Customer Reviews

Projections

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The original Blues Project's only studio album "Projections" is easily one of the best rock albums to come out of the 60's. Though it is very hard to find in it's original form, it can easily be obtained by purchasing the "Anthology" CD that is offered by Amazon.com. Disk 2 of the "Anthology" contains the entire "Projections" album in its original song sequence. The rest of "Anthology" is also well worth your money, since it is loaded with their best material live, plus numerous rarities previously not available. Go there NOW to get a copy of one of the top 10 ablums to come out of the 60's.

Psychedelic fans, dont be put off by the fact they were called the Blues Project, they didn't play blues all the time. They did in fact make (for 1966) some very advanced psychedelia. This album is worth getting for Steve's Song (track 2) alone. Flute Thing is majestic and if you really want to treat yourself buy The Complete Monterey Festival dvd box and see the very swirly psychedelic live version. I rate this album up there with the best late 60,s stuff. Do yourself a favour and buy the anthology as you will get all of Projections plus great tracks like No Time Like The Right Time, Gentle Dreams and a whole disc of their earlier blues stuff.

There's no reason to pay big bucks for this out-of-print CD, as all of the tracks are available on the "Anthology" 2CD... and, in far superior remastered audio quality than on this disc.

I was at Williams College, 1965-69. A housemate from Long Island introduced me to The Blues Project and this album. Along with "Rubber Soul", Laura Nyro's "More Than a New Discovery" and "Eli & the Thirteenth Confession" and a few others, THIS was my entree into the real deal. Al Kooper and Steve Katz went on to found Blood, Sweat & Tears. Crank up "Wake Me, Shake Me"... far out, man. The only place to go from there is The Rascals' "Good Lovin'".

WHY is this not in print? Projections is one of the best recordings of the 1960's--period. Every song is outstanding, and extremely creative. I got the LP as a gift from my uncle and wore it out, then got the cassette which (fortunately) still is OK. You owe it to yourself to listen to this amazing and eclectic collection of songs. There are a few blues numbers, but a lot of variety--a bit of rock, jazz, ballads, etc. Now let's get it back in print!

I bought this recording on a mono LP in early 1967. Back then, I listened on a small portable record player, and the disc sounded terrific. Unfortunately, I now listen on a hi-def system, so this "limited edition" mono CD sounds pretty bad. Despite the fact that mono was indeed the predominant medium for most LPs of this vintage, anyone who has heard these songs on either an earlier CD release or on the Blues Project's "Anthology" set will know that the stereo mix was far preferable to this bass-shy, thin-sounding and chaotic mix.
But the sound isn't the only problem here. The performances are simply an inconsistent combination of ambitious rock and boring R&B and blues. The worst offender is "You Can't Catch Me" on which guitarist Danny Kalb mauls Chuck Berry's lyrics and the band just chugs away behind him. By contrast, the Stones' version is a model of fidelity and funk. "Two Trains Running" is simply boring, a bloated 11 plus minutes that lacks the kind of commitment and chops that the Butterfield Blues Band was putting on disc on a regular basis.
The other songs are better, though Steve Katz has a tendency to go flat too often on both "Steve's Song" (otherwise a clever combination of Renaissance and proto-psychedelia) and "Cheryl's Going Home". Al Kooper is a better vocalist on "I Can't Keep From Crying", but the sound here is the worst on the disc, distorting much of the guitar and organ work.
The best thing on the disc is "Flute Thing", a six-minute jazz-inflected song that predates Jethro Tull by a couple of years, and became a mainstay of the band's repertoire even after Kooper departed.
And that really says it all: Al Kooper went on to form Blood, Sweat and Tears (with Katz along for the ride) and that band recorded "Child is Father to the Man", a truer blend of pop, rock and soul that is better than "Projections" in just about every way--compositions, performances, and especially recording (the mono mixes included on the most recent CD of "Child" are really quite good). Later versions of the Blues Project never came close to the success of "Projections", and the band never really recovered from the defections of Kooper and Katz.
I respect Sundazed tremendously, and they are about the only label still interested in finding and promoting the work of bands like the Blues Project and Moby Grape. Unfortunately, both this release and "Moby Grape Live" have suffered from sub-par mastering and/or mixes. I hope they find more true gems like the studio releases by Moby Grape.

I don't know if I have ever heard an album that so successfully combines rock, jazz, folk, blues and scorching guitars as this one does. This could only have been made in the '66-'67 period, when a certain magic was in the musical atmosphere. These tracks will sound familiar even to those who may never have heard them. 'Chery1's Going Home", "Flute Thing" "Wake Me, Shake Me"...how could none of these been a huge top 40 hit at the time? I can't imagine anyone who has ever enjoyed a rock album being disappointed with this one.

This purchase was a bad idea. I didn't realize there was a remastered CD available in a 2-CD set for less than half the price. I wish someone had said so.

Today I got that "remastered" CD, and the sound quality isn't any better, using Sennheiser 800 headphones to compare the two different editions. The volume is louder on the newer CD.

EDIT:
Someone suggested I review the music here on this 45 year old album. The music here is unique. I don't have anything else to compare it to. I like it, though, which is why I purchased this again, having bought the LP twice, the cassette, and the CD that came out around 1986.