The Blues Brothers: Briefcase Full of Blues / The Blues Brothers / Made in America

A little history (from wiki) how some actors scored a million seller album: The Blues Brothers are an American blues and rhythm and blues revivalist band founded in 1976 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live. Belushi and Aykroyd, in character as lead vocalist "Joliet" Jake Blues (named after Joliet Prison) and harmonica player/backing vocalist Elwood Blues (named after the Elwood Ordnance Plant, which made TNT and grenades during World War II), fronted the band, which was composed of well-known and respected musicians. Belushi and Aykroyd first appeared as a singing duo on Saturday Night Live on January 17, 1976. As "Howard Shore and his All-Bee Band" they played the Slim Harpo song "I'm a King Bee", with Belushi singing and Aykroyd playing harmonica, dressed in the bee costumes they wore for the "Killer Bees" sketch. Aykroyd rented a place he called Holland Tunnel Blues bar. He filled a jukebox with songs from many different artists and got amplifiers and instruments for anyone who wanted to jam. It was here that Aykroyd developed the original story idea of the Blues Brothers. It was also at the bar that Aykroyd introduced Belushi to the blues. An interest soon became a fascination. The Toronto-based Downchild Blues Band, co-founded in 1969 by two brothers, Donnie and Richard "Hock" Walsh, served as an inspiration for the two Blues Brothers characters. Aykroyd initially modeled Elwood Blues in part on Donnie Walsh, a harmonica player and guitarist, while John Belushi's Jake Blues character was modeled in part on Hock Walsh, Downchild's lead singer. In their first album as the Blues Brothers, Briefcase Full of Blues (1978), Aykroyd and Belushi featured three well-known Downchild songs closely associated with Hock Walsh's vocal style: "I've Got Everything I Need (Almost)", written by Donnie Walsh, "Shot Gun Blues", co-written by Donnie and Hock Walsh, and "Flip, Flop and Fly", co-written and originally popularized by Big Joe Turner. All three songs were contained in Downchild's second album, Straight Up (1973), with "Flip, Flop and Fly" becoming the band's most successful single, in 1974. John Belushi's budding interest in the blues solidified in October 1977 when he was in Eugene, Oregon, filming National Lampoon's Animal House. He went to a local hotel to hear 25-year-old blues singer/harmonica player Curtis Salgado. After the show, Belushi and Salgado talked about the blues for hours. Belushi began to appear with Salgado on stage, singing the Floyd Dixon song "Hey, Bartender" on a few occasions. The Blues Brothers band made its second appearance as the musical guest on the April 22, 1978 episode of Saturday Night Live. They performed "Hey Bartender". With the help of pianist-arranger Paul Shaffer, Belushi and Aykroyd started assembling a collection of studio talents to form their own band. These included SNL band members, saxophonist "Blue" Lou Marini and trombonist-saxophonist Tom Malone, who had previously played in Blood, Sweat & Tears. At Shaffer's suggestion, guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, the powerhouse combo from Booker T and the M.G.'s and subsequently almost every hit out of Memphis's Stax Records during the 1960s, were signed as well. Belushi wanted a powerful trumpet player and a hot blues guitarist, so trumpeter Alan Rubin was brought in, as was guitarist Matt Murphy, who had performed with many blues legends. The Blues Brothers recorded their first album, Briefcase Full of Blues, in September 1978, at a live performance when they opened for comedian Steve Martin at Los Angeles' Universal Amphitheatre. With the film came the soundtrack album, which was the band's first studio album and the band toured to promote the film, which led to a third album (and second live album), Made in America. Since the death of Belushi in 1982, the Blues Brothers have continued to perform with a rotating cast of guest singers and musicians. They reformed in 1988 for a world tour and in 1998 for a sequel film, Blues Brothers 2000. They make regular appearances at musical festivals worldwide.

Album: Briefcase Full of Blues
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 1978
Styles: R&B
Time: 39:44
Size: 91,2 MB
Covers: Full

(1:50) 1. Opening: I Can't Turn You Loose
(2:55) 2. Hey Bartender
(2:59) 3. Messin' with the Kid
(3:21) 4. (I Got Every Thing I Need) Almost
(2:59) 5. Rubber Biscuit
(5:31) 6. Shot Gun Blues
(3:44) 7. Groove Me
(4:19) 8. I Don't Know
(3:02) 9. Soul Man
(4:33) 10. "B" Movie Box Car Blues
(3:38) 11. Flip, Flop & Fly
(0:48) 12. Closing: I Can't Turn You Loose

The Blues Brothers began as an affectionate joke-cum-tribute to R&B music, and taken in that spirit it retained its entertainment value, even after this live album topped the charts, sold two million copies, and produced hit singles in "Rubber Biscuit" and "Soul Man." The guardians of popular music have always been entirely too reverent and humorless, however, and it wasn't long before they were leveling charges of rip-off against the Brothers and complaining that John Belushi couldn't sing as well as Otis Redding. So what? No one seems to have noticed that Belushi was as obsessive about citing his sources as Frank Sinatra is about naming his arrangers -- you'd have thought those critics would have appreciated the footnotes. The beneficiaries of Belushi's encomiums didn't mind the increased exposure or the renewed royalty checks ("I suggest you buy as many blues albums as you can," Belushi told the audience), and even today, what comes across in these performances is the sincerity of feeling -- that and some tasty playing from a top-notch band. -- Allmusic.

Briefcase Full of Blues

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Album: The Blues Brothers (Original Soundtrack)
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 1980
Styles: R&B
Time: 41:00
Size: 94,5 MB
Covers: Full

(4:12) 1. She Caught the Katy
(3:49) 2. Peter Gunn Theme
(3:09) 3. Gimme Some Lovin'
(2:51) 4. Shake a Tail Feather
(3:25) 5. Everybody Needs Somebody to Love
(2:58) 6. The Old Landmark
(3:16) 7. Think
(2:39) 8. Theme from Rawhide
(3:26) 9. Minnie the Moocher
(7:51) 10. Sweet Home Chicago
(3:18) 11. Jailhouse Rock

Comic actors John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd received a lot of flak for their Blues Brothers shtick -- mostly for the albums, not 1980's beloved classic film. But they should be given credit for exposing many people -- including this reviewer -- to the music of blues and R&B veterans. The Blues Brothers soundtrack was released on Atlantic Records. On the surface this doesn't seem unusual, since the Blues Brothers' Atlantic debut, Briefcase Full of Blues, was a number one album; but the movie was released by Universal, and its parent company, MCA, passed on the soundtrack. The rollicking remake of the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'" was a hit, featuring an arrangement notable for the horn section that replaces Steve Winwood's rumbling organ work. Ray Charles has a good time with "Shake a Tail Feather," and he's helped out by Jake and Elwood Blues (Belushi and Aykroyd, respectively). The cover of Solomon Burke's "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" is a lot of fun, thanks to the great overall rhythm and Elwood's lightning-fast stage rap, while James Brown and the Reverend James Cleveland Choir provide a blast of gospel music on "Old Landmark." Aretha Franklin's "Think" is explosive, and Cab Calloway's "Minnie the Moocher" is slyly irresistible. Charles, Brown, Franklin, and Calloway all have small roles in the film, yet so does John Lee Hooker, but he's not represented here. -- Allmusic.

The Blues Brothers

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Album: Made in America
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Source: LL (from CD)
Released: 1980
Styles: R&B
Time: 33:50
Size: 78,0 MB
Covers: Full

(2:06) 1. Soul Finger
(3:33) 2. Who's Making Love?
(2:55) 3. Do You Love Me
(3:41) 4. Guilty
(2:05) 5. Perry Mason Theme
(3:31) 6. Riot in Cell Block #9
(5:46) 7. Green Onions
(2:44) 8. I Ain't Got You
(3:25) 9. From the Bottom
(4:01) 10. Going Back to Miami

The Blues Brothers are a band that, regardless of their own quality, ultimately did more harm than good by influencing an endless stream of horrible imitations. This pet project of John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd featured top session players and had great taste in song selection, but Jake and Elwood also spawned thousands of terrible white R&B cover bands and made possible the soulless House of Blues franchise. Made in America is easily the band's weakest album; Briefcase Full of Blues has a sincere grit and energy and the Blues Brothers original soundtrack is filled with vibrant guest spots from ringers like Aretha Franklin and James Brown. On this third release, however, after the propulsive opening salvo of "Soul Finger" and "Who's Making Love?," everything slows down and the highlights become thin. "Do You Love Me" is clumsy and "I Ain't Got You" is by the numbers. Most of the famous session players from the first two LPs remain as Jake and Elwood's crack backup band. Bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn and guitarist Steve Cropper from Booker T. & the MG's are still the soul of the Blues Brothers, and Matt "Guitar" Murphy rips out a mean solo once in a while. Of course, this remains musical director Paul Schaffer's baby, so nothing gets too raw. "Who's Making Love?" was the hit single, a rousing version of Johnnie Taylor's 1968 R&B smash that is as good as it gets musically on Made in America. As for the stars of the show, Aykroyd's stage raps are usually hilarious, a deadpan mix of jingoistic politics and junkie hep-talk, but Randy Newman's depressing torch song "Guilty" is harrowing in Belushi's hands, as the theme of self-destruction is all too appropriate for his life at the time. It's eerie to hear the audience cheer him on after a line like, "Got some whiskey from a bar/Got some cocaine from my friends." Made in America was the last official Blues Brothers release before Belushi's 1982 death, but Aykroyd saw fit to resurrect the band 15 years later with Jim Belushi and John Goodman vainly trying to fill the real Jake's big shoes. -- Allmusic.

Made in America

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