Best of the Blues Brothers
Encyclopedia
Best of the Blues Brothers is the fourth and final Blues Brothers
album released before John Belushi
's death in 1982. It is a compilation album
released by Atlantic Records
on November 30, 1981. Along with tracks from the first three albums, Briefcase Full of Blues
, The Blues Brothers: Music from the Soundtrack and Made in America
, it includes unreleased live versions of "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", "Rubber Biscuit
" and "Expressway to Your Heart."
A special feature on The Best of John Belushi DVD
shows Dan Aykroyd
and John Belushi
promoting the album on The Today Show. In that segment, they lament the fact that Tom Malone
was accidentally left off the credits of the album.
The Blues Brothers
The Blues Brothers are an American blues and soul revivalist band founded in 1978 by comedy actors Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as part of a musical sketch on Saturday Night Live...
album released before John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
's death in 1982. It is a compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
released by Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
on November 30, 1981. Along with tracks from the first three albums, Briefcase Full of Blues
Briefcase Full of Blues
-External links:* *...
, The Blues Brothers: Music from the Soundtrack and Made in America
Made in America (Blues Brothers album)
Made in America is the third album by The Blues Brothers. The second live album by the band, it was released in December 1980 as a followup to their hit film released that year, The Blues Brothers. Commercially and critically it did not fare as well as their previous two albums, 1978's Briefcase...
, it includes unreleased live versions of "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love", "Rubber Biscuit
Rubber Biscuit
"Rubber Biscuit" is a doo-wop song by The Chips, recorded in 1956. It was famously covered by The Blues Brothers, among many other artists as well as featuring in the 1973 film Mean Streets. The song was composed by lead singer of The Chips Charles Johnson and Adam R. Levy.Few of the lyrics can...
" and "Expressway to Your Heart."
A special feature on The Best of John Belushi DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
shows Dan Aykroyd
Dan Aykroyd
Daniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
and John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
promoting the album on The Today Show. In that segment, they lament the fact that Tom Malone
Tom Malone (musician)
Tom "Bones" Malone is an American jazz musician. As his nickname implies, he specializes on the trombone, but also plays trumpet, tuba, tenor sax, baritone sax, flutes, piccolo, and other instruments....
was accidentally left off the credits of the album.
Track listing
All tracks recorded live, except tracks 4 & 8- "Expressway to Your Heart" (Gamble & Huff) – 3:23
- A Top 10 hit by The Soul SurvivorsThe Soul SurvivorsThe Soul Survivors were a Philadelphia R&B group founded by brothers Richie and Charlie Ingui and New York Native, Kenny Jeremiah, known for their 1967 hit single, "Expressway to Your Heart"; which was the first hit by Philadelphia soul record producers and songwriters, Kenny Gamble and Leon...
in 1967; recorded by Booker T. and the M.G.'s in 1968.
- A Top 10 hit by The Soul Survivors
- "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love" (BurkeSolomon BurkeSolomon Burke was an American singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, mortician, and an archbishop of the United House of Prayer For All People. Burke was known as "King Solomon", the "King of Rock 'n' Soul", and as the "Bishop of Soul", and described as "the Muhammad Ali of soul", and as "the most...
, BernsBert BernsBertrand Russell Berns , most commonly known as Bert Berns as well as Bert Russell and Russell Byrd, was an American songwriter and record producer of the 1960s...
, WexlerJerry WexlerGerald "Jerry" Wexler was a music journalist turned music producer, and was regarded as one of the major record industry players behind music from the 1950s through the 1980s...
) – 2:36- A different version than on The Blues Brothers: Music from the Soundtrack
- "I Don't Know" (MabonWillie MabonWillie Mabon was an American R&B singer, songwriter and pianist.-Career:Born Willie James Mabon, and brought up in Hollywood, Memphis, Tennessee, he had become known as a singer and pianist by the time he moved to Chicago in 1942. He formed a group, the Blues Rockers, and in 1949 began recording...
) – 4:16 - "She Caught the KatyShe Caught the Katy"She Caught the Katy " is a blues standard written by Taj Mahal and James Rachell. The song was first recorded for Taj Mahal's 1968 album The Natch'l Blues, and is one of Mahal's most famous tunes...
" (Taj MahalTaj Mahal (musician)Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
, RachellYank RachellJames "Yank" Rachell was an American country blues musician, dubbed an "elder statesman of the blues."-Career:...
) – 4:12- Opening theme to The Blues BrothersThe Blues Brothers (film)The Blues Brothers is a 1980 musical comedy film directed by John Landis and starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as "Joliet" Jake and Elwood Blues, characters developed from a musical sketch on the NBC variety series Saturday Night Live. It features musical numbers by R&B and soul singers James...
, originally by Taj MahalTaj Mahal (musician)Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...
- Opening theme to The Blues Brothers
- "Soul ManSoul Man (song)"Soul Man" is a 1967 song written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter, first successful as a #2 hit single by Atlantic Records soul duo Sam & Dave.-Song history and background:...
" (HayesIsaac HayesIsaac Lee Hayes, Jr. was an American songwriter, musician, singer and actor. Hayes was one of the creative influences behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwriter and as a record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the...
, PorterDavid Porter (musician)David Porter is an American soul musician. Porter is best known as the songwriting and production partner of Isaac Hayes at Stax Records during the 1960s...
) – 3:03 - "Rubber BiscuitRubber Biscuit"Rubber Biscuit" is a doo-wop song by The Chips, recorded in 1956. It was famously covered by The Blues Brothers, among many other artists as well as featuring in the 1973 film Mean Streets. The song was composed by lead singer of The Chips Charles Johnson and Adam R. Levy.Few of the lyrics can...
" (Johnson, LevyAdam LevyAdam Levy is an accomplished jazz guitarist and singer-songwriter. Levy has recorded with Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman, Sex Mob, and Amos Lee, and has released several solo albums as well. is his latest....
) – 3:25- A different version than on Briefcase Full of BluesBriefcase Full of Blues-External links:* *...
- A different version than on Briefcase Full of Blues
- "Goin' Back to Miami" (CochranWayne CochranWayne Cochran is an American soul singer, known for his outlandish outfits and white pompadour. He is sometimes referred to as The White Knight of Soul....
) – 3:33 - "Gimme Some Lovin'Gimme Some Lovin'"Gimme Some Loving" is a song written by Steve Winwood, Spencer Davis and Muff Winwood, and originally performed by The Spencer Davis Group. The basic riff of the song was borrowed from the Homer Banks song " A Lot of Love", written by Banks and Willie Dean "Deanie" Parker. The song was a UK #2 in...
" (DavisSpencer DavisSpencer David Nelson Davis is a British musician and multi-instrumentalist, and the founder of the 1960s rock band, the Spencer Davis Group.-Early life:...
, M. WinwoodMuff WinwoodMervyn "Muff" Winwood is an English songwriter and record producer, and the older brother of Steve Winwood. Both were formerly members of the Spencer Davis Group in the 1960s, in which Muff Winwood played bass guitar...
, S. WinwoodSteve WinwoodStephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
) – 3:07 - "'B' Movie Boxcar Blues" (McClintonDelbert McClintonDelbert McClinton is an American blues rock and electric blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player, and pianist....
) – 4:08 - "Flip, Flop & FlyFlip, Flop and Fly"Flip, Flop and Fly" is a jump blues-style song recorded by Big Joe Turner in 1955. Called a "prototypical rocker", the song was a hit reaching number two in Billboard magazine's R&B chart...
" (CalhounJesse StoneJesse Stone was an American rhythm and blues musician and songwriter whose influence spanned a wide range of genres...
, TurnerBig Joe TurnerBig Joe Turner was an American blues shouter from Kansas City, Missouri. According to the songwriter Doc Pomus, "Rock and roll would have never happened without him." Although he came to his greatest fame in the 1950s with his pioneering rock and roll recordings, particularly "Shake, Rattle and...
) – 3:39
Personnel
- Elwood BluesDan AykroydDaniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is a Canadian comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist. He was an original cast member of Saturday Night Live, an originator of The Blues Brothers and Ghostbusters and has had a long career as a film actor and screenwriter.-Early...
– Backing vocals, harmonicaHarmonicaThe harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
; Lead vocals on track 6, Co-lead vocals on track 1 - "Joliet" Jake BluesJohn BelushiJohn Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
– Lead Vocals; Backing vocals on track 6 - Steve "The Colonel" CropperSteve CropperSteve Cropper , also known as Steve "The Colonel" Cropper, is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T...
– GuitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Donald "Duck" Dunn – Bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Murphy "Murph" DunneMurphy DunneMurphy Dunne is an American actor and musician. He is known for his role as the keyboardist/pianist for the Blues Brothers in the 1980 film The Blues Brothers. He reprised his role in the sequel, Blues Brothers 2000...
– KeyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, Electric pianoElectric pianoAn electric piano is an electric musical instrument.Electric pianos produce sounds mechanically and the sounds are turned into electrical signals by pickups. Unlike a synthesizer, the electric piano is not an electronic instrument, but electro-mechanical. The earliest electric pianos were invented...
, WurlitzerWurlitzerThe Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to simply as Wurlitzer, was an American company that produced stringed instruments, woodwinds, brass instruments, theatre organs, band organs, orchestrions, electronic organs, electric pianos and jukeboxes.... - Willie "Too Big" HallWillie Hall (drummer)Willie "Too Big" Hall was born August 8, 1950, in Memphis, Tennessee. He began his career as a drummer in 1965, while still in high school. He played with the Bar-Kays band and Isaac Hayes's band The Movement...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person .... - Steve "Getdwa" JordanSteve Jordan (musician)Steve Jordan is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, musical director and Grammy Award-winning artist, who has made a name for himself as a producer from the Bronx in New York City. A graduate of the Fiorello H...
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, Background Vocals - Lou "Blue Lou" MariniLou MariniLou Marini, Jr. is an American saxophonist, arranger and composer. He is noted for his work in the jazz, rock, blues and soul music traditions.-Early life and range of musical experience:...
– Tenor saxophone, alto saxophoneAlto saxophoneThe alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in 1841. It is smaller than the tenor but larger than the soprano, and is the type most used in classical compositions... - Matt "Guitar" MurphyMatt Murphy (blues guitarist)Matt "Guitar" Murphy is an American blues guitarist.-Life and career:Matt Murphy was born in Sunflower, Mississippi, United States, and was educated in Memphis, where his father worked at the Peabody Hotel...
– Lead guitarLead guitarLead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure... - Alan "Mr. Fabulous" RubinAlan RubinAlan Rubin , also known as Mr. Fabulous, was an American musician. He played trumpet, flugelhorn, and piccolo trumpet....
– TrumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air... - Tom "Triple Scale" ScottTom Scott (musician)Tom Scott is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, conductor and bandleader of the west coast jazz/jazz fusion ensemble The L.A. Express.-Biography:Scott was born in Los Angeles, California...
– Tenor and alto saxophones, horn arrangements - Paul "The Shiv" ShafferPaul ShafferPaul Allen Wood Shaffer, CM is a Canadian musician, actor, voice actor, author, comedian, and composer who has been David Letterman's sidekick since 1982.-Early years:...
– Keyboards, piano, background vocals, musical director