VA- A Complete Introduction To Chess [4 CD,2010]

 

One bourbon, one scotch, one beer. Chances are the average listener will go through considerably more drinks than that during this mammoth 100-tracks-on-four-discs collection, especially if it's digested in a single sitting. Not because boozy liquid lubrication is required to navigate through its content, due to any quality shortcomings. Oh no. More because every disc presents several opportunities to hoist a glass to one of the most important record labels of pop's early history.

Three numbers from John Lee Hooker represent the tip of this set's blues iceberg. Also included are cuts from Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf (1956's Smokestack Lightnin' is a given), Muddy Waters (Mannish Boy and I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man, check) and Lowell Fulson, whose Reconsider Baby was a number three hit in 1954. The label's soul selection is similarly well represented: Fontella Bass's sublime Rescue Me opens disc three, and Etta James makes five appearances. Among her efforts is I Just Want to Make Love to You, recorded in 1954 and a UK top five hit 42 years later when it was used in a soft drink commercial.

This belated success highlights a significant aspect of this release's appeal–although Chess ceased to operate in 1975, after 25 years of business, many of these songs have enjoyed leases of life far longer than anyone involved in their creative processes could have foreseen. Like Motown's, the Chess catalogue has been regularly raided by filmmakers–Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode, recorded in 1958, featured in the 1985 movie Back to the Future (albeit as played by the character Marty McFly), and Mannish Boy has cropped up countless times on the silver screen. Chess itself was the subject of a pair of 2008 flicks, Who Do You Love and Cadillac Records.

And it's not only the cinema that has been graced by Chess sounds. The Ramsey Lewis Trio's version of The In Crowd was used by Radio 1 when Jimmy Savile was a station fixture, and numerous tracks here have achieved a certain ubiquity through cover versions, such as The Dells' Oh, What a Night and the Willie Dixon-penned Wang Dang Doodle. The latter is performed here by Koko Taylor, but it was also recorded by The Pointer Sisters and, rather less memorably, PJ Harvey.

So, although Chess is long retired from the music industry, the Chicago label's catalogue owned by Universal (their similarly packaged introductions to Motown and Sugar Hill are also available), these songs deserve a place in the collections of today's listeners. That so many are immediately recognisable is testament to their lasting appeal. The classics, clichéd though it is to say so, truly never go out of style.

Disc 1

1–Jackie Brenston     Rocket 88    
2 –Chuck Berry     Maybellene    
3 –Bo Diddley     Bo Diddley    
4 –Howlin' Wolf     How Many More Years    
5 –Lowell Fulson     Reconsider Baby    
6 –Little Walter     Juke    
7 –Sonny Boy Williamson (2)     Don't Start Me Talkin'    
8 –Muddy Waters     I Can't Be Satisfied    
9 –John Lee Hooker     Leave My Wife Alone    
10 –Bo Diddley     I'm A Man    
11 –Little Walter     My Babe    
12 –Elmore James     Dust My Broom    
13 –Eddie Boyd     Third Degree    
14 –Howlin' Wolf     Moanin' At Midnight    
15 –Muddy Waters     I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man    
16 –The Moonglows     Sincerely    
17 –Jimmy Witherspoon     When The Lights Go Out    
18 –John Lee Hooker     Sugar Mama    
19 –Rosco Gordon     Booted    
20 –Willie Mabon     Seventh Son    
21 –Muddy Waters     Mannish Boy    
22 –Willie Dixon     Crazy For My Baby    
23 –Sugar Boy Crawford     Jock-A-Mo    
24 –Little Walter     Last Night    
25 –Clarence "Frogman" Henry     Ain't Got No Home    
26 –Willie Dixon     Pain In My Heart    

Disc 2

1–Chuck Berry     Rock And Roll Music    
2–Bo Diddley     You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover    
3–Eddie Fontaine     Nothin' Shakin' (But The Leaves On The Trees)    
4–Jimmy McCracklin     The Walk    
5–Howlin' Wolf     Smokestack Lightnin'    
6–Muddy Waters     Forty Days And Forty Nights    
7–Etta James     Something's Got A Hold On Me    
8–Bobby Charles     See You Later Alligator    
9–Chuck Berry     Johnny B Goode    
10–Dale Hawkins     Susie Q    
11–Jimmy Rogers     Walkin' By Myself    
12–Etta James     I Just Want To Make Love To You    
13–Sonny Boy Williamson (2)     Nine Below Zero    
14–Howlin' Wolf     The Red Rooster    
15–Elmore James     I Can't Hold Out (Talk To Me Baby)    
16–The Marathons     Peanut Butter    
17–The Sensations (2)     Let Me In    
18–The Vibrations     The Watusi    
19–Clarence "Frogman" Henry     (I Don't Know Why I Love You) But I Do    
20–Etta James     At Last    
21–The Corsairs     Smoky Places    
22–Dave "Baby" Cortez     Rinky Dink    
23–Harvey And The Moonglows     Ten Commandments Of Love    
24–Andre Williams (2)     Cadillac Jack    
25–Clarence "Frogman" Henry     You Always Hurt The One You Love    
26–Fontella Bass & Bobby McClure     Don't Mess Up A Good Thing  


Disc 3

1–Fontella Bass     Rescue Me    
2–Sugar Pie DeSanto     Soulful Dress    
3–John Lee Hooker     One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer    
4–Chuck Berry     Promised Land    
5–Howlin' Wolf     300 Pounds Of Joy    
6–Little Milton     We're Gonna Make It    
7–Chuck Berry     No Particular Place To Go    
8–Tommy Tucker     Hi Heel Sneakers    
9–Ramsey Lewis     Wade In The Water    
10–Tony Clarke (2)     Landslide    
11–Terry Callier     Look At Me Now    
12–Jan Bradley     Mama Didn't Lie    
13–The Jaynetts     Sally Go Round The Roses    
14–Jackie Ross     Selfish One    
15–Billy Stewart     Summertime    
16–Tony Clarke (2)     The Entertainer    
17–Billy Stewart     Sitting In The Park    
18–The Knight Brothers     Temptation 'Bout To Get Me    
19–The Radiants     Voice Your Choice    
20–Bobby Moore & The Rhythm Aces     Searching For My Love    
21–Etta James & Sugar Pie DeSanto     In The Basement    
22–Ramsey Lewis Trio     The In Crowd    
23–Mitty Collier     I Had A Talk With My Man Last Night    
24–Billy Stewart     I Do Love You    
25–Maurice & Mac     You Left The Water Running    
26–The Dells     Oh, What A Night  

Disc 4

1–Etta James     Tell Mama    
2–Koko Taylor     Wang Dang Doodle    
3–Howlin' Wolf     Evil    
4–Rotary Connection     I Am The Black Gold Of The Sun    
5–Muddy Waters     Tom Cat    
6–Marlena Shaw     California Soul    
7–The Radiants     Hold On    
8–The Valentinos     Sweeter Than The Day Before    
9–Denise LaSalle     Love Reputation    
10–Dorothy Ashby     Afro Harping    
11–Marlena Shaw     Woman Of The Ghetto    
12–Irma Thomas     Good To Me    
13–Etta James     I'd Rather Go Blind    
14–Laura Lee     Dirty Man    
15–Terry Callier     Ordinary Joe    
16–The Soulful Strings     Burning Spear    
17–Solomon Burke     Let Me Wrap My Arms Around You    
18–Gene Chandler     To Be A Lover    
19–Pigmeat Markham     Here Comes The Judge    
20–The Dells     Give Your Baby A Standing Ovation    
21–Solomon Burke     You And Your Baby Blues    
22–Chuck Berry     My Ding-A-Ling