Authentic Blues [Original recording remastered]

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 8, 2005)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Fuel 2000
• ASIN: B0007D4MEA
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #504,314 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Boogie Chillen

2. Blues After Hours

3. Little School Girl

4. Dallas Blues

5. Big Fine Girl

6. T-99 (My Sweet Little Honey Dripper)

7. Jake Head Boogie

8. The Thrill Is Gone

9. Riding in the Moonlight

10. Drifting from Town to Town

See all 20 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Figure Head

2. The Duck Walk

3. Some Time I Wonder

4. From My Heart

5. Going or Coming

6. Forget It

7. It's Bad to Make a Woman Mad

8. You Better Stop

9. Hard Times (Follow Me)

10. Like Heaven to Me

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very good collection of mostly lesser-known songs, April 11, 2006

By 

Docendo Discimus (Vita scholae) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Authentic Blues (Audio CD)

"Authentic Blues" brings together 46 songs on two discs. One disc is devoted to the Modern label, and includes recordings by artists like John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Witherspoon, Smokey Hogg and Bobby Bland; the other contains 26 tracks recorded for U.S.A. Records by Lonnie Brooks, Koko Taylor, Willie Mabon and several others.

The great thing about this set is that the compilers have mostly steered clear of the songs that have already been anthologized twenty times. Instead you get about three dozen more or less obscure recordings, most of which will certainly be unknown to most "mid-level" blues fans, and the quality of this "second rate" material is surprisingly high.
If your experience with classic 50s and 60s blues is "limited" to men like Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Elmore James and B.B. King, this set may well turn you on to a number of less high-profile blues and R&B artist, like Detroit Junior, Jimmy McCracklin and Rosco Gordon. Sure, there are a few tracks here by big stars like the Wolf (an early pre-Chess waxing called "Riding In The Moonlight"), Elmore James ("Standing At The Crossroads"), B.B. King (the great "Three O'Clock Blues") and Koko Taylor (two songs, including a rarely heard but very good "Like Heaven To Me"), but even those songs may well be new to most listeners.

On the Modern disc you get C.C. "Pee Wee" Crayton's smoky instrumental "Blues After Hours", a jazzy "Big Fine Girl" by elegant, urbane pianist Jimmy Witherspoon, Rufus Thomas' soulful "I'm Steady Holdin' On", the bluesy soul stomper "Love At First Sight" by Little Milton Campbell, and several other highlights. And piano lovers will find a lot to like on the Modern disc, too, like a wonderful, slightly syncopated cover of John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson's "Good Morning School Girl" (titled "Little School Girl") by Andrew "Smokey" Hogg, and Jimmy McCracklin's swaggering "Couldn't Be A Dream".

The U.S.A. disc opens with an early version of Lonnie Brooks' "Figure Head", later re-recorded for the 1979 Alligator album "Bayou Lightning". Other highlights include two slide guitar fests by "Homesick" James Williamson, Elmore's cousin and second guitarist, both songs by Koko Taylor, the sly "I Just Got Some" by Willie Mabon, and a swinging "Call My Job" by the great Emery Williams, Jr., better known as Detroit Junior. Howlin' Wolf's former piano player, Williams is still going strong at 74, and still releases new material here in the 21st century.

Not everything is great, obviously, and not everything is strictly blues, either, but very little of this material is anything less than good. The only major complaint I have is the lack of recording information - the liner notes are sparse, and nobody but the featured artist is credited.
That's not good enough, people at Fuel 2000 records. In fact it sucks. But the music itself sure doesn't, and there's a good two hours of it.

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Music, July 13, 2010

By 

cparadis - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Authentic Blues (Audio CD)

As a music lover and one with particuar interest in the "Blues" THis is a fantastic set of albums that really lets you hear the beginning, the heart and soul of the music. I love it. Listened to it all the way down and back from Las Vegas on a trip.