Ben Blake

Ben Blake - Blues Deluxe - 2000 - BB Music

Ben Blake came to national attention at age 22 with the "Bosstown Sound" © band Phluph (Verve/M.G.M. Records) making Newsweek magazine in the psychedelic 1960's. He was a persistent figure on the Boston music scene through the mid-1970's, and then in Hollywood, California through he 1980's, returning the East Coast in the 1990's. Ben Blake/Guitarist says it all. Yes, he is a singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and producer - but primarily he is a guitarist. Ben Blake says, 'The guitar is the vessel into which I pour the waters of my soul," be if Blues, Rock, R&B, Soul, Jazz or Fusion. From Classical training in piano to over 40 years playing guitar, Ben Blake's roots are deep and his experience is wide-ranging. He has backed up The Coasters, The Drifters and Bobby Lewis - opened for Bo Didley and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band - and jammed with Lowell George (little Feat), Boz Scaggs, Bonnie Raiff, and Joe Sample, (The Crusaders), and sessioned for Ornette Coleman and Harry Neilsen. Ben Blake has worked clubs, colleges, and concerts for 35 years. A published (BMI) singer/songwriter since 1968, recognized by The American Songwriters Festival in the 1970's, today he administers BB Music with several hundred compositions of varied description in his catalogue. Soundtracked in Austria, on the radio in Germany, and reissued in Italy, BB Music has reached beyond these American shores. © http://benblakemusic.com/index.htm

Phluph were a psychedelic folk/pop rock band from Cambridge, Massachusetts who released one s/t album in 1968 on the jazz based label, Verve. Ben Blake (credited on the album as Benson Blake IV) penned six of the album's tracks and contributed guitar and vocals. 32 years later, Ben Blake released this album which was called ". . . cool . . . and classy" by Blues Revue Magazine 6/2000. "The album is an effort to build on tradition, but move the sound and form forward, and to reflect the breadth and depth of his blues influences". A very enjoyable and laid back album of all original soul blues, and R&B tracks with a jazz/funk influence. An overlooked album, with some great guitar from Ben. Listen to Ben's "In the Beginning" album, and Phluph's 1968 s/t album [All tracks @ 320 Kbps: File size = 113 Mb]

TRACKS

1 Midnight (Part 2) 3:49
2 Prime Time Love 4:40
3 It Should Have Been Me 4:09
4 Confusion 3:39
5 New York Shuffle 3:49
6 Snow Blind 6:05
7 Tongue Tied 5:13
8 Ms. Strange 3:57
9 Bakersfield Blues 3:31
10 Late Night Lament 4:36
11 Rasta Pasta 3:40

All songs composed by Ben Blake

BAND

Ben Blake - Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals
Eric Winter - Bass
Papa John Molé - Drums