Mike played probably better blues than anyone. Johnny Winter didn't take a chance with a soulful band like this or he might have surpassed this stuff but this is the all time best blues player hands down. Winter is definitely the best blues/rocker of all.
This isn't one of my favorites of Bloomers, the Super Session Alberts shuffle, was unreal in it's development. Mike said his best blues solo was on 'Gettin Hard' the Trip. That's hot stuff. but personally the one that is transcendent to me is Another Country on the Flag lp. Completely unique the best solo of the era!
@Scifitravels - abso-fucking-lutely. I bought Super Session when it first came out. A moment in time equal to Clapton's Crossroads or Hendrix' Machine Gun. Best blues guitar ever, bar none.
@sllmmar - I just finished doing a 3 week Zappa intensive, whereby I immerse myself (mostly u-tube) in a particular artist to better my playing since the musicians in L.A. are the most cowardly snobs in the world - anyway, it takes me about 20 seconds of Vai to reach boredom of vomitous proportions. How can a player listen to Hubert Sumlin or Lightnin' Hopkins or Bloomfield and not pick up a shred of soul?
Mr. Bloomfield was a hotshot rock player in his teens, then he got hip to blues and just happened to be just about the best young blues player around, black or white. Ask Buddy Guy. Good ear, The BrownDog, very Bluesbreakers Clapton here, and sometimes I can play like that, sometimes not. It's easier when I'm pissed (angry, not drunk).
This is a James Oden song. Not Howlin' Wolf. Although Howlin' Wolf did cover this song. But so did a billion other bluesmen. & many many many before Howlin' Wolf.
Mike shows no mercy to that Les Paul. He could make it call him daddy. I sure miss him. I miss him as much as Hendrix, almost. They both were genuine innovators of the highest order.
i was gunna say this reminds me of the bluesbreakers with clapton mixed with the moving sidewalks. im a massive psychodelic blues fan, cant believe this got past me. but i gotta say, i wonder if theres a single blues band in the world who hasnt done goin down slow ;-)
couple years ago there was a survey by a slew of great guitar players. they chose roy buchcanan as number one. saw him in santa cruz, he is the man! but robbie krieger, eric bloom,j. winter, martin barre tommy bolin,clapton, hendrix,bloomfield,hooker,henry vestine, tony iommi,alvin lee, how can you choose one?
possibly not the greatest guitar work technically speaking, he really does stay around the same fretts, but my god does it really give the song some ballocks. probalby adds more this way than it ever could if it were more technically sound. pluss awesome tone!
EC, you did it good.. But this was my virgin experience ! (Pale kid in a segregated CHICAGO- back then) It still Excellent, + seeing it here- for /others to discover!/
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
A lot of the bands back then had very mediocre musicianship (it was new developing music and most of the musicianship was primitive) whereas today there's a thousand drummers better than Ringo or Charlie Watts & a thousand guitarists better than Clapton or Hendrix. Not to diminish those pioneers who were inventing & learning as they went along. The kids today start where the pioneer inventors left off. They stand on their shoulders. The Stones made great records 40 years ago but still suck live.
I can agree that a lot of music was crap. Only the guitar had some distortion everybody loved it. Still since Im a guitarist myself youngsters today are skillful but lack the feeling and inovation these pioneers had. Its not just a matter of being fast. Steve Vai could be very boring after 15 min listening for example.
@sellammar Before "Clapton is GOD" it was Mike Bloomfield. And Chuck Berry.
I read an interview with Bloomfield in which he said it isn't about playing 500 notes fast; it's about how well one plays a single note. Then he went and played 500 fast.
@sellammar actualy Vai is a fantastic musician who has more than just speed but a sense of melody. Of course compared to the great Mike Bloomfield and most of the famous blues guys from this era he's nothing but still.
@nintendonut100 I don't agree with you. Even if his music is based on guitar,he's really "overacting". When I'm listening to this kind of music, I'd rather check guitarists like Jeff Beck. He's got a really unique sense of melody, compared to Vai. As a guitarist, even if I'm technically and musically far away from both of them,I'd rather want to kick out great (simple) licks, that people don't except from a regular electric guitarist(and musician) like beck than being mainly fast.Just my opinion
@Harvesterofmetal well, you are entitled too your own opinion, I disagree, and really I may have exagurated his abilities, Vai is technically great, and for a technician is a briliatn musician, as it is I guess maybe he's just a very good one lol. but hey musical taste is subjective
I disagree with you...the kids today have no soul when it comes to playing music.Clapton,Hendrix,and Chuck Berry created their own sound,and had soul.All the music today sounds the same...unless your underground.
@stevespelling - Oh ignorant one ... you know not of what (and who) you speak. It's a thing called soul - a thing that comes in all colors, all ages, all kinds of music. It's a thing that has to be learned and earned. But read about, then listen to the ones with soul and you are at least on your way. Broadside slams about the musicians of the past - or even about the musicians of today - indicate only your own lack of Heart and Soul.listen to Heart and Soul by Coleman Hawkins.
buenisimo de verdad me encanta el blues ,,y no necesariamente tienes que ser negro ,solo tienes que tener alma nada mas....me gusta la bateria de buddy miles ,en marzo de este año murio en fin tremendo blues ,,valla michael blomfieldla guitarra,,
Had this album in the early 1970s. Let's here it for Michael Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites. Great "blue-eyed soul." Great album cover, by the way. Loved it as a youth.
"Goin' Down Slow" was written and originally recorded by "St Louis Jimmy" Odom.
normathumb 3 months ago
Mike played probably better blues than anyone. Johnny Winter didn't take a chance with a soulful band like this or he might have surpassed this stuff but this is the all time best blues player hands down. Winter is definitely the best blues/rocker of all.
whocares1694 3 months ago
ﾏｲｸ･ﾌﾞﾙｰﾑﾌｨｰﾙﾄﾞの剃刀ｷﾞﾀｰ･ｿﾛだ!～ｴﾚｸﾄﾘｯｸ･ﾌﾗｯｸﾞ時代、才人ﾆｯｸ･ｸﾞﾚｲヴﾅｲﾂも懐かしい～ﾛｯｸ躍動期だﾈ!
blackandtanful 4 months ago
ORIGINAL COMPOSER IS ST.LOUIS JIMMIE ODEN
THIS IS ELECTRIFIED VERSION BY MIKE BLOOMFIELD
yungsu100 4 months ago
cover fatta in modo eccellente.
Milly244 5 months ago
Ahh...the musical illiterates are out in force.
Easleytee 10 months ago
it's hard to take a traditional blues song and turn it into this man, just WOW!
fuzzycuddles 10 months ago
Comment removed
lanzova 11 months ago
This isn't one of my favorites of Bloomers, the Super Session Alberts shuffle, was unreal in it's development. Mike said his best blues solo was on 'Gettin Hard' the Trip. That's hot stuff. but personally the one that is transcendent to me is Another Country on the Flag lp. Completely unique the best solo of the era!
socrates1818 1 year ago
@Scifitravels - abso-fucking-lutely. I bought Super Session when it first came out. A moment in time equal to Clapton's Crossroads or Hendrix' Machine Gun. Best blues guitar ever, bar none.
bamboosa 1 year ago
@sllmmar - I just finished doing a 3 week Zappa intensive, whereby I immerse myself (mostly u-tube) in a particular artist to better my playing since the musicians in L.A. are the most cowardly snobs in the world - anyway, it takes me about 20 seconds of Vai to reach boredom of vomitous proportions. How can a player listen to Hubert Sumlin or Lightnin' Hopkins or Bloomfield and not pick up a shred of soul?
bamboosa 1 year ago
ok perhaps not the best version of going down slow but mike bloomfield does prove that he can make a good tight recording with a great guitar solo
9mej 1 year ago
This is so fine -- But I can only say-- Johnny Winter
GARYTEXAS 1 year ago
Mr. Bloomfield was a hotshot rock player in his teens, then he got hip to blues and just happened to be just about the best young blues player around, black or white. Ask Buddy Guy. Good ear, The BrownDog, very Bluesbreakers Clapton here, and sometimes I can play like that, sometimes not. It's easier when I'm pissed (angry, not drunk).
bamboosa 1 year ago
@bamboosa
Bloomfield, Kooper, and Stills "Super Session" album still blows my mind.
Scifitravels 1 year ago
Don't know why but it's not on my CD and it's the same LP..great tune...;) Thanks!!!
jcronin97 1 year ago
@jcronin97 this wasnt on the original album,just some cd reissues.
qsergyuko 1 year ago
This is a James Oden song. Not Howlin' Wolf. Although Howlin' Wolf did cover this song. But so did a billion other bluesmen. & many many many before Howlin' Wolf.
stealyourface73 2 years ago
Mike shows no mercy to that Les Paul. He could make it call him daddy. I sure miss him. I miss him as much as Hendrix, almost. They both were genuine innovators of the highest order.
msaintpc 2 years ago 2
The guitar solo is very reminiscent of Clapton's Bluesbreakers style phrasing tone etc
aleester 2 years ago
i was gunna say this reminds me of the bluesbreakers with clapton mixed with the moving sidewalks. im a massive psychodelic blues fan, cant believe this got past me. but i gotta say, i wonder if theres a single blues band in the world who hasnt done goin down slow ;-)
TheBrowndawg 2 years ago
Chicago blues rule!
flamencoprof 2 years ago 3
American blues, from an American music band! :)
Jenscool 2 years ago
Wow, great!
neduddgi 2 years ago
easy-going pleasure...really nice and pleasant
hilletektelen 2 years ago
oooo awesome is totally different !
very acid and rytmic
i really love this song, the guitar solo are great and the piano wow the other world
:D
PsicosisGotica 2 years ago 2
sorry, spelled it wrong, its buchanan and he ripped on green onions. why do so many guitarist kill themselves
magnusv100 2 years ago
couple years ago there was a survey by a slew of great guitar players. they chose roy buchcanan as number one. saw him in santa cruz, he is the man! but robbie krieger, eric bloom,j. winter, martin barre tommy bolin,clapton, hendrix,bloomfield,hooker,henry vestine, tony iommi,alvin lee, how can you choose one?
magnusv100 2 years ago 3
Enjoy them all :)
flickerman68 2 years ago
shame they include peter green
kennoshannon 2 years ago
dang... i heard leslie west do a version of this.. holy shit....
custardpie40 2 years ago
aww fuck man. this is some great music.
syea99 2 years ago 3
yeah... I love the whole album.
TBonePickensetc 2 years ago 2
yummy --- thanks for posting
888blues 2 years ago
possibly not the greatest guitar work technically speaking, he really does stay around the same fretts, but my god does it really give the song some ballocks. probalby adds more this way than it ever could if it were more technically sound. pluss awesome tone!
stuartcoyne85 2 years ago
@stuartcoyne85--- how stupid are you---you said " possibly not the greatest guitar work technically speaking,"
GARYTEXAS 1 year ago
fuc*ing great
PetieFr 3 years ago
Electric Flag, Electric Prunes, Electric Everything!
allzappa55 3 years ago
Wow! Mike Bloomfeild!, what a great blues!
frankleroux 3 years ago 6
Love the Electric Flag,are there no videos available? Stupid remarks from Stevespelling.
theodorus45 3 years ago 2
I went about listening to nearly all of the covers of this song,and this is the leanest and meanest!!
bayridgegroove 3 years ago 2
Fantastic song from a great band!
1960jack 3 years ago 3
Sugar is sweet and we all know speed kills.....eom
reefrunner9 3 years ago
wow...what a song..pretty groovy!!Thank you..:-)
much love and peace from germany
gomera222 3 years ago 3
EC, you did it good.. But this was my virgin experience ! (Pale kid in a segregated CHICAGO- back then) It still Excellent, + seeing it here- for /others to discover!/
TREYOLDHIPPIE 3 years ago
Sugar Ray Norcia on vocals!
Vernuft 3 years ago
They were an awesome band. & One of the few that could actually play their instruments in those days.
stevespelling 3 years ago 3
Who couldnt play their instruments back then?
Its more so what you say today
DBprep8 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
A lot of the bands back then had very mediocre musicianship (it was new developing music and most of the musicianship was primitive) whereas today there's a thousand drummers better than Ringo or Charlie Watts & a thousand guitarists better than Clapton or Hendrix. Not to diminish those pioneers who were inventing & learning as they went along. The kids today start where the pioneer inventors left off. They stand on their shoulders. The Stones made great records 40 years ago but still suck live.
stevespelling 3 years ago
I agree about the drummers, but thousands better than Hendrix?
hoogachoga 3 years ago 9
I can agree that a lot of music was crap. Only the guitar had some distortion everybody loved it. Still since Im a guitarist myself youngsters today are skillful but lack the feeling and inovation these pioneers had. Its not just a matter of being fast. Steve Vai could be very boring after 15 min listening for example.
sellammar 3 years ago 17
i hate to contribute to such a ridiculous set of comments, but steve i wish i could reach through your screen and give you a smack in the face.
BlueBlueFeelin 3 years ago
@sellammar Before "Clapton is GOD" it was Mike Bloomfield. And Chuck Berry.
I read an interview with Bloomfield in which he said it isn't about playing 500 notes fast; it's about how well one plays a single note. Then he went and played 500 fast.
JNagarya 1 year ago
@sellammar actualy Vai is a fantastic musician who has more than just speed but a sense of melody. Of course compared to the great Mike Bloomfield and most of the famous blues guys from this era he's nothing but still.
nintendonut100 11 months ago
@nintendonut100 I don't agree with you. Even if his music is based on guitar,he's really "overacting". When I'm listening to this kind of music, I'd rather check guitarists like Jeff Beck. He's got a really unique sense of melody, compared to Vai. As a guitarist, even if I'm technically and musically far away from both of them,I'd rather want to kick out great (simple) licks, that people don't except from a regular electric guitarist(and musician) like beck than being mainly fast.Just my opinion
Harvesterofmetal 3 months ago
@Harvesterofmetal well, you are entitled too your own opinion, I disagree, and really I may have exagurated his abilities, Vai is technically great, and for a technician is a briliatn musician, as it is I guess maybe he's just a very good one lol. but hey musical taste is subjective
nintendonut100 3 months ago
I disagree with you...the kids today have no soul when it comes to playing music.Clapton,Hendrix,and Chuck Berry created their own sound,and had soul.All the music today sounds the same...unless your underground.
oramikleepunk 3 years ago 5
@stevespelling - Oh ignorant one ... you know not of what (and who) you speak. It's a thing called soul - a thing that comes in all colors, all ages, all kinds of music. It's a thing that has to be learned and earned. But read about, then listen to the ones with soul and you are at least on your way. Broadside slams about the musicians of the past - or even about the musicians of today - indicate only your own lack of Heart and Soul.listen to Heart and Soul by Coleman Hawkins.
arhatyellow 11 months ago
One of three or four best albums of the sixties!
nazno 3 years ago 6
Mid60's Bloomfield's reputation as a hero in US like Clapton in the UK.Love this tune.
Bluezking 3 years ago 6
I've been listening to Bloomfield a lot lately. So soulful.
BFreezy 3 years ago 6
Such great call and return blues. So dang soulful. I love the story the guitar tells. :) I never get sick of listening to this.
nowavo 3 years ago 3
One of the best Blues albums to this day!*****
Jenscool 3 years ago 3
buenisimo de verdad me encanta el blues ,,y no necesariamente tienes que ser negro ,solo tienes que tener alma nada mas....me gusta la bateria de buddy miles ,en marzo de este año murio en fin tremendo blues ,,valla michael blomfieldla guitarra,,
kavalierblues 3 years ago
Tasty stuff man!!!
15chipshops 3 years ago 4
wonderful! Awesome! Timeless! Still good all these years later!!!!!!
Toyboy789 3 years ago 5
Is this song even on that record?
j1d12 3 years ago
Bloomfield guitar.................
mandolinoelettrico 4 years ago 3
excellent 6 stars¡¡¡
fabriblues 4 years ago 4
Bloomfield was a god.
jhoenich 4 years ago
Had this album in the early 1970s. Let's here it for Michael Bloomfield and Nick Gravenites. Great "blue-eyed soul." Great album cover, by the way. Loved it as a youth.
FanOfJanis 4 years ago 3
Loved it then and love it NOW!
Jenscool 3 years ago 7
shit hot stuff !!!!
spadge321 4 years ago 5
Can't get hotter!!!!
Jenscool 3 years ago 5