The Blues Project - Two Trains Running - Live 1981

THE BLUES PROJECT -LIVE INTERNATIONAL CASINO,NYC MARCH 17,1981 One of the first album-oriented, "underground" groups in the United States, the Blues Project offered an electric brew of rock, blues, folk, pop, and even some jazz, classical, and psychedelia during their brief heyday in the mid-'60s. It's not quite accurate to categorize them as a blues-rock group, although they did plenty of that kind of material; they were more like a Jewish-American equivalent to British bands like the Yardbirds, who used a blues and R&B base to explore any music that interested them. Erratic songwriting talent and a lack of a truly outstanding vocalist prevented them from rising to the front line of '60s bands, but they recorded plenty of interesting material over the course of their first three albums, before the departure of their most creative members took its toll. The Blues Project was formed in Greenwich Village in the mid-'60s by guitarist Danny Kalb (who had played sessions for various Elektra folk and folk-rock albums), Steve Katz (a guitarist with Elektra's Even Dozen Jug Band), flutist/bassist Andy Kulberg, drummer Roy Blumenfeld, and singer Tommy Flanders. Al Kooper, in his early twenties a seasoned vet of rock sessions, joined after sitting in on the band's Columbia Records audition, although they ended up signing to Verve, an MGM subsidiary. Early member Artie Traum (guitar) dropped out during early rehearsals; Flanders would leave after their first LP, Live at the Cafe Au-Go-Go (1966). Kooper also provided the band's instrumental highlights with his glowing organ riffs. The live debut sounds rather tame and derivative; the group truly hit their stride on Projections (late 1966), which was, disappointingly, their only full-length studio recording. While they went through straight blues numbers with respectable energy, they really shone best on the folk and jazz-influenced tracks, like "Fly Away," Katz's lilting "Steve's Song," Kooper's jazz instrumental "Flute Thing" (an underground radio standard that's probably their most famous track), and Kooper's fierce adaptation of an old Blind Willie Johnson number, "I Can't Keep from Crying." A non-LP single from this era, the pop-psychedelic "No Time Like the Right Time," was their greatest achievement and one of the best "great hit singles that never were" of the decade. The band's very eclecticism didn't augur well for their long-term stability, and in 1967 Kooper left in a dispute over musical direction (he has recalled that Kalb opposed his wishes to add a horn section). Then Kalb myseriously disappeared for months after a bad acid trip, which effectively finished the original incarnation of the band. A third album, Live at Town Hall, was a particularly half-assed project given the band's stature, pasted together from live tapes and studio outtakes, some of which were overdubbed with applause to give the impression that they had been recorded in concert. Kooper got to fulfill his ambitions for soulful horn rock as the leader of the original Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he left that band after their first album; BS&T also included Katz (who stayed onboard for a long time). Blumenfeld and Kulberg kept the Blues Project going for a fourth album before forming Seatrain, and the group re-formed in the early '70s with various lineups, Kooper rejoining for a live 1973 album, Reunion in Central Park. The first three albums from the Kooper days are the only ones that count, though; the best material from these is on Rhino's best-of compilation. Danny Kalb - guitar, vocals Steve Katz - guitar, vocals Al Kooper - keyboards, vocals Andy Kulberg - bass, flute Roy Blumenfeld - drums

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Two
• Trains
• Running
• Blues
• Project
• Wake
• Me
• Shake
• Projections
• Al
• Kooper
• Steve
• Katz
• Danny
• Kalb
• Flute
• Thing

[RockC67]

one night I played this song 12 times in a row and I wasn't even high.

[dataonpc]

Thanks for this.

I saw these guys at the Fillmore Auditorium, SF, in April and November of 66, then in February of '67.. 'Two Trains Running' for 20+ minutes? Yessss.

Crazy, insane, amazing?

It was, it was, it always was.

Lou Reed (Velvet Underground) made many comments about how innovative this group was, and it's now very obvious that he made much of the tempo and phrasings originally built by The Blues Project's Al Kooper.

Great great stuff, thanks.

[pithoragar4]

fantastic blues fever....

[pbesmer]

They were as big as any American group in 1965-66 in NYC. They played live in the village clubs, and every show was different,and so electric. To this date, they have the best versions of so many classic blues songs. Their talent was there, with the great Al Kooper and Danny Kalb, who still perform in NYC area. Get eh first two albums

[xenos1949]

Simply Epic in it's original version in 1966-67. Never Equalled as a white blues

[Lucenablues]

PURE BLUES!!!

[blusmahn]

This is what 60's music was all about! These guys had it down for the short time they were together.And in the reunions over the years.Every recorded version was magic!

[skipwaytube]

great to hear this. great vocal by Danny. It certainly brings back some memories. I was a part-time doorman at the Matrix in SF when the band did a series of shows there in '67. I also wrote a half-assed music column for the student paper at SF State, and Verve put a quote from a Blues Project review I did on the back of that half-assed (rightly characterized) album you mentioned! --Skip Way

[blusmahn]

There exists a video of this tune at Al Kooper's 50th Anniversary Bash at the Bottom line from 1995.Other videos from the bash have surfaced here.Would someone with access PLEASE post it! A lot of us would DIE HAPPY to see it.Not to mention the others it would turn on to this powerful and REAL musical form!

[spacepatrolman]

that picture is taken at the house of oldies I used to go there one time al kooper road up on a bicycle they had a british copy of fresh cream on the wall with spoonful i heard it in a juke box on 23 rd street with sandoz by the animals and cities by the moody blues