Rollin' And Tumblin

Like the Bear Family sets that include every available recording of an artist, this two-disc collection finally presents every known track Muddy Waters recorded for the Aristocrat and Chess labels from 1947 to 1952. Since Waters was such a vital architect of the Chicago blues sound, it's an indispensable historical and educational document, as well as a wonderful listening experience. The mono sound, remastered in 2000, is clean, crisp, and remarkably vibrant considering the age of these masters, and the liner notes, pictures, and track documentation in the 16-page booklet are enlightening, professional, and complete. Brought to Aristocrat's attention by Sunnyland Slim who accompanies Waters on the earliest sides here, Muddy quickly established himself as an important and talented artist in his own right…

Sizzling tracks from across his career: his performances on All Your Love John Mayall's Bluesbreakers; Rockin' Daddy Howlin' Wolf; Rollin' and Tumblin' Cream; Crossroads (live) Derek and the Dominos; Mean Old World Eric Clapton and Duane Allman and more!

Various Artists - Please Don't Freeze! Early Black Rock'n Roll (2014) {Trikont Records US-0451 rec 1950's}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 340 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 159 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 60 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1950's, 2014 Trikont Records | US-0451
Rock and Roll / Rhythm and Blues / Blues

It’s been a while coming, but here we finally get Trikont’s third volume in their amazing Early Black Rock ‘N Roll series. As before, the intent is to present real American rock ‘n roll as it first emerged in the late 1940s-early 1950s, before the music’s black roots were de-emphasised and it was cleaned up for consumption by the middle class white America of Richie Cunningham, Ralph Malph and Potsie. These 26 knock-out tracks certainly deliver on this - or, in the words of Nik Cohn in the booklet’s notes, ‘compared to the sentimentalism of white music, (hearing the originals) was like a window being opened to let the stale air out’.

The Top 100 '60s Rock Albums represent the moment when popular music came of age. In the earliest part of the decade, bands were still regularly referencing earlier sounds and themes. By the middle, something powerful and distinct was happening, which is why the latter part of the '60s weighs so heavily on our list. A number of bands evolved alongside fast-emerging trends of blues rock, folk rock, psychedelia and hard rock, adding new complexities to the music even as the songs themselves became more topical. If there's a thread running through the Top 100 '60s Rock Albums and this period of intense change, it has to do with the forward-thinking artists who managed to echo and, in some cases, advance the zeitgeist. Along the way, legends were made.

One of the best recordings in Chess Records' 50th Anniverary series is the first of two bookend Muddy Waters collections, His Best 1947-55. Documenting Waters's most creatively and commercially successful years at Aristocrat/Chess, this collection begins with his formative years and ends with Waters at his peak. So you're in for a lot of terrific bottleneck slide guitar work as well as electric Chicago blues; what's to criticize? Superb remasterings of "I Can't Be Satisfied", "Rollin' and Tumblin'," "I'm Ready", and "Mannish Boy" are simply beyond reproach. With simple bass accompaniment from Ernest "Big" Crawford, Waters's bottleneck tracks are spare, haunting and, quite frankly, perfect country blues. And listening to Waters, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, and Jimmy Rogers piece together (and perfect very quickly) the classic Chicago sound is pure blues epiphany. At the very least, this collection shows you why Waters's rollicking stop-time classics like "Mannish Boy" and "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" have sparked endless imitations over the years–and why nobody has played them better since.

Fresh Cream represents so many different firsts, it's difficult to keep count. Cream, of course, was the first supergroup, but their first album not only gave birth to the power trio, it also was instrumental in the birth of heavy metal and the birth of jam rock…