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Just feel that second line rhythm, those in your face tooting horns and that rolling, bayou drenched piano and you know it can be no other: Marcia Ball is back.

One of a tiny handful of prize fighter worthy female blues pianists, Ball is the real deal, bringing her influences of Professor Longhair, Doctor John and James Booker to bear on her distinctly funky, fat New Orleans blues style. Incorporating strains of zydeco, second line, gospel, swamp blues and boogie woogie into her rolling-on-the river piano gyrations, Ball is an equally soulful vocalist and songwriter. Ball's best-known recordings were released on Rounder Records in the 80s and 90s (during which time she was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame), but her latest, Peace, Love And BBQ, kicks the door open for a new generation of blues lovers.

Peace, Love And BBQ (on the all blues-important Alligator label) is stuffed full of stompers, from undeniable booze and blooze anthem, "Party Town," and laidback spiritual "Miracle In Knoxville" (which recalls the dusty recollections of Bobbie Gentry's "Ode to Billie Joe") to the humorous zydeco thriller "Married Life" and gutbucket thumper, "Down In The Neighborhood."

Accompanied by blistering guitar and a smoky, molasses slinging brass section, "Down In The Neighborhood" may be the album's standout track. Ball sings in the third person, relating how small town people can talk a blue streak of meanness, spreading gossip and rumors. In the end, it seems Ball is the one taking it on the arches. Like that old Jerry Reed song, but in reverse, he got the gold mine, she got the shaft.

"Down In the Neighborhood"

Electric Flag Live: Though he never quite achieved the notoriety of Eric Clapton or Jeff Beck, guitarist Mike Bloomfield was a domestic master of the electric blues who could hold against any of the ‘60s English guitar heroes. Bloomfield played serious Chicago styled blues, heard to full effect in the band he co-founded with its leader, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. Their East West brought the young Bloomfield much acclaim, his innovative guitar work combining blues, Indian raga and psychedelic rock.

In the liner notes to Don't Say That I Ain't Your Man: Essential Blues, 1964-1969, session organist Al Kooper states that Bob Dylan had invited Bloomfield to join his band permanently but that Bloomfield declined the offer so he could remain with the Butterfield band. Bloomfield did appear at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, backing Dylan on his controversial debut live electric performance.

Bloomfield left Butterfield's band to form the short-lived Electric Flag with Chicago buddies, organist Barry Goldberg and vocalist Nick Gravenites along with vocalist/drummer Buddy Miles. The Electric Flag debuted at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival; their debut album, A Long Time Comin‘, followed in early '68.

"It's Not The Spotlight" is pure live Electric Flag, era unknown. Oddly enough, the track sounds like a full on studio recording, a classic R&B ballad of the time. Miles' winning vocals send the song straight to the heart, Goldberg's organ cooks up the proceedings, and Bloomfield's subtle chordal work keeps it all flowing.

Online reviewers have already savaged this reissue, criticizing its sound quality and lack of original tracks. But for those unfamiliar with Electric Flag's legacy, this is beautiful, even important, blues from yesteryear.

The Electric Flag
"It's Not the Spotlight" (mp3)
from "Live"
(ItsAboutMusic.com)

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