{"id":22119,"date":"2015-04-09T16:47:50","date_gmt":"2015-04-09T16:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/?p=22119"},"modified":"2015-04-10T17:12:53","modified_gmt":"2015-04-10T17:12:53","slug":"listening-to-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ok-cleek.com\/blogs\/?p=22119","title":{"rendered":"Listening To..."},"content":{"rendered":"

I've been listening to a lot of late-60s white blues bands lately, mostly thanks to the awesome vinyl rips that Prof. Stoned<\/a> has put together. <\/p>\n

First, and the only American band in this set, is the Paul Butterfield Band<\/b> (later the Butterfield Blues Band). I've been listening to their first two records: \"The Paul Butterfield Blues Band\" and \"East-West\". Like all of these bands, they do a lot of very faithful versions of blues standards. These are skilfully done, but I find myself wishing they were grittier, leaner, with maybe a little more swagger. To me, their original tunes are much more interesting, especially the longer improvisational instrumentals on their \"East-West\" album: Work Song<\/i> and the title track. In those, they started with traditional electric blues licks and then blended-in jazz, eastern and Latin ideas. And that mix was the obvious predecessor to bands like The Allman Brothers, Santana and even The Rolling Stones. <\/p>\n

Here's \"East-West\". Within 15 seconds, you swear you're listening to an Allman Bros tune. A minute in and you can't help but hear the end jam from the Stones' \"Can You Here Me Knocking\".<\/p>\n

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