Z2 (label)
21 November 2025 (released)
21 November 2025
The story goes that this tape was found in an old briefcase belonging to John Belushi. Lost for around 40 years and now finally available, only on vinyl.
The whole band feature – John Belushi, Dan Ackroyd, Matt ‘Guitar’ Murphy, Steve ‘The Colonel’ Cropper, Donald ‘Duck’ Dunn, Steve ‘Getdwa’ Jordan, Lou ‘Blue Lou’ Marini & Tom ‘Triple Scale’ Scott, Tom ‘Bones’ Malone, Alan ‘Mr Fabulous’ Rubin & Paul ‘The Shiv’ Shaffer. All the characters that featured in the original movie and recorded at a warm up show for the movie (I believe).
Many of the tracks featured in the movie itself with great versions of ‘Hey Bartender’, Rubber Biscuit’, ‘Soul Man’ and ‘Green Onions’ showing the varied talents of the allstar band.
And those talents are most definitely on display – the band cooking like the finest creole gumbo.
Joliet Jake (Belushi) & Elwood (Ackroyd) deliver some more than adequate vocals – with the possible exception of the reggaefied ‘Groove Me’ – and it is a welcome, danceable set.
The only negative is the sound quality – the hall sound is squashing the performance a little, like bootlegs of the time that were recorded in mid-hall. However, the band shine through and in the main the music is superb.
It is far more than a completist relic. Rather, it is a fine, although flawed, album and well worth the release.
