The Sonet Blues Story

Troubles, Troubles was originally recorded for Sonet, but is probably better known through its re-release as Lost in the Blues by Alligator. Lost in the Blues was justifiably criticized because of the decision to have Lucky Peterson overdub a bunch of keyboards in order to give it a more "contemporary" (read: more "Alligator") sound. This release is of the original album (with a couple bonus alternate takes) without all the overdubbing, and is a vast improvement over the Alligator version. But how does it stand as an Otis Rush album? It's a very good set – perhaps "comfortable" says it best – recorded with Rush's longstanding band of Bob Levis on rhythm guitar, Bob Stroger on bass, and Jesse Lewis Green on drums (despite what the package says).

Mighty Joe Young (Young was using the name well before the movie of the same name was released) arrived on the Chicago blues scene from Louisiana a bit late in the game and never really received the critical attention he deserved. Add in health problems related to a pinched nerve in his neck, and Young's solo recording dates were relatively few (he was, however, an active sideman, working for a time as Otis Rush's rhythm guitarist) given his obvious talent as an electric guitarist and as a strong and sturdy vocalist. This solid set, The Sonet Blues Story, was tracked in Chicago in 1972 and was originally released as part of Samuel Charters' Legacy of the Blues series on the Stockholm-based Sonet Records imprint…

Like several of the black jazz and blues players of his generation, pianist Eddie Boyd, tired of the racism in America and the general treatment afforded musicians, moved permanently to Europe in the mid-'60s, where labels like Sweden's Sonet Records were more than happy to record him. The session presented here took place in Stockholm in 1974, and features Boyd on piano and vocals performing original blues numbers backed by young Swedish players (and one American, Ed Thigpen, on drums), and while things don't have the powerful edge of a classic Chicago Chess Records session, it's close, and there is a charmingly loose and fluid feel working here, one that is perfect for the kind of easy, almost elegant blues that was Boyd's stock in trade…

This killer little set features the great Earl King doing what he does best, playing R&B-oriented blues and jump tunes. Recorded in 1977 for the Sonet label - a label that imported American blues greats to play with British and European session players - this volume is ragged but right. There is an exercise in funky blues on "Trick Bag." But it's the more driving, soul-oriented tunes that work best, as evidenced by "Always a First Time," "Time for That Sun to Rise," and "The Picnic's On."

Lightnin' Hopkins recorded so often and for so many labels that it's easy to get lost in it all, and there is virtually no such thing as the perfect Hopkins album. He did his thing each time out, whether acoustic or electric, solo or with a band, half improvising his lyrics over a small assortment of different blues shuffles, shifting chords and gears seemingly at whim (which made him frequently difficult to accompany, even for the sharpest session player). His tough, Texas take on the country blues, though, and his penchant for off the wall themes and lyrics, made Hopkins an utterly unique bluesman, and if he seems to be pulling the same rabbit out of the same hat time and time again, he somehow managed to make it seem like a new trick each time. This extremely loose set was recorded in Houston in 1974 and was originally released as part of Samuel Charters' Legacy of the Blues series that same year…

The career of blues legend Big Joe Williams stretches back to the Mississippi Delta of the 1930s and continues up through the 1980s. The Sonet Blues Story captures Williams performing live in Sweden in 1972. Though not exactly in his prime, Williams plays with his usual boisterous spirit, reeling off classic acoustic Delta blues with a raw, propulsive edge. With only his stomping foot for rhythmic accompaniment, Williams and his guitar offer up a deep, riveting set. Informative liner notes by musical historian Samuel Charters round out the package.

Booker White (his name was misspelled on the label for Shake 'Em on Down when it was issued on Vocalion in 1937, and it stuck) turned his vigorous guitar style, heavy voice, and considerable songwriting abilities into 20 classic blues tracks between 1930 and 1940. Then, following a last session for Vocalion in 1940 when he recorded the striking and passionate group of songs on which his reputation rests (including the ultimately revelatory "Aberdeen Mississippi Blues"), White effectively dropped off the public radar. Until 1963, that is, when graduate students and blues fans John Fahey and Ed Denson sent a letter addressed to "Bukka White, Old Blues Singer, c/o General Delivery, Aberdeen, MS," in an effort to locate the man who had recorded a 78 rpm called "Aberdeen Mississippi Blues" some 20 years earlier…

Recorded in London in 1971, this is Champion Jack Dupree with a small group of unknown British blues musicians. Sonet, begun in the '50s as a company to issue and distribute American jazz records in Sweden, had grown considerably by 1970. They approached blues historian and documentarian Samuel Charters to produce blues records for them - Charters, who had done blues records in the '60s, had been producing rock artists at the time. Nonetheless, this Sonet Blues Story session is 15 tunes strong and presented here in 24-bit remastered glory. Dupree is playing piano and singing, with Hughie Flint on drums, bassist Benny Gallagher, guitarist Peter Curtley, and harmonica player Paul Rowan. Dupree is in amazing form here. His playing is brilliant, deep in-the-pocket, carrying much of his native, New Orleans stride in his style…

In this charming solo piano session recorded in Stockholm, Sweden in 1974, Sunnyland Slim works the empty studio exactly as he would a small blues club, casually (but not without purpose) introducing several of the songs, setting them up with what would initially appear to be random piano trills and vocal asides, and then the song slips in and begins as the most natural thing in the world. This kind of up close intimacy makes this set, which was originally released in 1974 as part of Samuel Charters' Legacy of the Blues series, a particularly compelling portrait…

Like many of the black blues and jazz musicians of his generation, Memphis Slim found both an audience and a home in Europe for the last 20-plus years of his life, basing himself in Paris beginning in 1962 and remaining there until his death in 1988. In that span he recorded an astounding 50 or so albums, not including the various recordings of his live performances that still continue to surface. While it could be argued that his peak years were in the '40s and '50s, the recordings he made in the last third of his life were incredibly intimate and frank, and he didn't shy away from addressing racial and social injustice in the later songs, even while he kept his blues performances smooth and accessible. This fine set, recorded in New York in 1967 on one of his U.S. tours, is a case in point…