Editor's Choice...
And this time, Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, Steve (Stephen) Stills, "Super Session" album released July 22, 1968.
Three years after collaborating with Bob Dylan on the classic album "Highway 61 Revisited", Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield decide to join forces for a "Free Style" recording session, in which they will record a full album entirely on the purity of the jam session.
Kooper had just finished his relationship with "Blood, Sweat & Tears", with whom he recorded the first album "Child Is Father to the Man", Bloomfield was just about to leave "Electric Flag", and the two decided it was their time to jam together.
Kooper closed two full days in the studio, and the two invited Bloomfield's friends in "Electric Flag" for the impromptu session - keyboardist Barry Goldberg and bassist Harvey Brooks (all four Jews by the way), as well as drummer Eddie Hoh and brass session players.
On the first day, they recorded six songs, most of which appear on the first side of the album, which is led mainly by the sweeping and erupting blues from Bloomfield's guitar, including the electrifying "Albert's Shuffle", Curtis Mayfield's "Man's Temptation" and "His Holy Modal Majesty" "Inspired by Coltrane.
The next day Bloomfield did not come to the studio, and Kooper tried to look for a guitarist to replace him. He tried Carlos Santana, Steve Miller, and Randy California, but eventually called Stephen Stills who was available and had just left the Buffalo Springfield. Under these circumstances, the other side of the album is led primarily by Stills and Kooper, and includes Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, A Train to Cry", an amazing rendition of Donovan's "Season of the Witch", And a somewhat psychedelic rendition of Willie Cobbs' song "You Don't Love Me."
This masterpiece is the kind of album that is no longer produced in our days. A rare breed of wild albums, featuring a rare burst of talent and energetic and free music recorded with incredible spontaneity in just two days.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music