Super Session is an album by singer and multi-instrumentalist Al Kooper, with guitarists Mike Bloomfield on the first half and Stephen Stills on the second half. Released by Columbia Records in 1968, it peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard 200 during a 37-week chart stay and was certified gold by RIAA.[4][5]
| Super Session | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 22, 1968 | |||
| Recorded | May 1968 | |||
| Genre | Blues, rock | |||
| Length | 50:11 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | Al Kooper | |||
| Mike Bloomfield chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Al Kooper chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Stephen Stills chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [3] |
| Rolling Stone | (positive)[2] |
Background
editAl Kooper and Mike Bloomfield had worked together on the sessions for Bob Dylan's ground-breaking classic Highway 61 Revisited, and played in the backing band for his controversial performance with electric instruments at the Newport Folk Festival in July 1965. Kooper had recently left Blood, Sweat & Tears after they recorded their debut album, and was now working as an A&R man for Columbia Records. Bloomfield was about to leave the Electric Flag, and at a loose end. Kooper telephoned Bloomfield to see if he was free to come down to the studio and jam; Bloomfield agreed, leaving Kooper to handle the arrangements.[6]
Kooper booked two days of studio time at CBS Columbia Square in Los Angeles in May 1968, and recruited keyboardist Barry Goldberg and bassist Harvey Brooks, both members of the Electric Flag, along with well-known session drummer "Fast" Eddie Hoh. On the first day, the quintet recorded a group of mostly blues-based instrumental tracks. It included the modal excursion "His Holy Modal Majesty", which was a tribute to modal jazz musician John Coltrane, who had died the previous year, and was also reminiscent of "East-West" from the second Butterfield Blues Band album. On the second day, with the tapes ready to roll, Bloomfield returned to his home in Mill Valley in the San Francisco Bay Area, saying he had been unable to sleep.[6]
Needing to have something to show for the second day of booked studio time, Kooper hastily called upon Stephen Stills, also in the process of leaving his band, Buffalo Springfield, to replace Bloomfield. Regrouping behind Stills, Kooper's session men cut mostly vocal tracks, including "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" from Highway 61 and a lengthy and atmospheric take of "Season of the Witch" by Donovan.[7] Although Harvey Brooks's closing "Harvey's Tune" includes overdubbed horns added in New York City while the album was being mixed, the album only cost $13,000 to complete.
The success of the album opened the door for the "supergroup" concept of the late 1960s and 1970s, as exemplified by the likes of Blind Faith and Crosby, Stills & Nash. Kooper forgave Bloomfield, and the two of them made several concert appearances after the album was released. The results of one of those became the album The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper.[8]
Releases
editAlong with the stereo version, Super Session was released as a 4-channel quadraphonic version in the 1970s. The quadraphonic version was released on SQ matrix encoded vinyl and discrete 8-track cartridge tape. On April 8, 2003, Legacy Records reissued the album on compact disc with four bonus tracks, including both an outtake and a live track with Bloomfield, and two with the horn overdubs mixed out.
In the early 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 commented:
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 ...Typical, in soooo many ways."[9]
Both 5.1 remixed SACDs were released in 2014 by Audio Fidelity. The original quadraphonic mix of Super Session was released on Hybrid SACD by Sony Records Int'l in 2023.
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Albert's Shuffle" | Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield | 6:43 |
| 2. | "Stop" | Jerry Ragovoy, Mort Shuman | 4:23 |
| 3. | "Man's Temptation" | Curtis Mayfield | 3:25 |
| 4. | "His Holy Modal Majesty" | Kooper, Bloomfield | 9:13 |
| 5. | "Really" | Kooper, Bloomfield | 5:29 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry" | Bob Dylan | 3:30 |
| 2. | "Season of the Witch" | Donovan Leitch | 11:07 |
| 3. | "You Don't Love Me" | Willie Cobbs | 4:12 |
| 4. | "Harvey's Tune" | Harvey Brooks | 2:09 |
| Total length: | 50:11 | ||
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10. | "Albert's Shuffle" (2002 remix without horns) | Kooper, Bloomfield | 6:58 |
| 11. | "Season of the Witch" (2002 remix without horns) | Donovan Leitch | 11:07 |
| 12. | "Blues for Nothing" (outtake) | Kooper | 4:15 |
| 13. | "Fat Grey Cloud" (in concert at the Fillmore West, 1968) | Kooper, Bloomfield | 4:38 |
Personnel
edit- Al Kooper – vocals, piano, Hammond organ, Ondioline, electric guitar, twelve-string guitar
- Mike Bloomfield – electric guitar on side one, reissue tracks 10, 12, 13
- Stephen Stills – electric guitar on side two, reissue track 11
- Barry Goldberg – electric piano on "Albert's Shuffle" and "Stop"
- Harvey Brooks – bass guitar
- Eddie Hoh – drums, percussion
Additional personnel
- Horn section – unknown session players; arranged by Al Kooper and Joe Scott
- Fred Catero, Roy Halee – engineering
- Martin Greenblatt – digital mastering
Charts
edit| Chart (1968-69) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard Top LPs[10] | 12 |
| Canadian RPM 100 Albums[11] | 15 |
| Dutch Hitparade[12] | 18 |
| US Cash Box Top 100 Albums[13] | 18 |
| US Record World Album Chart[14] | 14 |
| Chart (1972) | Peak position |
| Spanish Album Charts[15] | 25 |
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
| Italian Album Charts[16] | 87 |
Certification
edit| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[17] | Gold | 500,000^ |
|
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
References
edit- ^ Planer, Lindsay. "Super Session - Bloomfield-Kooper-Stills". AllMusic. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
- ^ Brody, Jim (October 12, 1968). "Records". Rolling Stone.
- ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
- ^ "Gold & Platinum". RIAA. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
- ^ "Mike Bloomfield". Billboard.com. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
- ^ a b "Biography: part 2". Michael Bloomfield: An American Guitarist. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
- ^ "MikeBloomfield.com". Archived from the original on 28 March 2006. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
- ^ SuiteLorraine.com Archived December 4, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Blogcritics.org (PDF)". Archived from the original on 25 June 2006. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
- ^ "Stephen Stills". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
- ^ Canada, Library and Archives (2013-04-16). "The RPM story". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
- ^ "Super Session". hitparade.ch. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
- ^ "Cash Box Magazine: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". Worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
- ^ "Record World Magazine: 1942 to 1982". Worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
- ^ Salaverri, Fernando (2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
- ^ "Italian Chart Positions" (PDF). Italycharts.com.
- ^ "American album certifications – BLOOMFIELD / KOOPER / STILLS – SUPER SESSION". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved June 9, 2016.