THE BLUES BROTHERS - The Lost Recordings (2025) Hi-Res

“From The Vaults Of John Belushi Comes 13 Unreleased Live Performances of THE BLUES BROTHERS”

An apocryphal tale you might think, but apparently the tapes referenced were found by his late wife, Judy Belushi, in her home in Martha’s Vineyard.

She had built a substantial oral history over the years documenting the man’s unique talent as a performer, and of course his addictions. The music was almost a side issue.

Seeing the sunlight some 40+ years later, these Joliet Jake and Ellwood Blues 1978 recordings are something of a revelation.

Their house band alone makes your mouth water. It just happens to include Matt Murphy, who played with Howlin’ Wolf, Steve Cropper of Booker T and The MGs, Donald Dunn, session Musician for Stax Records, and so on. The list of world renowned musicians is endless.

The 13 “live in the studio” tracks are a deep dive into the roots of blues and R&B. Where it all began. No blues, no rock’n’roll.

The covers of blues standards like Big Joe Turner’s ‘Flip Flop Fly’ (1958); ‘I Don’t Know’, a 1952 No.1 hit on Billboard’s R&B Chart for the Willie Mabon Band, and Sonny Boy Williamson’s ‘Shotgun Blues’, the oldest song in this collection, written in 1941, all stand out.

Great vocal performances from the duo do more than justice to the music and its pedigree. Their love of the blues is almost palpable.

And before we go any further, the recorded sound is surprisingly good. This was 1978, songs are recorded in that proudly old fashioned manner, each song, every bar of music, every line of lyrics means something.

A lot of highpoints then, and it’s worth mentioning the cover of Junior Wells fifties’ classic, ‘Messing With The Kid’. It’s laid down with grain and grit in its every move. In the head of the Blues Brothers it was still 1959.

There’s plenty more. ‘I Got Everything I Need’ “brought the sensuous sound of the Mississippi to Toronto” in 1973 – this was Canadian Don (Downchild Blues Band) Walsh’s original, a Canadian Radio station hit a year later.

‘Excusez Moi’ by the Lamont Cranston Band (They opened for the Stones on their 1981 US tour) and the Sam & Dave 1967 hit, ‘Soul Man’ are another two classic R&B songs re-elevated into public consciousness by the ‘Brothers.

The Lost Recordings turn out to be incredibly addictive. The Brothers love of the genre shines through.

The album comes in (blue) vinyl only, respecting the vintage of the music and the recordings.

The discovery of the tapes will be further celebrated in December by the publication of a hardback graphic novel titled “The Blues Brothers : The Escape Of Joliet Jake”.