Customer Reviews

Imperial Recordings

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Not quite as seminal as "The Complete Capitol/Black & White Recordings", this is nervetheless an excellent collection of T-Bone Walker's 52 sides recorded for Lew Chudd's Imperial Records.

Unlike the Capitol and Black & White-waxings, this double-disc set features almost no alternate takes, just the masters and a couple of 78 versions (the only exceptions being a few alternates that have been chosen over the original masters).
And there is plenty of great stuff here...no "Mean Old World" or "Stormy Monday", sure, but a lot of excellent songs like "Glamour Girl", "The Hustle Is On", "Tell Me What's The Reason", "I'm About To Lose My Mind", "Cold, Cold Feeling," and the classic instrumental "Strollin' With Bones".

This music is not meant to be listened to in one long sitting, obviously...even lead guitar innovator Walker's smoky, jazz-flavoured blues isn't quite varied enough for that, and if you're just looking for a place to start, you should go for Rhino's "Blues Masters: The Very Best Of T-Bone Walker", or the excellent "T-Bone Blues" album from Atlantic.
But these 136 minutes of music is a very fine collection for the fan who wants more, and a great tribute to the most influential electric guitar player of all time, the idiom's first true lead guitarist, and still one of its best.

T-Bone sweet T-Bone - he is the founder of modern blues - and I think he does not get enough credit for his influence on jazz guitar. Kenny Burrell, in fact, has mentioned that T-Bone was one of his early influences. He certainly has a sweet tone, and he has a nice voice too. Pair this with a hot horn section, and this cd is a steal at 10 bucks. T-Bone is a classic.

This collection is a great, and economical way to experience one of the giants, not only of blues gutar, but guitar period. T-Bone was one of the pioneers of electric guitar along with Charlie Christian. His Imperial works are smooth and urbane, but still pack a solid wallop. The price is right!

Don't hesitate. A full 2 CD's worth of the man who invented modern electric blues, and for [a great price]! An incredible bargain. Must be a cut-out. If so, get this right away, before it's gone. This guy wrote the book on the electric guitar in the forties; these recordings are from the early to mid-50s, and are CLASSIC! His lines are as fluid and musical as ever.

Get it before it's gone.

This double disc compilation is by far the best value in music. You get two discs full of some of the most incredible blues ever recorded by a master all for a good price. This set is madatory listening for any music lover --especially blues lovers.

This is a blues collection to put on your CD player, flip it to continuous play and let run over and over all day. Blues as smooth as the finest bourbon. T-Bone is a master and it is no surprise that BB King and a lot of others learned from him. A must!

Everytime I listen to this cd set, I just marvel over Walker's guitar playing. It really is virtuoso. Walker is to modern blues as Louis Armstrong is to jazz. It's impossible to listen to this and not hear the foundations of later artists' work (like Chuck Berry in particular).

Best songs:

CD #1 - Baby Broke My Heart, I Walked Away, Too Lazy, I'm about to Lose My Mind

CD #2 - Blues is a Woman, Lollie Lou, Party Girl, Vida Lee, When the Sun Goes Down

Raw! definately the raw goods here. T-bone Walker, one of the pioneers of recording the blues with an electric guitar, has influenced all the greats, from BB King, to Burt Bacharach, to the bass player from Halogen Orange! He rips, he shreds, he tears the blues across his axe and delivers. I love "Lollie Lou" and "When the Sun Goes Down." All the tracks are golden, understand, and they're from a time when writing music was for the aspect of the music itself, and not just for the young teenage girls, you read me? Classic, if you dig the blues.

I bought Roomful of Blues' first record 2o or so years ago when it first came out on LP. What an amazing recording! It was one of my first blues albums and one of the few non-jazz albums with horns that I liked (although it draws very heavily on jazz and swing). It was the first time I'd heard of Duke Robillard too. Wonderful guitar, singing and arranging. This is blues that really swings. Now, 20 odd years later, I've discovered T-Bone Walker and come to find that one of my all time favorite records was borrowed nearly note for note from this guy who had invented pretty much the same music back in the very early 50s! Roomful does a bit of updating for a more rock oriented audience, but if you like them you've got to check out T-Bone (and visa versa). The similarity is amazing.

When listening to contemporary blues artists one doesn't have to play their music too long before understanding that the ole T Bone was the source of their inspiration. I was extremely satisfied with this incredible collection of T Bone Walker and surprised at the low cost of so many recordings. Some times when they come out with this type of collection it sounds as if it were recorded at home on the first Tesla contraptions yet this collection could be the complete Imperial recordings from 1994 to 1999. Enjoy!