The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (album)

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band is the debut album by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, released in 1965 on Elektra Records. It peaked at number 123 on the Billboard albums chart. In 2012, the album was ranked number 468 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time".[3] It is also ranked at number 11 on Down Beat magazine's list of the top 50 blues albums.[4]

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Studio album by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Released	October 1965 (1965-10)
Recorded	September 1965
Genre	Electric blues
Length	38:15
Label	Elektra
Producer	Paul Rothchild, Mark Abramson
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band chronology
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band (1965) East-West (1966)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Sputnikmusic	[2]

Recording and releases

In late 1964, a friend of Elektra house producer Paul Rothchild told him that the "best band in the world was on stage at a blues bar in Chicago". Rothchild took a plane to Chicago to see the Butterfield quartet, and later the same night went to a different club and saw guitarist Mike Bloomfield with a different band.[5] According to Rothchild, it was at his impetus that Paul Butterfield hired Bloomfield as his second guitar alongside Elvin Bishop. The Butterfield rhythm section of Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay had been hired away from Howlin' Wolf.

Sessions were arranged for December 1964, but these were abandoned for live recordings from the Cafe Au Go Go in New York City after the band's appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. The earlier studio recordings were eventually released on The Original Lost Elektra Sessions in 1995. Upon hearing the live tapes, Rothchild remained dissatisfied, and the band went into the studio in September 1965 in an attempt to record the album for the third time.[6] The guitar solos were all played by Bloomfield, Bishop relegated to rhythm guitar. Keyboardist Mark Naftalin was drafted in at the September sessions and asked to join the band by Butterfield, expanding it to a sextet.[7]

The album presents band originals and songs in the style of electric Chicago blues. On October 29, 2001, a reissue of this album remastered by Bob Irwin at Sundazed Studios and coupled with East-West appeared on Rhino WEA UK for the European market.

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Born in Chicago"	Nick Gravenites	2:55
2.	"Shake Your Money-Maker"	Elmore James	2:27
3.	"Blues with a Feeling"	Walter Jacobs	4:20
4.	"Thank You Mr. Poobah" (instrumental)	Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Mark Naftalin	4:05
5.	"I Got My Mojo Working"	Muddy Waters	3:30
6.	"Mellow Down Easy"	Willie Dixon	2:48

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
7.	"Screamin'" (instrumental)	Mike Bloomfield	4:30
8.	"Our Love Is Drifting"	Paul Butterfield, Elvin Bishop	3:25
9.	"Mystery Train"	Junior Parker, Sam Phillips	2:45
10.	"Last Night"	Walter Jacobs	4:15
11.	"Look Over Yonders Wall"	James Clark	2:23

Personnel

• Paul Butterfield – lead vocals (all but 4, 5, 7), harmonica
• Mike Bloomfield – guitars
• Elvin Bishop – guitars
• Jerome Arnold – bass guitar
• Sam Lay – drums, lead vocals (5)
• Mark Naftalin – organ (3, 4, 7-10)

References

1. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band at AllMusic
2. g, manos (20 September 2014). "Review: CD The Paul Butterfield Blues Band – The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Album". Sputnikmusic. Retrieved 2015-01-01.
3. "500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time". Rolling Stone. 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
4. Down Beat Top 50 retrieved 28 August 2010
5. Doggett, Peter. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band/East West. Warner Strategic Marketing 8122 73571-2, 2001, liner notes, pp.4-5.
6. Doggett, liner notes, p. 6.
7. Bloomfield biography retrieved 28 August 2010