Search - Mike Bloomfield :: It's Not Killing Me

Thank you blues gods, for making this available now

John F. Browning | 02/01/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Say what you will! This one gets knocked regularly because Mike wasn't the equivalent of Howlin' Wolf on the vocals - he sounded like Mike, a really beat voice: a bit blase, bemused and confidential, like an old buddy singing to you over the grammophone. Probably not for everyone, but the vocal equivalency of the strange R Crumb cartoon guys - if Flakey Floont sang, he might have sounded like this.



Which is not to knock this at all, no - this is definitely one of my all time favorites from back in the daze when I had it on 8 track and drove around in my Rambler Station Wagon listening to it non-stop. That low-tech ambiance, you know, served it well.



Which is also not to say that there isn't some blistering guitar on here, there is. Its just not front and center. I think Mike was done trying to impress himself and was just laying down some tunes with the essence of Mike in them.



These are some low-down, blues-content songs from the heart of the hippie vibe: idiosyncratic, loopy and arresting in casual stoner manner.



I put it up there with "Paul Butterfield Blues Band", "Highway 61, Revisited", "My Labors", "A Long Time Comin'" and "Supersession" as among the great Bloomfield stuff available.



An overlooked, misunderstood masterwork."

But it sure sounds like it!

tin2x | Staten Island, NY USA | 03/01/2003

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I hate to use a bad pun in the title of the review, but really, this is a CLUNKER! Michael Bloomfield, great blues guitarist? Not on this album. Here the focus is on singing, never the guy's strong suit. Well here he really stretches his limited vocal capabilities thin. The tracks are either laid back blues songs or country and western numbers! Yup. Don't Think About It Baby might be the only good thing here. Well Goofers is ok too (much like his 70's instrumentals in some respects).The best way to describe this album is that it is like his 70's stuff on CD (this is from '69). The problem is that the best moments here are the toss aways from those later albums. The worst moments here are really so terrible as to almost be funny. ...P>As a note I'm not knocking Bloomers as a singer. Stuff like "Sammy Knows How To Party" is well suited to his limited range and skill, but here his voice is laid bare and there isn't enough stellar guitar work. To be honest it is VERY laid back. According to Guitar Player some more Kooper & Bloomfield stuff is coming out. Wait for that. You need to be one heck of a completist to need this. Trust those of us who have paid (in every sense) for it."

Pioneering Alt-Country - Not for electric blues fans

Rico | Bridgeport, CT United States | 03/04/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"After reading a couple of dismal reviews for this CD, I just had to put in my two cents. Don't buy this album if you're looking for examples of Bloomfield's smoking electric blues. But don't judge it on that basis, either. If your mind is closed to country music, or if you're strictly a blues purist, of course you won't like this. But when judged as a roots music album, I think it holds up very well. In fact, I put this in the same category as Clarence White-era Byrds, Gram Parsons, and Nashville Skyline-era Dylan as being a pioneering alternative-country album. It's really interesting when you consider the tie-ins with Bloomfield's band The Electric Flag and Gram Parson's band The Flying Burrito Brothers. A fascinating story of Americana music starts to unfold. I think this album will ultimately come to be viewed as a missing link of sorts to an audience such as subscribers to No Depression magazine. Sure the vocals are an acquired taste (hence the four star instead of five star rating), but anyone with patience, an open mind, and an appreciation for American folk, country, and blues forms will instantly recognize the vitality of this essential recording."