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across a 45 by The Chambers Brothers – and the writer’s credit to the intense slow
blues of “Blues Stay Off My Shoulder’ was to Bobby. That piqued my interest…

Anyway, guitarist and rock star Carlos Santana also appreciated Bobby’s music.

He repays the favour by appearing on four tracks here, settling into jam mode.
They are fine, and should help shift a few more copies of this live set, but in my

opinion, Bobby’s at his best on the first few tracks of the second CD, where he is
in firm blues territory, the horns wailing, the guitar work strong and focused, and
Bobby singing extremely well—‘Nineteen Years Old’ sounds like Ray Charles

tackling Muddy Waters!

‘Watch Your Step’, the source of that aforementioned riff, is given a fine, energetic

work-out (and another wonderful vocal), but really, the whole two and a half hours
of this live set will certainly repay your attention. Do check it out.

Norman Darwen

Butterfield Blues Band—Live at the Fillmore
West, San Francisco 1966/ 70—Floating

Bridge FLOATM6475

Whilst John Mayall was leading the blues boom in
Britain, harp player and singer Paul Butterfield

had a (kind of) similar role in the USA, with the
advantage of being able to pop down to the local

blues club to see Muddy or any number of Chicago
blues artists – and could occasionally employ
some of them. On this set Billy Boy’s brother

Jerome is on bass and Billy Davenport on drums
on the first seven tracks, recorded in October 1966, alongside influential younger

musicians of the blues revival like guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop
and keyboards player Mark Naftalin. The two tracks from a 1970 show, find the
band augmented by a horn section.

The majority of the album is not exactly top-notch in terms of sound quality, but
it is pretty good for a mid-60s live set – and it makes up for this in terms of playing.

It is interesting to see a couple of Elmore James numbers – ‘Shake Your Money
Maker’ and ‘The Sky Is Crying’ start of the set, with some fine slide work, Albert
King’s ‘Oh Pretty Woman’, which was then of course a recent hit, and material

from Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2 (‘Help Me’) and The Falcons’ ‘You’re So Fine’.

‘Never Say No’, sung by Elvin Bishop, came from the band’s second album, “East

West”, whose title track is here rendered live, an expansive, eighteen minutes-plus
instrumental which balances Indian-flavoured playing with blues passages and