In 1964, Elektra Records produced a compilation album of various artists entitled The Blues Project which featured several white musicians from the Greenwich Village area who played acoustic blues music in the style of black musicians. One of the featured artists on the album was a young guitarist named Danny Kalb, who was paid $75 for his two songs. Not long after the album's release, however, Kalb gave up his acoustic guitar for an electric one. The Beatles' arrival in America earlier in the year signified the end of the folk and acoustic blues movement that had swept young America in the early 1960s. The ensuing British Invasion was the nail in the coffin. Seeing the writing on the wall, Kalb gave up acoustic blues and switched to rock and roll, as did many other aspiring American musicians during this period.
Danny Kalb's first rock and roll band was formed in the spring of 1965, playing under various names at first, until finally settling on the Blues Project moniker as an allusion to Kalb's first foray on record. After a brief hiatus in the summer months of 1965 during which Kalb was visiting Europe, the band reformed in September 1965 and were almost immediately a top draw in Greenwich Village. By this time, the band included Danny Kalb on guitar, Steve Katz (having recently departed the Even Dozen Jug Band) also on guitar, Andy Kulberg on bass and flute, Roy Blumenfeld on drums and Tommy Flanders on vocals.
The band's first big break came only a few weeks later when they auditioned for Columbia Records, and failed. The audition was a success, nevertheless, as it garnered them an organist in session musician Al Kooper. Kooper had begun his career as a session guitarist, but that summer, he began playing organ when he sneaked into the "Like a Rolling Stone" recording session on Bob Dylan's seminal album Highway 61 Revisited. In order to improve his musicianship on the new instrument, Kooper joined the Blues Project and began gigging with them almost immediately.
Soon thereafter, the Blues Project gained a record contract from Verve Records, and began recording their first album live at the Cafe Au Go Go in Greenwich Village over the course of a week in November 1965. While the band was known for their lengthy interpretations of blues and traditional rock and roll songs (making them, along with the Grateful Dead, rock's first "jam band"), their first album saw them rein in these tendencies because of record company wariness as well as the time restrictions of the vinyl record.
Entitled simply Live at the Café Au Go Go, the album was finished with another week of live recordings at the cafe in January 1966. By that time, vocalist Tommy Flanders had left the band and was not replaced. As a result, Flanders appears on only a few of the songs on this album.
The album was a moderate success and the band toured America to promote it. While in San Francisco in April 1966, during the height of the city's Haight-Ashbury culture, the Blues Project played at the Fillmore Auditorium to rave reviews. Seemingly New York's answer to the Grateful Dead, even members of the Grateful Dead who saw them play were impressed with their improvisational abilities.
Returning to New York, the band recorded their second album and first studio album in the fall of 1966, and it was released in November. Arguably better than their first album, Projections was certainly more ambitious than their first album, boasting an eclectic set of songs that ran the gamut from blues, R&B, jazz, psychedelia, and folk-rock. The centerpiece of the album was an 11-and-a-half minute version of "Two Trains Running", which, along with other songs on the album, showed off their improvisational tendencies. One such song was the instrumental, "Flute Thing", written by Kooper and featuring Kulberg.
Soon after the album was completed, though, the band began to fall apart. Al Kooper quit the band in the spring of 1967, and the band without him completed a third album, Live At Town Hall. Despite the name, only one song was recorded live at Town Hall, while the rest was made up of live recordings from other venues, or of studio outtakes with overdubbed applause to feign a live sound.
The Blues Project's last hurrah was at the Monterey International Pop Festival held in Monterey, California, in June 1967. By this time, however, half the original line-up was gone and most of their early magic was, too. Al Kooper had formed his own band and played at the festival as well, but no sort of reunion was in the offing. Guitarist Steve Katz left soon thereafter, followed by founder Danny Kalb. A fourth album, 1968's Planned Obsolescence, featured only drummer Roy Blumenfeld and bassist Andy Kulberg from the original lineup. Upon the album's completion, the remaining members formed Seatrain.
In 1968, Al Kooper and Steve Katz joined forces once again to fulfill a desire of Al Kooper's to form a rock band with a horn section. The resulting band was Blood, Sweat & Tears. While Kooper led the band on its first album, Child Is Father to the Man, he did not stick around for any subsequent releases. Katz, on the other hand, remained with the band into the 1970s.
The Blues Project, with a modified lineup, reformed briefly in the early 1970s, releasing three further albums: 1971's Lazarus, 1972's The Blues Project, and 1973's Original Blues Project Reunion In Central Park (which featured Al Kooper but not Tommy Flanders). These albums did little to excite the public, however. Since then, the group's activity has been confined to a few sporadic reunion concerts.
No Time Like The Right Time
The Blues Project Lyrics
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And in just that moment you turn the rain clouds into flowers
And I can see that you're afraid
You think it's some kind of mistake that you made
Well, let me set your heart at ease
'Cause I'm down on my bended knees, sayin' to you
There's no time like the right time
Like the right time, if you don't
Think that you can love me
You can bet I'm gonna show you how
You know I'm gonna show you how (hey!)
Every single second that you just let go
Multiply by a million, it just makes me want you that much more
You got me sittin' here countin' time
'Cause sooner or later you'll find
That a fifty-dollar bill
If you need someone to love you
Well you got someone you will, and
that's me
The lyrics to The Blues Project's song No Time Like the Right Time describe a moment of pure joy and love, where someone has turned the rain clouds into flowers and made the moment into happy hours. The singer is assuring the person that they don't need to be afraid, and that they are ready to show them how to love. The chorus emphasizes the urgency of the moment, encouraging the person to realize that there's no better time for love than now.
The song captures the essence of the 60s, a time of sexual liberation and newfound freedoms. The lyrics are about seizing the moment, living in the present, and experiencing life fully. The words are also reflective of the psychedelic era, with references to a "mind-expanding" fifty-dollar bill. This evokes the use of drugs like LSD during this time period, with the idea that love and consciousness could be amplified through the use of psychedelic substances.
Line by Line Meaning
You have made the moment into happy hours
You have the ability to turn even the most mundane moment into a joyful one
And in just that moment you turn the rain clouds into flowers
Your positive attitude and energy can brighten anyone's day, even in the darkest moments
And I can see that you're afraid
I can sense that you're hesitant or unsure about something
You think it's some kind of mistake that you made
You might believe that something you did was wrong or regrettable
Well, let me set your heart at ease
Let me reassure you and put your anxieties to rest
'Cause I'm down on my bended knees, sayin' to you
I'm humbled and sincere in my approach to you
There's no time like the right time
The best moment to act or seize an opportunity is right now
And baby, the right time is now (said that there's no time)
We shouldn't wait or delay any longer, the time is perfect for us to act on our feelings
Like the right time, if you don't
The timing is crucial for us to come together and love each other
Think that you can love me
If you believe you have the capacity to love me
You can bet I'm gonna show you how
I am confident in my ability to show you how to love and be loved
Every single second that you just let go
For every moment you hesitate or hold back, it only intensifies my desire for you
Multiply by a million, it just makes me want you that much more
The longer I wait or daydream about being with you, the more passionate my feelings become
You got me sittin' here countin' time
I am eagerly anticipating the moment to be with you
'Cause sooner or later you'll find
Eventually, it will become clear that we should be together
That a fifty-dollar bill
Money doesn't matter as long as we have love
If you need someone to love you
If you require affection and companionship
Well, you got someone you will, and here's what it means:
I am willing and able to be that person for you, and this is what it would entail
Contributed by Bailey D. Suggest a correction in the comments below.