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

Chicago-based brothers Leonard & Phil Chess financed Aristocrat Records in the late '40s, refocusing it on jazz and blues recordings, and by the time they changed the name to Chess Records in 1950, the label had a classic blues roster that included the likes of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Rufus Thomas, Bobby Bland, and Howlin’ Wolf, to name just a few. And things grew, with classic artists like Etta James, Bo Diddley, Solomon Burke, Willie Dixon, Chuck Berry, and a whole host of others releasing sides through Chess or one its sub-imprints, Checker and Cadet. And the story kept going for a couple of decades, until Chess became one of the most important labels in the history of pop music in the 20th century. It’s all presented here in this four-disc, 20-year retrospective of the label and its affiliates. It starts with with Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats' iconic “Rocket 88” and travels through to Chuck Berry's novelty hit “My Ding-a-Ling,” with a whole lot of historic stops in between the two. It makes for a wonderful and essential journey.


CD1:

01 Rocket 88 - Jackie Brenston
02 Maybellene - Chuck Berry
03 Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
04 How Many More Years - Howlin' Wolf
05 Reconsider Baby - Lowell Fulson
06 Juke - Little Walter
07 Don't Start Me Talkin' - Sonny Boy Williamson
08 I Can't Be Satisfied - Muddy Waters
09 Leave My Wife Alone - John Lee Hooker
10 I'm a Man - Bo Diddley
11 My Babe - Little Walter
12 Dust My Broon - Elmore James
13 Third Degree - Eddie Boyd
14 Moanin' at Midnight - Howlin' Wolf
15 I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man - Muddy Waters
16 Sincerely - The Moonglows
17 When the Lights Go Out - Jimmy Witherspoon
18 Sugar Mama - John Lee Hooker
19 Booted - Rosco Gordon
20 Seventh Son - Willie Mabon
21 Mannish Boy - Muddy Waters
22 Crazy for My Baby - Willie Dixon
23 Jock-a-Mo - Sugar Boy Crawford
24 Last Night - Little Walter
25 Ain't Got No Home - Clarence "Frogman" Henry
26 Pain in My Heart - Willie Dixon

CD2:

01 Rock and Roll Music - Chuck Berry
02 You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover - Bo Diddley
03 Nothin' Shakin' (But the Leaves on the Trees) - Eddie Fontaine
04 Walk, The - Jimmy McCracklin
05 Smokestack Lightnin' - Howlin' Wolf
06 Forty Days and Forty Nights - Muddy Waters
07 Something's Got a Hold on Me - Etta James
08 See You Later Alligator - Bobby Charles
09 Johnny B. Goode - Chuck Berry
10 Susie Q - Dale Hawkins
11 Walkin' by Myself - Jimmy Rogers
12 I Just Want to Make Love to You - Etta James
13 Nine Below Zero - Sonny Boy Williamson
14 Red Rooster, The - Howlin' Wolf
15 I Can't Hold Out (Talk to Me Baby) - Elmore James
16 Peanut Butter - The Marathons
17 Let Me In - The Sensations
18 Watusi, The - The Vibrations
19 (I Don't Know Why I Love You) But I Do - Clarence "Frogman" Henry
20 At Last - Etta James
21 Smoky Places - The Corsairs
22 Rinky Dink - Dave "Baby" Cortez
23 Ten Commandments of Love - Harvey & the Moonglows
24 Cadillac Jack - Andre Williams
25 You Always Hurt the One You Love - Clarence "Frogman" Henry
26 Don't Mess Up a Good Thing - Fontella Bass/Bobby McClure

CD3:

01 Rescue Me - Fontella Bass
02 Soulful Dress - Sugar Pie DeSanto
03 One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer - John Lee Hooker
04 Promised Land - Chuck Berry
05 300 Pounds of Joy - Howlin' Wolf
06 We're Gonna Make It - Little Milton
07 No Particular Place to Go - Chuck Berry
08 Hi Heel Sneakers
09 Wade in the Water - Ramsey Lewis
10 Landslide - Tony Clarke
11 Look at Me Now - Terry Callier
12 Mama Didn't Lie - Jan Bradley
13 Sally, Go Round the Roses - The Jaynetts
14 Selfish One - Jackie Ross
15 Summertime - Billy Stewart
16 Entertainer, The - Tony Clarke
17 Sitting in the Park - Billy Stewart
18 Temptation 'Bout to Get Me - The Knight Brothers
19 Voice Your Choice - The Radiants
20 Searching for My Love - The Rhythm Aces/Bobby Moore
21 In the Basement - Etta James/Sugar Pie DeSanto
22 In Crowd, The - Ramsey Lewis Trio
23 I Had a Talk with My Man Last Night - Mitty Collier
24 I Do Love You - Billy Stewart
25 You Left the Water Running - Maurice & Mac
26 Oh, What a Night - The Dells

CD4:

01 Tell Mama - Etta James
02 Wang Dang Doodle - Koko Taylor
03 Evil - Howlin' Wolf
04 I Am the Black Gold of the Sun - Rotary Connection - (featuring Minnie Riperton)
05 Tom Cat - Muddy Waters
06 California Soul - Marlena Shaw
07 Hold On - The Radiants
08 Sweeter Than the Day Before - The Valentinos
09 Love Reputation - Denise LaSalle
10 Afro Harping - Dorothy Ashby
11 Woman of the Ghetto - Marlena Shaw
12 Good to Me - Irma Thomas
13 I'd Rather Go Blind - Etta James
14 Dirty Man - Laura Lee
15 Ordinary Joe - Terry Callier
16 Burning Spear - Soulful Strings
17 Let Me Wrap My Arms Around You - Solomon Burke
18 To Be a Lover - Gene Chandler
19 Here Comes the Judge - Pigmeat Markham
20 Give Your Baby a Standing Ovation - The Dells
21 You and Your Baby Blues - Solomon Burke
22 My Ding-a-Ling - Chuck Berry