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Originally Posted by snoot
Well I'll just say this. I don't think Mike Bloomfield should be mentioned in the same breath as Peter Green. Now I realize there are folks who think Bloomie was the next best thing to sliced bread, but he was basically a study in the under-realized as far as I'm concerned. Like Green, he allowed drugs to largely derail what talent he did possess, only in his case it was a largely marginal career that never really matched most of the hype (which can't be said for Green and his accomplishments). Even that famed "Super Session", at least as it was ultimately portrayed and sold, was largely a blown up scam - which even he knew.
I also can't agree with one thing you said Vinnie, that being both were humble to a fault. Pete certainly was, but Mike was often brash and over-opinionated, thinking he held the pulse of his fellow musicians and the music industry in his hands. Go back and read his interviews! Reality was, he dodged stepping up to the plate time and again, which makes TALK CHEAP. When he should have been hitting home runs, he was instead questioning the accomplishments of others around him - the trends and trailblazers of the time - and wasting precious time.
Just look at his track record with Electric Flag, which was one of rank imitation (a la Stax stylings) and failed expectations, and yet he could hardly see it himself, even as it was smacking him in the face. Some of those know-it-all critics back east were calling the Flag rock's first supergroup! Give me a break. While he pompously "puffulated" on his rock counterparts, they were all basically kicking his butt in both reach and deed. And if this wasn't bad enough, he ultimately blamed his lack of recognition on all the mixed up, culturally devoid goyim he was cursed to have to play to. I mean, for me that was the last straw back then. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! [the same one that feeds most other blues artists to boot, and keeps the genre alive].
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Dude, did Bloomfield shoot your dog or something?
IMHO, Bloomfield was very underrated, but had the ego and brashness. The only contemporary players his age he ever deferred to were Hendrix and Clapton. But he did play and learn alongside all the Chicago blues icons when Greenie was still chopping meat. And because of how his talent developed, when Muddy calls you his son, I think you've achieved something.
If Bloomfield's career was "marginal" compared to Green's, it was because he wanted it that way. He was never comfortable with the "band leader" or front man job, which was one of the reasons the Flag failed. His 70s output, which were very minimally distributed and purposely low-key affairs, stands as some of the most truly inspired playing he ever did (see "If You Love These Blues" LP). Drugs and alcohol destroyed whatever ambition he had left by then.
I don't know what "puffulating" is, or how he did it, but he was very respectful of other guitarists, namely Ry Cooder, Eric Gale, Steve Cropper, and a whole host of others. He even name-checks them all (INCLUDING Peter Green) on "The Altar Song" on the album I named. But he did hate record execs who tried to exploit him and said so publicly.
Greenie and Bloomers were markedly different players, but both had the respect of their peers and their mentors. I love both for their different styles and approaches to the music. I'm not hung up on their color or the effectiveness of their various career moves.