Elmore James – The Complete Fire And Enjoy Recordings [3 CD, 1960/1995]

Elmore James made a career from one slide lick – but oh, what a lick! In his ruthless, overdriven slide work, James’ electrified blues evoke the spirit of Robert Johnson and send a shiver down your spine.

Collectables has collected all of James’ 1959-’63 sides for the Chicago Fire and Enjoy labels, the last songs James waxed before his death in 1963. This three-CD set is packed with 63 songs, including covers of most of James’ hits, several alternates, studio chatter, and unreleased takes. While some cuts may lack the youthful vigor of his early sides, the sound quality is much better – and these are still rowdy, supercharged blues by the master. 

1-1 Make My Dreams Come True

1-2 Bobby's Rock

1-3 The Sky Is Crying

1-4 Held My Baby Last Night

1-5 Dust My Broom

1-6 Baby Please Set A Date

1-7 Rollin' & Tumblin

1-8 I'm Worried

1-9 Done Somebody Wrong

1-10 Fine Little Mama

1-11 I Can't Stop Lovin' You

1-12 Early One Morning

1-13 I Need You Baby

1-14 Strange Angels

1-15 She Done Moved (Instr.)

1-16 Something Inside Me

1-17 You Don't Have To Go

1-18 Stranger Blues

1-19 Stranger Blues (Alt.Version)

1-20 My Bleeding Heart

1-21 Standing At The Crossroads

1-22 On Way Out

2-1 Got To Move

2-2 Person To Person

2-3 So Unkind

2-4 My Kind Of Woman

2-5 Woke Up Screamin' & Cryin'

2-6 Do It If You Wanna

2-7 Shake Your Money Maker

2-8 Look On Yonder Wall

2-9 Poor Little Angel Child

2-10 Mean Mistreatin' Mama (Take 1-Incomplete)

2-11 Mean Mistreatin' Mama (Take 2-Alternate)

2-12 Mean Mistreatin' Mama

2-13 Sunnyland Train

2-14 You Know You're Wrong (Take 1-Incomplete)

2-15 You Know You're Wrong (Take 2-Alternate)

2-16 You Know You're Wrong (Take 3-Master)

2-17 Going Back Home Again

2-18 Look Up On The Wall

2-19 Find My Kind Of Woman (Take 1)

2-20 Find My Kind Of Woman (Take 3)

2-21 Dust My Broom (Alt.Take)

2-22 My Baby's Gone

3-1 Hand In Hand (Take 1)

3-2 Hand In Hand (Take 3)

3-3 Hand In Hand (Take 4)

3-4 I've Got A Right To Love My Baby

3-5 Everyday I Have The Blues

3-6 Dust My Broom (Alt.Take)

3-7 It Hurts Me Too

3-8 Talk To Me Baby

3-9 Can't Stop Loving My Baby

3-10 She's Got To Go

3-11 Pickin' The Blues

3-12 Twelve Year Old Boy

3-13 Up Jumped Elmore (False Start)

3-14 Up Jumped Elmore

3-15 Up Jumped Elmore (Black Snake Slide)

3-16 I Believe

3-17 I Gotta Go Now

3-18 Make My Dreams Come True (Alt. Take)

3-19 Back In Mississippi (Studio Conversation)

Bo Carter - Complete Recorded Works Vol. 1-5 [1928 - 1940]

 

Armenter "Bo Carter" Chatmon (June 30, 1892 – September 21, 1964) was an American early blues musician. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks in concerts, and on a few of their recordings. Carter also managed that group, which included his brother, Lonnie Chatmon, on fiddle and occasionally Sam Chatmon on bass, along with a friend, Walter Vinson, on guitar and lead vocals.


v. 1. 1928 to 4 June 1931.

1. Good old turnip greens
2. Bungalow blues
3. Mary blues
4. Electrocuted blues
5. Corrine Corrina
6. East Jackson blues
7. I'm an old bumble bee
8. Mean feeling blues
9. I've got the whole world in my hand
10. She's your cook but she burns my bread sometimes
11. Same thing the cats fight about
12. Times is tight like that
13. My pencil won't write no more
14. Banana in your fruit basket
15. Pin in your cushion
16. Pussy cat blues
17. Ram rod daddy
18. Loveless love
19. I love that thing
20. Backache blues
21. Sorry feeling blues
22. Baby, when you marry
23. Boot it
24. Twist it, baby

v. 2. 5 June 1931 to 26 March 1934.

1. So long, baby, so long
2. The law gonna step on you
3. Pig meat is what I crave
4. Howling tom cat blues
5. Ants in my pants
6. Blue runner blues
7. I've got a case of mashin' it
8. You don't love me no more
9. What kind of scent is this?
10. Pretty baby
11. I want you to know
12. Last go round
13. I keep on spending my change
14. Baby, how can it be?
15. Bo Carter special
16. Beans
17. Nobody's business
18. Queen bee
19. Tellin' you 'bout it
20. Please don't drive me from you door
21. Pin in your cushion
22. Banana in the fruit basket

v. 3. 27 March 1934 to 20 February 1936.

1. Howlin' tom cat blues
2. Don't cross lay your daddy
3. Who broke the latch?
4. Don't do it no more
5. Skin ball blues
6. Old shoe blues
7. Please warm my weiner
8. She's gonna crawl back home to you
9. Let me roll your lemon
10. Mashing that thing
11. Blue runner blues
12. Fifty-fifty with me
13. To her burying ground
14. When your left eye go to jumping
15. Ride my mule
16. T baby blues
17. I get the blues
18. Spotted sow blues
19. Rolling blues
20. All around man
21. Fat mouth blues
22. You better know your business

v. 4. 20 February 1936 to 22 October 1938.

1. It's too wet
2. Dinner blues
3. Ain't nobody got it
4. Cigarette blues
5. Pussy cat blues
6. The ins and outs of my girl
7. All around man (part 2)
8. Bo Carter's advice
9. Doubled up in a knot
10. Worried g blues
11. Your biscuits are big enough for me
12. Don't mash my digger so deep
13. Flea on me
14. Got to work somewhere
15. Sue cow
16. Shake 'em on down
17. A girl for every day of the week
18. Trouble in blues
19. World in a jug
20. Who's been here?
21. Whiskey blues
22. Shoo that chicken

v. 5. 22 October 1938 to 12 February 1940.

1. Let's get drunk again
2. Some day
3. Old devil
4. Country fool
5. Santa Claus
6. Be my salty dog
7. Five dollar bill
8. Ways like a crawfish
9. Brown-skin woman
10. Lucille, Lucille
11. The country farm blues
12. Border of New Mexico blues
13. Arrangement for me-blues
14. Lock the lock
15. Trouble, oh trouble
16. Baby Ruth
17. My baby
18. Policy blues
19. Tush hog blues
20. My little mind
21. Honey
22. What you want your daddy to do?

VA - Motown Chartbusters - Complete Collection Vol. 1-12 [1967-1982]

 

Motown Chartbusters is a series of compilation albums first released by EMI under licence on the Tamla Motown label in Britain. In total, 12 editions were released in the UK between 1967 and 1982. Volumes 1 and 2 were originally called British Motown Chartbusters; after this the title Motown Chartbusters was used.

VA - The Blues - A Smithsonian Collection Of Classic Blues Singers [4 CD, 1993]

 

While any collection professing to be a definitive overview of a genre usually falls short of the mark, it's hard to find fault with this excellently researched and compiled four-disc set from the Smithsonian Collection. Running the recorded history of the music chronologically, the first disc explores the early sides by guitarists like Blind Lemon Jefferson, Barbecue Bob, Blind Willie Johnson, and Tommy Johnson, and classic blues singers like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Sippie Wallace. Volume two rounds up sides from Leroy Carr, Mississippi John Hurt, Charley Patton, Memphis Minnie, Son House, and Big Joe Williams, as well as off-the-beaten-track delights from the Memphis Jug Band and the Mississippi Sheiks. The third volume continues in the history of Delta blues with classic entries from Robert Johnson and Bukka White, moving into the Bluebird beat, ending up with the first recordings from John Lee Hooker and Lightnin' Hopkins. The final disc is a veritable feast of Chicago blues with classic sides galore from Muddy Waters, Junior Wells, Elmore James, Howlin' Wolf, Otis Rush, and Jimmy Reed, finishing with more contemporary offerings from Ray Charles, Latimore, and a retro style closer from Cephas & Wiggins. The transfers on the really vintage sides are as good as any you're likely to come across, and the song selection throughout is impeccable. Add a sumptuous booklet chock-full of photos and an abundance of historical facts, all well-annotated by W.K. McNeil, and you've got a box set for the ages. Very, very well done.

Disc 1

01. Blind Lemon Jefferson - That Black Snake Moan (2:54)
02. Blind Lemon Jefferson - Broke and Hungry Blues (3:03)
03. Blind Lemon Jefferson - Match Box Blues (2:51)
04. Papa Charlie Jackson - Shake That Thing (3:00)
05. Ma Rainey - Shave 'em Dry (2:41)
06. Ma Rainey - Countin' The Blues (3:11)
07. Bessie Smith - Jailhouse Blues (3:16)
08. Bessie Smith - Mama's Got the Blues (2:59)
09. Bessie Smith - Back Water Blues (3:19)
10. Sippie Wallace - Special Delivery Blues (3:26)
11. Sara Martin - Death Sting Me Blues (2:55)
12. Barbecue Bob - Barbecue Blues (3:14)
13. Jaybird Coleman - Mean Trouble Blues (3:06)
14. Alger "Texas" Alexander - Long Lonesome Day Blues (3:06)
15. Jim Jackson - Kansas City Blues, Parts 1 & 2 (6:36)
16. Furry Lewis - Why Don't You Come Home Blues (2:47)
17. Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was the Night - Cold Was the Ground (3:23)
18. Cannon's Jug Stompers - Minglewood Blues (3:42)
19. Tommy Johnson - Cool Drink of Water Blues (3:36)
20. Tommy Johnson - Big Road Blues (3:23)
21. Henry Thomas - Bull Doze Blues (3:28)
22. Leroy Carr - How Long, How Long Blues, Part 1 (3:04)

Disc 2

01. Leroy Carr - Blues Before Sunrise (3:35)
02. Frank Stokes - Downtown Blues (3:14)
03. Mississippi John Hurt - Stack O'Lee Blues (2:58)
04. Peg Leg Howell - Rolling Mill Blues (3:07)
05. Lonnie Johnson - Mr. Johnson's Blues No. 2 (2:59)
06. Charley Patton - Pony Blues (2:59)
07. Roosevelt Sykes - Forty-Four Blues (3:07)
08. Memphis Minnie - Bumble Bee Blues (2:50)
09. Memphis Minnie - I'm So Glad (2:41)
10. Speckled Red - The Dirty Dozens No. 1 (3:15)
11. Sleepy John Estes - Diving Duck Blues (3:16)
12. Memphis Jug Band - K.C. Moan (2:33)
13. Mississippi Sheiks - Sittin' on Top of the World (3:15)
14. Walter Davis - M & O Blues (3:05)
15. Son House - Dry Spell Blues, Part 1 (3:10)
16. Skip James - Devil Got My Woman (3:00)
17. Bumble Bee Slim - Chain Gang Bound (3:44)
18. Blind Willie McTell - Broke Down Engine Blues (3:10)
19. Big Bill Broonzy - Big Bill Blues (2:59)
20. Big Bill Broonzy - I'm Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town (2:55)
21. Kokomo Arnold - Old Original Kokomo Blues (2:54)
22. Cripple Clarence Lofton - Strut That Thing (2:53)
23. Carl Martin - Crow Jane (2:55)
24. Big Joe Williams - Baby Please Don't Go (3:21)

Disc 3

01. Little Brother Montgomery - The First Time I Met You (2:50)
02. Robert Johnson - I Believe I'll Dust My Broom (2:59)
03. Robert Johnson - Cross Road Blues (2:32)
04. Peetie Wheatstraw - Peetie Wheatstraw Stomp (2:35)
05. Sonny Boy Williamson - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (3:01)
06. Sonny Boy Williamson - Sloppy Drunk Blues (3:16)
07. Jimmy Rushing - Sent for You Yesterday (3:00)
08. Big Joe Turner - Roll 'em Pete (2:51)
09. Big Joe Turner - Wee Baby Blues (2:56)
10. Bukka White - Fixin' to Die Blues (2:48)
11. Blind Boy Fuller - Step It Up and Go (2:54)
12. Tampa Red - Anna Lou Blues (2:56)
13. Big Maceo - Worried Life Blues (2:56)
14. Washboard Sam - I've Been Treated Wrong (3:17)
15. T-Bone Walker Quintet - T-Bone Blues (3:18)
16. T-Bone Walker Quintet - Call It Stormy Monday (3:02)
17. Tommy McClennan - Mozelle Blues (2:57)
18. Louis Jordan - It's a Low Down Dirty Shame (2:51)
19. Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson - Cherry Red (3:11)
20. Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup - That's All Right (2:56)
21. Charles Brown - Drifting Blues (3:16)
22. Wynonie Harris - Mr. Blues Jumped the Rabbit (2:50)
23. John Lee Hooker - Boogie Chillen' (3:11)
24. Lightnin' Hopkins - Tim Moore's Farm (2:41)
25. Jimmy Witherspoon - No Rollin' Blues (4:02)

Disc 4

01. Muddy Waters - Louisiana Blues (2:57)
02. Muddy Waters - Honey Bee (3:24)
03. Lowell Fulson - Reconsider Baby (3:13)
04. Sonny Boy Williamson - Eyesight to the Blind (3:03)
05. Jimmy and Mama Yancey - Monkey Woman Blues (4:08)
06. Big Mama Thornton - Hound Dog (2:52)
07. Junior Parker - Mystery Train (2:25)
08. Junior Wells - Hoodoo Man (3:08)
09. Joe Williams - Every Day I Have the Blues (5:29)
10. Howlin' Wolf - Smokestack Lightnin' (3:08)
11. Elmore James - The Sky Is Cryin' (2:51)
12. Memphis Slim - Woman Blues Boogie (3:11)
13. Bobby "Blue" Bland - Farther Up the Road (3:00)
14. Bobby "Blue" Bland - I'll Take Care of You (2:22)
15. Buddy Guy - The First Time I Met the Blues (2:22)
16. Lightnin' Slim - Rooster Blues (2:35)
17. Otis Rush - So Many Roads, So Many Trains (3:14)
18. Jimmy Reed - Big Boss Man (2:51)
19. Ray Charles - I Got a Woman (2:54)
20. Henry Johnson - Join the Army (3:39)
21. Latimore - Let's Straighten It Out (3:29)
22. Cephas & Wiggins - Dog Days of August (5:14)

The Allman Brothers Band – Road Trips Volume One [9 CD, 2017]

 

9 CD box set featuring various ABB live FM broadcasts. Mastered from the original FM broadcasts. 

Volume One features three classic shows across 9 CD's from 1972, 1973 and 1979:

Manley Field House, Syracuse, New York April 7th 1972 WNEW-FM (Discs 1,2) 

Cow Palace, Daly City, California December 31st 1973 KSAN-FM (Discs 3,4,5,6) 

Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, New York December 30th 1979 WLIR-FM (Discs 7,8,9)