Roger Waters and Graham Nash on The Band.

@bdp24 
About "Elton John and Bernie Taupin (Bernie says Tumbleweed Connection was Elton and his attempt to make an album like the s/t brown album)", luckily they failed in their original attempt and made a great album.

... and the opinions of edcyn, boxcarman, and tonix are every bit as valid as the opinions of any of those others listed. Can't tell somebody they're wrong if they don't happen to like something that you do.

I don't like jazz (for one example) - it's great and there are loads and loads of musicians who do, but all those musicians are not going to make me like jazz, and for me, I am not wrong...

I agree @larsman. My invitation for other Audiogon to voice THEIR opinion does not conflict with that position.

One other thing bdp4. I’m jealous you got to see Mike Bloomfield and the Electric Flag. How was that Electric Flag show. What a fabulous and original blues guitarist. to have seen. His Live at Bill Graham’s Filmore West album is an all time favorite. It’s a terrible shame he self destructed the way he did.?

If you’re ever near Roanoke stop by and you can listen to some fairly obscure Bloomfield albums from in his heyday that I’ve collected over the years. I don’t have his later stuff, when he must of have been drugged out, as his decline too painful to listen to. He was cookin’ when he was playing with the Electric Flag though.

Sorry I missed seeing him. Missed a chance in my high school years to see Cream too. I didn’t have the eight bucks to go with some friends to see Clapton and company when they played the Fillmore East in NYC. Caught him later on a bill with Dylan in the late 1970's Clapton’s playing was pretty bad at that point though, due to substance abuse too.

Mike

@skyscraper: Nice to use real names Mike ;-) .

The first time I heard Bloomfield was the same as for most people: on the 1965 Paul Butterfield Blues Band debut album on Elektra Records. That was the first exposure to real Blues (as opposed to the imitation Blues of the UK bands like The Yardbirds) for myself and my fellow white suburban teenagers. Blew our Minds! I think every band in the Santa Clara Valley (home to San Jose) played "Born In Chicago" in 1966, including mine. That song, by the way, was written by Nick Gravenites, later the singer in The Electric Flag. Playing bass and drums on the album are Jerome Arnold and Sam Lay from Howlin’ Wolf’s band. It don’t get more Blues than that!

Around the same time, Dylan heard Bloomfield play, and brought him into some recording sessions. And on his 1965 album So Many Roads, John Hammond Jr. had Robbie Robertson and Levon Helm of The Hawks playing guitar and drums, as well as Charlie Musselwhite blowing harp. Bloomfield has recounted the story of showing up at a Hammond session, intending to play guitar. Already doing just that was Robertson. Bloomfield says when he heard Robbie’s playing, he decided to move over to piano ;-) .

Anyway.....in the summer of 1968 I attended the Santa Clara County Folk/Rock Festival, held on the County Fairgrounds property. The 12 noon opening band that day was a local one: Fritz. Two members of Fritz were guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks. Just another San Jose Garage Band ;-). The Electric Flag were scheduled to go on in the late afternoon (5 or 6 iirc), and as their time slot approached all band members---including drummer Buddy Miles, who at 19 years of age was playing in Wilson Pickett’s band!, bassist the mighty Harvey Brooks, and pianist Mark Naftalin---were onstage, milling around. Also on stage were four black guys holding saxes---two baritone, two bass. Have you ever seen a bass sax? It’s HUGE!

Conspicuously absent was Mike Bloomfield. Gravenites walked up to his mic and apologized for the delay, saying Mike was on his way. After about fifteen minutes (during which time we all took a "cigarette" break ;-) I heard clapping starting behind me (I always sit close to the stage, so as to be able to clearly see what the musicians are doing), and running through the audience towards the stage was a barefoot Bloomfield, holding his uncased Strat. He bounded up on stage and plugged his guitar into his Fender Twin Reverb, Buddy counted off 1-2-3-4, and the band kicked into "Killing Floor" (a Howlin’ Wolf Song), just like the album opens. Just writing that sentence has the hair on the back of my neck standing up like a dog in a fight. They sounded in-f*cking-credible! My still-fresh memory of having recently seen Cream and Hendrix paled in comparison. The most exhilarating musical experience of my life. That is, until I heard Ry Cooder play his guitar solo in John Hiatt’s "Lipstick Sunset" on stage with Little Village, during which time seemed to stand still. I consider myself very fortunate ;-).

Wanna hear the ending to the story? The poor Doors had to follow The Electric Flag on stage ;-). To say they sounded anticlamactic is a gross understatement. The Doors never sounded the same to me after that day. Like little boys, not men---Eric.