Al Kooper

Rare & Well Done is a 2001 double CD compilation by Al Kooper. Released by Legacy Columbia, one disc features nothing but demos (the "rare") while another disc features songs that are known and loved (the "well done"). This CD was released on 18 September, 2001.

This is the 4th solo album from rock and roll wunderkind Al Kooper. He congregates two very distinct bands - one in London and the other in Los Angeles - to accompany some of his most emotive compositions to date. This is ironic when considering the title track is a paean to the Big Apple. The UK aggregate consists of musicians from Hookfoot, including Herbie Flowers (bass), Caleb Quay (guitar) and Roger Pope (drums). The band were fresh from several collaborations with Elton John, most notably his third studio effort Tumbleweed Connection.

If Al Kooper isn't a living American musical legend, no one is. Who else has performed with Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Hendrix and countless others? And not just performed but been an important component of legendary songs (how about the Hammond organ on both Dylans' Like a Rolling Stone and The Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want)? As a solo artist he is best known for his work as a founding member of both the Blues Project and Blood Sweat and Tears. Many more famous recordings have followed and lead us to this great selection - a CD that is, in my opinion, a classic: a two-CD Al-fest. Recorded live at NYC's Bottom Line, Al performs his great tunes from the Blues Project and Blood Sweat and Tears, as well as his solo recordings such as I Stand Alone. The excitement from the packed audience is only rivaled by the intensity Al and the band bring to such classics as I Can't Quit Her, Somethin' Goin' On and New York City (You're a Woman). It's Blues, Jazz, Rock and Roll and a great time, as only Al Kooper can bring.

The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper is a double album recorded at the Fillmore West venue; the album is a successor to the studio album Super Session, which included both Bloomfield and Kooper in addition to Stephen Stills, and had achieved commercial and critical success earlier in 1968. The performances, recordings and production cannot be described as flawless; in his sleeve notes, Kooper describes the difficulties of finding rehearsal space, Bloomfield's insomnia, and the failure of a vocal microphone during "Dear Mr Fantasy"; the track "I Wonder Who" is faded during a Bloomfield solo for no apparent reason. Nevertheless, the album remains an important, if raw, document of a live blues-rock performance of the period and, apart from its intrinsic qualities, is notable not only for one of the earliest live recordings by Carlos Santana but also for Bloomfield's debut as a vocalist. Whilst he is not historically noted in this role, in "Don't Throw Your Love on Me So Strong", according to Kooper, "he displays consummate homage to the traditional guitar-voice trade-offs; a lesson in phrasing and understanding."

Super Session is an album conceived by Al Kooper and featuring the work of guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills, released on Columbia Records in 1968. Bloomfield and Stills do not play together on the album, with tracks including Bloomfield on side one, and those including Stills on side two. It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified a gold record by the RIAA.

Super Session is an album conceived by Al Kooper and featuring the work of guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills, released on Columbia Records in 1968. Bloomfield and Stills do not play together on the album, with tracks including Bloomfield on side one, and those including Stills on side two. It peaked at number 12 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified a gold record by the RIAA.

Super Session is an album conceived by Al Kooper and featuring the work of guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. Bloomfield and Stills do not play together on the album, with tracks including Bloomfield on side one, and those including Stills on side two. It peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified a gold record by the RIAA.

Kooper Session is the second-in-line of the Super Session albums featuring singer-songwriter Al Kooper. Joining Kooper in the guitar slot is 15-year-old phenomenon Shuggie Otis, son of legendary rhythm and blues pioneer Johnny Otis. Divided into two halves, "The Songs" (a quartet of arranged gospel and rhythm and blues tracks) and "The Blues" (a trio of improvised blues tracks), the album, like Super Session before it, was quickly recorded and featured short, succinct tracks ("Double or Nothing", "One Room Country Shack") and fluid, drawn out jams highlighting the talents of the artists ("12:15 Slow Goonbash Blues", "Bury My Body").

An Al Kooper anthology featuring Mike Bloomfield, Bob Dylan, Steve Stills, Shuggie Otis, Paul Simon. Includes live material.