THE Blues albums to own...In no particular order
Submitted by Chefdaddy on Tue, 02/26/2002 - 11:02
Tags:
- 1. Muddy Waters - Hard Again
- 2. Gary Moore - Blues Alive
- 3. Stevie Ray Vaughn - The Box Set
- 4. Albert King - Live
- 5. Freddie King - King of the Blues
- 6. Freddie King - Live at the Electric Ballroom
- 7. Eric Clapton - Crossroads;Live in the 70's
- 8. Eric Clapton - From the Cradle to The Grave
- 9. Buddy Guy - Best of
- 10. John Lee Hooker - best of
- And this is just the beginning...
Author Comments:
Add to the list if you disagree...
I'm no expert, but I have been finding myself listening to quite a bit more blues lately. This is a very interesting list. My comments:
1. Hard Again is a good album, but for Muddy, I think a good compilation might work best to start with. For budgets that can afford one disc, I'd count on His Best: 1947 to 1955, while folks with more dough might splurge for the 2-disc Rollin' Stone: The Golden Anniversary Collection.
2. Honestly, I'm not a huge Gary Moore fan, and I'm a bit surprised to find him on such an exclusive list. Care to add a few comments about why he ranks so highly and what you hear in him that I'm missing? I'm curious.
3. Great, and more than worthy. In fact, I'm not always sure that Vaughn isn't best served by his boxed set. I think it may be more consistent and constantly impressive than any single album he ever released, and that includes the celebrated Texas Flood. Excellent choice.
4. I must admit, your choice of Live over Born Under a Bad Sign for Al really shocks me.
5 & 6. Nice choices. I especially enjoy the King of the Blues set.
7 & 8. Alright, these Clapton albums are, along with the Gary Moore, the only discs I really have to seriously disagree with here. His Crossroads live set is simply over-kill and lacks enough great material to justify its length, while From the Cradle to the Grave, despite Eric's great playing, is destroyed by Clapton's awful vocals and backing band. If one has to visit the blues side of Clapton, I'd suggest his work with John Mayall on Bluesbreakers and, of course, the blues-rock classic, Derek & The Dominos' Layla, which also benefits from Duane Allman's glorious work.
9. I think I'd personally vote for Guy's Buddy's Blues: The Best of the JSP Sessions. The Best Of has some great material, but to my ears, tries to cover too much time in too little space, sounding a bit disjointed and rushed in the process. Not a bad starting place, though.
10. Ah, Hooker. Hard to go wrong. The Best Of works, but one was willing to save one's pennies, I'd recommend springing for the double disc The Ultimate Collection (1948-1990).
Just my silly opinions, of course. This is a very good and much needed list on Listology.
Interesting observation: your list leans heavily to blues-rock and modern electric (especially Chicago) blues artists. Is this a favorite style, or can we look forward to seeing artists such as Robert Johnson, Big Bill Broonzy, and Blind Willie McTell appearing on your future lists and additions?
Again, great job. I'm very happy to find this list here.
Shalom, y'all!
L. Bangs