Long Time Comin'

In a demonstration of late-1960s musical guerilla warfare, "Killing Floor," the first track of the debut album from the blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield's ambitious yet short-lived Electric Flag, juxtaposes a sample of a speech by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson with a stinging Bloomfield guitar salvo. Though this opener's pent-up energy isn't quite matched on the rest of the set--which combines the psychedelic rock of "Groovin Is Easy" and "Sittin' Around in Circles" with straight blues tracks such as the jumping-and-jiving "Wine" and the slow-burning "Texas"--it highlights Bloomfield's impressive, though unrealized vision of a band that would filter a wide variety of American music through a contemporary sensibility.