The Blues Brothers - Briefcase Full of Blues
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Free Music Notes for Briefcase Full of Blues
Free Music Review: One of my all-time favorite "Tribute" albums!
Hit: 5 Stars
Who'd have BELIEVED a pair of white comedians would have wound up doing an album of R&B and Soul music THIS DAMN GOOD??? It started out as a joke on SNL, but with the aid of the best session players in the business (who at the time made up the SNL band!) BRIEFCASE FULL OF BLUES became a reality that outlasted the comedy that spawned it. EVERY song a classic, recorded live with style, class, POWER and panache-- MAN do I love the sound of a big band horn section doing "rock & roll"! I still remember at first not being sure about John Belushi's singing on this. Is he joking? Is he real? After a few plays it just didn't matter-- the recordings were just SOOOOO good! Of course "Soul Man" is the most well-known, but EVERY song here is a stand-out, with "B Movie Box Car Blues" one of my faves-- it builds and builds until it finally reaches that wild, explosive climax. WOW!!I only wish the CD would have included "Excuse Moi Mon Chere", the "B" side of the "Soul Man" 45. What kind of oversight is that?
Like others have said, BRIEFCASE... introduced me to songs & artists I might never have heard otherwise, for which I remain grateful. Of the 6 (count 'em, 6!) albums to date by The Blues Brothers Band, this is my favorite. A VERY close follow-up is 1992's RED,WHITE AND BLUES, where the band proved they could make SENSATIONAL recordings even without Belushi. (Take it from me-- if you like this, RW&B will blow your mind!!!)
Free Music Review: Blues Duke, What Have You Ever Done?
Hit: 5 Stars
Hey "Blues Duke".....What have you ever done in your life? Calling Belushi "overrated" etc is a really courageous critique. At least they tried something and didn't sit jealously behind a keyboard and write meaningless drivel. Belushi was a genius. You, obviously, are not. Good luck with your hugely successful life.Free Music Review: this ain't no joke!
Hit: 5 Stars
The Blues Brothers were no joke, nor a gimmick. They WERE on a mission from god, and that is to keep the next generations connected to the Blues, or at least to know it exists. Elwood's (Dan Akroyd) prophecy about "the music we hear today" is just a re-programmed electronic music and the existence of Blues only in "the classical department of your local library" is not far from reality today (the prophecy is brought to you free of charge in track 1). So the two "brothers" took their blues (big) band (featuring Matt guitar Murphy, Blue Lue Marini, Alan Rubin and others), and recorded some easy-to-listen tracks, mostly covers to Blues, Soul & RNB classics like "Soul man", "Messin' with the kid", "I don't know" etc. This CD features a great live performance with an excellent selection of songs. Each and every track gets its special treatment to make it "blues brothers style". Just listen to Willie Mabon's "I don't know" to know what I'm talking about.
I wouldn't want to use the whole 1000 words I have, so I'll just finish saying this is a 5 stars fun both for Blues fans (like myself) and for those who don't listen to the Blues on a regular basis. Enough. Just Buy this one!
Free Music Review: The Joke, Such As It Was, Is Long, Long Gone By Now...
Hit: 2 Stars
I still can't decide whether Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi - be honest: they defined "overrated" and Belushi, shamefully enough, made a career out of the concept that plain screwing up without a comprehensible cause was a virtue - were merely playing their audiences for fools or whether they were being that serious about the blues and soul classics they took on the road after an apparent one-off "Saturday Night Live" musical gag caught lightning. The frightening part is that both possibilities may be accurate, but whichever it was, this album still rings with only too many false notes, even if the twosome could afford to pay some of the prime players (especially stellar bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn) who made Southern and Chicago soul what it once had been to back them up for it. And it's debatable whether Aykroyd and Belushi really did do all that much to keep the music alive, since most of their sources were still finding takers by the time they rolled around - and still do today. The result is that "Briefcase Full of Blues" sounds as much contemptuous as it does contrived, though Aykroyd, at least, sounds sincere enough that you can't help wondering whether the contemptuous would have disappeared if Belushi (one of the most shamefully overrated talents of his era, comic or otherwise) hadn't been in on it. It probably tells you all you need to know about the 1970s that this became a best seller and that people actually missed the joke (which wasn't exactly that funny in the first place) and took it as serious stuff. Almost three decades later, though, what little charm it had is almost inaudible. The real stuff - and, the covers thereof which at least show some real respect and feeling for the music - is plenty enough available.
Free Music Review: Fun Blues!
Hit: 5 Stars
I remeber listening to some of the songs on this album with my dad when i was really young, silly as hell, I love it :) I remember really liking "rubber biscuit" I dont own this album but I do want to buy it for nostalga....I couldnt really get into the movie, though I liked the massive car chase near the end :) If you have the money and the impulse to buy this album, do it! its cool man heheh