Mike Bloomfield / Al Kooper / Steve Stills* – Super Session

I haven't found it here in the database , but I seem to have a Canadian Quad pressing ... the only other Quads I've seen are US or Japan

This was a record store recommend. I did not like the placement of the horns but found the album quite enjoyable. We did not get many releases like this one.

Bloomfield and company shreds on the side one demonstrating why he was the still the pioneering dylanesque Chicago blues king of 66 and 67. Unfortunately Bloomfield can't make the second half of the session... Issues... Did not make the all important connection... In steps Stephen Stills to save the day and lays down the epic version of Season of the Witch! Kooper lays down some of best organ of his career! Agreed on the criticism of the horn section glued on later.

My favorite album of all times. Great in every way. Guitar playing keyboards and group amendment. All great musicians of the 60-70s are present here

The horns almost killed a stone classic...the CD version without horns, get it...a better, different album...particularly in "Season of the Witch"...

“Always, the best things happen after hours, by accident, while the cat’s away, when the moon goes behind a cloud and there’s no one else around ...,” these words were some of the full page of notes on the back of the record jacket ... these are the words that drew me in and sparked my attention ... yet these were only the words. What I was to find on the record in the summer of 1968 was nothing short of astounding, more then my young years could have dreamed of, and still today, this release rates on my list of top ten all time greatest albums.

The record was made by Al Kooper who was the founding member of Blood Sweat & Tears, Stephen Stills was from Buffalo Springfield and later to become a member of Crosby, Stills & Nash, along Mike Bloomfield of the famed Electric Flag. Both Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper had backed Bob Dylan on his earth shattering recording of Highway 61 Revisited, and Al Kooper had been a member of Dylan’s band when they took The Newport Folk Festival by storm, forever changing everything anyone ever thought they had known about music before. Along with these legendary musicians was drummer Eddie Hoh, bass guitarist Harvy Brooks, and keyboard player Barry Goldberg, who was also with Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival. The actual cause for Stephen Stills being present is under much speculation, though it is probably safe to say that if it had not been for the heroin habit of Mike Bloomfield, who just up and disappeared half way through the recording, Stephen would not have been present at all ... sometimes magic does strike from the ashes of tragedy.

Never the less, the session lasted nearly a full twelve hours of a hot humid New York night, and as the morning rays inched their way between the fingers of the city’s skyline, there were unimaginable reels of tape, still warm, with the artist only vaguely aware of what had been laid down that night. Once the haze had cleared and the engineers and producers were able to add their skills to the mix, the world of progressive blues would never be the same again.

This was more then an album, this was a jam session, this was a super session ... this, for me, was the period at the end of every musical sentence. There I was, a 17 year old girl, walking around with hard core blues under my arm, my friends were into The Beatles and The Stones ... but me, I was beginning to see the light, I was starting to understand so much, I was looking much more deeply ... I was totally out of my head with what I was hearing. There I stood, swaying back and forth in time to this crazy funky rhythm ... nodding my head to seriously bent guitar strings ... moving my shoulders in spasmodic gestures as these guys walked up and down the chords. This album was a gift from on high just for me, and I will hold it as the touch stone for nearly every piece of music that was to follow.

It’s hard to believe that this body of work was not scripted like some fine novel, because it certainly has all of those characteristics ... one musician points to the direction, the others follow, then another branches off, and still another takes the lead, then it all blends back together and into the next song without giving you the chance to exhale. There were new sounds here, there were new concepts being brought forward, there was a recognition of other great songs, as in the covering of Donovan’s “Season Of The Witch,” there were long flowing jams, as with “His Holy Modal Majesty,” and there were tiny sweet little gems, like “Harvey’s Tune.”

So if you’re out there and you think you know music, and you don’t have this release, or even worse, don’t know this album by heart ... GET YOURSELF TO THE MUSIC STORE, and for once in my life I will suggest that you try and find a real record, yes, the vinyl ... this music needs to be handled as much as it needs to be heard.

*** Sad but true: Along with the stereo version of the album it was released also as a quadraphonic version back in the 1970s. Quadraphonic was released on SQ-encoded vinyl and discrete 8-track cartridge tape.

Later in 2000s, it was intended that it would be remixed for the new 5.1 channel version to be released on SACD. But in late 2004 Al Kooper released this statement: To the best of my knowledge, based on an unnamed source, the new head of SONY/BMG shut down the 5.1 SACD department and let everyone go. A year and a half ago I remixed Super Session and Child Is Father to the Man for them in 5.1 SACD. They both came out incredible and so I mastered them with Bob Ludwig. Now it seems they will languish on the shelves under the current administration of SONY/BMG … thi is typical, in so many ways.”

The reason for this was that a legal challenge had been made that Super Audio discs contain up to three complete recordings of a work: one in the Hybrid CD compatible layer, and two in the SACD layer, a stereo version and a possible multiple channel version. If this is true, record companies could be legally liable for up to three sets of royalties. Since this would make the record much more expensive, it appears that most companies are avoiding this issue by simply canceling the release of the SACD version. Kooper said, “Have finished an eye-opening 5.1 Surround SACD mix of Super Session. This has got to be the finest way to listen to music if it is prepared correctly. So many people are doing it in the digital domain and losing the sonics of the sixties, as it were.” Kooper used as much analog technology as he could, saying, [i]“Both these CDs were approached with their original bravado will be great demonstrators of SACD 5.1 Surround systems. So have patience and it will be rewarded in March 2004 … hopefully.” However, this date passed without the album being released.

Super Session was released in a limited edition Hybrid CD-SACD format by Audio Fidelity Records in September 2014, using the previously prepared Al Kooper 5.1 mix for the multichannel layer.

Review by Jenell Kesler

This is a highly under rated album. The songs are simply fantastic. Albert's Shuffle starts out just dripping with soul. Later the horns kick in and add build an energy His Holy Modal Majesty starts out exploring the sonic artifacts of an electronic keyboard with a finite number of voices before taking you on a sonic Odyssey. Season of the Witch is just crazy good. Strong builds that zenith and release. On You Don't Love Me Anymore they put the flanger on the whole damn thing. It's some fantastic psy blues/rock. Don't get me wrong, the other songs are good too, these are just four stand outs that will definitely please especially if you're a fan of 60's psychedelic and blues.

If I were taking 25 albums to a desert island, this would be one....