Fleetwood Mac The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions

Christine Perfect's (or McVie's) earliest work on the Blue Horizon label is as bluesy as it is dated. While it never offers a dull moment, with McVie singing with a convincing amount of energy, "The Complete Blue Horizon Sessions" never offers the later songwriting chops McVie would later gain in Fleetwood Mac…

Chicago blues pianist Eddie Boyd only released one album for Mike Vernon's Blue Horizon label (7936 South Rhodes), so in addition to those 12 tracks, this reissue scrapes together another four rarities from around the same period (1967-1968) and two from 1960 to expand the song listing to 18. The bulk of this recording was laid down in a single day, a situation that kept the energy flowing in the studio. This was producer Vernon's second session with Boyd – two leftover tunes from his 1967 Decca album open the disc – so he was acquainted with the bluesman's method of working. The project was originally credited to Eddie Boyd with Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, and indeed three quarters of that band (Green, Fleetwood, and McVie) provide backing duties for the majority of these tracks. The Mac, which had started to experience their first shot of stardom in the U.K., are in typically fine form with Green's slashing, quicksilver leads a particular treat. There are also vocal similarities between Green (who doesn't sing here) and Boyd, showing that this session was a two-way street.

Combining sessions that blues pianist Sunnyland Slim and blues guitarist Johnny Shines recorded separately on the same day in Chicago in 1968 for the Blue Horizon imprint, this interesting little set shows two blues veterans doing what it was they did, which was, in part, to push and pull the Delta blues one small step closer to being in the modern urban world. The Slim sides, several of which are new to digital disc, are a bit more interesting than the Shines sides, but only by degree. Slim's songs can appear on the surface to be tossed-off exercises in the usual blues clichés, but they were actually carefully written, while Shines worked similar territory, giving old blues figures a slightly ironic twist. Since both played at one time or another with Robert Johnson, and both straddle the old and new worlds of the blues as it transfigured into an electric and urban form, it makes perfect sense to stick these two sessions together in one package.

Blues Jam In Chicago: Volume 1 — 2004 remastered reissue of 1969 album featuring Otis Spann, Shakey Horton, Honeyboy Edwards, J.T. Brown, Guitar Buddy, S.P. Leary, & Willie Dixon, features 15 tracks including 3 bonus tracks, 'Red Hot Jam' (Take 1), 'Bobby's Rock', & 'Horton's Boogie Woogie' (Take 1). Blues Jam In Chicago: Volume 2 — 2004 remastered reissue of 1970 album featuring Otis Spann, J.T. Brown, Honeyboy Edwards, J.P. Leary & Willie Dixon, features 18 tracks including 7 bonus tracks, 'My Baby's Gone', 'Sugar Mama' (Take 1), 'Honey Boy Blues', 'I Need Your Love' (Take 1), 'Horton's Boogie Woogie' (Take 2), 'Have A Good Time', 'That's Wrong', & 'Rock Me Baby'. Both editions includes expanded booklets with detailed notes & photos.