The Blues Project - Japanese Mini LP Collection '2013 (4 albums on 6x SHM-CD)

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The Blues Project - Japanese Mini LP Collection '2013 (4 albums on 6x SHM-CD)

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Sextet of varied musicians who built up a reputation in the mid-'60s for their mix of rock, jazz, classical, and electric blues.

One of the first album-oriented, "underground" groups in the United States, the Blues Project offered an electric brew of rock, blues, folk, pop, and even some jazz, classical, and psychedelia during their brief heyday in the mid-'60s. It's not quite accurate to categorize them as a blues-rock group, although they did plenty of that kind of material; they were more like a Jewish-American equivalent to British bands like the Yardbirds, who used a blues and R&B base to explore any music that interested them. Erratic songwriting talent and a lack of a truly outstanding vocalist prevented them from rising to the front line of '60s bands, but they recorded plenty of interesting material over the course of their first three albums, before the departure of their most creative members took its toll.

The Blues Project was formed in Greenwich Village in the mid-'60s by guitarist Danny Kalb (who had played sessions for various Elektra folk and folk-rock albums), Steve Katz (a guitarist with Elektra's Even Dozen Jug Band), flutist/bassist Andy Kulberg, drummer Roy Blumenfeld, and singer Tommy Flanders. Al Kooper, in his early twenties a seasoned vet of rock sessions, joined after sitting in on the band's Columbia Records audition, although they ended up signing to Verve, an MGM subsidiary. Early member Artie Traum (guitar) dropped out during early rehearsals; Flanders would leave after their first LP, Live at the Cafe Au-Go-Go (1966).

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The eclectic résumés of the musicians, who came from folk, jazz, blues, and rock backgrounds, was reflected in their choice of material. Blues by Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry tunes ran alongside covers of contemporary folk-rock songs by Eric Anderson and Patrick Sky, as well as the group's own originals. These were usually penned by Kooper, who had already built songwriting credentials as the co-writer of Gary Lewis' huge smash "This Diamond Ring," and established a reputation as a major folk-rock shaker with his contributions to Dylan's mid-'60s records. Kooper also provided the band's instrumental highlights with his glowing organ riffs.

The live debut sounds rather tame and derivative; the group truly hit their stride on Projections (late 1966), which was, disappointingly, their only full-length studio recording. While they went through straight blues numbers with respectable energy, they really shone best on the folk and jazz-influenced tracks, like "Fly Away," Katz's lilting "Steve's Song," Kooper's jazz instrumental "Flute Thing" (an underground radio standard that's probably their most famous track), and Kooper's fierce adaptation of an old Blind Willie Johnson number, "I Can't Keep from Crying." A non-LP single from this era, the pop-psychedelic "No Time Like the Right Time," was their greatest achievement and one of the best "great hit singles that never were" of the decade.

The band's very eclecticism didn't augur well for their long-term stability, and in 1967 Kooper left in a dispute over musical direction (he has recalled that Kalb opposed his wishes to add a horn section). Then Kalb mysteriously disappeared for months after a bad acid trip, which effectively finished the original incarnation of the band. A third album, Live at Town Hall, was a particularly half-assed project given the band's stature, pasted together from live tapes and studio outtakes, some of which were overdubbed with applause to give the impression that they had been recorded in concert.

Kooper got to fulfill his ambitions for soulful horn rock as the leader of the original Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he left that band after their first album; BS&T also included Katz (who stayed onboard for a long time). Blumenfeld and Kulberg kept the Blues Project going for a fourth album before forming Seatrain, and the group re-formed in the early '70s with various lineups, Kooper rejoining for a live 1973 album, Reunion in Central Park. The first three albums from the Kooper days are the only ones that count, though; the best material from these is on Rhino's best-of compilation.

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The Blues Project - Japanese Mini LP Collection '2013 (4 albums on 6x SHM-CD)

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The Blues Project - Live At The Cafe Au Go Go (1966) [2x SHM-CD 2013]
EAC-FLAC+CUE+LOG > 656 MB | Full Scans > 210 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps > 266 MB
Running Time - 56:47 + 60:40 minutes | Universal Music Japan | Cat # UICY-75640~1

Although Tommy Flanders (who'd already left the band by the time this debut hit the streets) is credited as sole vocalist, four of the then-sextet's members sang; in fact, Danny Kalb handles as many leads as Flanders (four each), Steve Katz takes center stage on Donovan's "Catch the Wind," and Al Kooper is featured on "I Want to Be Your Driver." The band could be lowdown when appropriate (Kalb's reading of "Jelly, Jelly"), high energy (Muddy Waters' "Goin' Down Louisiana" sounds closer to Chuck Berry or Bo Diddley), and unabashedly eclectic (tossing in Donovan or Eric Andersen with no apologies). Kalb's moody take on "Alberta" is transcendent, and the uptempo arrangement of "Spoonful" is surprisingly effective.

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The Blues Project - Japanese Mini LP Collection '2013 (4 albums on 6x SHM-CD)

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The Blues Project - Projections (1966) [2x SHM-CD 2013]
EAC-FLAC+CUE+LOG > 587 MB | Full Scans > 216 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps > 246 MB
Running Time - 52:41 + 56:06 minutes | Universal Music Japan | Cat # UICY-75642~3

Produced by Tom Wilson (Dylan, Zappa), the Blues Project's second effort was their finest hour. In less than a year the enthusiastic live band had matured into a seasoned studio ensemble. Steve Katz's features are lightweight folk but Al Kooper reworks two gospel themes ("Wake Me, Shake Me," "I Can't Keep from Crying") into ambitious blues-rock compositions, and Danny Kalb proves he's no mere folkie on extended versions of "Two Trains Running" and "Caress Me Baby." Bassist Andy Kulberg switches to flute and Kalb gets psychedelic on the jazzy "Flute Thing," penned by Kooper.

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The Blues Project - Japanese Mini LP Collection '2013 (4 albums on 6x SHM-CD)

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The Blues Project - Live At Town Hall (1967) [SHM-CD 2013]
EAC-FLAC+CUE+LOG > 410 MB | Full Scans > 129 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps > 174 MB
Running Time - 76:21 minutes | Universal Music Japan | Cat # UICY-75644

A collection of studio outtakes and some live performances from Stony Brook College (not Town Hall) comprise this uneven last-ditch effort to get something out as Al Kooper was leaving to form Blood, Sweat & Tears. Kooper's "No Time Like the Right Time" is the studio single with canned applause added, and "Wake Me, Shake Me" is taken at a frantic pace.

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The Blues Project - Japanese Mini LP Collection '2013 (4 albums on 6x SHM-CD)

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The Blues Project - Reunion In Central Park (1973) [SHM-CD 2013]
EAC-FLAC+CUE+LOG > 378 MB | Full Scans > 301 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps > 140 MB
Running Time - 61:27 minutes | Universal Music Japan | Cat # UICY-75645

Considering the acrimony with which the original lineup had broken up six years earlier – Tommy Flanders (who wasn't even here for this event) stomping out at the end of the group's beginning and Al Kooper cast out in an internal hijacking at the beginning of its end – this ranks as one of the most artistically successful reunions in blues or rock. The participants are all on the same page and, to judge from the evidence of this recording, in the same groove from beginning to end. The rocking numbers like "You Can't Catch Me" work the best, but tracks like "Steve's Song" and "Louisiana Blues" are equally rewarding. If there were any personality conflicts, they don't show, and while Kooper and Danny Kalb are in the best position to shine, everyone acquits themselves well, and the quintet creates a truly long-lasting concert document of their work. Most important, the members seem to respect their own past – and re-create it with spontaneity and energy. And the sound quality is first-rate as well.