An Anthology: The Elektra Years

Performer: Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Artist: Elvin Bishop; Mike Bloomfield; David Sanborn; Al Kooper; Merry Clayton
Producer: Bruce Harris
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Personnel: Paul Butterfield (vocals, harp, flute, harmonica, piano); Gene Dinwiddie (vocals, flute, tenor saxophone); Bugsy Maugh (vocals, bass); Phillip Wilson (vocals, drums, percussion); Mike Bloomfield (guitar, slide guitar, piano, Hammond organ); Elvin Bishop, Buzz Feiten (guitar, French horn); Ralph Wash (guitar, background vocals); David Sanborn (soprano, alto & baritone saxophones); Trevor Lawrence (baritone saxophone); Steve Madaio, Keith Johnson (trumpet); Mark Naftalin (piano, keyboards, organ); Ted Harris (piano, keyboards); Al Kooper (organ); Rod Hicks (bass, background vocals); Jerome Arnold (bass); Billy Davenport (drums, percussion); Dennis Whitted, Sam Lay (drums); Bobby Hall (congas, bongos); Big Black (congas); John Court, Clydie King, Merry Clayton, Venetta Fields, Oma Drake (background vocals). Includes liner notes by Tom Ellis III. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Everyone should own the Paul Butterfield Blues Band's first two albums, groundbreaking works that are among the most important and influential of the '60s. This two-disc distillation of the band's entire eight-year oeuvre is nonetheless a terrific overview, with a generous selection of tracks from those first two seminal efforts, plus all the crucial stuff from the band's inconsistent-but-still-worthy later LPs, along with a couple of early rarities making their CD debut. Disc One is by the original band, a musical powerhouse that began as the toughest blues band in the world and eventually evolved into a free-form psychedelic jam outfit. Disc Two collects the best stuff from Butterfield's late '60s horn band albums; this incarnation was the obvious model for both Blood Sweat & Tears and Chicago, but Butterfield's ensemble was far grittier and more musically adventurous.

Entertainment Weekly (2/13/98, p.71) - "...eloquently attests to the PBBB's formidable mastery of da blues, as well as its ability to stretch the genre's ostensible limitations to the snapping point..." - Rating: A

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