Very Best of The Blues

Nina Simone was one of the most gifted vocalists of her generation, and also one of the most eclectic. Simone was a singer, pianist, and songwriter who bent genres to her will rather than allowing herself to be confined by their boundaries; her work swung back and forth between jazz, blues, soul, classical, R&B, pop, gospel, and world music, with passion, emotional honesty, and a strong grasp of technique as the constants of her musical career.

The Very Best Of John Lee Hooker is a 1995 compilation CD by blues master John Lee Hooker. This features 15 songs, including a song with Roy Rogers. This was released by Rhino Records.

A million or so collections, all from different record labels, document this Detroit blues guitarist's influential boogie-woogie career. This 45-song is an excellent starting point, with definitive versions of Hooker's classics "Boom Boom," "Boogie Chillen'," "I'm in the Mood," and "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer." It's interesting to hear the singer's voice progress from a deep, growling slur to the more polished later material, such as his collaboration with slide guitarist Roy Rogers on Robert Johnson's "Terraplane Blues," but he never lost his bottom-line rawness.

The compilation Big Guns: The Very Best of Rory Gallagher is one of the ways assembling a retrospective should be done. This set offers a portrait of a true guitar hero and songwriter, one whose flash never outweighed his substance, one whose work is so utterly and dazzlingly fresh it not only stands the test of time, but transcends it.

The Very Best Of John Lee Hooker is a 1995 compilation CD by blues master John Lee Hooker. This features 15 songs, including a song with Roy Rogers.

B.B. King: "AIN'T NOBODY HOME" contains some of my best recordings over the past 40 years. "Everyday I Have The Blues", and "Sweet Little Angel", were taken from my 1965 album "LIVE AT THE REGAL", which many music critics still think is one Of the best live albums ever recorded. And who am I to argue with that!

Far from being an actual "best of," The Very Best of Lightin' Hopkins comes off as being a largely nonessential purchase many classic songs are absent and there's a lack of detailed liner notes to even denote which period the tracks are taken from. That's not to say the material selected isn't consistently engaging, with tunes like "Trouble in Mind," "Shaggy Dad," and the classic "See See Rider" being standouts among the 16 tracks. Contributions from Luke "Long Gone" Miles, Big Joe Williams, Brownie McGhee, and Sonny Terry highlight the collection as well. Most of the tracks, though, sound like alternate takes from other Hopkins sessions and some of the live tracks included are far from essential. Overall, there are bound to be better compilations on the market for similar prices.

Irish guitarist Gary Moore has built an entire career on stubborn self-recycling. Just when listeners think they have him pegged within a particular musical style (heavy metal guitar slinger, soft-hearted acoustic player, jazz fusion experimentalist, electric blues purist), the enduring six-string legend throws a curve ball and changes artistic direction – seemingly just to spite his critics.

The compilation Big Guns: The Very Best of Rory Gallagher is one of the ways assembling a retrospective should be done. This set offers a portrait of a true guitar hero and songwriter, one whose flash never outweighed his substance, one whose work is so utterly and dazzlingly fresh it not only stands the test of time, but transcends it.