Can’t Even

Robert Cray says that Buddy Guy's guitar solos sound like laughter from space, but they can also peal like the cries of lost souls attempting to cross the River Styx. If these 47 songs on three CDs plus a DVD boasting a new 75-minute documentary and six performances from the Montreux Jazz Festival prove anything, it's that Guy is one of the most dynamic, diverse, expressionistic, and emotional guitarists–in any genre. The set neatly examines the 70-year-old Chicago blues legend's half-century career, starting with a ragged but soulful "The Way You Been Treating Me" cut in 1957 at a radio station in Guy's native Louisiana that finds him developing his searing, exploratory style. A year later, he's in Chicago working with tunesmith Willie Dixon, and the rest is history (chronicled in Anthony DeCurtis's excellent lines notes) that leads from the glory days of Chess Records to Guy's early breakout recordings for Vanguard to his modern-day mastery. The most recent recordings often find him working with acolytes: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Keb' Mo', Jonny Lang, Bonnie Raitt, Keith Richards, and John Mayer.

Would you like to be a proficient mathematician… without using numbers?