The Paul Butterfield Blues Band - "East-West"

[lexaproper]

American Blues; Chicagos' answer to Ravi Shanker ,Beatles eastern influence and smokin' hop....Paul shoulda dropped the done...

[idavidroller]

fabulous- album said on back - play loud - met Butterfield personally once- miss him

[Johnjjkk1]

This LP was so far ahead of its time.Its like Jimi hendrex electric lady ladyland But so far ahead of its time! The times I rushed out on this song on opium.It was fantastic And still is! John in FT Myers Fl

[StringTherapy]

most people think that the openning lead is Mike but it's actually Alvin...the East Indian style lead and the ending lead is Mike

[divisorplot]

jacks cow's name was buttercup

[DiamondEyeJack68]

absolutely stunning...Thanks!

[john111449]

For the guy who wants to know - the cover shot was done on one of the 'porches' of the Museum of Science and Industry in Hyde Park in Chicago - it is modeled after a Greek temple - Paul Butterfield grew up in Hyde Park

[Dbalx]

@john111449 so i am proud to be a greek man...

[62rome]

mike bloomfield is one of the best i've ever heard......sweet!!!!...

[strandwolf]

I think that Bishop's chops on this rivaled Bloomfield's...

[bluesleak]

@strandwolf man bishop's intro solo sets the whole mood for the track, both guitarist are incredible blues men and underrated

[Zemblan1]

Bloomfield has always been SO underrated... This is such an incredible song

[doneddaddy]

Heard the BBB as well as Super Session when I was in High School but did not really get the full impact until at 19 I moved to Chicago and ran in to some really hardcore Butterfield fans. Glad I got the learnin'!

[Aipaboy]

Best Ever Bloomfield!!!!! Saw it live in a rare appearance. Check out Super Session for some of the best Bloomfield around.

[jackinthebox96]

ha this is go great!

[DazedConfused1969]

what the fuck only this many views?

[cameltooth1]

Probably don't need to b stoned at all, to play it or listen to it. If u like that style, cool. If not, then that's cool. It is something other than the same old blues guitar, pentatonic scale. Even the common blues scale is taken from Indian and eastern music. Some people hear that stuff as wrong notes, but to me it is the coolest, interesting sounding music.

[klemdaniels1]

Man, how stoned do you need to be to get through this?

[huichol53]

Paul Butterfield totally blew me away in my last couple years in high school. Love them then , love then now. East West was at the type I was mesmerised by thank for playing some of the very finest...Huichol53........

[rhum66]

blues rock near to coltrane' star.

[Lige]

@rhum66

I just listened to this right after Coltrane's "Acknowledgement." I'm floating.

[michaudd61]

One of the best instrumental song ever! RIP PAUL & MIKE.

[mxterrorist]

When I was listened to the song for first time I was close to piss my pants! XD

[dying2self2000]

the 60's greatest instro psych song ever recorded!!

[trekkian88]

whoa.... I'm never gonna recover from this

[hamsterstavros]

daddy ? what is raga rock ? BBB !!

[tonychef1]

listening to this on a crap player from the back of a van on a hill late in a European summer evening over a hill of wheat - what more is paradise.

[slayerized86]

Mike fuckin' Bloomfield. They invented acid rock with this number. At least they were one of the first groups to get this kind of music on tape.

[killsclown]

Best jam ever recorded. Timeless.

[apachescalp]

@killsclown YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY CORRECT KCLOWN! THE SOLOS ON THIS SONG REALLY HIGHLIGHT SOME OF THE BEST TALENT OF THE PERIOD....

[UniversalPictures0]

@apachescalp YOU FUCKIN WANKER. SHUT UP

[Nassangler]

This music is like hearing from an old lost friend. This was my love-making music in the late '60s and hearing it now brings back some memories!

[gorgeredfield]

I can not believe only 11,950 hits on this UT site, these guys are unreal !!!

[FrequentlyFried]

hits the wrong note at 11:23 lol this song is crazy awesome regardless..it's musical fusion! So real andd raw.

[ziselchaia]

Yes & 40 years later it's still one of the best solos I've ever heard in my life!

[blercari]

when i was 15, this what i thought was interesting music and i played it over and over.

[MrDrewlips]

stoned

[TheBlueCream]

remeber when this came out..was only a kid but i loved it back in the 60s and I still do now!..gr8 post, thanks !

[StringTherapy]

This song is what the 60s was all about...I remember hearing this song and "The Flute Thing" by The Blues Project commming out of the head shops in Height Ashbury all the time ....when I hear this I close my eyes and I'm back there... I can feel the breeze on my face, smell the air, feel the pavement under my feet,... feel the excitment of SanFrancisco, The Be-Ins at Golden Gate Park... What GREAT TIME IT WAS TO BE ALIVE....aww the memories....OK back to reality, thanks for posting this.

[ThomasDeLello]

East West... If you like this album and want to hear more from the same lineup then you must look to find a fairly rare old record on vinyl called "Sammy Lay in Bluesland" on Blue Thumb Records Catalogue # BTS 8814. Mike's solo on Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Bethoven" will blow you away, and there's more there too.... seriously.

[earthless1990]

nice jam with indian influence

[earthless1990]

1966? incredible

[raymind1313]

Who is this---Ravi Shankar on electric guitar and a Marlboro burning in the ashtray?

[doneddaddy]

Bloomfield - Butterfield went from a Blues rag to and Indian Raga style and just blew it all apart. I just remember hearing this for the first time and wondering how long they could sustain it.......... forever!

[jeffthrow6892]

I'm not sure words can quite express just how amazing & influential this masterpiece was & is........

[CadillacL]

@jeffthrow6892 Words wouldn't do it justice.

[bowmanindustry]

Wasn't his father mayor of Minneapolis?

[cs868]

@bowmanindustry Naftalin's father was Mayor I believe. I think he (Mark Naftalin) lives in the Twin Cities area now.

[killsclown]

All life favorite here. I played this for my guitar picking son last year and he fell out. Just dropped his jaw and went woa. Sorta the same way I reacted first hearing this in 1966. Play this at my funeral please.

[Angryjazz]

Just ridiculous... so far ahead of it's time. If this had never happened and I were to see a band break this off now, I would consider them the Greatest Band On The Planet, at least for the moment of that performance.

[naclean91]

I can still hear this resonating in the dark corners of the Fillmore.

[silversurfer2002]

the breakout half way thru is one of the finest bits of travelling crystal guitar sound ever...

[splaticon5]

Even though I'm born 40 years too late and have never been to the place, first thing that pops into my mind when I hear the opening chords of this song is "San Francisco"

[gkbjork]

PB - They were the BEST!!! - Turned me away from the Beatles and into the blues - and ultimately - JAZZ!

[madpoet27]

such an egyptian-sounding song.

[529Reno]

I have not listened to this in YEARS, but sat and listened to this tonight...WOW! It makes you say, " what happened to real music?" Ohhhh the memories of seeing these guys and listening to them. I feel priveleged to have seen them live and to have listened to this album when it first came out.

[agapefriend04]

HUGE THANKS to whoever posted this....

I am 16 - it's Bristol, England... and this Chicago 'Blues-band' - BLOWS MY BRAIN!!! music SO 'outside' - so bold - risky - and NEW.... I got lost in this lengthy and OH SO INFLUENTIAL piece from 1966 - pre-dating most everything... sad Paul B. is no longer with us...

[pepperdineu1]

Ahhh! Bloomfield and Bishop! I recall many a happy moment listening to this through the head phones!

[TheXeorge]

the heck with the photo, what about the music

[TheXeorge]

this is an example of the master full musician ship of guitar playing by Mike Bloomfield, not to take away any credit from the the rest of the group of well seasoned musicians that accompany him on this classical piece of rock and roll blues fusion. Just listen to the various types of music incorporated into this complicated piece of rock blues fusion along with an India influence, Arabic and Country , truly a classical composition of the highest standard .

[TheXeorge]

@TheXeorge this is an example of the finest music ever committed to vinyl

[mbmanray]

@TheXeorge - thanks for that comment! dam straight - blues masterpiece!

[voltage1069]

Thanks for the insight on the location of the East West cover shoot. Much appreciated!

Cheers! Corey...

[rdoyle567]

I was one lucky studio musician who got to play on drums on three songs on the, East-West Album when there drummer, Sam could not be in the studio that day. Thanks guy's, Roger D.

[DannyDelReyo]

@rdoyle567 Whoa, really nice. What songs did you play on?

[hobonotabum]

SAW THESE GUYS IN WINNIPEG IN THE 60s pure muscianship no gimmicks no flash bang just beautiful music

[silversurfer2002]

I agree with everything everyone has said...pure magic and a million wonderful moments as backing for my life

[voltage1069]

Does anyone know where the location for the East-West album cover was? Those impressive statues look great flanking the band members.

[DannyDelReyo]

@voltage1069 The Science and Industry Museum in Chicago.

[voltage1069]

@DannyDelReyo

Thanks for that info. I was always curious where that cover shoot took place. There are so many beautiful buildings in Chicago and its fitting that those Chicago boys chose a timeless location for East West.

[DannyDelReyo]

@voltage1069 Indeed, a really nice photo of one of the best albums - period. Though I haven't been in Chicago I can't speak of it in that way, but I will surely that monument.

[mrbag60]

The song East-West had to be one of the first or the first of a long line of great 60's/early-70's psychedelic jams. According to the Wiki page on the song, quoting Mark Naftalin the organist, much of it was based on an all-night LSD trip primary songwriter/guitarist Michael Bloomfield had in the fall of 1965 where he supposedly had a revelation into the workings of Indian music. Whatever inspired Bloomfield and the band, it still blows my mind hearing it over 45 years after its release.

[alnot01]

45 years have come and gone and electric guitar solos have not improved on what Mike Bloomfield did on this landmark album. Ditto for Butterfield on the blues harp. I like the jazziness in the rhythm section and.the modal explorations a la Coltrane. Bloomfield could have been a great jazzman.

[GregoryWonderwheel]

There is music just as good as this, but none better. This is quite a love song. Pure love of life.

[walkerjack368]

I'm now going on to be 62 this year,and my best buddy and I were into the blues in 1965-7...and beyond. We dug the first 2 Butterfield albums, thats my youth man ! what a harp player !! Hey ! Still sounds good now, you old hound-dog ! Jack Devonport Tasmania Australia

[GregoryWonderwheel]

@walkerjack368 LOL! I'm 61 too and this was definitely the sound track of my teens also.

[DIGtas1]

@walkerjack368 Wow man must have been great to live in that time! greetings from launceston tas.

[smplyrgr4u]

Anybody remember the "Filmore Fingers" and Thursday night auditions?

[Poetchants]

I wore this song out in my basement bedroom when it was released. Candles and joss sticks burning. The lead break starting at 7:14 is transcendent. The percussion floats perfectly like a horse flying through the clouds. It was seminal to so many bands from Allman Brothers to Santana to Doors.

[DazedConfused1969]

@Poetchants Lol i always thought it sounded like duane and dickey and the doors i know what you mean

[GoatBeach]

I am continually wearing the vinyl out, each weekend, as therapy, for this weary world as it wears upon me.

[Josephineflymachine]

Im not very known with this band, it's that I'm writing something about Robby Krieger, and as you all may know is that this band was a great inspiration for him..

[hswatnik]

good going, thnx-

[xMackTheFingerx]

this song is simply brilliant. 

[mrallcz]

Pieknie sobie graja. ;-)

[Ryangabrinetti]

my favorite guitar solo of all time, no contest

[solcit8]

excelent !!! thanks

[19thSFGA]

WOW ! this is outstanding thanks for posting this. Im just stunned

[wavepainter]

That's the ticket.....Beauty full !!!

Thank you.

A very important tune in the long serious story of the blues.

Africa to Chicago and beyond.

Paul Butterfield – vocals, harmonica

Mike Bloomfield – electric guitar

Elvin Bishop – electric guitar lead vocal on "Never Say No"

Mark Naftalin – piano, organ

Jerome Arnold – bass

Billy Davenport – drums

[clearskyseo]

@wavepainter

Mike Bloomfield is not peripheral, but the first solo is butterfield on harp, and Elvin Bishop on guitar owns entire parts of this piece.

the crescendo passages are classic. Beethoven must have been proud to hear it.