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From: McGarVision
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  • Oct 68, Ft Hood, Tx, up all night all alone with this record, First trip ever, never forget it, great album, both sides, Stills fantastic in his own way but side one was the best

  • FANTASTIC! Very well done. Thank you for sharing.

  • And yet at this time Mike was so deep in Heroin that he couldn't finish the Super Sessions album and Stills had to take over for him. You would never know it. Bless ya Mike

  • Bloomfield sure could play! The original vocal track by Howard Tate is a nice piece of music too.

  • Al Kooper is one cool cat.

  • Thanks amillion for sharing my HERO with the rest of humanity ...... BRAVO...!

    I never get tired of listening to this and I never will .....

  • It's one of the 2 records I buy 3 times, after the firsts were stolen. Luckylly, I still have it, but its easier to watch on Utube, but it miss the scratching of an old vinyl !

    Good job, with the "real" look !

  • I still have my vinal version, the one that I will be next to me in my coffin

  • I still can't believe Mike is gone. Blues guitar genius, probably the best. He burned so bright and then was gone in what seems a flash. The only video I've seen is the one clip from his Electric Flag performance at Monterey Pop. It would have turned out OK, Mike. It would have been OK, Kurt. I could go on....

  • Amazing people playing amazong music!!!!! oh yeah!!

  • ALL HAIL! Michael Bloomfield!

  • great job !!! Very, very thank you ..... A great moment of really good music !!

  • @MrPicroute Glad you enjoyed it!

  • 'Super Session' and particularly this track made my hair stand on end when I first heard it back in 1969 AND IT STILL DOES! Thanks for the video and thanks to Al Kooper for originally putting it all together. It's strange to think that superb, honest music like this actually got recorded and actually sold well back then. I doubt if you could give it away now - makes me wonder where humanity, society, civilisation is going. Michael RIP and eternal gratitude to you.

  • Bloomfield himself said his best guitar work is on a tune called 'Gettin Hard' on The Trip lp - check it out - it's fire! My fave Bloomfield solo is studio version of the transcendant 'Another Country' - completely original!

  • Bob and Butter must have such a great time together. Song is a pure blues energy

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  • Great job! Please post more Mike!

  • can someone tell me where I can find the true performance of this video. It seems like its on a live tv show thank you great post!

  • @diatroptoff94 There is no true performance video of this. No video exists of Mike and Al performing together. Just buy the CD "Super Session to get this song." I created this video from scratch--giving the impression of a live performance.

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  • Great Job, thank you!

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  • @McGarVision Thanks for this. I have "Super Sessions" but it's in storage. I read that someone bought Bill Grahams archives and came across a whole slew of tapes and film from the Filmore. Anyone ever heard of them being released? Mike Bloomfield should be on a bunch of those.

  • @triplettam Yep--if anyone would have footage of Mike, it would be Bill Graham. I know there is a huge archive as you mentioned, but haven't heard anything about possible videos being relased. We can all hope. Much of Mike's best-ever playing happened at the Fillmore.

  • Great video - thanks for posting. Does anyone have a definitive list of what live performance videos exist of Bloomfield? After trawling round for ages I can only find a few clips from Chicago 74 and the Electric Flag 'Wine' performace...

  • @s1914 Sadly, your list is just about complete--except for a subpar performance segment on Italian TV and some pretty decent footage of Mike in action with Dylan at Newport on the DVD "The Other Side of the Mirror"

  • @s1914 Check out `ZINEDINE05` he has the best collection of Mike Bloomfield and Paul Butterfield `s stuff

    in the World.

  • To my untrained ear , albeit one that's listened to a lot of music in my 51 years, this is the cleanest, most effortless blues guitar I've ever heard. Thank you for posting this.

  • Wow...I mean...just....damn! This is excellent. Of course, the lineup alone is perfect, but ahhh the sound. I've been missing out. Thanks heaps for sharing.

  • it's too good. Shame so many people haven't heard of Mike. Dylan called him the best guitarist of the day back in the 60's and you can see why. And Al Kooper's one of the best organists.

  • organ solos mind blowing

  • My reason for responding here was to offer MY opinion that Mike Bloomfield was one of the greatest rock/blues guitarists of all time period. Right up there with Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Johnny Winter. Mike played with all of these guys and they all have agreed with his virtuosity and brilliance as a guitarist. This not to mention all of the REAL blues guitarists Mike played and interacted with including Buddy Guy, B. B. King, Muddy Waters and many many others. Folks need to know .

  • @Bluestraveller789 Yes, agree--that's why I created this video all by myself and posted it. Many, many hours of work--but a labor of love

  • @McGarVision My thanks for the work.

  • @McGarVision thank you so so so so much

  • @Bluestraveller789 damn right!!!!! this album a real treasure from the late sixties!!!! i bought this in 1968 when i was a sophomore in high school and just getting into the blues, and have played blues harp now for over 40 years thanks to inspiration i got from Mike and Paul Butterfield

  • Jimmy Vivino plays guitar with Al Kooper in the Rekooprators. Jimmy is a student of Mike Bloomfiield's style. I've seen the band reprise much of the original " Super Session"  material recorded by Al and Mike Bloomfield.

  • @Bluestraveller789 Although Jimmy is indeed an admirer of Mike Bloomfield, the best tribute to Mike and his style hands down was the tribute CD "In memory of Michael Bloomfield" by Robben Ford. Robben Ford completely nails Michael. Jimmy tries, but it's not the same. I'm not slamming Vivino, just giving the straight scoop.

  • Bloomfield was a stunningly melodic player. Listen to all the notes he fits in his runs, his touch and his tone. Anyone who is actually a musician (or not a moron) would know this. When I spoke to Al Kooper about two years ago, he told me that Bloomers was the best guitarist he ever played with. Case closed.

  • has anyone tried to cover this? like the whole guitar thing?

  • @lastkiz13 Only Robben Ford. So very few could cover Mike Bloomfield.

  • @McGarVision Bullshit there are a lot of guitar players who could play as well or better than Bloomfield.Why would someone try to imitate bloomfield? do J.Beck or Buddy Guy try to imitate anybody?

    Thank god there are different styles.

  • @kontiki78 I don't think you understand the era. Those brit cats were learning to play blues off records,by players Bloomfeild ,was jamming w/in the Southside clubs . MB had an authenticity that gave him great respect among other players in the mid 60s. Before Hendrix was well known he knew who Bloomfeild .And yes of course Buddy Guy and Jeff Beck learned to play by listening to and imitating other guitarists first. Anyone who plays in a defined genre does that.

  • @kontiki78 Jeff Beck in a Guitar Player mag interview said : "When I was learning guitar Cliff Gallup was the biggest influence on my playing - the cut was pretty deep and the scar has never healed!" BB King spoke of imitating T-Bone Walker ,and Buddy Guy ws influenced by BB and Muddy. Hendrix copped to having been influenced by Buddy and Muddy.

  • @lastkiz13 yeah ive tried heaps never got close..

  • Can you tell me people:

    What's the keyboards?

    This is hammond or what ?

    And if it is, do someone know, what's the model ?

  • @Oszych Thats the world famous Hammond B3 organ with Leslie speaker (the thing spinning around behind him is the leslie speaker, a thing of beauty in itself, google it). The Hammond was originally designed as an organ for a small church, you know, devotional music, but aquired far more fame in rock n roll. Fitting I always thought !

    Nothing like the growl of the B3...!

  • oohh yes!!! that s music!!!!!!!!!!!

  • I've been litening to all of the great gutarists since I was 15. I am now 53. Page, Clapton, Hendrix etc. How is it possible I missed this guy for almost 40 years? I thank the post by someone on the Larry Carlton video who mentioned Mike Bloomfield for opening up a whole new window into the music world.

  • @turcoloco57 Sorry you had to miss out on these guys for so long. The comment by oldbump is a bit silly

    in my opinion, I am sure you know a lot about music. You could listen to them playing "Dear mister Fantasy",

    also to be found here on You Tube. That was one of the first songs I heard from them, and after that

    I was hooked for life ;-)

  • @DirkjeA If "oldchump" could read, he would see that I never claimed to "know shit". Sorry I offended you oldhump.... get a life.

    Thanks for the Mr Fantasy lead... I'll check it out.

  • If you don't know Mike Bloomfield you don't know shit.

  • super session cd is a must have. kooper,bloomfield and stills. but i don't think bloomfield and stills play together. bloomfield on side 1. stills on side 2.

  • @blrut yes. sir you are correct...

  • Music like this is not made anymore these Days..And that's a Shame..

  • mike bloofield grande guitarrista estraordinario;sempre respirando blues...

  • Leslie speakers FTW!

  • Leslie speakert FTW!

  • @lastkiz - It's a Les Paul, I had the vinyl in '68 which had photos from the session, I remember very clearly the picture of Bloomfield playing the Les Paul whilst lying on the studio floor. Believe me (I've been playing 42 years) there is a huge difference in tone between Gibsons (double coil pickups called Humbuckers, developed by the Gibson techies that had what players call a "fat" sound) and Fenders (single coil pickups with a twangy, "thin" sound).

  • @bamboosa i know about the fender single coil and gibson humbucker thing. i WAS certain that it was a les paul until that bell like intro put me in doubt, :PP

  • @bamboosa p.s. i got quite close to this tone when i tried out a goldtop les paul (with p90s) through a nice clean amp with a bit of overdrive. :D

  • One of the best blues band's ever!

  • Great!!!!!!

  • did he use a telecaster or a les paul in this?

  • @lastkiz13 Almost certainly a Les Paul.

  • @chrisb1953 59 Les Paul to be exact

  • I love it

  • Wow. First time i've ever heard this. Probably like this as much as James Gang's version, but don't know which came out first. Cool video too.

  • Al Kooper

  • @dyannai Al Kooper, what?

  • @McGarVision LOL

  • There are so many moments in this song where the guitar gives me chills. Bloomfield hit gold with this one.

  • of couse they mix u fool....some of the finest rock and roll and jazz was played while under the influence of the poppy... tragic magic

  • @baliscotsurf True, but for me all it took was a 6-pack of Budweiser. This was back in 1971. I guess I was lucky in that respect..

  • heroin and great guitarists don't mix....RIP MIKE

  • @PsychoRaii Heroin and any human don't mix.

  • Thanks Bro! Hadn't listened to Bloomfield or Kooper in a while. What a guitarist Michael Bloomfield was. Man! Died way too soon. Edg

  • Excelente!...

  • Super 

  • Nice going here, McGar!!!

  • I had three copies of this album. We just kept wearing them out !

  • Boy Howdy! Did ever chemistry exist between a guitar player and an organist.

    Stop! has to be one of the all time great blues rock. It just takes one time and you're hooked.

    Doc4blues

  • Is the guy in the suit Tom Wilson ?

  • I had the super sessions album back in the 70's nice to see the video lol

  • I think I purchased this LP no less than five times......love every track. Wore out all 5 LPs......

    The group from Minneapolis.....Eddy Bungalow reminds me of this styl.....

  • fantasmista Te pienso mucho...

  • Al is the best unknown blues and rock and roll talent. He was on hundreds of recording sessions with so many rock gods .. including his Hammond organ improvisation on Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone. He formed The Blues Project (flute thing) and made the only good Blood, Sweat and Tears record, was on Super Sessions, wrote This Diamond Ring too.

  • @11xzxzxz According to Al, Al did not start The Blues Project and only got invited when they needed an organist for a (failed) audition.

  • mike at his best I feel

  • Michael Bloomfield was the best guitar player I ever saw & I saw many in San Francisco from 1965 through 1970. I went to see the musicians in the world almost every weekend. The two that stood out & I tried to make all their gigs were Michael Bloomfield & John Cipollina.

  • thankyou

  • Mike is just so awesome! Listen to those clear and tasty licks! How much fun could that have been! Oh to go back it time and to be "somebody"! Ha Ha!! Just fantastic!! Joey Vaughan "World Blues Attack"

  • love u Al and Mike, you are so special too me. When i grow up i want to be just like you.play with the same emotions

  • Mike was the best guitarist I ever saw (his tone appealed to me the most!). I saw him with Roger Troy on vocals around 74, and also at Winterland, SF. 30 years gone and his wonderful presence is missed deeply. Please see this awesome page:

    mikebloomfieldamericanmusic

  • otro video de la época estimado Roberto

  • The way bloomfield expresses himself through music most of the time almost moves me to tears, and makes me want to pick up the guitar for the 3rd time. The way he looks playing is the way I feel when i hear it. Which in turn makes me want to strive to play like that one day.

  • where can i find more videos with real footage of mike bloomfield?

  • Bob dylan said Michael Bloomfield was the best guitar player he had ever seen!!

  • @saintstephen74

    AMEN BABY!

  • @saintstephen74 Nowhere.

  • @McGarVision Mike Bloomfield then must have said that Bob Dylan was the worst guitarist ever seen.

  • @sperontas actually he is not that bad!

  • @saintstephen74

    Bob Dylan was a born again Christian. What's your point?

  • @saintstephen74 well maybe bob dylan is blind or he said so because they were from the same religion.

  • THIS IS A REALLY COOL TRACK. Surprised that I haven't heard it before. Thanx for posting it :)

  • @bsatom Michael suffered from insomnia , plus he wasn't really all that enthused by the project.

    He felt it was a calculated move by Al Kooper and the record company's part to call it "Super Session".

    Al addressed this in his book "Backastage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards".

    He said when he was in Tower Records NYC upon the album's orig. release and it was sailing over the counter Mikchael would be disgusted.

  • love it when i come across something new to me and i like it in an instant!!!!!!!!

  • Κeyboards.....RESPECT

  • is al still kickin

  • Those sessions were super indeed. Agree about the guitar sound. Cuts like a knife.

  • Groooveee...

  • I can never get tired of this tune. Great chord progressions! This song makes time stop still for me.

  • @wapzilla wicked song to jam, they just kind of chill on the E and then the progression is D, A, E. Simple but fun

  • Mike Bloomfield, such an amazing guitar player, artist, person...RIP.

  • Fucking Killer Guitar Tone.

  • @LesPaulBearer ... fukkin' killer organ too! !;-)

  • kant stop watcing this kraaazy videoh!!!!

  • This tune from "super sessions " is my fav. Bloomfield's playing and sound are great.

  • Ever since this came out it has blown my mind -every time

  • i love how real they all are, cant even stand that camera there pokin in thier faces

  • haha no offense or anything but how does that make them "real"?

  • faaaannnnntastick

  • suweeeeeeet! This was one of my faves back in the day, and it still cooks!

  • ssssSSSSMOKIN'!!!

  • ultraaa super session!!!one of the kind;)

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  • that bass line is funky!

    good band

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  • GREAT music - love the melody lines. Mike Bloomfield - legendary guitarist (with a 59 Les Paul). Al Kooper - one of my all time fave organ players, with Greg Allman and Steve Winwood...

  • thanks for posting it

  • This is my fav vid on ytube. Nice work on the collaboration.

  • It puts me back in Laguna Beach, CA, circa, 1969. Thanks for this. It was beautiful.

  • This was from a very good time for me and probably many others too. its difficult to believe that m1 korgs were around in 1968

  • They weren't. This is a self created video by me and is not footage from the actual recording sessions.

  • thanx

  • Thank you very much for sharing.

  • nice.............. sweet. Fantastic.

  • Fabulous footage and a sound that sounds as fresh today as it did when it was first recorded. Great music like great art gets better with time.

  • This is sweet as molasses.

  • AWESOME..Part of the soundtrack of my

    life! Thanks guys!! Keep it up Al and

    Michael, wish you were still here.

  • Al IS STILL HERE.

  • alive and kicking, huh/

  • Move over Jimmy Smith! Hey heeeey!

    Love Child is Father thanks

    McGarVision for this great timeless stuff.

  • THX THX THX a ton man.... like this one so much

  • Like many suffers from manic depression aka bipolar Michael Bloomfield, had he lived and given proper treatment might have lived and had a more productive life.

    Those were different times and he self medicated.

    Michael has always been a blues hero of mine R.I.P.

    Ed Ward wrote a great book about Michael "The Fall And Rise Of An American Guitar Hero". Somewhat hard to find ,but well worth it.

  • Jan Wolkin's book about Mike--available on Amazon--is definitive

  • I gotta disagree about the Wolkin book being "definitive.

    I read it, liked the free cd of early acoustic Mike.

    But overall the Ed Ward book covered much more "in depth", lots of cool/interesting trivia etc.

  • I've read the Ed Ward book, it is indeed a good read.

  • @GalaxyRover1020 Yeah, Ed Ward's book is something you gotta read if you love this stuff... I saw Amazon had some used, about $40. Bloomfield, you'll see in the book, took a courageous path in life... abandoning sure comfort and wealth to follow a dream... if there is a God, I'd like to think he's got Michael Bloomfield covered.

  • @bbouck Oh yeah, I mean think about the money Mike Bloomfield came from and his father's aspirations for him and the disgust that he felt with the path Michael took i.e. playing the blues in life. His father often ridiculed him as a kid for playing "that fruit box".

    Michael was the real thing, just like Stevie Ray Vaughan

  • @GalaxyRover1020 THANK YOU. I've come to MB kinda late (I'm 38). Don't know how I missed him. I've always loved the Dylan stuff, just never looked into who was playing on it. He's everything I love about guitar playing. Bluesy w/out the cheese with a touch of the Americana. I am buying the book now.

  • @FlippityFlopFlop

    Very cool, by all means get The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - S?T debut and "East / West" albums.

    If you really wanna hear some great Bloomfield guitar work get Nick Gravenites - My Labours album. The live track "Your Killing My Love" is a fine example of Michael's tastefulness,skill, and phrasing.

    His best solo imo.

  • Ahhh yes...the Hammond B3, Leslie spinning speakers, nothing quite like it to this day...thanks for posting. Awesome. Is this blues? or is this jazz? how sweet it is...no matter.

  • This is a place that is pure jazz.

    I think that while Al Kooper is not the most technically proficient Organist, he created scenes for Michael to soar in, for this he deserves our eternal gratitude.

    With some good "dagga" this number can take you anywhere you want to go.

  • This is Music,Beautiful to your Ears,What a Great musicians ,god bless them Al still alive and Mike Rest in peace,Thank you guys for the great music.

  • i love this

  • Thanks for Super Session, one of my favs. Diamond Soul is correct in his writings. You have to remember the times back then. People didn't take drugs just to be a part of their peers; the war in Nam was on, protests were huge, racial unrest was everywhere, looking at the news@6pm was the most depressing show of all. So many from that era live with PTSD. Plus the intellectuals knew the was wasn't fighting politics; it was all about the rubber in Nam. People were doing drugs to numb themselves.

  • Good points, except great numbers of kids DID take drugs just to be part of their peers back then. Just like now.

    If you didnt smoke at a concert, you just werent cool. Pass it down to me, bro!

  • Yes, being on top of your peers is always a cause for concern at that age. What I do know is that there were groups divided into categories in my section of the country. There were heads, intellectual heads, ditzy heads (lol) and so on. Those that smoked etc., to follow weren't into activism for the idealism either. Nor did they even know about politics. They just were into the drugs for the drugs sake and what it did for them. Just making a sociological point here, not dissing anyone, either.

  • One of my all time favorite albums! THANKS!

  • wow :|

  • Excellent document!

    Thanks for this video, man!

  • Why is it that these young men with such a rare gift let their talents go to waste by killing themselves with drugs ?  I think not only of Mike Bloomfield, but Tim Buckley and Gram Parsons. There are many others we all can think of.

  • You must understand that the people you're talking about have very little choice regarding use or don't. You're being unrealistic if you think they can just put it down. Say a prayer tonight for the addict still out there.

  • Why? I think a few reasons. First one being that it can be a pretty shitty world out there, and so they used drugs to make it more tolerable.

    And if you're playing the blues with such a depth to it, you've obviously experienced your share of misery.

    Second, and tons of people will not agree with me, I don't care, but drugs can make music better. The people that will disagree just simply have not experienced this. If you get a really good high you enjoy and understand music better.

  • Well stated DiamondSoul.

  • Totally agree with Diamondsoul-that was my experience, but you need look no further than, say, John Mayall, who certainly was no saint, and still managed to live to a ripe old age, doing it as good as anyone. Not to mention he wrote "Accidental Suicide", clearly delineating the difference between opening the doors of perception vs. addiction and death.

  • Good call by DiamondSoul above.

  • superrrrrrrrr session....nothing more nothing less!!! just masterpieces...blues power men ...BLUES POWER!!!

  • Bloomfield was Dylan's first choice for lead guitar in his band and was real disappointed when he opted for Butterfield Blues Band.

  • 5+ thanks.

  • awesome!

  • Bloomfield was The Man!

  • and so was Al Kooper!

  • I know what you mean & Al was great.

    He had that classic Al sound from Dylan days.With all respect to him who I like a lot he was great keybord player for a guitar player but Bloomfield was like Willie Mays. Lot of people could play like Al after they heard him. Lot of people couldn't play like Mike after they heard him. Lot of people tried-He was The Man

  • @6749er , yes he was

  • super bluse 5 star