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This disc has so much varied stuff it's hard to know what to think. It has Bloomers by himself with on guitar ("Mr. Johnson & Mr. Dunn", "Efinonna Rag"), sometimes singing ("Frankie & Johnny"), playing accompaniment to Little Brother Montgomery ("Michigan Water Blues", "Pleading Blues" both from 1963), playing with Woody Herman's band ("Hitch-Hike On The Possum Trot Line"), playing with his own cohorts such as Roger Troy and Mark Naftalin ("Between The Hard Place And The Ground", "Your Friends", "Orphan's Blues") although for once 2 of those 3 have Mike handling the vocal duties. Most of us can live without Roger Troy singing. There's also the gratuitous "Papa-Mama-Rompah-Stompah", a studio track with some drums and horns. The album ended up with 2 studio instrumentals on which Bloomfield plays most of the instruments. Apart from the tracks with Little Brother Montgomery which serve a historical interest (and really highlight the 88 player more), it's the last two instrumentals that really stand out on this album.

On one hand this does represent Michael Bloomfield doing most of the kinds of things he recorded apart from his famous work with Al Kooper and Paul Butterfield. He worked in a variety of settings, and enjoyed backing legends as well as covering old standards with just an acoustic guitar, copping styles, and exploring traditional melodies. He also worked with Roger Troy, Mark Naftalin, and Bob Jones as his core band in the studio and at live dates a lot. In that sense it provides of an overview of the settings in which Bloomfield worked when under his own name.

However largely there are better or more complete explorations of any given element of Bloomfield's pursuits elsewhere. For his instrumental explorations there's a fine Shanachie release, and the best sound (with some good soloing) of his live work with Roger Troy and the like can be found on "Live At The Old Waldorf". Basically this serves as a decent sampler and introduction to his seventies work (apart from the 2 tracks from the sixties). However there are more pyrotechnics elsewhere, and there are better, more intimate albums elsewhere as well.

It's a good survey but there isn't a lot to make this one a "must have" for any but the die hard fans of Michael Bloomfield.

Whether he plays solo acoustic or big band back electric, Bloomfield's superb fretwork is a delight for the ears. Great stuff.

Hopefully the myth that you have to be black to play the blues is long dead. However, for any doubters, Micheal will put them to rest. This albumn encompasses the whole spectrum of blues, both as an art form and as an artist. Mike was fluent with all of the various blues styles. Here you will find accoustic delta blues to searing electric chicago style, folk to rock blues. A fitting tribute to a great artist who couldn't make it with the rest of us and left far too soon, and the art form that encompasses us all.