In some ways, the fourth installment of Bear Family's four-volume Plug
It In! Turn It Up! Electric Blues - The Definitive Collection is the
most important -- not because this was the most innovative period for
electric blues but rather the years of 1970-2005 are generally
considered to be when the genre was rather dormant. Certain acts had
hits now and then, but the blues weren't ruling the R&B charts and
rock & roll starts to shed its blues influence during the '70s, so
its presence doesn't seem as immediate. Nevertheless, this fourth volume
proves that electric blues not only has a rich legacy but that it is
one that continues into the modern era, both by old hands (Buddy Guy
pops up with his 1991 "Damn Right, I've Got the Blues") and new (Robert
Cray's "Smoking Gun," which actually crossed over into the Top 40). Most
of the major names of soul-blues and mainstream blues are here -- B.B.
King, Al Green, Z.Z. Hill, O.V. Wright, Bobby Rush, Bobby "Blue" Bland,
Albert King -- and this also traces the rise of Alligator Records (Hound
Dog Taylor's "Give Me Back My Wig" still sounds nasty all these years
later), grapples with such rock bands as the J. Geils Band and ZZ Top,
and makes a case for the influence of Stevie Ray Vaughan and the
Fabulous Thunderbirds. While it doesn't necessarily make a case for the
next generation -- some of the newer tracks toward the end of the set
are by old guys like R.L. Burnside -- this fourth volume does prove that
electric blues remained vital well into the new millennium.
Disc 1
01 Something Strange is Goin' On In My House, Ted Taylor
02 I Can't Get Next To You, Al Green
03 Big Leg Woman (With A Short Short Mini Skirt), Israel 'Popper Stoppe Tolbert
04 Get Your Lie Straight, Bill Coday
05 Don't Make Me Pay For His Mistakes Hill, Z. Z.
06 A Nickel And A Nail, O. V. Wright
07 Chicken Heads, Bobby Rush
08 Everybody Knows About My Good Thing, Little Johnny Taylor
09 Drowning In The Sea Of Love, Joe Simon
10 Joey Little Beaver
11 That's What Love Will Make You Do Little Milton
12 Breaking Up Somebody's Home, Ann Peebles
13 I'll Play The Blues For You, Albert King
14 Man Sized Job, Denise LaSalle
15 Your Turn To Cry, Betty LaVette
16 It's Hard Going Up (But Twice As Hard Coming Little Sonny
17 To Know You Is To Love You, B. B. King
18 Cheaper To Keep Her, Johnnie Taylor
19 Let's Straighten It Out Latimore
20 I Wouldn't Treat A Dog (The Way You Treated Me Bobby Bland,
21 Take Me To The River, Syl Johnson
22 Turning Point, Tyrone Davis
23 Ain't That A Bitch, Johnny 'Guitar' Watson
24 Leanin' Tree, Artie White
Disc 2
01 The Thrill Is Gone, B. B. King
02 Memory Pain, Johnny Winter
03 Going Down, Freddie King
04 Homework J. Geils Band
05 Right Place, Wrong Time , Otis Rush
06 Give Me Back My Wig, Hound Dog Taylor
07 Stoop Down Baby, Chick Willis
08 Should've Learnt My Lesson, Rory Gallagher
09 After Hours, Roy Buchanan
10 Your Love Is Like A Cancer Son Seals
11 Stealin' Watermelons, The Elvin Bishop Group
12 Luther's Blues, Luther Allison
13 Boogie Thing, James Cotton
14 La Grange ZZ Top
15 Somebody Loan Me A Dime, Fenton Robinson
16 The Train I Ride, Junior Wells
17 Before You Accuse Me, Delbert McClinton
18 Runaway, Bonnie Raitt
19 Hey Bartender, Koko Taylor
20 Duke's Blues Roomful of Blues
21 Bad Dream, Eddy Clearwater
Disc 3
01 Rock This House Hollywood Fats Band
02 Brick, Albert Collins
03 Down Home Blues, Z. Z. Hill
04 Claim Jumper, Johnny Copeland
05 Dollar Got The Blues, Clarence Gatemouth Brown
06 Bad To The Bone, George Thorogood & the Destroyers
07 Pride And Joy, Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble
08 Don't Take Advantage Of Me, Lonnie Brooks
09 Tuff Enuff Fabulous Thunderbirds, The
10 Smoking Gun, Robert Cray
11 Cold Is the Night, Joe Louis Walker
12 Damn Right, I've Got The Blues, Buddy Guy
13 Your Love Is Real, Robert Ward
14 Red Beans, Snooks Eaglin
15 All Night Long, Junior Kimbrough & Soul Blues
16 Old Black Mattie, R. L. Burnside
17 Robert Nighthawk Stomp (live), Ronnie Earl and The Broadcast
18 Bad Love, Luther Allison
19 Backup Man, Arthur Adams
20 Check My Pulse, Nick Moss & the Flip Tops
