Rating: NNNN
Maybe it’s the Hammond B3 organ that anchors this album so well, or maybe it’s the extended jams that build in intensity as they chug along without dipping into self-indulgent wankfests, but I can’t help thinking about those old Super Session albums – you know, the ones from the late 60s and early 70s that got together the big guns of the day and let them loose in the studio. Clapton’s and Jeff Beck’s seemed like one long showoff session. Stephen Stills, Al Kooper and Mike Bloomfield made one that resembled a jazz album, with each musician working off the others’ leads to build one great tune after another. The Duke Meets The Earl is like that. You’ll have to give the lengthy 70-minute, eight-track disc some time to sink in, but every song offers many rewards, and the guitar interplay between these two greats is awe-inspiring just as much for what they play as what they don’t play.