A blistering live album, especially in mono, cut by Bo Diddley and company in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina on July 5 and 6, 1963. This album contains 30-plus minutes of the best live rock & roll ever issuedd on record. Diddley and company are "on" from the get-go with a killer instrumental erroneously credited as Chuck Berry's "Memphis" (which it isn't), that's a showcase for Diddley's attack on his instrument and a crunching assault by the rest of the band (all in that shave-and-a-haircut-two-bits beat), cymbals on top of an overloaded bass, and what sounds like every rhythm guitar in the world grinding away.
Road Runner, the second volume of Hip-O Select's ongoing chronicle of Bo Diddley's complete Chess/Checker master recordings, covers roughly one calendar year whereas its predecessor, I'm a Man, spanned four — a good indication that 1959 was an eventful year for Bo. During this one year, he had his biggest pop hit in the jive-talking "Say Man" and had another sizable R&B hit with "Crackin' Up," but both these sides were cut in 1958 and released as a single in 1959.
This double CD edition features Bo Diddley's first two albums; CD1: Bo Diddley (1958) / CD2: Go Bo Diddley (1959). All tracks have been remastered and both CD's has four bonus tracks.
Two Great Guitars (1964). Two Great Guitars is a studio album by Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, released in August 1964. It was the first studio album issued by Berry after his release from prison. The two men were friends, and both recorded for Chess. The album consists of two lengthy spontaneous instrumental jams plus a couple of recently recorded instrumentals by the two guitarists. The album cover shows a Gibson ES-350T owned by Berry and a guitar created by Diddley.
The Super Super Blues Band (1968). This is easily a "super super blues bust." Power trios, of course, were hip in the late '60s - even at down-home Chess Studios, where ad hoc "supergroups" were assembled for 1967's Super Blues and its sequel, Super Super Blues Band. (No one ever accused Chess Records of being subtle.)…
The Chess Records' "His Best" compilations are generally outstanding, and the Bo Diddley installation is no exception. Outside of purchasing Bo's key studio albums, or shelling out for the comprehensive box set, HIS BEST is the Bo Diddley disc to have, since it covers all of his essential hits, from "Roadrunner" to "I'm a Man" to "Hey! Bo Diddley" to "Who Do You Love?"
But the real surprise here is the quality of the remastering, which brings out a real crispness and edge to the recordings, and the "longer cuts" that result from re-edits to the original masters. Also here, of course, are the infectious, hugely influential Bo Didley beat, the rumbling, ch-chinking guitar, Bo's neo-blues wails and self-mythologizing lyrics, and everything else that makes this music some of the absolute best and most important in the chapters of early rock & roll.