Search - Various Artists :: Chess Blues

Blues 101!!!

chris meesey Food Czar | The Colony, TX United States | 11/02/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"All right, students, now pay attention! Put down that racing form and pay attention right now! This here Chess Blues box set contains exactly 101 tracks. How appropriate! That makes this collection a sort of unofficial college course entitled Blues 101, and Professors Wolf, Waters, James, and Jacobs (Little Walter), etc., etc., will be your blues instructors. You will learn the Fundamentals of Blues Harp, with Little Walter ("Juke") and Sonny Boy Williamson II ("Don't Start Me to Talkin'") as your master teachers. Over here, we have a course entitled Mellow Blues, with Willie Dixon ("Walkin' the Blues") and Jimmy Witherspoon ("Ain't Nobody's Business") showing you how it's done. Then, we have instruction in Blues and the Female Voice, with Koko Taylor ("What Kind of Man Is That," "Wang Dang Doodle") and Etta James ("Somethings Got A Hold Of Me," "I'd Rather Go Blind") as your teachers. Finally, what great university would be complete without Master Classes and the best professors in the business Muddy Waters ("Got My Mojo Workin'," "I Can't Be Satisfied," "My Eyes (Keep Me in Trouble"), Howlin Wolf ("Killin' Floor," "Evil," "Going Down Slow"), and John Lee Hooker ("Walkin' the Boogie," "One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer") holding court for your edification. No, there is no blues university, but if there was one, the above masters would surely be the instructors and Chess Blues would certainly be the required text. As I said, it's packed with an amazing 101 songs, many of the best blues tracks ever recorded. There are a few clunkers, but very few. You will spend many enjoyable hours listening to this collection. (Trust me, it takes a few hours to listen to 101 songs once!) Get it today, and enroll in the best blues education money can buy!"

Absolutely Essential Compilation

Maxwell Wiley | New York, New York | 06/06/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you're a new listener to post-War urban blues, or are unfamiliar with the Chess label and its subsidiaries, you must buy this box set. If, on the other hand, you're like me and your CD and LP collections contain scores of re-issues of individual artists who recorded for Chess, Checker, and the like...you must buy this box set. Do not fear over-duplication. This is no mere collection of the "best of" each artist included in the set, but is a true cross-section of styles and artists recorded during the incredibly important two decades after World War II by the Chess brothers. Major artists--Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Little Walter, et al--are represented by several songs each, ranging from their earliest to their later recordings. Most impressive, though, is the breadth of artists, major and minor, and the quality of the song selection. From the gritty Robert Nighthawk to the urbane Lloyd Glenn to the soulful Etta James, the creators of this collection have managed to bring together some of the most interesting, moving, and important recordings of the post-War era. Put the discs into your player and you'll hear famous classics like Otis Rush's "So Many Roads, So Many Trains," as well as unnoticed gems like Willie Dixon's "Walking the Blues" (a little gimmicky, but a rare chance to hear some terrific unaccompanied riffs by Lafayette Leake). The quality of the music is almost matched by the very informative booklet, which contains some terrific photos. If you don't want to spend the money on a box set, get someone to buy it for you."

A terriffic addition to your blues collection

Docendo Discimus | Vita scholae | 04/21/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This handsome boxset, complete with a large booklet, is a superb addition to your blues collection, even if you already have the best of the major Chess artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson II.There are bound to be some tracks, especially by Waters and the Wolf, that overlap with what most blues lovers already own, but the "Chess Blues" compilers have done a very fine job assembling dozens of rarer tracks by artists like Robert Nighthawk, Sunnyland Slim, Otis Rush, Memphis Minnie McCoy, Lowell Fulson, Willie Mabon, Elmore James, Jimmy Oden and many others. And these high quality tracks, which make up the vast majority of the 101 cuts, make "Chess Blues" a very welcome supplement to the many available compilations featuring Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson II and Little Walter Jacobs."