| The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper | ||||
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| Live album by Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper | ||||
| Released | 1969 | |||
| Recorded | September 26th-28th 1968 | |||
| Genre | Rock, blues | |||
| Length | 85:19 | |||
| Label | Columbia KGP-6 (original 1969 issue) CBS 66216 (UK & initial CD release) Sony Mid-price (1997) |
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| Producer | Al Kooper | |||
| Mike Bloomfield & Al Kooper chronology | ||||
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Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper is a double album documenting performances from two of blues-rock's most notable American musicians of the late 1960s. Recorded at the famous 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.
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[1], 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 for not only one of the earliest live recordings by Carlos Santana, but also 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,[2] for two sets a night; this should have yielded in the region of twelve 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.
Contents |
- "One-two..Uh, listen here now, here's what...here's where it's at, this is the thing of this gig and here's...I'll tell ya 'bout it now. Uh, awhile ago my friend Alan Kooper called me on the phone and said "Let's make this gig, an Lp in Los Angeles, and we'll jam together and we'll see what will happen. . ."[3]
The gatefold sleeve features
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.[10]
Steve Miller and Dave Brown had also volunteered their services but if they performed, their contributions do not appear (at least credited) on the album