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
ReleasedJuly 22, 1968 (1968-07-22)
RecordedMay 1968
GenreBlues, rock
Length50:11
LabelColumbia
ProducerAl Kooper
Mike Bloomfield chronology
Super Session
(1968)
It's Not Killing Me
(1969)
Al Kooper chronology
Super Session
(1968)
I Stand Alone
(1969)
Stephen Stills chronology
Super Session
(1968)
Stephen Stills
(1970)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[3]
Rolling Stone(positive)[2]

Background

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Al 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

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Along 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

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Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Albert's Shuffle"Al Kooper, Mike Bloomfield6:43
2."Stop"Jerry Ragovoy, Mort Shuman4:23
3."Man's Temptation"Curtis Mayfield3:25
4."His Holy Modal Majesty"Kooper, Bloomfield9:13
5."Really"Kooper, Bloomfield5:29
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry"Bob Dylan3:30
2."Season of the Witch"Donovan Leitch11:07
3."You Don't Love Me"Willie Cobbs4:12
4."Harvey's Tune"Harvey Brooks2:09
Total length:50:11
2003 reissue bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
10."Albert's Shuffle" (2002 remix without horns)Kooper, Bloomfield6:58
11."Season of the Witch" (2002 remix without horns)Donovan Leitch11:07
12."Blues for Nothing" (outtake)Kooper4:15
13."Fat Grey Cloud" (in concert at the Fillmore West, 1968)Kooper, Bloomfield4:38

Personnel

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Additional personnel

Charts

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Chart performance for Super Session
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

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[17] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References

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  1. ^ Planer, Lindsay. "Super Session - Bloomfield-Kooper-Stills". AllMusic. Retrieved July 26, 2011.
  2. ^ Brody, Jim (October 12, 1968). "Records". Rolling Stone.
  3. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  4. ^ "Gold & Platinum". RIAA. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  5. ^ "Mike Bloomfield". Billboard.com. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Biography: part 2". Michael Bloomfield: An American Guitarist. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  7. ^ "MikeBloomfield.com". Archived from the original on 28 March 2006. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  8. ^ SuiteLorraine.com Archived December 4, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ "Blogcritics.org (PDF)". Archived from the original on 25 June 2006. Retrieved May 24, 2021.
  10. ^ "Stephen Stills". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  11. ^ Canada, Library and Archives (2013-04-16). "The RPM story". Bac-lac.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  12. ^ "Super Session". hitparade.ch. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
  13. ^ "Cash Box Magazine: Music and coin machine magazine 1942 to 1996". Worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  14. ^ "Record World Magazine: 1942 to 1982". Worldradiohistory.com. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  15. ^ Salaverri, Fernando (2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002. Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  16. ^ "Italian Chart Positions" (PDF). Italycharts.com.
  17. ^ "American album certifications – BLOOMFIELD / KOOPER / STILLS – SUPER SESSION". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved June 9, 2016.