The Peak
PHILIP S WOLF | SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, CA. USA | 08/16/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This will indeed sound corny, but in 1968, this 12" vinyl LP changed my life.
"Super Session" is a: "one of a kind". This fantastic LP features Mike Bloomfield { Guitar on tracks 1 - 5 } and Stephen Stills { Guitar on tracks 6 - 9 } Al Kooper, is present on the whole thing on keyboards & vocals.
Listen to Michael Bloomfield, from the opening notes of: "Albert's Shuffle" right through to the fade out of track 5: "Really"... you don't get guitar this good very often. With blues, jazz, space & soul all mixed up in one package, and there is not ONE wasted note played anywhere on this record.
The tracks featuring Steve Stills are a WAH WAH pedal gore fest. Stephen, was learning lead guitar from Jimi Hendrix, around this time and it does show. It's good, but not as good as Bloomfield, and Stephen's tracks tend to show their age more as a: "period piece" because of all that wah wah effect.
As for Mr. Kooper, he's very good on this one, his keyboards add great color to: "Super Session." Al, plays something like a synthesiser before synthesisers were in the hands of rock musicians ("His Holy Modal Highness.")
There is a bit of conflict over the horns being added on to many of the tunes, so as a Bonus "Albert's Shuffle" & "Season of the Witch" are both presented here in versions without the brass so you can be the judge of what sounds better.
Two more bonus tracks: "Blues for Nothing" & "Fat Grey Cloud" are yanked from the vaults. They are O.K. jams, but nothing to phone your ma about.
The sound on this edition is Excellent, this release has never sounded better and that says a lot, because this classic has been re-done and re-issued many times over.
Few people reach the "peak" but Bloomfield, Kooper & Stills did get up there and it's mighty nice up at the top!
FIVE STARS !!!"
Groovy, man...
myieke | sydney | 05/03/2005
(4 out of 5 stars)
"This album is quite an ecclectic mix, with a distinct style difference with each artist which helps break up the album nicely. The Bob Dylan cover 'It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry' gets a tempo change and the Donovan classic 'Season Of The Witch' also gets a great treatment! This album opened my eyes, and made me appreciate music a whole lot more..."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1