Search - Blues Brothers :: The Essentials

You're better off with the original Blues Bros. releases

John Manigrasso | asbury park, NJ | 03/30/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"It's one of those music snob cliches: pick a band, any band, hold up their "greatest hits" package, and a diehard fan will tell you that Greatest Hits packages - to quote Bruce McCullouch in the "Doors Fan" sketch from The Kids in the Hall - "are for old ladies and little girls."



Well, in this instance, the Blues Brothers is that band, and I am that snob.



At this point, I think the Blues Brothers have as many - or MORE! - Greatest Hits packages as they do original albums, of which they were three:



Briefcase Full of Blues, the original, the best. Recorded at the Universal Ampitheater while opening for Steve Martin, and was a #1 album at a time when Animal House was the #1 movie and Saturday Night Live was achieving higher ratings than a lot of primetime programming;



The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, which also included selections from movie costars and music legends James Brown, Ray Charles & Aretha Franklin;



Made In America, recorded after the movie was released on the band's last tour. Belushi was struggling, and Aykroyd wasn't so silent as "Silent Elwood" to give "Jake" more time to rest backstage.



(Note: The first hits compilation "The Best of the Blues Brothers" includes a cover of "Expressway To Your Heart" not found on any of these albums, as well as - if memory serves - an alternate version of "Everybody Needs Somebody To Love" not found on the Motion Picture Soundtrack)



"Briefcase" should be a welcome addition to any music fan's collection. Not just because it's an incredible collection that features a backup band of bona fide R&B legends, but because it was a zeitgeist-y kind of album, a snapshot of a time when some people were desperately fighting to keep some soul in popular music. Disco was taking over dance charts, and punk's energy was terrific....when it wasn't just posturing. Despite everything that Dan Aykroyd subsequently did with and to the blues, packaging and mall-ifying it into just another commodity to slap a label on and claim it as your own, his passion for the genre in the 70s was genuine, and he & Belushi weren't trying to do anything but share their love of the music (and their respect for the musicians) with as many people as possible...and if they could become rock & roll giants along the way, so be it, haha. It's one of those albums/CDs you should own and, when you listen, listen in one complete sitting.



The Soundtrack & Made In America are welcome additions, but, even as a diehard fan, I recognize that they're not essential. My 3-star review is not a slight on the quality of the songs, the band, or the production, but just an acknowledgment that these albums are the sum of their parts, and a Greatest Hits package is just...parts. If you were only going to buy one Blues Brothers CD, I'd say get Briefcase, hands down. I'd gently persuade you to get the other 2 CDs as well. The Blues Brothers might not be Zeppelin, The Stones or the Beatles, but they weren't just a high-profile cover band either. Some of the musicians backing up Jake & Elwood helped create the songs on their set lists in the first place. It's the party you wish you had been invited to. It's the project you wish you could have been involved in making happen. And a Greatest Hits package is just snapshots of that party, or that project. The albums (especially Briefcase) are the time machine to take you back and feel like you were there, it only for a half hour or so. Get this CD if you must, but you're selling the band short, and shortchanging yourself in the process."