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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Compilation!, July 15, 2002
This review is from: Essential Shoebox Full of Blues (Audio CD)
This House of Blues compilation is mainly a blues primer for those looking to explore the many select and talented blues musicians. The set contains 9 discs consisting first of three volumes of "essentials" in no particular order. These disc's mix all aspects of the genre and feature such artists as Hound Dog Taylor, Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Little Milton, Luther Allison, Magic Sam, Jimmy Reed and even a little James Brown. The next two disc's break the blues down into two of the more better known and easily recognized styles, Chicago Blues--featuring the likes of Sonny Boy Williamson, Willie Dixon, Howlin' Wolf and Little Walter-and Texas Blues-featuring Smokin' Joe Kubek, Lou Ann Barton, Gatemouth Brown and Lightnin' Hopkins. Then there are three discs each dedicated to a traditional blues instruments. You get Blues Guitar, Blues Harmonica and Blues Piano. Each of these three discs features individuals that have made those instruments popular among blues aficionados such as Elmore James, Muddy Waters, BB King and Bo Diddley on guitar, Charlie Musselwhite, Frank Frost and Junior Wells on harp and Pinetop Perkins, Roosevelt Sykes and Katie Webster on piano. Finally, you have one disc dedicated solely to the Woman of the Blues featuring, Marcia Ball, Nina Simone, Francine Reed and Ruth Brown. While there are many aspects of the blues not covered here, such as Mississippi Blues, Delta Blues, Country Blues, Acoustic Blues and many others, House of Blues did an exceptional job at collecting songs that will encourage listeners to seek out various performers and, ultimately new performers that have been influenced by the artists featured here. If you don't want to spring for the whole box, many of these discs are available for purchase individually in the House of Blues Series including one not in this box set, the excellent Smokey Blues featuring Mitch Woods, Charles Brown and Pee Wee Crayton.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
House of Dan!!!, August 13, 2005
This review is from: Essential Shoebox Full of Blues (Audio CD)
Dan Aykroyd, stellar comedian, actor, and musician, is the guiding genius behind the House of Blues phenomenon, which now includes books, restaurant/clubs, a radio hour, and, of course, music. This prodigeous box set (9 individual compilations of two discs each) represents one of the finest collection of blues ever assembled on the face of the Earth. Virtually every genre and aspect of this American art form has been assembled and presented with loving care--as near-perfect as one could wish, particularly considering it's size. However, in the interest of better informing the consumer, some comments are in order. One: It's obvious that the compilers of these collections share Dan's non-purist views of Blues; therefore, you will find several soul, r and b, rock, and even jazz cuts mixed in with the more hardcore material. Unless you are an ultra-hardcore purist, don't sweat it. My guess is that the non-blues cuts only add up to maybe two CD's worth of material. Two: Yes, there is some very good audio commentary on ONE of the compilations (Essential, Volume One), but it's informative and very well done. Three: Some buyers may be put off by the "Devil" imagery used on the packaging. However, as it is done in a cartoon fashion and only serves to visually relate a bit of Black history, you probably won't find it too offensive. Essential Volumes One, Two, and Three are, track for track, the best compilations in the box, and standout tracks include several reinterpretations of Rolling Stones songs (particularly "Satisfaction," performed by Junior Wells using the melody of "Smokestack Lightning") on Volume Three, not to mention Clifton Chenier's wonderful "I'm a Hog for You, Baby," performed partially in French on Volume Two. Chicago Blues is excellent, and features such stalwart artists as Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, and Howlin' Wolf, not to mention Muddy's pianist Pinetop Perkins and Wolf's guitarist Hubert Sumlin on standout tracks. Texas Blues is a fantastic compilation of the state's best artists, old and new, Johnny Winter to Lou Ann Barton. Kim Wilson and his Fabulous Thunderbirds have two of the best tracks, "Baby Please Don't Lie to Me" and "How Do You Spell Love?" Essential Women is very good, but be prepared for a LOT of early blues tracks from the twenties: Ida Cox, Bessie Smith, and of course, Ruth Brown are the best artists here. Essential Guitar is probably the most disappointing collection; sure, such fabulous axemen as Albert Collins, Roy Buchanan, and BB King are well represented, but why pass over such giants as Stevie Ray Vaughan in favor of some of the lesser lights represented here? By contrast, Essential Harmonica is thoroughly satisfying, with Little Walter, Sonny Terry, and Rice Miller all providing standout tracks, along with Sugar Ray Norcia, former lead singer of Roomful of Blues, with the heartfelt "My Home is a Prison." Finally, Essential Piano wraps up the collection in fine style, with Amos Milburn, Otis Spann, and Professor Longhair doing the honors here. One final thought: The price may be prohibitive for many of you to get the entire collection at once, so here's a quick rundown of my choices from best to worst: Essential Two, One, Three, Harmonica, Texas, Chicago, Piano, Guitar, and Women. In any case, you will have HUNDREDS of hours of top-quality blues, made possible by the Dan in shades. Please visit the House of Dan at once!!!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Annoying Commentary Warning, June 26, 2005
This review is from: Essential Shoebox Full of Blues (Audio CD)
There isn't a bad track in the entire set, and the mastering is superb. These may be the highest quality versions of these classics you'll hear. Blues purists may argue that vinyl is the only "true" way to listen to these, but who among us has pristine vinyl and the equipment to do it justice? From my perspective, this may well be the quintessential Blues collection. The booklets accompanying volumes 1 through 3 of Essential Blues are well done and provide context for each of the artists that appear and the box has room for some additional CD's as well. The big problem here is that the producers of this otherwise fine set have chosen to include an audio intro for each set of tracks. These are actually fairly interesting snippets that add context to the set of tracks that follow, but I can't imagine anyone wanting to listen to them more than once or twice. What makes this bad is they have grafted the intros onto the end of several tracks, rather than make them standalone cuts. That means your MP3's will have the commentary embedded into the song, and that gets really, really annoying, really, really fast. The initial intro is a standalone cut and can be deselected, but the rest are part of the song that precedes them. I have no idea who decided this was a good idea, but chances are they aren't a musician or music lover, only a fool would think we want this forced on us. If I want to hear someone tell me what songs are going to be played, or why they're important, I'll listen to the radio or watch a documentary. For all of us that rip our CD's to MP3 there is a cure. It takes a few minutes, but it's worth it. Grab MP3Trim, a free MP3 editor and you can eliminate that annoying commentary from the end of the cuts burdened by some idiot's idea of "added value." Once that's gone you are left with nothin' but Blues, and that folks, ain't altogether bad.
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