Director, John Berg, who later sold it despite Kooper having expressed an interest in having the painting.

    Personnel

  • Al Kooper – organ, ondioline, piano (overdub as Roosevelt Gook on "Together 'Til the End of Time") and vocals
  • Mike Bloomfield – guitar and vocals
  • John Kahn – bass
  • Skip Prokop – drums
  • Carlos Santana – guitar on "Sonny Boy Williamson"
  • Elvin Bishop – guitar and vocal on "No More Lonely Nights"

    • Steve Miller and Dave Brown had also volunteered their services. Kooper says (in his book "Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards") that Santana, Bishop and Miller performed on three or four songs each. He says Miller "played great", but doesn't appear on the album because Capitol Records wouldn't give permission.

    Songs

    Opening Speech1:30
    The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)5:38
    I Wonder Who6:02

    References

    The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA