The Butterfield Blues Band The Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw 180g LP

TAS Rated 4/5 Music, 4/5 Sonics in the Fall 2025 Issue of The Absolute Sound!

Evil tongues predicted the end of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band when guitar virtuoso Mike Bloomfield left the group to form Electric Flag. However, the ensemble actually expanded, now including a horn section which added a more jazzy sound, while Chicago blues remained as a basis. Elvin Bishop took on the role of lead guitarist and his nickname was adopted as the name of the album. Butterfield himself played the harmonica and sang, while his band grew together to form one of the most cohesive formations of their time.

Butterfield's best-known song "One More Heartache" opens the album, which in the meantime has undoubtedly become a blues-rock classic with superb harmonica and a catchy beat that is driven onwards by the top-notch horns. "Driftin' and Driftin'" is a further well-known piece that carries on for over nine minutes; here the brass sob and sigh while Dave Sanborn delivers a brilliant solo performance in the choruses. In addition to cover versions by B. T. Jones ("Born Under a Bad Sign"), Otis Rush ("Double Trouble") and Roosevelt Sykes ("Drivin' Wheel"), two compositions by Butterfield are included: "Run Out of Time" and the somewhat psychedelic "Tollin' Bells" where Bishop's guitar and Mark Naftalin's floating keyboard conjure up a haunting feeling.

The stunning pastiche cover, a nod to the flower power era of those times, completes this release, which marks a new phase in the career of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band that would endure for a long time.

This Speakers Corner LP was remastered using pure analogue components only, from the master tapes through to the cutting head.

This is likely the single best Butterfield album of this time period and you'd be well served to pick this one up.

The title is taken from a humorous nickname for guitarist Elvin Bishop, who had assumed lead guitar duties with the departure of Mike Bloomfield, but the more notable departure is in Butterfield's own singing style, which is much more melismatic and center stage than it was on the earlier records. His harmonica playing is also more adventurous, and adds greatly to tracks like 'One More Heartache' and the arresting 'Tolling Bells.' Though Bishop doesn't get that much solo space, his slashing style is also on display, and young alto saxophonist David Sanborn really shines in his spots.