a Truckload of Blues

Albert King is truly a "King of the Blues," although he doesn't hold that title (B.B. does). Along with B.B. and Freddie King, Albert King is one of the major influences on blues and rock guitar players. Without him, modern guitar music would not sound as it does - his style has influenced both black and white blues players from Otis Rush and Robert Cray to Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan. It's important to note that while almost all modern blues guitarists seldom play for long without falling into a B.B. King guitar cliché, Albert King never does - he's had his own style and unique tone from the beginning…

A value-added combination of four of the blues guitar legend Albert King's albums, dating from the 1970s to the 1990s, this two-disc best-of notably includes his 1979 Allen Toussaint-produced set NEW ORLEANS HEAT, as well as the workmanlike R&B of 1977's KING ALBERT. Among the highlights are a reworking of Toussaint's "Get Out My Life Woman" and the guitarist's own "Born Under a Bad Sign," and there's also the bonus of King's unlikely yet frequently performed version of Ray Noble's standard "The Very Thought of You," with full string accompaniment. As you'd expect from a chronicle of the master's late-period work, funky, fatback rhythm, horns, and stinging guitar work predominate, overlaid with King's good-natured, relaxed baritone vocals.

This album is one of only a few that Chicago blues singer and guitarist Lefty Dizz recorded, and it is a very good one. Here he is backed by a solid group that includes Willie James Lyons on second guitar, Johnny "Big Moose" Walker on piano, "Mojo" Elam on bass and Odie Payne on drums. Highlights include great renditions of classics such as "Take Out Some Insurance", "Cummins Prison Farm", and "Blue Shadows", as well as a few Dizz originals, including "I Found Out" and "Funny Actin' Woman". "Big Moose" Walker takes over the lead on the final four cuts, which are solid as well. These include a version of "Well Alright", Walker's own "One Eyed Woman", and two rocking boogie instrumentals. If you want to hear some pure Chicago blues, pick this album up, you will definitely be satisfied.

For Eels fans, and especially those obsessed with Mark Oliver Everett, the man who created and fronts the ever-changing lineup as well as writing its songs, 2008 kicked off anything but quietly. Despite a mere six studio and one live record in the band's catalog, E and Universal/Geffen have issued what amounts to a truckload of backlog material on two separate – some would say excessive – releases: Meet the Eels: Essential Eels 1996-2006, Vol. 1, a CD/DVD package, and Useless Trinkets: B-Sides, Soundtracks, Rarities, and Unreleased 1996-2006. The latter includes two discs of music and a live DVD documenting the band's 2006 Lollapalooza performance.