Album of the Day

Forty years ago this month, The Blues Brothers released MADE IN AMERICA, the third and final album by the duo of “Joliet” Jake Blues (John Belushi) and Elwood Blues (Dan Aykroyd). On the heels of their hit movie, The Blues Brothers' popularity was at an all-time high when they cut the concert collection at Los Angeles' Universal Amphitheater in the summer of 1980. Musical director Paul Shaffer leads a top-notch backing band including Booker T. & The M.G.'s guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn – who drive a terrific version of that group's “Green Onions.” Among the other highlights on the Atlantic set are the opening medley of “Soul Finger” and “Funky Broadway,” a sizzling “Riot in Cell Block No. 9” and Top 40 single “Who's Making Love?” If the two frontmen are best known as comedians, the passion and musical chops here are serious, and MADE IN AMERICA is an invigorating salute to American blues and R&B.