Paul Butterfield Blues Band - Put It In Your Ear (1976)

Paul Butterfield was the first white harmonica player to develop a style original and powerful enough to place him in the pantheon of true blues greats. It's impossible to overestimate the importance of the doors Butterfield opened: before he came to prominence, white American musicians treated the blues with cautious respect, afraid of coming off as inauthentic.

"Put It In Your Ear" was issued in 1975 & features David Sanborn, Eric Gale, plus Garth Hudson & Levon Helm from The Band. When Levon Helm and Garth Hudson were working on Muddy Waters' Woodstock album in Albert Grossman's Bearsville studios in 1975, the pair also took the time to play on Butterfield's "Put It in Your Ear". The album features pianoman Rick Bell, who would join the reformed Band in the late '80s.

"Put It in Your Ear" was the effort of a Butterfield who wanted to chart a course very different from all of his preceding works. There was a more mature sound to the album and Butterfield was clearly treading on new ground, this time actively trying to reassert himself as a vocalist, with mixed results. On songs like "The Breadline" and "I Don't Wanna Go" he finds his niche, and the former features some plaintive harp playing that's evocative of the lyrics' social commentary. But his vocal efforts fall flat on "If I Never Sing My Song" and "Watch 'Em Tell a Lie"; he hadn't lived in these tunes and their complex chord changes long enough to get the feel down, or achieve a strong vocal presence, and neither has the bluesy feel that always worked best for him. The charts are excellent and the arrangements on some of the cuts are terrific, but all-in-all Put It in Your Ear comes across as a mixed bag. And there's just not enough harp playing. Critical reaction indicated a lot of confusion. What should have been a musical event - the first solo album by one of the great American bluesmen - fell flat. It would be years before another Butterfield album would arrive.

Tracks:
You Can Run But You Can't Hide (Paul Butterfield/Henry Glover)
(If I Never Sing) My Song (Fred Carter, Jr.)
The Animal (Hirth Martinez)
The Breadline (Henry Glover)
Ain't That A Lot Of Love (W.D. Parker/H. Banks)
I Don't Wanna Go (Fred Carter, Jr.)
Day To Day (Henry Glover)
Here I Go Again (Bobby Charles)
The Flame (Paul Butterfield)
Watch 'Em Tell A Lie (Henry Glover)

Paul Butterfield - Put It In Your Ear (1976)
(ca. 200 kbps, cover art included)