The Blues Brothers - The Lost Recordings LP - Blue Vinyl (/2500)

Z2 (2025)

If you know me even casually, you likely know that The Blues Brothers are one of the most important things in my life.  The movie is the only favorite movie I've ever had and the music is the foundational bedrock that all of my tastes are built on.  Earlier this year there was an announcement that a comic book style graphic novel was coming out that continues the story of Jake and Elwood.  Honestly, I can't say that I was all that interested as comic books really aren't my medium of choice most of the time.  Then it was announced that there would be an obnoxious bundle with the comic, a bunch of unnecessary tchotchkes and a vinyl record of some unreleased Blues Brothers recordings.  

I begrudgingly preordered said $150 bundle as the Z2 folks indicated that it was the only way you could get the record.  Then, of course, a few months later the record became available to preorder on its own.  I was quite cranky about this, but luckily Z2 was kind enough to let me cancel the order for the bundle and I was able to pick up the album on its own.  And I am really glad this album didn't cost me $150.

That's not really to say anything bad about the contents of the record.  In fact, I find them absolutely fascinating.  It's a recording of the band essentially going through the set of their first album, which was recorded live at the Universal Amphitheater.  I believe that this is a recording of a rehearsal leading up to those shows.  You can see the evolution of what they were doing with a different intro section that wasn't built on top of "Can't Turn You Loose," but still had most of the same intro dialog from Elwood about how one day the blues would only be available in "the classical records department of your local public library."

The rest of the album is recordings of the songs that ended up on the Briefcase Full Of Blues album.  There's also two additional songs.   "Excusez Moi Mon Cherie" is here and it was the original B side from the "Soul Man" single that came out in the 1970s.  Also included is a version of "Green Onions" that is really neat and quite a bit different from the one that eventually ended up on the third Blues Brothers album, Made in America.

All of those good things said, the recording quality of the recording is not great.  It sounds like it was recorded by a tape player in the corner of the room.  Now, it seems like it was a really good tape player as the quality isn't unlistenable or anything.  But it's really lacking the fullness and low end of a professionally recorded session.  As a fly-on-the-wall document, it's an incredible, behind the scenes glimpse at an unbelievably important event, album and band.  But as a record you would sit down and listen to regularly, I can't really see why you wouldn't just pick up Briefcase Full Of Blues 99 times out of 100.

The Blues Brothers - The Lost Recordings:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k3D8KAVmMuKAPKrdj4jG4l6uxiGn3mM3A