A Blues Evening

This 52-disc (no, that is not a typo) comp, ABC of the Blues: The Ultimate Collection from the Delta to the Big Cities, may just indeed live up to its name. There are 98 artists represented , performing 1,040 tracks. The music begins at the beginning (though the set is not sequenced chronologically) with Charlie Patton, Son House, and Robert Johnson, and moves all the way through the vintage Chicago years of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, with stops along the way in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, New York, and all points in between. Certainly, some of these artists are considered more rhythm & blues than purely blues artists: the inclusion of music by Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Bo Diddley, and others makes that clear.

Various Artists - Let Me Tell You About The Blues - West Coast: The Evolution Of West Coast Blues (2010) {3 CD Box Set}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 567 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 438 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 126 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2010 Fantastic Voyage / Future Noise Music Ltd. | FVTD062
Blues / Regional Blues

California experienced a phenomenal growth in independent recording in the postwar years, after decades of dominance by the major labels. Millions had flocked there during the war years and they needed entertainment.

John Lee Hooker - The Folk Lore Of John Lee Hooker & Folk Blues (1961-1962) {Hoodoo Records 263499 rel 2014}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 406 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 183 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 56 Mb | 5% repair rar | 24bit remastered
© 1961-62, 2014 Vee Jay / Crown / Hoodoo Records | 263499
Blues / Electric Blues / Blues Revival / Delta Blues

Two classic Hooker LPs, all digitally re-mastered, 22 solid slabs of dark, leathery, brooding nostalgia. This is the electric blues at its very roots. If there’s still anyone out there reading this magazine who hasn’t at least one Hooker album in their collection, then you’re still a long way from qualifying as a blues aficionado. So this is a good place to start. This stripped-bare, one man and a growling electric guitar (on most tracks) music is the stuff those guys who fled the south for the auto production lines in the north used to listen to.

Paul Lamb is a British blues harmonica player and bandleader. He has had a four-decade long career as a blues harmonicist and bandleader, with fans around the world. Lamb’s initial interest in blues came from listening to John Mayall’s records; he then discovered the music of Sonny Terry, in whose style he thoroughly immersed himself for 12 years. He played in folk clubs and in 1975 was successful in a harmonica championship held in Germany. Around 1980, he began playing amplified harmonica, initially in Walter Horton’s style, and as a member of the Blues Burglars he recorded for the Red Lightnin’ label in 1986.

The famous bluesman's stellar recordings for Tradition epitomized Lightnin's spare "country blues" which was in contrast to the brash and bold Chicago blues so commercially appealing at the time. Lightnin' started his career singing on Houston's street corners for change and drink and his best performances are those intimate concerts. Lightnin's first two albums for Tradition (AUTOBIGRAPHY IN BLUES and COUNTRY BLUES) were just that-down and dirty, out and out blues, honest and true-perfect documents of Lightnin's style, songs and performance.

This 52-disc (no, that is not a typo) comp, ABC of the Blues: The Ultimate Collection from the Delta to the Big Cities, may just indeed live up to its name. There are 98 artists represented , performing 1,040 tracks. The music begins at the beginning (though the set is not sequenced chronologically) with Charlie Patton, Son House, and Robert Johnson, and moves all the way through the vintage Chicago years of Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, with stops along the way in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, New York, and all points in between. Certainly, some of these artists are considered more rhythm & blues than purely blues artists: the inclusion of music by Johnny Otis, Wynonie Harris, Bo Diddley, and others makes that clear…

Various Artists - Let Me Tell You About The Blues - Nashville: The Evolution Of Nashville Blues (2010) {3 CD Box Set}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 571 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 416 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 109 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2010 Fantastic Voyage / Future Noise Music Ltd. | FVTD078
Blues / Regional Blues

Mention Nashville and the first thing that enters most minds will be Country Music and the Grand Ole Opry. Then again, for true believers the city is also the nation’s centre for Bible publishing. Perhaps less well-known but in striking contrast to God and double-knit suits is that throughout the late 1940s and 1950s, Nashville was also the home of a thriving blues and R&B recording industry. Principal among the labels were Bullet, Republic, Tennessee, Nashboro and Excello, with a welter of smaller ones such as World, Mecca, J-B and Cheker.