sitting around with two friends having a splendid dinner when the discussion turns to music
surprise, surprise
one friend says that he’d like to have a slightly more ‘serious’ listen to the blues and asks where he should start
he wanted to know what could be considered ‘the ultimate blues album’
which is a dangerous question and one that might lead to fistfights in blues clubs around the world, i’m sure
in an attempt to clarify the concept, he came up with an analogy
if u were to ask him for ‘the ultimate alternative album’, he would suggest Nirvana’s Nevermind
it may not be your favourite and it may not be the best, but it is most probably the best example of the genre
if someone wants to know about ‘the ultimate rock album’ (it get’s even more dangerous, but) most rock lovers might agree that The White Album or Led Zep 4 be good examples to let the visiting Martian listen to
so, what would u suggest to be ‘the ultimate blues album’?
With Blues, I don’t think it is as easy to categorize something that defines the genre the way you describe. I’d rather think about in terms of “core library” that no self-respecting blues collection would be without.
Muddy Waters - An Anthology would be a good place to start.
That is a motherload of a question–I’ll ask around, but I probably won’t have a real answer for weeks.
I did just pick up this collection of Ray Charles tunes from his “Blues” era–early grimy recordings, but then again, Ray Charles only seems to fit in his own category, and I have a feeling some Blues aficionados would bring up at least 100 examples of things that are more true to the ultimate definition of “The Blues.”
A couple of years back I did have the pleasure of seeing BB King live in concert at the Nice Jazz festival in the south of France. The guy was totally amazing, at 75 years old he blew everything else away. That was a pretty ultimate concert, by any definition…
But by recordings, I’ll bet there are some obscure artists out there, long since dead, who have made that ultimate blues record, but due to the uncompromising and beautiful nature of blues itself, have remained outside the commercial distribution system.
Roberts Johnson-there’s only one, recorded in a hotel room in KC
Howlin’ Wolf - The Best of, these are the originals that a lot of other folks covered.
Fleetwood Mac in Chicago - just to hear Peter Green and Otis Spann play together.
Hmm at this point, we could ask Missippi Blues? Chicago Blues? British Blues? or go to individual songs. For example the orignal version of ‘Black Magic Woman’ was a British Blues song with a kickin’ solo by Peter Green.
I’m sorry, I thought we were talking about the ultimate blues album :).
If we have to drag the UK into this, the Howlin’ Wolf London Sessions is a contender. Actually, the Bo Diddly London Sessions is also an awesome album, although not really pure blues.
Well, if you’re going to be chauvinist about it, we’ll have to exclude all non African-Americans, and then you have to ask if the electric guitar is really an authentic blues instrument?
So here’s my take at a personal Top 10. This isn’t necessarily my votes for Top 10 of all time (although some of them are), but Top 10 out of what I have in my collection. Many of the best were extensively recorded, so the collections or anthologies tend to be the best bets. For example, the Muddy Waters contains some of his early acoustic work with an 18-year-old Buddy Guy on guitar, right up through some of his last recordings with Johnny Winter on guitar. Note: the Willie Dixon box often features other artists playing Dixon’s tunes, although he’s generally on most of the cuts playing bass. It’s a varied, awesome collection.
Robert Johnson - The Complete Recordings
Muddy Waters - The Anthology
Willie Dixon - The Chess Box
John Lee Hooker - Burning Hell
B.B. King - Live at The Regal
The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions
Junior Wells - Best of the Vanguard Years
Little Walter - His Best: The Chess 50th Anniversary Collection
i’m glad to see that i didn’t overlook anything glaringly obvious
my suggestion to him was to start with the Robert Johnson and work his way forward from there
a ‘Top 10 Must Listen To’ strikes me as a better idea
it’ll probably generate as many responses as respondents, multiplied by a factor of ten
and i don’t mean that to sound like a bad thing
Good advice. I should have thought to put my list chronologically, but other than the first one, it’s not really. What I like about those albums is they’re almost all roots…first generation, with some input from the second and third (i.e. Buddy Guy and Johnny Winter with Muddy). If you subscribe to the “root and branch” theory, you can start with the first gen, then explore the second gen you like. On those albums you’ll find some third gen, then on and on. For those that want to take it outside the US, the London Howlin’ Wolf album is the trans-Atlantic bridge. The Wolf flies to London in 1970 and gets down with Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood, Bill Wyman, and Charlie Watts (as well as Ringo on a couple tracks). Then follow the branches from that cast…Cream, Blind Faith, Traffic, Derek & The Dominoes, Stones, Beatles…
well, let’s see now
kevin bacon once jammed with keanu reeve’s band…
nobody’s mentioned Leadbelly yet
since my friend was the guy who turned me onto Nirvana, i figured that Leadbelly wouldn’t be a bad idea either
(they link via ‘Where did u sleep last night?’ on Nirvana Unplugged)
My bad; Leadbelly is a gap for me which I’m about to remedy by purchasing the “Where did you sleep last night” compilation album.
My other oversight: the Blind Willie McTell “Classic Years 1927-1940” album is a must have. So many branches flowed from this one root…not because of who he played with (usually no one), but because of his songs. That’s the same deal with Leadbelly.
With Blind Willie McTell, my favorite two examples of branches from him are both David Bromberg: the live version of Dyin’ Crapshooter’s Blues from"How Late’ll Ya Play Till?", and the live version of Delia which appears on several albums including “The Player: A Retrospective”.
So if I have to keep to a Top 10, either Howlin’ Wolf or Junior Kimbrough get bumped for Willie McTell.
