The Butterfield Blues Band - East-West [Mono]

Titel

1. Walkin’ Blues
2. Get Out of My Life, Woman
3. I Got a Mind to Give Up Living
4. All These Blues
5. Work Song
6. Mary, Mary
7. Two Trains Running
8. Never Say No
9. East-West

The Butterfield Blues Band is perhaps best known for accompanying Bob Dylan on his famous electrified performance at the Newport Folk Festival, but the collective of musicians truly earned its place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with “East-West.” Although it remains a footnote in many historical accounts, the 1966 album changed pop music, laid the foundation for acid rock and demonstrated the visionary abilities and virtuoso skills of a sextet that took the blues in new directions. Founded in 1964 by Paul Butterfield (vocals, harmonica), the band initially played with the following lineup: Little Smokey Smothers (guitar), Elvin Bishop (guitar), Rome Maurice “Jerome” Arnold (bass) and Sam Ley (drums). Smothers left the band very soon and was replaced by Mike Bloomfield and Mark Naftalin (guitar, piano, keyboards, accordion, vibraphone). In 1965, the sextet released their critically acclaimed debut album, “The Butterfield Blues Band,” followed just one year later by “East-West” after Sam Ley left and was replaced by Billy Davenport.

Davenport's influence on the group's approach proved immense: with his sophisticated, sensitive and precise technique and his ability to accompany the songs with a jazzy sense of movement, Davenport opened up improvisational possibilities for the band that other blues ensembles had never known. Bandleader Butterfield established a “democratic forum” in which each individual member could contribute. The musicians rewarded the trust placed in them with instrumental excellence, exceptional interplay, and a special chemistry and communication. The Butterfield Blues Band is equally adept at slow, melancholic ballads and raw burners. And yet the most striking features of “East-West” cannot be put into words. With their horns, shuffle and kicks, the band hints at unexplored landscapes in a rousing cover version of Nat Adderley and Oscar Brown's “Work Blues.” The fusion of different disciplines and the alternation between instrumental parts give a glimpse of the joy of experimentation that Miles Davis would soon continue. The title track, which concludes the album, takes the vastness and tension to a whole new level: based on Indian scales, John Coltrane's modal pieces, and a four-four bass pattern from Nick Gravenites' “It's About Time,” the multi-part composition probably marks the beginning of blues-rock improvisations. Heavy, swirling, and occasionally filtered through distorted lenses, “East-West” is where acid rock began and The Butterfield Blues Band cemented their legendary status.

“East-West” was pressed in mono from 1966 to 1968. After that, only the stereo version (a remastered copy of the mono original) was available. For the first time in almost 60 years, East-West is now available in its original mono mix – in ultimate sound quality: The elaborate remastering of the numbered reissue by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is based on the original master tapes, was pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing on 180-gram vinyl at 33 RPM and demonstrates how thrilling stereophonic mono recordings can sound. The collectible MFSL edition comes in a Stoughton Printing jacket and is characterized by a high degree of directness, coherence and three-dimensionality, bringing the acoustics of the famous Chess Studios in Chicago, where the album was recorded, to life. Every aspect of the album benefits from the newly gained balance, symmetry, and airiness. Butterfield's powerful vocals and characteristic harmonica, Bishop's fusion of gospel, R&B, and country, Arnold's precise bass playing, Davenport's bossa nova-inspired drumming, Naftalin's illuminating piano and organ playing and of course Bloomfield's compelling electric guitar – all of this now comes across with impressive realism on “East-West.”