Tanel Padar Blues Band Gold'n'fish

The blues scene in Chicago has sadly deteriorated over the last 10 years or so. Most of the old, legendary musicians have died. Only a very few places still feature live music in the black neighbourhoods (the South- and Westside, where Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, and all the other greats had their home base). Many new blues clubs opened on the (white) Northside, but the music there is mostly aimed at the white tourist market. The same old songs played over and over again, no steady bands, personnel in the. bands always changing, definitely never any rehearsal. One of the few bands that have maintained a high musical standard, is The Big Four Blues Band. They were formed more than ten years ago, have not changed the personnel, became better and better over the years, and without trying to become rock stars they are still playing that old Chicago Blues…

On April 21, 1988, two significant events occured in the Cradle of the Blues, Clarksdale, Missisippi. One was ZZ Top's dedication of a guitar made from a board from Muddy Waters' home to the Delta Blues Museum. Of equal significance were the incredible performances turned in by the "original" Muddy Waters Blues Band at John Mohead's Cotton Exchange Club. No overblown concert to mark the event, rather two authentic juke-joint shows by a special group of players, the likes of which invented the genre.
This two-CD set was distilled from those historic performances. Be warned! You'll hear crowd noise, clinking glasses, missed notes and feedback. You'll hear tade-ins and fade-outs, mainly because the original recording devices were not always operating at the right time…

One of the forgotten classics of the late-'60s American blues scene, the Colwell-Winfield Blues Band once opened for Led Zeppelin, and that would appear to be their greatest claim to fame - until you play the group's debut album, a hulking slab of blistered fusion that packs some of the most intriguing arrangements of the age. It features some of the most surreal imagery as well: "Paper bags hold degenerate dreams, fill my world with unnatural scenes," bellows the aptly named Moose Sorrento during the opening "Free Will Fantasy." And so the Colwell-Winfield Blues Band get on with proving what a lot of people had been saying all year long - that the best jazz-rock-blues band of 1968 was only getting better…

England's the Blues Band is led by ex-Manfred Mann vocalist Paul Jones and guitarist/vocalist Dave Kelly, who, before forming the group in 1979, had been a member of the John Dummer Blues Band and issued several solo recordings on his own (Kelly had also received praise for his playing by such blues legends as Howlin' Wolf and John Lee Hooker). After hooking up with friend/bassist Gary Fletcher, the seeds for the Blues Band were sown, resulting in countless albums (including such titles as 1980's Official Bootleg Album and Ready, 1981's Itchy Feet, 1982's Brand Loyalty which featured new member ex-Family drummer Rob Townsend, 1983's Bye Bye Blues, 1986's These Kind of Blues…

It shouldn't come as a surprise to any fan of Nick Moss that a band signed to his Blue Bella label and produced by him would have a gritty, tough and raw approach similar to his own. The Chicago-based five-piece Kilborn Alley Blues Band recorded its first album in only three days, so the feel of Put It in the Alley is as immediate and uncompromising as a live show. Songs shift moods from the basic, stripped down Windy City blues of "The Blues Takes Me In" to the Southern-fried R&B of "Thousand Miles." Lead singer/guitarist/frontman Andrew Duncanson sounds somewhat like a cross between Wet Willie's Jimmy Hall and early Boz Scaggs, using his soulful croon to soften the attack of the band's gruffer sound. But it's harp player Joe Asselin, who has surely listened to his Little Walter albums, that adds feral heat, especially on the seven-minute slow blues "The Breakaway." All but one of the songs is original, and although none of them reinvent the blues wheel, they are all solid vehicles for the band to lay into.

Four CD set. Climax Blues Band: The Albums 1973 - 1976 is the second collection of Climax Blues Band albums and features their work issued between 1973 and 1976, a period of commercial and concert success for the group which saw the release of the albums FM Live, Sense Of Direction, Stamp Album and Gold Plated…

It's hard to believe that's such an artist as Javier Vargas, who's recorded & performed with some of the world's heavy weights such as Santana, Double Trouble, Jack Bruce, Devon Allman, Larry Graham, Carmine Appice, Tim Bogert, Junior Wells, Glen Hughes and Chris Rea to name a few, is still expanding his Blues n Swamp rock spectrum with outstanding results. The Jams and the collaborations will never end as far as Javier is concerned & Heavy City Blues, which featured Carmine Appice, Paul Shortino and Bobby Alexander, is just another stepping stone forward for this Blues Rock phenomenon - namely the Vargas Blues Band.

A 4 CD box set which chronicles the band's history and recording career from their first recordings up to the present day. Features a total of 78 tracks, including rare and unreleased items, and a lavishly produced booklet with in-depth notes by official Blues Band historian Roy Bainton, plus loads of memorabilia care of Tom McGuinness All tracks digitally remastered!