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1983-1971
I'll Play the Blues for You, Pts. 1-2 (Jerry Beach) 7:18
Can't You See What You're Doing to Me 4:17
from Stax Profiles Rec. 1968-1983
As part of the Stax Profiles series, blues guitarist Albert King is spotlighted with material recorded in the late '60s and early '70s for the Memphis-based label. Since this midline compilation only contains 11 cuts, it's easy to dwell on what was left off... Without a doubt, the main jewel of this set is the previously unreleased version of "Born Under a Bad Sign" recorded on December 6, 1983, and featuring King disciple and then up-and-coming guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan. For whatever reason, this version was left off the King/Vaughan collaboration In Session.
She-Wolf (Jessie Mae Hemphill) 4:41
Jump, Baby, Jump (Jessie Mae Hemphill) 3:23
Black Cat Bone (Jessie Mae Hemphill) 4:57
Boogie 'Side the Road (Jessie Mae Hemphill) 3:47
from She-Wolf 1981
This compact disc reissue gathers up all the original tracks from Jessie Mae's 1980 debut album for the French Vogue label along with four remixed bonus tracks, all seeing their first domestic release. Recorded by folklorist Dr. David Evans (who also contributes second guitar on 13 of the 15 tracks here) in various locales around Memphis and Mississippi, the music stays down-home and primal throughout. There's a strong sense of rhythm that permeates this record, whether it comes from the fife and drum-derived percussion work of Calvin Jackson and Joe Hicks or simply Jessie Mae's own foot-operated tambourine driving the beat home... The blues, real and raw.
I'm a King Bee (James Moore) 3:51
Mean Old Frisco (Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup) 3:45
The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock & Roll (Brownie McGhee / McKinley Morganfield) 3:34
from King Of Electric Blues Rec. 1976-1980 (1997)
... The stuff is finally mastered at the volume it always should have been (this is a potential lease-breaker) and more than justifies the purchase. The music isn't as viscerally exciting as Muddy's work for Chess -- he's slower, starts at a lower energy level, and takes his time building up intensity, but the climaxes are majestic. The playing is also as solid as ever, and Muddy still had a considerable amount to say musically. Blues Sky still has the edge for songs, although the producers here have wisely included Muddy's covers of songs that he liked by John Lee (Sonny Boy) Williamson, Arthur Crudup, and Big Joe Williams, in addition to some of his own tunes.
With his laid-back rootsy style, J.J. Cale was best-known for writing "After Midnight" and "Cocaine," songs that Eric Clapton later made into hits. But Cale's influence wasn't only through songwriting -- his distinctly loping sense of rhythm and shuffling boogie became the blueprint for the adult-oriented roots rock of Clapton and Mark Knopfler...
J.J. Cale
Thirteen Days (J.J. Cale) 2:50
I'll Make Love to You Anytime (J.J. Cale) 3:13
Friday (J.J. Cale) 4:13
from J.J. Cale 5 1979
As Cale's influence on others expanded, he just continued to turn out the occasional album of bluesy, minor-key tunes. This one was even sparer than usual, with the artist handling bass as well as guitar on many tracks. Listened to today, it sounds so much like a Dire Straits album, it's scary. (Mark Knopfler & Co. had appeared in 1978, seven years after Cale.)
Albert King is truly a "King of the Blues," although he doesn't hold that title (B.B. does). Along with B.B. and Freddie King, Albert King is one of the major influences on blues and rock guitar players. Without him, modern guitar music would not sound as it does -- his style has influenced both black and white blues players from Otis Rush and Robert Cray to Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan.
He was beloved worldwide as the king of the endless boogie, a genuine blues superstar whose droning, hypnotic one-chord grooves were at once both ultra-primitive and timeless. But John Lee Hooker recorded in a great many more styles than that over a career that stretched across more than half a century.
Albert King, John Lee Hooker
Born Under a Bad Sign (William Bell / Booker T. Jones) 5:32
I Worked Hard 6:27
Feel Good (John Lee Hooker) 9:01
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (John Lee Hooker / Amos Milburn) 4:01
from I'll Play The Blues For You 1977
Recorded live in Chicago in 1977, this captures a a brief set by each of these blues legends. The Albert King set finds him in excellent form, tearing up his guitar on "Born Under a Bad Sign" and "I Worked Hard," and turning in fine vocals on "The Very Thought of You" and the title track, here mistitled as "When You Down." John Lee Hooker's set is a typical boogie-infested one, with solid support from a small combo doing a nice job following his idiosyncratic timing. Everything stays pretty much uptempo, with the exception of "Serves You Right to Suffer" (here mistitled as "Serves Me Right") and "Crawlin' King Snake." Actually nice live sets from both performers, and a decent addition to either artist's discography.
The mentor of Delta slide virtuoso Robert Nighthawk, Houston Stackhouse never achieved the same commercial or artistic success as his famed pupil, and remained little known outside of his native Mississippi.
Houston Stackhouse
Bye Bye Blues 2:54
Big Road Blues (Big Maceo Merriweather) 2:56
from Big Road Blues 1976
Born in the small town of Wesson on September 28, 1910, he was a devotee of Tommy Johnson, whose songs he frequently covered; neither an especially gifted singer nor guitarist, he was quickly surpassed by the young Nighthawk, although the student repaid his debts by backing Stackhouse on a series of sessions cut during the mid- to late '60s. Outside of the rare European tour, Stackhouse was primarily confined to playing Delta border towns throughout the majority of his career; he died in Houston, Texas in 1980.
Alligator Records, Chicago's leading contemporary blues label, might never have been launched at all if not for the crashing, slashing slide guitar antics of Hound Dog Taylor. Bruce Iglauer, then an employee of Delmark Records, couldn't convince his boss, Bob Koester, of Taylor's potential, so Iglauer took matters into his own hands. In 1971, Alligator was born for the express purpose of releasing Hound Dog's debut album. We all know what transpired after that.
Hound Dog Taylor
J.J. Cale
Thirteen Days (J.J. Cale) 2:50
I'll Make Love to You Anytime (J.J. Cale) 3:13
Friday (J.J. Cale) 4:13
from J.J. Cale 5 1979
As Cale's influence on others expanded, he just continued to turn out the occasional album of bluesy, minor-key tunes. This one was even sparer than usual, with the artist handling bass as well as guitar on many tracks. Listened to today, it sounds so much like a Dire Straits album, it's scary. (Mark Knopfler & Co. had appeared in 1978, seven years after Cale.)
He was beloved worldwide as the king of the endless boogie, a genuine blues superstar whose droning, hypnotic one-chord grooves were at once both ultra-primitive and timeless. But John Lee Hooker recorded in a great many more styles than that over a career that stretched across more than half a century.
Albert King, John Lee Hooker
Born Under a Bad Sign (William Bell / Booker T. Jones) 5:32
I Worked Hard 6:27
Feel Good (John Lee Hooker) 9:01
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (John Lee Hooker / Amos Milburn) 4:01
from I'll Play The Blues For You 1977
Recorded live in Chicago in 1977, this captures a a brief set by each of these blues legends. The Albert King set finds him in excellent form, tearing up his guitar on "Born Under a Bad Sign" and "I Worked Hard," and turning in fine vocals on "The Very Thought of You" and the title track, here mistitled as "When You Down." John Lee Hooker's set is a typical boogie-infested one, with solid support from a small combo doing a nice job following his idiosyncratic timing. Everything stays pretty much uptempo, with the exception of "Serves You Right to Suffer" (here mistitled as "Serves Me Right") and "Crawlin' King Snake." Actually nice live sets from both performers, and a decent addition to either artist's discography.
Houston Stackhouse
Bye Bye Blues 2:54
Big Road Blues (Big Maceo Merriweather) 2:56
from Big Road Blues 1976
Born in the small town of Wesson on September 28, 1910, he was a devotee of Tommy Johnson, whose songs he frequently covered; neither an especially gifted singer nor guitarist, he was quickly surpassed by the young Nighthawk, although the student repaid his debts by backing Stackhouse on a series of sessions cut during the mid- to late '60s. Outside of the rare European tour, Stackhouse was primarily confined to playing Delta border towns throughout the majority of his career; he died in Houston, Texas in 1980.
Give Me Back My Wig 3:34
Sitting At Home Alone (Live) 5:21
Crossroads 3:53
Named after President Theodore Roosevelt, Mississippi-native Taylor took up the guitar when he was 20 years old. He made a few appearances on Sonny Boy Williamson's fabled KFFA King Biscuit Time radio broadcasts out of Helena, Arkansas, before coming to Chicago in 1942. It was another 15 years before Taylor made blues his full-time vocation, though. Taylor was a favorite on Chicago's South and West sides during the late '50s and early '60s. It's generally accepted that Freddy King copped a good portion of his classic "Hide Away" from an instrumental he heard Taylor cranking out on the bandstand.
Honey Babe 3:19
Travelin' Shoes (Elvin Bishop) 7:20
Stealin' Watermelons (Elvin Bishop) 4:04
from Let It Flow 1974
For his fourth album, Elvin Bishop organized a new backup group and switched to Capricorn Records. Capricorn was known as the standard bearer of the Southern rock movement--the Allman Brothers Band, The Marshall Tucker Band, etc.--and Bishop was able to emphasize the country/blues aspects of his persona and his music in the move from Marin County, California, to Macon, Georgia. The guest artists included the Allmans' Dickey Betts, Marshall Tucker's Toy Caldwell, Charlie Daniels, and Sly Stone, and Bishop turned in one of his best sets of songs, including "Travelin' Shoes" (with its Allmans-like twin lead guitar work)...
Heartbreaker (Paul Rodgers) 6:13
Seven Angels (Paul Rodgers) 5:04
from Heartbreaker 1973
The final Free album, Heartbreaker was patched together from a variety of sessions -- and it often sounds like it. Aside from drummer Simon Kirke and singer-guitarist Paul Rodgers, the band was in fragments. Lead guitarist Paul Kosoff -- who was suffering from the drug demons that would eventually kill him -- appears on only half of the album, and it certainly takes away some of the communal vibe that Free was all about. There are some great moments... The rest of the record is by no means filler, but only proves what a great band Free was, even if their ranks had dwindled.
You Can't Judge a Book 4:21
Hambone 4:02
Jubilee Cloud 4:16
from Everything Stops For Tea 1972
Like its companion It Ain't Easy, the second half of Long John Baldry's early-'70s comeback Everything Stops for Tea initially attracted the most attention via its producers, former Baldry sidemen Elton John and Rod Stewart... With Baldry's musical tastes now drawing folkier textures into his blues (and eschewing the big ballad pop altogether), it's a varied and oft-times eclectic collection. But the strength of Baldry's performance smooths over any rough edges that might have tripped other singers and, though It Ain't Easy remains the superior of these two albums, this one really isn't that far behind it.
One of These Days (Alvin Lee) 5:58
Baby Won't You Let Me Rock 'N' Roll You (Alvin Lee) 2:14
Let the Sky Fall (Alvin Lee) 4:20
Uncle Jam (Chick Churchill / Alvin Lee / Ric Lee / Leo Lyons) 2:00
from A Space in Time 1971
A Space in Time was Ten Years After's best-selling album... TYA's first album for Columbia, A Space in Time has more of a pop-oriented feel than any of their previous releases had. The individual cuts are shorter, and Alvin Lee displays a broader instrumental palette than before. In fact, six of the disc's ten songs are built around acoustic guitar riffs. However, there are still a couple of barn-burning jams. The leadoff track, "One of These Days," is a particularly scorching workout, featuring extended harmonica and guitar solos... Many of the cuts make effective use of dynamic shifts, and the guitar solos are generally more understated than on previous outings. The production on A Space in Time is crisp and clean, a sound quite different from the denseness of its predecessors...
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